{A catch up post}

 

 

Recently the Inspiration challenge headed to a pinterest board with Paper Mache art on it where I found this bird trio pin. And I did this card. The newsprint bird is from Hero Arts and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession.

This last week the Inspiration headed to the sweet lulu shop where I found these silly work related pencils and decided to chop up some scraps at random widths and glue them all on an angle to another scrap to use as the pattern for this to let the snarky Picket Fence studios sentiments shine.

Last week on "Earth" day the idea was to use recycled items on the project, so this is the innerds of some cardboard shipping box with acrylic paint on the exposed ribs and a clothing tag. the coffee cups were cut from some Yupo alcohol ink backgrounds. 

Last week's color combo challenge. ( my dresser I shoot on is away from the window at the moment awaiting the new window to be installed so, I shot this flat on the desk and really do not like that look.) but, you can see the depth of the layers and the sparkle on the top letters so there is that. 

This weeks Featured Stamper was Heather who had this card here which I used as the Inspiration for mine.

This current week Martina is the featured Stamper and I found this pair of teen cards in her gallery that I used as inspiration for mine.

This one goes all the way back to the middle of March when Sandy was featured Stamper and I used this card of hers as a jump start.

This one goes back to Valentines day when Linda was the featured stamper and I picked this cute card of hers for a jump start. 

I think this was just a using up things on the table card. It never went into the gallery at SCS at any rate.

This was done for my oldest Nieces birthday this year. The balloons and frame were cut from some brusho type watercolor backgrounds.

This was done when Gem was featured stamper and I giggled over this of hers.

This was done a few Mondays ago for both challenge the CAS was to do a silhouette and the try a technique was for faded watercoloring a stencil.

this was done for my oldest niece who lost her older dog a few weeks before we lost Grace, and I never posted this ha, I even lost it in a pile of cards on my table because, I knew Grace's time was about up and so. I eventually found it in the mess and mailed it off to her family.

This was done for Grandma Mary's 97th birthday last month.

There was a watercolor Wednesday challenge a little bit ago to do loose roses as the tutorial. (free hand) 

 

A closer look at the one I did.

The featured Stamper a few weeks ago was Mary Ellen and I found this cute card in her gallery.

And I made mine a Christmas version because, that is where my brain went when I seen the red typewriter.

WOYWW # 621 {again}

 

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 

So, the window is not in yet. and I have been cleaning and putting things away and had the bright idea to drag that big rolling cart that is usually at this end of the folding table I stamp on to over by the window to see if it will fit next to the baby dresser that holds some stamps and dies that I use as a flat spot to shoot photos of finished things and since its on wheels it will not be a big deal to drag it back out of the way for them to work on the window. And Izzy is supervising. one thing is different from this view. What feels like a million years ago, we received a book shelf from hubs grandma's estate and I had it turned around backwards under this side of the table where those suitcases are stacked and it held just the two top cases which contain finished cards as those are two of the cases that go to the schools craft bazaar in the fall. And I had hubs take it out of the space and put it into the someday we will really have a yard sale pile in the barn and that gave me the space to stack a bunch of the other suit cases that were under the window next to the dresser for a long time that got drug down to below the other window when I moved  that altered bakers rack to sit next to the dresser in the window last year some time, well. that is not working because, moving things around I seen that even with the curtains closed on that side, some of the plastic iris project case boxes are turning yellow tinted and so, that had me re-arranging this space off and on. the rack is now where the sofa table I sit to color on was, that table moved to behind this love seat. and the table that matches the coffee table has been drug around the corner to the back side of the wall of the stair case. the good news about that is, it gives me more counter space with a plug in on the wall so, the intention is to get the things that plug in out of the closet and be able to be used on that table there. ( I will take more photos when the window goes in and I get it more the way I think it will work when the dust has been cleaned up)
 

 So, sometime last Wednesday after that post, I started watching the video for the watercolor challenge and it ( can be found here) and decided to give that a whirl. the one on the left was the first one and doing it landscaped view I felt like I did not have enough room for the sky and water so, I tried it again in a portrait view and I was really tickled to see there was a rigger brush in that set of brushes I had gotten in the mail a few weeks ago. I had better luck with the grass using that skinny little brush than a round one. DS has arrived and we are enjoying this time together a great deal. That's about it from me,  Thanks for stopping by & I hope you are all doing well and stay safe out there :)

WOYWW #620 {elbow room}

 

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 

It finally happened, or maybe that is it is going to happen within the next week. The window on the west side of the room over the garage is being replaced. (the original farm house burned down in the 60's and the people who rebuilt in 1970 put in aluminum windows and the moisture travels up between the panes of glass so, crappy windows that the breeze seems to move through) at this point there are only 3 left to replace, this one and two more on the ground floor of the garage. So, that found me moving things off that wall where the window is which lead to actually putting things more away off the table.

 

look at all that space, then I had the bright idea to move my distress inks out of that spinning oak cassette tape holder that was on top of the file cabinets in the corner and put them on the table (maybe I will use them more again) but, after the Oxide inks came out, I stopped using but a handful of the regular pads and I am thinking ( since I have a wider range of colors in them) that moving them to the table will let them be played with more often. 

and the latest round of eBay finds have arrived a couple of precious moments kids and one more Santa Rosa house mouse.

I was smart enough to get my sample for the IC done last weekend before I moved things so, there really isn't anything to show on the desk mess wise at the moment. This has forced me to take a hard look at this plastic folding table I stamp on though and wish for drawers (again) so, at this point I am considering contacting a cabinet maker to make me a pair of slim depth drawers that could hold a table top or counter that would you know remain flat and not sag in the middle. as a stamper, the stability would be really cool lol. plus, I am tired of dusting things. even with the drop cloths that are over the bulk of the space when I am not using it or shooting mug shots of storage things the dust still gets through. anyways that is about it from me, ds's quarantine ends on Friday and he arrives home late on Saturday so, we get him for just shy of 2 weeks. :) (my "official" totally vac status is in effect on friday afternoon) what timing eh? Thanks for stopping by and stay safe out there!

Sketched Wings

 So, the tutorial shared with this weeks watercolor Wednesday ( found here) looked so simple when I watched her do it. ( of course right?) at any rate, I decided that the hardest part about this is knowing when to stop. more than say finding what colors to mix or the stroke shapes and technical details like that.

I finally decided that I could not go back in and add more color after, splatters yes, color on the wings no. It left hard lines which was not pretty, and or there was too much water and or it just did not work for me, so on the one that did make it into a card are I wish I had cut the paper larger to begin with so that there could have been more white space on the edges of the wings as I did this pretty large. the cut panel is A2.

And I chickened out over using my own handwriting to do the sentiment and cut one of these Simon Says Stamp reverse printed ones in stead. the base was cut to A6 and is the same Strathmore 400 series watercolors. I did end up adding a catty corner of splatters across the front of the card base so it could add to the fluid movement feeling, instead of a plain border for framing. I really like the colors on this though and that is something. ( its some Prima ones) the black is Daniel Smith. I think this is something that I will try again soon. Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW # 619 {aftermath}

 

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 

So lets see, I did do the paint a lavender field challenge last Wednesday night ( twice) so what you see there was the first panel that ended up looking more like wild lupine than lavender to me, I have not made made the decision to toss it or use it yet so, its waiting for its fate. the card to the right of that was something silly from Monday after work and I kept trying to add a sentiment to it but, it was just not working out so, I shot it as is and put in the gallery like that. ( faded water colored stenciling with a twist of use a silhouette from the CAS portion) the little Precious Moments girl with the type writer came in the mail on Tuesday night and so. this is what it looks like today, which will all have to be picked up tonight since tomorrow is a driving all day day, and I really should make a sample for the IC. and what is in my head needs drying time I think.  The finished lavender card can be seen here.

oh yes, I did get the second Moderna shot last Friday afternoon and by bed time my arm was a little sore and then I woke up during the night with a slight fever that really did continue for just about 24 hours and a little bit of body aches but, not like really being sick because, you feel it but, its not that utter I cant go from the bed to the sofa and back type feeling its more like a cold in your bones thing. and by Sunday I was stiff from all the huddling under blankets I did but, otherwise felt pretty normal. whew. I really thought that since I only had a sore arm the first shot the second one would be more of the same. it was for my MIL. so, who knows. at any rate I still have to get the second shingles shot in a few more weeks and then I can just take a big breath and not think so much about the shots them selves. kwim? it will just be done.  in exciting news my son is back in the states from the last deployment and is quarantined & will be home when that ends. that is something to really look forward to. That's about it from me, stay safe out there and thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Sara Burnet}

 This week Kia has the Inspiration looking at Sara Burnet's pinterest boards and one thing I noticed ( just recently actually) is there seems to be a lot of lacy see-through wedding gowns lately. ( who knows how long this has been going on, I live under a rock remember) and anyways I had to laugh at my self because, I tend to lean towards the neutral boards and I found this lace dress on the book pages background. That she had saved from a free people brand clothes ad.

 So, using that as a jump start I started with a cream sheet of printed K&Co. paper ( its really old ) and then I ran a piece of cream parchment paper through a Crafter's Companion Vintage Venetian lace embossing folder. a while back there was a challenge to rub a black ( dark) ink pad over an embossed panel and it was very WOW looking. which is why I now own a lace embossing folder because, that was what was used for the example. funny how that works right? at any rate I did rub some Linen avery elle pigment ink over the parchment and then went digging in my box of stamps for a a dress to use over the top but, this emerson American Arts Stamps one kept whispering pick me, pick me, so I did. I colored her with a combination of copic, water based & glitter gel pens. the top piece at the top is some kraft corrugated paper that had been previously painted with pale green acrylic paint and I used it to anchor the panels like the hanger for the gown on the sample. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

lavender fields

 This week Kia is hosting the watercoloring challenge and has linked to a lavender field tutorial. 

So, the challenge looked pretty straight forward to me & I jumped right in on that Wednesday evening. this is a break of drying times between panels. the top one with more paint on it was the first and the lavender looked more like Lupine to me. ha ha. so, I started going smaller with the petals on the second one which eventually became the card below. I did add the rock salt to dry on that first layer of hazy blooms in the background but, I did not see the dramatic results the tutorial author did. I did let these sit over night with what you see below and just added on the sentiment (simon says stamp you got this set) panel over the top the next day. The base is some shimmer stardream cardstock and its A7 in real life.

I ended up going back over the stems in the front and adding in some tiny leaves the way the ones in my garden are growing. I don't actually have grass in between the bushes but, I like the hazy dreamy idea of it so maybe the other greens are more like soft focus other plants. I had a really hard time with these colors as, mine is more of a silvery gray ish green on the plant that is very woody. and I had used similar colors shown in the tutorial for this. I think sometimes its easier to learn it following along at what they are showing you that way but, I think I may need other colors to try and mix the colors I wanted this was using the Munygo set I got last week in the mail and it does not have a Paynes gray in it. ( I have that) I think I am nearly to the point of thinking about buying a empty pan holding set and moving paints from this set and that set to get the colors I want in one box but, have not done anything but, think about it so far.

WOYWW # 618 { a litle bit of this and that}

 

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 

So Monday's happy mail was this little roll of self adhesive dots from Amazon that I am applying ink to 

and sticking on the ends of the ink pads like so, ( see below) some are very misleading from the stickers on the top of the pad to reality. for instance the Ranger Adirondack Mushroom index sticker is kind of a grey toned brown on top, the reality has a lot of pink in the ink to my eye. I don't remember where I seen the dots being used but, it could very well be Jennifer McGuire's blog.

 

So, that little pile of DOX on the table when I got home Tuesday was all that was left to do here. and then the pads that had no labels on them written or stickers now have stickers also. My regular Distress pads are all on top of the file cabinet and I think are the only ones left to do unless I do the little tiny 1 square pads and cats eyes. ( not sure about that yet but, I have a few of them now that seem to come in card making stamping kits from either Hero Arts or Simon Says Stamp and I really do not play with them much so, I probably should at least open them up and get a color idea of them. I did find some big pads that were just ruined. ( one Avery Elle mermaid pigment pad the pad had turned into something that resembled a wet mushy marshmallow) tossed it in the trash. not sure I will replace it as some of the DOX are close enough color wise I think. and I really like the DOX best for just messing around with colors. a few of the old SU dye pads the pads are not disintegrating but, they are changing color in a strange way compared to the others. one looks like it has the measles with spots of colors across the pad and the other looks like shoot I forgot. The funny part is the ink colors still look OK. 

Miss Izzy is turning 2 years old today. we spend part of every day walking in the pasture behind the barn now that we no longer have sheep. Drought conditions have already been declared for the county I live in this year ( the only county in this state) and there have already been fires. So, not having to worry about how we will be able to grow grass to feed sheep is a relief. ( hay cost dearly during extended droughts) so, we had fed all we had on hand last year up until the time we sold the herd. 

"Snow" crocus has started peeking up in the flower beds along with Daffodils and lily of the Valley bulbs. but, the gophers ate the tulips again. *sigh* someday hubs is going to make me some metal cage bulb holder things so I can try tulips again.I tend to forget about asking him in the fall when I should be planting bulbs. who knows, maybe this year :) 

Oh, I did play with those new watercolors and there are finished cards in the two posts between this one and last weeks WOYWW that show them. SO far so good, have not played with the brushes yet, one of them rattles where the metal band is near the bristles when you pick up the brush and it distracts me. have not looked at it closely enough to see if maybe crimping it with a pliers or something would stop that.

That's about it from me. I will get my second shot friday afternoon and am looking forward to having it behind me. but, our news has been saying this particular shot ( Moderna) is only good for 6 months. So, it sounds more like it will be something that needs a booster like a flu shot every so often. Stay safe out there and thanks for stopping by.

A silly thinking of you

 This weeks featured stamper is Cara Denise who has this pretty tulip collage card in her gallery that I used as a jump start for mine. You always need changes for that challenge so, mine has less layers and no embellishments. I did place the sentiment on the left lower corner as there was that cluster of butterflies there and I did add more water to this later when it was dry to get that dreamy look between the stems and leaves.

This card was requested by hubs for his older sister ( as they have always traded snarky sentiment cards for years) and he had seen this one ( Riley & Co. ) when it came in the mail a while ago. So, these tulips are actually a Penny Black stamp Tulip Queue stamped with that fade out ink on Strathmore 400 series watercolor paper. I did use that new set of paints from Mungyo again and used the same technique as the card before this one where it was supposed to be loose and abstract impressionist type style. So far so good on these new paints. I have not played with the brushes as of yet but, they rattle. when I pick them up the metal near the bristles rattles and that distracts me so, I probably should play with them soon but, I really need to clean off the table again first. Have been adding little to dots of color to the edges of my ink pads that are in holders so I can tell at a glance that that Adirondack pad that looks like a grey ish brown is really a pink ish brown kind of a thing. And I am feeling like I really want to just have a big purge let go of things that are not bringing me joy anymore too. so, we shall see. in reality that would be a huge undertaking to empty the closet to choose what would be allowed back into it again. Hope you are all doing well, thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Design Stack}

 This week the inspiration is headed to Design stack either their blog or Pinterest boards and I was looking through the painting section of the blog and found this colorful animals seen here. The direct link to the blue bird painting is below.

This is just a cell phone shot while it was drying and. So, the finished on a card is the bottom image here. The take-two using this tutorial Lydia made and shared for the Water coloring Wednesday challenge this week found here. The top image was the first try at this and I really liked how it looked so, I tried it again and liked the second one a little more to use as the finished piece for the Inspiration painting I found here as a jump start. I am not sure what I am going to do with the top image as I also like it and will probably do something with it.

I think this one is not so much of an impressionist version but, for the first time ever I am glad I own a fade out ink pad. ( when I bought this, I was more coloring with pencils at that time so my usual was to stamp images and haul them to work and color in the down time... so, when you open the thing and there are a lot of blank sheets of card stock that was too faint for me to see to color them I was not so thrilled with how fast they faded ha ha. so, finding out the ink is more resistant to water and the fact that when I am painting to color I stamp something right now and color right now that is a game changer for me.

I probably got a little carried away with adding brown splatters to this, and this was painted entirely from that new palette of paint I showed you the other day. so, not too shabby. the sentiment is from Hero Arts Many everyday messages set heat embossed with some liquid platinum powder on some blue linen card scrap and the painted panel is up on foam tape over the base. This one finished out at A7 in real life. The watercolor cardstock was cut with a Waffle flower A7 rectangle die and my mind has gone blank on which banner the sentiment was cut with. You can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us.  I hope this Good Friday finds you all doing well, Thanks for stopping by.