6.30.2021

WOYWW # 630 {a timelapse}

 

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
There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW
 
 This is monday evening, it did not go to under 100 until somewhere around 9 pm.
our house was built in 1970, we live in Oregon and we do not have central AC (whole house). ( we have a window roll up  unit, one in the dining room (open concept eat in kitchen/living)  and one upstairs about the garage where the "studio/hobby" room is) 
 
So, Tuesday afternoon I did pick up and put away all the VSN projects with envelopes and such. To see all the projects together see this post here. There were 18 in total, and I did spread that out to over a week to do it.
 

 What my desk looks like this morning, after I picked up all those VSN projects I grabbed some stamped images, the blue Mission gold box of watercolors the palette on top of that and those three brushes and messed around with this the kitchen before dinner. they are not "done" but, I did pick them up this morning to take another look at them later to see what I may want to do to finish them. 
That's about it from me, Covid restrictions lift here where I live today. with some exceptions ( public transportation and medical offices) Stay safe out there & thanks for stopping by.


 

6.29.2021

A catch up Post

 

way back in March Anna Karin was featured stamper and I came across this framed art of hers to use as a Jump Start for my card. This is the Unity Stamps Peony Hugs with a Hero Arts sentiment and the background is SU french Script.

This has been colored with Daniel Smith & Mission Gold watercolors.

Isn't the size of this fabulous? This one is from the Colorado Craft Co. big and bold line its a Robins nest and it was done using these place card settings from Pottery Barn as the jump start. Painted with Mission Gold watercolors. The sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp love you mama set.

Recently I hosted the IC and chose this dress as a jump start . This is an Anna Griffin slimline embossing folder called Camilla lace that I used some Distress Oxide ink in a Faux letterpress kind of a way in it so, the detailing is actually reversed from the dress but, I really loved the softness so, I added some gelly roll pen to a few dots of places and added the fancy trim. The sentiment here is from Gina K. designs but, I am not sure which set anymore.

This week the featured stamper is Angie and she has this little collection of tags that what really caught my attention about them besides being botanical is that they look like they open like a book so that ther would be room to write a note between them. So, on mine I used some Recollections premade tags that only have color on one side, stamped the SU forever ferns on them with some Versafine rain forest ink and then tried to color them with Daniel smith watercolors. ( there is some kind of coating on the tags) so, the paint just beads up. At any rate I really like the idea of this style two tags tied together by the hole with fibers so, I will probably do this again some time.That's about it from me,  stay hydrated out there and thanks for stopping by. (they are lifting covid restrictions where I live tomorrow)



6.28.2021

Watercolor Moon

 

This week the watercolor tutorial/challenge views this video seen here at YouTube on how to do a moon (beginner in watercolors) So, this is an under construction shot, I did have Daniel Smith watercolors on the desk when I started this and I do not have a deep dark blue in that brand so, mine is a little paler than the tutorial. I also used Windsor & Newton Perm. white Gouache for the white stars. 

and while this piece was laying there drying/waiting for me to finish it, I had been adding stickles glitter glue to the mermaid tail in the post before this one and so, some of the left over glue was added to the sky here. I think this may make a really cool baby welcome card but, this is as far as I have gotten with it so far.


6.27.2021

VSN {The fantasy edition}

 You can find all the challenges here in the master list at SCS to read them in order. ( I did not create mine in order but, they are that way here in this post.) 

all of them together

Kim "Fantasy Island" (challenge is to do a tropical island beach scene) I had painted this scene following along with this tutorial seen here in the past, and it was just in the bin waiting for an idea. the sentiment is from Riley & Co.

Misti "Magical friendship" (this was an anything goes friendship card) So, a while back Sabrina hosted a do these doodle birds challenge, and I made a stack of them on scraps of watercolor card and decided to use these chicks with the Picket Fence Studios sentiment.

Fairy Sparkle for Lee, mine has more glimmers than sparkle. I have considered adding some stickles to her. the fairy Seren & Tree of courage are from Lavinia stamps and the sentiment is from Viva Las Vegas Stamps.

Forest of Fangorn for Kim, (this one needed at least 3 trees on it) last week there was a tutorial for the Watercolor to do a crescent moon ( which I did and will post later) and it had this part where you could drip the bottom. ( I did not do that with my moon) but, this the trees were stamped with Distress Oxide inks on some Neenah milstone (80# sheet) and so when I misted the inks with water it beaded up and ran really well, so after it was dry I added some Daniel Smith watercolors over the top, and when that was dry I added some scribbles of pencil for texture. ( the trees here are from the Picket Fence Studios Watercolor trees set)

 


 

Janet has a do a gatefold slimline with a unicorn challenge ( directions for the fold can be found here

This one was a comedy of errors. ( fancy folds frazzle my brain) and I cut the first one as a trial on some white base, and hey, I got it right the first time. So I grabbed a sheet of this green and promptly cut one flap backwards so I had criss cross folds. ( yeah) so, I had this Anna Griffin slimline embossed panel sitting in the backgrounds bin and glued it to one of the flaps and trimmed off the wrong parts of the flap, then lined it on the inside flaps with some neenah solar white. so this card is thick and did not want to lay flat so, I made a belly band out of the other half of the embossed panel. The stamps here are from Lavinia. 

Jen has a Narnia theme for her challenge and you could use any of the books or titles for the inspiration. and I knew I had a Lion stamp ( I thought it was bigger) but, this is the one I found first so, its an older PSX one with a Unity Stamps sentiment. (from the kitty to go set)

Jeanette's challenge is Futuristic, so you needed something that you are older than so it could be back to the future... ( I am older than email...) (you knew that right?) The stamping bella clickabella was colored with watercolors and the sentiment here is from Technique Tuesday's good cardma set.



VSN challenges tend to have one hour time limits of construction... so this is this card at 1 hour and 10 minutes in... The flowers are from the Colorado Craft Co. big and bold line called Daisy & Dahlia. And I had left the paints out on the table during all of these challenges and I knew I needed a piece at least 6 1/2" square to do this stamp on. ( I used the fade out ink to get the no line look) and the pad of Strathmore on the table was too narrow for that, so I decided to open one of the pads of Arches 100% cotton paper I had been collecting and hoarding for when I was you know a little better at painting. This is a couple layers of Daniel Smith, on that and I really felt like it needed some more shading in the cracks but, I was also knowing I was already over the time limit, in for a penny, in for a pound kind of a thought.

For Misti's floral fantasy challenge, this had an additional 20 minutes of pencil added and die cuting and gluing and such. I ended up being surprised by how bold the pencil looked and it did not want to erase much either so, I left it alone before I totally wrecked it.


Rita has a witch challenge.you were to do either a good witch or a bad witch. The Witches hat is also from Colorado Craft Co. and I had previously stamped it on some Neenah environmental dessert storm card ( which is also an 80# cover sheet) and never got any farther with it, so I added some Daniel smith watercolors to it. ( lightly) and hit it with an heat guy.

Sonja has a gilded garden challenge. So you needed a garden scene with gold on it. a couple of weeks ago the Wednesday tutorial for watercoloring was making backgrounds like this with re-inkers. which I did some of those, and then a couple days after that I did some using up paints in the palette. this is one of those and it has some iridescent gold paint in it too. But, I did use ranger super fine gold powder on the Impression Obsession sentiment here.

Brenda has a using the colors from the dragon riders of Pern as a combo challenge. and so, I did the colors on a piece of Strathmore watercolor card and when it dried it was pretty lumpy, so, when I put it in the die/machine it jumped. and I was able to salvage a strip to cross a card front, and ( because, my original thought was to leave the dragon uncolored) because of time but, I did end up adding a little bit of pencil to this PSX dragon because, it was just too plain with out it. the sentiment here is from Viva Las Vegas Stamps.

Holly has a create a burst of powdered watercolors background challenge, and I was totally smurfed again after that. I had all this un-melted bursts of color so I kept spraying the backgrounds I made with more water and it just kept blending them so, I ended up with a mainly blue panel and decided to use this Impression Obsession sentiment on it and then traced it with a white gel pen. sprayed the kraft tag with some of the same colors, and less water and doodled stitching on it too.


Pam has a shimmery wings challenge This "wet wings" is from Lavinia Stamps and is on an older Yupo Background that I think may have been a clean up sheet as there is only slight color on it. I did add some metallic gel pens to the wings and leaves and grass here for some sparkle.


Melody has a "horse" challenge and I took the liberty of using a "sea" horse and Amy has a surf board art collection for this weeks Inspiration. and I picked this board. and combined the two. The seahorse is from Tim Holtz blueprint line and was heat embossed a long time ago on the kraft, I painted in the wells and cut an oval into a scrap to color dust the shabby shutters ink around it. The sentiment is from Lil Inker Designs Just Sayin' set.

Lisa has a fire-breathing dragon challenge ( you needed fire on the card) This stamp caught my eye on Amazon a week or so ago. ( she's cheap at the time I type this) and it made me laugh so, this is another one of those backgrounds with watercolors.

Kelly has a black magic technique challenge. I did this card last in the line up because, I knew I had tossed all my white craft/ pigment ink pads years ago due to lack of consistent good results. but, I had hope that there might be a tiny one inch cube sized pad in one of those kits of the month and I was in luck as somewhere along the lines I had gotten a Hero Arts unicorn mini pad. The Inkadinkado dog was a gift from James & Cortnie a while back. there is some prisma & polychromos pencils over the top of the dried ink.


Nicole has a magical mermaids that need to sparkle challenge. So, I decided it would be easier to you know just color things in a similar kind of a way to save time and I also wanted to use things I have collected and not inked much or ever. this one fell into that from Simon Says Stamp, I bought this set for this sentiment and so, the tail and waves were stamped with fade out ink and I used Daniel Smith watercolors on this one. I think I might add more waves to this or cut the card on the right side.

Lee has a unique ( not shaped like a rainbow arch) but, rainbow colors challenge.  So, I knew I had this border or starfish on the shelf behind the table and I had not ever stamped it yet when I stamped it for the first time on this simple rainbow so, it was a surprise how much black came through because of the detailing. Its a really different look from me, as I hardly ever do brights. and that is all the challenges for this round from me. Thanks for stopping by.







6.23.2021

WOYWW # 629 {VSN & Loot}

 

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
There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW
 
So, there is the main even VSN happening at SCS this week and I started out strong on Saturday I did 5 of the challenges. and then Sunday I squeaked in 1 more that had been partially started Saturday afternoon.
VSN is short hand for virtual stamp night and SCS is splitcoaststampers. So, a few times a year there is a VSN and challenges load one per hour on friday night and continue again on Saturday. ( I am not certain how many there are in total but, its at least 1 dozen or more challenges, so the 5 I did Saturday were mostly friday and from the previous "mini" that was held a few weeks in advance of the main event like a catch up. I think I have 11 more to go if I want to do them all. the theme this time around is "fantasy"
 

I typed a big old story here and it ate it. I have very little time this morning so, I will edit this when I get home tonight. the stamps and on the paper cutter are all new things that arrived Monday and Tuesday this week. the backgrounds are all for intended VSN challenges I have not gotten to yet and the images are ones I had thought I may tweak to use with some of the challenges left to do but, have not gotten that far yet. Its beyond hot here right now. 
Stay safe out there and thanks for stopping by. I don't remember exactly what I was telling you all this morning so, there is a link to splitcoaststampers up in the other paragraph that goes to the forums where all the VSN challenges are at this time. Oh these backgrounds are ones that were made for some of the challenges left on my sticky note to do. :)

6.16.2021

WOYWW #628 { Stamps & Xray flowers}

 

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
There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW
 

 Last week the Watercolorwednesday was to follow along with some Xray-ish transparent flowers using paynes grey. that link should go to you tube.


After about 6 days I gave up on the round petal in the front and tried doing some longer skinnier daisy type petals instead and finally came up with one that was a little more like what I would have hoped for. So I add libbed some stardust gelly roll pen sparkle on the stamens and added faux stitching to the wc panel. and this is a funny 5" x 6" card.

So, this is a funny / sweet thing, when I find stamps on eBay, I email the auction link to hubs and he buys them because, eBay does not want to accept that the emails I have 2 out of 3 have my screen name in them, and since they split with PayPal its even worse so. I did not even look at that site for years and years but, hubs does not have a problem using gift cards to pay for purchases from them but, it irritates me so. all those stamps that you have seen come across my desk, he finalized the orders for me. 

and recently I had received a couple of the American Art stamps Emerson line and then maybe his eBay shows him ads? and he came across this one and laughed and bought it as a surprise and it came in the mail on Monday night. 

(oh, that is a better view of the paint water brush holder my friend Margaret who is a potter that sells in local places here made for me, this is what started the marathon of xray flowers, I wanted her thank you card to be painted...) 

This is my desk this morning, well last night but, it looks the same this morning. (totally staged) I ended up making a card from one of those wild field of lavender panels I painted a while back for Margaret, and I did not photograph it. And then happy mail came Tuesday night after work. the top 4 are ones that the seller has a buy three get one free deal. ( I wanted the back side of the cat and the mom and baby and the Celtic knot. So the balcony piece was a gamble. I am hoping to tuck some the sitting people stamps I have behind it but, its on the small side so, we shall see.) the other three came in as a second surprise from hubs, because he bought the Christmas stamp eBay showed him the other "passionate" stamp and he laughed and bought it too. :) That's about it from me, stay safe out there & thanks for stopping by. 


PS about the ebay/paypal thing. it hinges on screen names... if your email has a screen name in it, ebay rejects it. So, for me my paypal uses an email that has a screen name in it, which is the same screen name I have at ebay. so, it will only accept payments from me via a "gift card" and their gift cards are not like Amazon ones where you can redeem them and let them sit in your account until needed. They assign the card to you and its a pita. and the money stays on the card. so, depending on how much you had spent you may have to use multiple cards with varying amounts to pay for the purchase. and its possible to have a stack of left over cards with tiny amounts of funds left on them.



6.12.2021

Inspired by {MaryAnn Rizzo}

 This week the inspiration is taking a look at MaryAnn Rizzo's collection of pins at Pinterest. And a while back I had saved a bunch of pins for something to be my sample and then on Wednesday I came to work and found an email from my insurance agent that he needed a wedding card ( for today) that would be for a couple who are big into Rodeo, horses in general and are cattle ranchers. ( So, he was hoping for horses on the card) and the day after that there was a second email that he wanted it to say "getting hitched" ( I do not own any sentiments like that and the only horse stamp I have with two adult horses peeking over a fence are wearing Santa hats So...) I took another look around her collection of pins and found this Sonoma Wedding shot and thought ah ha, I have this Stamps Happen love is a circle stamp and the couple is in a horse drawn carriage... Which was stamped with some Versafine clair nocturn ink on Solar white Cardstock.

So, I colored this mainly with pencils and added a little gel pen and pit pens to the flower beds, and used a black sharpie pen on a few spots and the sentiment over the circle. and I thought well, I am not going to finish the inside and let him pick a sentiment for that. so I stamped off these ones ( seen below)

and framed them with scallops from the drop piece of the fog grey card and thought OK he can pick one to glue on the inside. The printed wood grain is from Kaiserkraft. the two sentiments on the far left are both Penny Black, and the one in the center is from visible image.

As I had used the largest square in the Lots of Squares die set from paper roses, the Congratulations is a really old one from Hero Arts and was cut with the smallest die in the waffle flower mini slimline rectangles set. And this one is 6" square in real life. So, after all that. he ended up choosing this black and white card here from last January. You just have to laugh right? (because, I hedged my bets and took the handful of Wedding cards I had on hand to work and left them all there together for him to decide and my secretary said he was really happy with the card he chose. You can find this challenge here at SplitcoastStampers to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.
 





6.09.2021

WOYWW # 627 {Coloring & loot}

 

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
There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

There were sales at both Ellen Hutson and Simon Says Stamp over the Memorial Day weekend so, yes I did cave from both of them. This pile came from EH. and the foam tape really took me by surprise when I opened the box. ( its 1/2" wide, how ever my brain did not think of what 100+ feet would look like lol) 

The Simon haul, that tree is totally Doug's fault. he flashed it way back when so, when it became available to buy here I was like Ooh wow and snatched one up and found the fairy along the way. The embossing folder is hard to see but, its tools.

So, those things had arrived last friday and saturday so, this is my table I put things together on yesterday when I came home from work. I had played with the fairy and the tree on an old Yupo alcohol ink background and ended up having to cover it with embossing powder and the fairy got a little chunky from that maneuver. The other things are things I colored sometime between last Wed and monday thinking I really need to get busy making Fathers day cards. none of these have moved since yesterday so.

Because, when I got to work yesterday I found an email from my insurance agent that he really needed a wedding card for this coming weekend and I started coloring this Stamps Happen hoping it will fit his list of wants. And that's about it from me, stay safe out there & thanks for stopping by.



6.05.2021

Inspired by {Sumcoco}

 This week Julie has shared the links to the Sumcoco site and pinterest boards where every prompt I saved was a Christmas one. And I finally decided on this pin as I knew I had this Impression Obsession Simple gifts stamp waiting to be colored. I love that kitchen scene a great deal and it totally makes me wish I had the floor space for something like that display.


The image was stamped on some International Paper Accent Opaque 100# white. (found here) I mainly bought 3 weights of this card for diecutting and have been tinkering around with coloring on it too. I do like the tooth on the Neenah better for coloring but, so far this paper is not bad. it is a little brighter looking to my eye so, I will probably stick with using it for die cutting more than coloring. 

At any rate this was colored lightly with some polychromos pencils and then I added some clear wink of stella over the packages and gift tag. This panel was diecut with a Simon Says Stamp wonky stitched rectangle die. Tied on the sentiment (Unity Stamps twinkling joy set) with some hemp string around the gingham ribbon. and popped in a couple of foam pop dots under the tail end of it. 

That's about it from me, you can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

6.02.2021

WOYWW #626 {Tulips}

 

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
There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

what it looks like still on Wed am. I really should clean up when I get home today but, Tuesday was a record setting heat day here and today will be more of the same. So, while the mind is willing the body melts. I will say however I am not feeling the heat as badly as when the metal siding was on the back side of the garage so, it is getting better but, we've been distracted by the dragging hoses around to water daily & watching the clock. 

we have zero irrigation water this year from snow pack run offs that would normally be stored in the lake for irrigation purposes. there was just not enough of it added to the previously dry years the ground soaked up a whole bunch of what has dropped this year so, the in ground sprinklers we have here are on 2" lines for using an irrigation pump to push it and there is not enough pressure with you know your household city line to use those sprinklers so. we are dragging hoses. and giving things just minimal amounts of water. 

So monday I had some free time in the afternoon and tried to follow along with last week's watercolor challenge/tutorial ( link goes to SCS where an youtube video is embedded) and I tried the sketching the tulips first and painting them and really that did not go well at all. one has not hit the bin yet and is seen off to the right on the other Misti. So, I finally dug out this old Club Scrap stamp and painted it instead. the stamp has splatters so, I add libbed a few more.

Used those Mungyo paints and the sentiment is from My Favorite Things. The tiny photocorners are die cuts from an old green original Sizzix die. On my desk you can see one of those Misti's has the tulips in it and the other has the sentiment. I really am going to go pick things up now and will peek in later. Thanks for stopping by & stay safe out there.