WOYWW # 639 {Blueberries}

 

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

 

What my desk looked like after work on Tuesday. The sheet farthest away was the practice and the one closest becomes the tag seen below. I really thought it was going to take more practice but, I was pretty pleased with the colors on this sheet and just decided to roll with it. The sheet that becomes the tag was painted at work today at lunch with a combination of Daniel Smith and Mungyo paints. 

 This week the Watercolor Wednesday is taking a look at painting Blueberries seen in this video here.

I know the colors are a little off, I went out side and peeked at my blueberry bush that is still doing berries and the parts where the frayed star end of it is, that is brown on my plants and then the leaves are way too light but, I think for something you are just messing around with it, doesn't look that bad.  

 

So, I decided to use the largest die in the Spellbinders deckle rectangles die set and punched a hole in the other end for the ribbon to run through. the random thought I had about this is, my dad eats Blueberries every day like I do and I just may use this as a gift tag for something for him sometime. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us.  I figured since This was what was on my desk today it would just kill two birds to combine the posts.

WOYWW # 638 { Table 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

 

This is a photo heavy series of things, that I shot and did not steal time to post. 

a couple of Mondays ago the clean and simple challenge was to do 

a card in 10 minutes, and if you have read this blog for a long time you already know that is an epic fail in my world. but, I really really tried this time. 

 

 

This turned out to be an 11 1/2 minutes card because, I had the black on his eyes ( he was painted with Daniel Smith paints) and I just knew that if I ran him through the big shot damp those eyes would smear and he already has a vulture look going on with the eyes so, I decided to not push my luck. and at the time this was being painted it was really hot so the paint was drying almost instantly.

 

 

So, this was my desk last weekend,  and now there is a little more elbow room because, I found that two tier wooden lazy Susan at Costco last week (on Wednesday) and decided that because it was flat bottoms it would be more practical than the scoop bottom one that used to sit at the back of the paper cutter. ( all that was in that was deco scissors and some spools of hemp string) and I had piled things I intended to mail to people on it. so not quite flat surface filing syndrome but, close.

I moved all those flower pots and coffee cups of tools to it, and that freed up a lot of room on the table, the fact that is spins is very helpful.

 

 The Friday before that Monday challenge I had received some cool things from the recent Stamping Bella Release plus a few older ones that had been on the mental wish list. I did use the unicorn for one of the challenges then. ( you can see most of the DTGD cards close up here on the blog. ) I know there were 49 challenges, but I never counted mine. I need to do a group mug shot of the projects because, one needs to go in the mail today.

 

Another eBay win arrived. this guy's name is Spud and there is a tv for him to be a potato in front of.

Now, this is a really lucky thing, my friend Janice who lives in PA has stores that are "Art Recycle" stores and every so often she goes and see's things she asks me if I like them and does the personal shopper thing for me while she is doing it for herself. so, its one of those somebody pinch me lucky things. This is the newest batch that just arrived a little bit ago.

So, this was my tuesday afternoon desk shot. I had been asked to join the team of people who do the Wednesday watercolor challenges at SplitcoastStampers. ( these are tutorial links to video's at youtube that people are learning along to watercolor together with) its not a prize driven type of a challenge. more like a personal one. and there are people of all different skill levels playing along. which makes it fun because, people chatter about what they are learning worked and what went sideways. type of a thing. That card was finished last night and can be seen here. 

So, that is what is going on with me. The big fire in the county I live in is considered 100% contained. ( its not growing out on the edges anymore its burning towards its center and will continue to do so until it snows next winter. There are additional fires in every direction. ( much farther away) that the smoke blows here. so, the gist of it is the air quality goes from hazerdous to unhealthy swinging back and forth. and I cannot express to you how totally over it I am. Which has me eyeballing my folding table I stamp on again considering the having a cabinet maker, build me a sturdy wood table/desk that does not sway when you clean it haha. Mask mandates go back to even out doors in this state starting on Friday. ( they are currently only for indoor public spaces) but, the numbers of covid cases continue to rise. Stay safe out there & thanks for stopping by.

 

Shared Landmass

 This week the team for water coloring Wednesdays ( a daily challenge at SplitcoastStampers) has welcomed me to join them. and this week we are taking a look at tiny light house loose paintings with ink. And seeing the link my first thought was I finally have that old Stampin' Up set called coast to coast and its kinda sketchy looking so, I decided to use it.

The lighthouses were stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturn ink on some Arches 100% cotton watercolor paper ( cold press) and colored with some Daniel Smith paints. These were diecut with some Hero Arts postage stamp edged dies and are up on foam tape over the base. This sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Miss you Missy set. This was diecut with a spellbinders rectangle die. You can find this challenge here to play along with us, Thanks for stopping by.

Distressed Snow

 

So, last week's watercolor Wednesday prompt went to this video from Debby Hughes that uses distress inks and water to give a stamped image a watercolor vibe. and I watched it, and I think where mine goes off into left field is in the past I have always done these direct to paper type things with either flowers or leaves. and this time I reached my hand in to the I have not opened this stash and came out with these prismatic snowflakes set from last years Stamptember at SSS. (really) It's kind of crazy how much I have collected in the last year, but I wanted to do my part to help these stores stay afloat. ( that's my story and I am sticking to it) :) This sentiment is from Mama Elephant's peaceful wishes set.

anyways, the straight lines of these snowflakes, they really have this wrought iron look going on, did not really lend it self to the blurry effect very well. So, I ended up adding more layers of paints and splatters and such and then I had the bright idea that if I cut out the best snowflake and chopped the panel up it would look better. So, I tried that and the edges looked kinda neekid so, I went around them with some copper krylon leafing pen. Part of the video there is some vellum under the sentiment panel so, I started flipping through a baggie of already diecut snow looking for something in vellum and found this My Favorite Things one cut from some pale aqua shimmer cardstock and decided it works with these colors and as I was layering things together I decided it needed more sparkle so, out came the stickles glitter glue too. 

and it does not look a thing like Debby's card and that is OK. I love the colors I chose and I am tickled that it is different than everything else I have set aside so far for this coming winter/Christmas. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Some more from Dare to Get Dirty.

 There were 49 challenges in total this year for Dare to get Dirty week at SplitcoastStampers. I have not done them all as of yet, the good news is the inspiration stays up on the site for future use. So, here are the rest of the ones I have done so far. I cannot tell you what the challenge is but, I can say what I did or used. This will be a really photoheavy post so, grab your cup and enjoy.

This was done for Lydia's first challenge, this girl Unity Stamps Just Sorry was stamped with versafine on Neenah and watercolored with some Karin Markers ( skin & hair) and Daniel Smith Watercolors on the rest of the image. The sentiment here is also from Unity Stamps the Crappy Day set. ( its up on foam pop dots)

The front panel here I have cut a hole into the top end of it to tuck the girl from behind and used the same acrylic paint on the edges of her panel as the front to make it a little more seamless. I did run that textured panel through the big shot a few times to flatten it a little more. ( its Masking tape with covered with gesso and paint) I thought it looked like a messy bed. And this one finished out at A7 in real life. 

For Dina's first challenge I used this So Many Hearts girl from the precious moments line at Stampendous ( this is a really old one) colored with pencils and copic markers (skin) and the sentiment here is from Hero Arts Many everyday messages set. the door is an Alexandra Renke called wing door. This one is A2 in real life. 

So a week ago the inspiration went to a home design magazine site and I being an alumni dirty girl also had access to the master list of challenge knew what Lori C's first challenge would be so, I combined these two. The home design photo that jump started mine can be seen here. What an awesome back yard hmm? So, I picked up the My Favorite Things perfect pool stencil when it first came out and this is the first time it has been removed from the packaging. so I decided to tape it down to a piece of cheaper canson watercolor paper and "paint" through the exposed holes. It did bleed a little bit, and I did go over the top of some of the bleeds with white Gouache after the stencil was lifted and the Duck was stamped with some Cheerful (yellow) Versafine Claire and watercolored with Daniel Smith paints, I cut a slit into the water panel to tuck his tummy into and taped over this on the back side to help keep him flat. The sentiment here is from The My Favorite Things you float my boat set, and it finished out at A7 in real life.

This was done for Gem's challenge and I used a Spellbinders hemstitched rect. die on the cover of the cardbase and Their shapabilities Joy set for the center. The letters are up on foam pop dots and the pearls are from Kaiserkraft, ( they are a blush color but on the barn red texture they may show up as cream on your monitor) the inside was lined with some Neenah because, I always put white cardstock on the insides of my colored bases to write on. This one is A6 in real life, and the first Christmas card I have done in months and months. which poked my brain into looking at more of the challenges thinking and over thinking to see if they could be modified to become Holiday cards too. 

Which lead me to Lee's challenge, the base stamp here is a background from Simon Says Stamp that was heat embossed with white SU powder on some pink shimmer DCWV. the Vellum layer is an older holly berry house that was also heat embossed on the top side and then I used water base markers in spots of the back and I really thought that gave it a kaleidoscope look. So, I added some dots of glittered stickles glue in a few spots too. this one is 5 1/2" square in real life. 

I found this image Our Daily Bread Designs the mighty sea already colored with some pencils in the envelope on the table and so, I used some previously made watercolor background for the framing and then while I was looking at this, I have had my Daniel Smith watercolors on the table for a few weeks now, I decided to add some paint here and there over the pencils. The sentiments on this are from the Altenew camp life set. and this one finished out at A7 in real life. 

So Kia has a challenge that I decided I would watercolor for it, and this is the center piece of a frame diecut and so the bloom is from the eclectica3 kay carley 47 the pretty flowers were a feast for the eyes set and heat embossed with white powder over the paint. I did go over the center with white Gouache and some stickles glitter glue. That sentiment, I spent hours over several days trying to figure out which set it came out of. I cannot find it in evernote so, I will probably end up poking around in the stamps them selves here and there and edit later. I found it in the file cabinet in one of those pockets of previously stamped and diecut sentiments. the center panel is up on foam tape and this one is 4" x 9" in real life. 

So this is the actual entry into her challenge and its also a slimline card. the homes and sentiment are from the Concord & 9th city stacks set. 

a closer look at the painting from the card below. The road runner is "on the run" the Wil E Coyote is called "Yipes!" the center has some shimmering from Stampscapes ( but, it is a small stamp, so I deliberately used the paints in lines to add more streaks around them.)

The silhouette in the back is from the sweet n sassy landscape silhouettes set and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession pandemic humor. 

The painted panel is on foam tape above the base and this one finished out at 4" x 9" in real life, the edges were cut with deco scissors. 

You might remember this panel, it happened to fit Pat's challenge so, I did some layers of speckled Neenah cardstock to frame it trying to detract from the fact that I had taped the tape across the top crooked when I painted it a while back and that was one of those hunh moments when it was revealed. 

I probably could just mix up some more blue ish paint and touch up the top left corner but, so far I have resisted the urge to do so. This one finished out at A7 in real life. 

 Done for Liz's challenge, the Victoria's Secret is from the Emerson line at American Art Stamps, the bra-less is from Art Impressions. She was colored with Karin markers and Daniel Smith watercolors with some stardust gelly roll pen on the glasses. 

Some where around Wednesday the watercolor prompt came out and it was to do some free hand blooms and I had a mess of yellows on the palette at that point and I knew what the DTGD line up looked like so this ended up being made for 4 different challenges, the Wednesday watercolor, Jen, Holly & Ann's DTGD challenges. the Sentiment here is from the Penny Black A little bird set. 

You may have remembered seeing this dog face ( Impression Obsession) being painted when he arrived in the mail, the sentiment came out around the same time too, so this was done for Bev's challenge. 

This was done for Shelly's challenge. the birdhouse is from the old SU set called scene in a garden. The sentiment here is a reverse printed one from Simon Says Stamp ( some spring set) That red panel is vellum with alcohol inks on it and to allow the light to flow through like a window, the front panel of the card also has a window cut into it from the inside of the base. This one is A2 in real life. 

This was done for Mary's Challenge. The sentiment is from Riley & Co. the Oscar reading the paper is from Art Impressions ( this was stamped twice as the top colored layer is paper pieced into the scene.) the rest of the room are from two different My Favorite Things sets, Cozy Companions and Our Story. the main layer here was all colored with Daniel Smith paints. 

 Now this I did not make, this one came to me the other day in the mail from Shelly with a sample of some gold leafing flakes to play with and the sticky note that said do not open with the fans running. This is one of her samples she made for DTGD and it sparkles so beautifully in real life. Thanks Shelly!

 Which lead me to playing with them for a little something for Judy's challenge. the cat is from Art Impressions, the sentiment is from the Shut up and Color set from Dylusions. this one is A2 in real life. that pale aqua color is an shimmer cardstock from Micheal's recollections line. 

This week the Inspiration destination is looking at Nordic Wall where I found this piece of art 

and my first thought was you could paint that. ( not a normal thought for me) and my second thought was, you could have a two-fer card and use it as a sample for Tracie's challenge. So, I did this is Daniel smith watercolors with a bit of White Gouache. the sentiment here is from the My Favorite Things anything but basic birthday wishes. It's 4" X 9" in real life. 

 Which leaves me with something I had done for Jayne's challenge. the teabag here was paper pieced back into the design using a used dried coffee filter. the other color around it and on the tag are DS watercolors. the sentiments here are from the Verve Stamps one cup set. the embossing folder is one I had borrowed a while back from my MIL and I have forgotten its name, but there is a heart underneath the image panel in my card on it. the lace here is vintage from the notions dept. and this one is A6 in real life. I do have something drying / de-fume - ing for Jayne's second challenge and hopefully sometime soon I will get it done. I hope you enjoyed this, thanks for stopping by.

Decided to just edit this post with the last card, this was done for Jayne's first challenge. the butterfly was painted last April some time, the cardboard was painted along time ago too. the background panel was run through the big shot inside a Cuttlebug goochie script folder and it has some Antique linen and Salvaged Patina DOX over the top of the leaf pattern. and I realized the reason I never used this butterfly is. I did not leave space to give it a body. ha ha. ( did you notice that before I wrote it?) ( I didn't) 

I did actually get a group mug shot of them all before I started mailing some out.

Some scene's from last Sunday

 I totally had zero time to do a blog post on Wednesday this week for WOYWW but, I do have mug shots of my desk. and this was one from last weekend where I figured out that I could tape the watercolor cardstock to the backs of old pads ( so I can move them around) but, this time I used the grid under the board to center the paper and the tape so, that worked out much better for me. So, if I can make this a new habit, I will be fairly pleased with my self for remembering.

Like so.

 

This is another one of the Dare to get Dirty challenge that I cannot tell you what the challenge is but, I can tell you this oddball unicorn (stamping bella) came in the mail last friday night and I really wanted to color him so, I did. I had originally stamped him in the yellow Versafine Clair ink then immediately stamped over that with the old versafine Orange ink. (the yellow was too hard to see) and it gave it a dreamy look. ( I had a lot of yellows and corals on the palette when I started)  The sentiment here is from the Ellen Hutson warm fuzzies set. This was painted with Daniel Smith paints. The printed basic grey papers were die cut with a Paper Rose lots of squares die. This one finished out at 5 1/2" square.

This was a combo two-fer challenge one element of it is for a Dare to get dirty one and the other was inspired by this week's featured stamper Linda. I found this pretty card in her gallery and loved the color combo and the way the black POPS so, this is you know changes are there are less layers and I moved the sentiment up the design to overlap the blooms. This Penny Black pure Iris was stamped with fade out ink on Arches 100% cotton cold press and then colored over the top of that with Daniel Smith watercolors. The printed sentiment is a reverse one from Simon Says Stamp and it is on foam pop dots over the painting. It finished out at A7 in real life. 

That's about it from me for now, I will try to get more of this posted soon. Thanks for stopping by.

Dare to Get Dirty {Out of Jail}

 Today is the last day challenges go live for Dare to get Dirty week at Splitcoaststampers. And one of those happens to be mine. Its a two-fer challenge where you can read the secret details for fan club members here about the dirty part and later tonight once it's live you can also see the second half for the Inspiration challenge this week.

So, I can not tell you what the challenge is but, I can share what I did here. The coffee cup is actually a teacup and saucer one from Judi Kins that my friend Janice rescued for me from that art recycle store near her a while back. It was stamped with some Versafine Pinecone ink on a piece of watercolor paper that had been done no wrinkle distress with distress Oxide inks a while back. over the top of that I added some Daniel Smith watercolors for shadows. The coffee part was paper pieced into this design and the background  & framing were also, I had decided to spin the frame when I pieced it back together and while I had it apart I flicked more paint onto the frame then the body too. That sentiment is from Rubbernecker and is pretty tiny in real life but, it reads " I have one cup of coffee each morning just to start the day off right. The other ones are to keep me out of jail, help me form sentences & find my razor sharp wit." Which sounds about right eh? Hopefully you are starting your day off right too about now and can pop over and play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW #636 {painting}

 

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

 

 Right this minute, it just occurred to me that it was Wednesday. I don't know who sped the clock up but, it sure has been flying lately. So the Wednesday Watercolor challenge/tutorial prompt goes to a video on you tube about doing these loose flowers. ( they were really pink) click here to view. and I did watch it early this morning and thought OK I am going to try this, but I am not going to use a pencil first ( because, the lines always show and that bugs me) So, when I came home I had a big mess of yellow on the palette already so, I went with that and I started thinking mine looked a little more like sunflower/daisy type flowers rather than what ever they were supposed to be in the video. and here is my Ah Ha moment of the day. last night I fished out one of those old tutorial scene's I painted back in April and it was crooked when the tape came off the top. ( I have been taping the WC paper to the backs of old pads so I can move them out of the way when they need to dry) and that really irritated me that it was crooked. ( yes I could probably take a brush and add some blue to the top left corner and straighten it out) but, my ah ha moment came today after work, I looked at the desk and did that you shoulda had a V-8 moment and taped the image to the grid on the glass mat. yes, I know you are laughing. 

This is the card I finished off last night for Pat's Dare to get Dirty challenge seen here. It's one of those things, I either have time stolen to create or time to blog but, not both. so, no blog posts have happened with all I have done so far. will try to get it together soon. I am pretty certain you can find them by clicking on the my gallery button off to the right though. Thats about it from me, our State is about to go back into lock down and I think I am going to watch the news tonight to see the what all and where list. Stay safe & Thanks for stopping by

WOYWW # 635 {Chicks & Ducks}

 

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, this was an idea (under construction paint is wet here) for what will be a two-fer sample one DTGD and one IC challenge for this coming Friday I think. Used a MFT stencil for the water with watercolors and it did seep under the design in the center a little so, after this was dry and shot I did add some more paint to it, and some white gouache where there should have been highlights from the stencil. ( have not looked at it yet this morning to see if that worked) 

It's an unusual time of the year for the feed store to have chicks. Usually its a spring or fall thing, but we went in for dog food over the weekend and also came home with 6 Rhode Island Reds.

(Izzy is only 2 and has not seen this happen before, last time we got chicks she was too small to see over the side of the bin they stay in while tiny.

little fluffs of cuteness for your Wednesday. I am driving for Ice today so, may be a few days before I look at anything. I am mostly puttering around working on samples for Dare to Get Dirty. ( this is a thank you event week of challenges hosted by current and alumni Dirty girls from Splitcoaststampers as a perk for members of the fan club.) That's about if from me, stay safe out there & thanks for stopping by.