Inspired by {Style Motivation}

 Happy Independence Day People! Tonight Julie is linking us up to the Style Motivation site and I found it easier to look at the photos on their pinterest boards. But, a lot of their boards are group boards so, the pins are on them from random people. And I stumbled across this pin on the weddings board of these tins with scrabble tile words in them. And I thought oh, that would be cool as a tag. 

I have a few old jars filled with scrabble tiles in my space and you know its Love if I give up a J as there is only one in each box. So, that being said I really do not have many J's here ( I found 2 in two of these jars) so.. I just may keep this tag and add a small tag with Hubs name to the Yarn/Hemp string in the hole. That wide edge eyelet is a new thing I found on Amazon not too long ago and I used my crop o dile on it, and it did not work well on the back side so, I did whack this (a bunch) with a hammer and a setter and it did not make a difference in smoothing out the metal) so, that was the reason I chose yarn to go through that hole. I am thinking lace would have just snagged. The jingle Bells I've had some time now and I don't remember the MFG info on them. But, that base was cut with a tag die from Mama Elephant ( retired) its A2 in real life and the plaid ( Tim Holtz old Christmas paper was just eyeballed on the paper trimmer to make it fit inside the stitched detailing of the diecut. The label is an Gina K Designs stamp ( very old ) heat embossed with white powder on some Cherry Cobbler cardstock and cut with a spellbinders die. Those tiles are on the diecut layer with "craft" glue dots. ( the big ones) And that's about it from me, I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by. If you find yourself with free time to play along with us you can find this challenge here and Everyone is so excited the behind the scene's team of IT people at SCS were able to get the galleries up and visible again today after the big update recently. 
 

Watercoloring Magnolias with Push & Pull accents

 This week Kia is sharing a video from Debbie Walker Art seen here on YouTube where she shows some glazing over a previously painted Magnolia branch using the tip of a round brush in a push and pull motion. So after I watched that video I hunted down this other video of hers that I think is the how she did the Magnolia's used in this weeks tutorial. So, I did start this with my (not so great paper) notebook that is small and I used a small brush to try the strokes here.

 My thought with this was, its a smaller piece of paper use a smaller brush. ( that was hard, its like making it harder on yourself to use not so great paper and not do what you just seen.) So, I left this to dry and then tried it on (better Cotton ) paper in an A7 size. 

 And my hand had a mind of its own and my branch became a bush peeking into the scene from the bottom. I don't have the color she used so I just messed around with some colors I have and made them various shades ( those petals) 

 What It looked like this morning, with a little extra added on and then when I came home from work it looked like (below)

 Which was encouraging so, I picked up the first trial and added another layer to the top of that branch.

 And some sprinkles of splatters. I prefer the one that is larger done on the better paper in all reality this is a not so bad trial. I did date these after I shot the last two photos and called it "good enough". I have always had a Magnolia bush on my mental garden wish list and this is something Hubs is very aware of that he will be planting for me when we do a forever home. ( preferably where it does not snow) and so, the color choice of these is I don't know, but the ones I have seen in person were either white or very pale pink/mauve so, I like the idea of these but, I the petals I remember seeing were shaped more like little scoops so, I cam curious about what other ones may be possible for my someday garden. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

 

July Dirty Dozen Christmas Sample

 It's the beginning of July and I am back with a quick little Christmas card that was jump started by this months Photo inspiration for the Dirty Dozen Christmas cards prompt. ( seen here in the special forums for Fan Club members of SCS) 

I started by digging out this pad of woodgrain prints from Crafters Consortium and I pulled out one white sheet and this blue sheet. and started pushing around the red Merry diecut stack ( that was on the table) and When I went looking in the drawer for some trees I may have done in the past I found these that had been cut from the sheet music print and so, the one closer to the center is up on foam pop dots. That bitty red house is a Memory Box diecut Probably from one of the village sets. I have this tiny milk glass tray on the table that has tiny die cuts and sentiments stamped on tags and such in it. So the Impression Obsession word dies came out of there. I had thought to tie on the charm but, I didn't think of it until the glue had dried under the Y so, I ended up tying the hemp string into a bow and just laying it on top of the swirls. The lace here is vintage and the tiny star circle is a die cut from a K & Co. package of misc. Patriotic things that is in a bin on the table. I never got around to using any of this but, this tiny circle piece. This is A6 in real life and the base is some Papertrey Ink white. That's about it from me, I will be back later tonight with a sample for this weeks Watercoloring challenge as well. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

Watercoloring Sketchbook Backgrounds

 It's my turn to host the Watercoloring tutorial challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week and I happened across a new to me artist (My Nature Diaries) on YouTube not too long ago where she shared background ideas in watercolor in a garden sketchbook. With this video seen here. I also had received this watercolor book for Mother's Day this year from my son so, I thought win win. Along with some handmade textured papers. 

 This does say it is 100% cotton paper and I thought why not. One thing that I really liked about her page she shared was the fact that there was also stamps and journaling mixed in with the sketched painted parts. I mainly started water coloring because, I wanted to be able to color my stamped images better or easier. and Of all the coloring mediums I have tried over the years, pencils are still high the list but, Water coloring is edging it out for the easiest one to do in a quick thing I guess. It takes a long time to build layers of color with pencils and I did not find markers to be an easy thing for me so, the water coloring even with the drying times seems faster I guess than pencils.  

So I opened it up to page two (back side of page 1) and decided to add some of this palette from Prima called Terrain ( which was also probably a gift a year or two ago ish?) and Then I clipped the other side and started a layer on it as well.

 I did add some blues to the greens thinking it would be "Sky" space, Although even in the back of my mind I was thinking I was not going to sketch anything I was either going to stamp some images that would be sketch style or wing it with a paint brush. (my book & no rules) 

 What it looked like the next morning dry.

This book pages are on the A7 size so, I dug out my scrapbooking size Misti to add this SU sketched Monarch Butterflies stamp to it, thinking I could restamp the image as needed but, this was I did not press to hard since it was not opened say in the middle of the book, I did not want to break the lid of my Misti so, it did not stamp perfectly in the center of the stamp but, I felt like it was "fix-able" with paint.

 

So I added some lunar black to the butterflies and other paints, along with some white gouache straight out of the tube ( which is another layer of texture) and then I decided to stamp this Penny Black (heart shaped leaves sprig) with some DOX iced spruce ink in the corner.

I did add some paints over the top of those leaves as they did not stamp perfectly either on the textured paper and then added in some stray grass lines and some splatters to the spaces where there were grass here. and so far, this is what it looks like. I do not get monarch butterflies in my yard and I did consider thinking about sketching some kind of a big leaf somewhere here and then adding more butterflies but, I am not really making a garden journal out of this, its more like a play book that may turn out a little better than the other books I have going on with not cotton paper that you know is something to flip back through later to see the ideas of how things worked or turned out I guess. I am debating if I want to paint in something with some Masking fluid as that was another of the ideas shown and so far I am still thinking about it. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

 On Wednesday AM I added some pencil lines for journaling with a water soluble pencil and then scratched on a thought I had about Milkweed Plants and Butterflies with a nib and some India Ink. what I don't know at this point is if I were to paint over those words if they will smear. I probably should have done some painting over there before the words but, such is life. 

More Christmas Tags

 So, after I had done the little 3X3 cards yesterday afternoon I remembered there were these packages of pre-made tags in one of the boxes I had shipped home from Mom's craft room. I have never bought these and I like to make tags so, I thought what the heck, I opened up this pack and there are quite a few tags in it and they had eyelets in the holes already. And then I seen some of them were kind of "rusty" looking probably from those eyelets. I am looking at this blog post from a small screen laptop and the photos look tiny this way, to see the details better if you are doing the same click on them, they should open up as a larger photo and you can use your browsers back button to continue reading. (old eyes, its about that time for a new RX I am guessing haha) 

So I tend to have vintage photo ink on the table all the time but, I also have some antique linen out at the moment as well so, they all got color dusted along the edges. 

And I picked up a pad of DCWV Season of Joy ( its from 2022 so, may still be available at small stores?) not sure but, its one of those happy things when you find a pad that you like just about every single sheet in it. and one of the hard things for me are those pages that have the little I think you are supposed to cut them up so, I did cut up one of those I guess they are sentiment block sections and cut strips from the printed paper and just trimmed it I did not dig out any dies for this. 

 

the lace on this was a scrap on the table, the Merry & Bright is foiled into that printed paper. I have not inked or added a to / from sentiment to the backs of them as of yet but, that is coming later today I am thinking.

I had finished 3 of these tags last night before we went to dinner but, I knew the other 7 were sitting on the table so I waited until they were all done ish to post this. They are not really inspired by any particular wrapping paper but, they follow along with that same basic idea I guess. 

The green sheer ribbon is probably something generic from Joann's that I have had for years, the stamped sentiments were done a month or so ago one day when I was cutting up scraps (that you can see in that little milk glass tray) and I have already forgotten what sets they came out of or what dies I used ones that fit them. 

A mug shot that includes today's tags and the front of that pad of paper, I am almost thinking if I find it for sale again I'd buy another one but... (smack my hand already I own a metric ton of printed papers and so, I felt kind of victorious that I cut up so many sheets from the pad to do this stack of tags I am thinking, no it did not make a visible difference in my stash but, I am impressed with my self that I used so much. 

Those itty bitty brads in the tags and charms are from Recollections. (Micheal's) The red Hemp string I think is Lawn Fawn? I know that framed from our hearts sentiment that was cut with scissors is a Penny Black and the circle above it is from Red Lead. 

 I am kind of leaning towards the green Pine cone one laying on its side could have a name or monogram on it so, It's just like this for now. It's hard to see but, there is also a little pine cone charm tied onto its ribbon with some slippery (plastic feeling) raffia string. Those just for you tags are Northwoods. The Framed from our family is one of the first Dollar bin stamps I ever bought and it has some red stickles glitter glue in the heart. 

The back sides received this IO stamp done in Acorn ink, the bitty hearts were colored with a fineliner pen and the edges have some DOX vintage photo ink. That's about it from me. I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Aspen & Arlo}

 This week Denise is sharing the Aspen & Arlo site that has some seriously ( I want) Wrapping papers. I sent my self emails with links to a half a dozen of them and then started looking at my printed papers. ( I have so many I need to start using these things) So, I settled on this white chapel paper thinking I had something similar and found these lanterns on an Carta Bella Christmas pad from a few years back.

I started chopping up prints that had the lanterns on them and then set the ones with trees to the side as I knew I had seen wrap with just trees printed on them as well.  

These "Lanterns" had the same feel to them to my eye as that Chapel print these are 3" X 3" square in real life on random scraps that had been cut and scored to that for little folding gift cards.

Same pad of paper and these are also 3"X3" in real life. I am really liking the simplicity of these and am eyeballing the clock to see if I have time to knock out a few more in this same size and or theme of Christmas gift cards this evening. If I do I will add them here and edit this post. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by. 

Watercoloring with a Dry brush an Abstract bloom

 This week Linda is sharing a dry brush style abstract bloom seen here on YouTube by Cailey. And so, I did watch it and then changed the colors to corals for the one I tried.

 first layers of paint.

 Second layer of paints.

 added a little more to the center and a few dots of paints.

 a few more dots of paints in the center and splatters of paint. and so, this is where I stopped with it, I am thinking that It is one of those things you need to practice a while to get something you may use doing this. So, I did do this in the Strathmore Travel pad I have on the backside of one of the pages. I did use Daniel Smith watercolor paints and I think I will try this again some time. That's about it from me, you can find this challenge here to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Father's Day

 A few weeks ago I hosted the watercoloring challenge ( seen here ) and I had started a second block that finished like this.

first layers of paints

 second with some splatters

I stamped on the leaf ( thinking Unity stamps here) with the sentiment might be (Ellen Hutson) and then diecut that with a triple stitched frame. This is A2 in real life and I was able to clear off the table enough to have a flat space to put a happy Father's day inside of it this morning for Hub's dad. 

 

My Desktop Saturday AM. I did move all those tool containers around the corner to the place where I laminate stamp sheets. ( last flat space standing) 

So Last January when mom died I did mail a few boxes of stamps to myself trying to make some space for Tim in her studio that had turned into a storage closet room and those had been stacked up around the corner not in these photos. This last trip down and back I did open and pack up every single box in that room and hauled the bulk of it with Tim to his garage so he can he has a realtor friend whose other friend has garage sales and ebay sales to help people. and we cleared out the room to become a guest bedroom. And I mailed stacks of boxes to myself for a week straight in that process. This last week I opened the boxes and started trying to sort things into like category piles. 

 

some of these things on the table ( were mine and I had them out before I left and I probably should have put away my letterpress stuff before I started unpacking but, such is life.) 

 Today will be the first day I get to stay home all day ( and mostly alone after Hub's leaves to go fishing) 

what a mess eh? It's a lot overwhelming. and just plain A Lot. I have people I can gift duplicates to but, there is still the sorting and re-packing to do. plus the trying to find space for the things I would like to keep.

Where things stand at the moment gives me a tiny flat space to create in and I really need that. I hope you all are doing well, Thanks for stopping by. 

Watercoloring aShades of Blue Landscape

 This week Brenda is sharing this video seen here on YouTube by Nasim Art called easy painting of trees Lovely watercolor painting for beginners. Which is an landscape with a forest done in shades of blues and greys, in 8 minutes or so not counting drying times.

So I started with a square of Arches cold press cut to 4 1/4" square and I let this mostly dry before I started the trees. well, actually I did one tree trunk and found it was not really that dry so, after that I let it sit.

and I did add it more tree trunks, a few branches. Some foreground shadows and popped a couple of birds flying into the scene from the distance. 

 

I decided I liked this how it looks with the shadows on the ground under the trees and I did not add the dog walker figures to the scene.

 I used an Spellbinders mat basics 6" square die to trim the painted panel, ran the Tim Holtz blue texture through an Penny Black embossing folder and took a piece of sand paper to that to bring out the script a little more. The grey corrugate is from an DCWV pad and that ribbon is from May Arts. The base here and the liner are some Neenah ( navy linen & solar white) This one is 5 1/2" square in real life and I have not added a sentiment to it as of yet, but I am thinking it may become one of the Father's day cards this year. Not sure yet. That's about it from me, If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Cotton & Crete}

 It's my turn to host the inspiration challenge at Splitcoaststampers and I have chosen this site called Cotton & Crete. Then also have pinterest boards you can see here. I had saved quite a few things and kept coming back to this wrapping paper seen here. I knew I could stamp something or paint something very similar but, I decided to dig out some really old pads of printed paper and went with these. 

 I did start with that floral printed paper and its from an Authentique pad called Irresitable and its from 2013. The stripe along the bottom is from an My Minds Eye pad called Gingham Farm that is newer from 2019. The lace tied along the seam of them is vintage and the sentiment is from an Ellen Hutson set called "Besties" this was stamped with some versafine on some Neenah solar white and cut with an Spellbinders labels 18 die ( as were its layers) those layers of flowers were from the white canning jar but, I am pretty sure the sheer one on the bottom layer is from Making Memories, the center one is probably Prima and the top one with the pearl is from Hobby Lobby. This is A6 in real life. I know its more frilly than the sample paper and I find that I am OK with that. I think this will still mail as a one stamp card rather than a parcel rate card I am hoping. That's about it from me, If you'd like to play along with us this holiday weekend you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Clean & Simple Leaves

 Hi, & Welcome back. It's my turn to host the Watercoloring tutorial challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week and I have been totally under the weather as it is full swing allergy season here and I was so glad I had picked something easy when I was looking haha. 

You can find this video here on YouTube by CreationsCeeCee Called fresh and simple watercolor cards. I had intended to do a small stack of things but, this is the only one I have done so far.

I had an A6 scrap of studio loft watercolor paper on the table so, that is what I used. that is some Daniel Smith watercolor paints here and I did let this dry after this.

 

The addition of a leaf, it looked a little skinny but, not a bad shape so I kept going.

 I used this fountain Pen nub to do some veins on the leaf.

 Then I popped in a second leaf as the first was just too skinny in that block of color to my eye.At this point I really was just winging it as I knew I had seen the block go on get dried and then a leaf over the top but, that is all I remembered. 

 These sparkle paints were still out from (probably last week) and so I did add some shiny gold dots to the background below and above the first leaf.

I used a Frantic Stamper pinprick rectangle die to cut the hole into the top of the cardbase and then trimmed the watercolor panel slightly to fit behind it so the painting is countersunk here. The sentiment on this is from the Waffle Flower Inside sentiments birthday set done with some Versafine Ink. That's about it from me, If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.