Inspired by {Callister's Christmas}

 This week Amy is sharing the Callister's Christmas site for the Inspiration challenge at SCS. They have Pinterest boards found here as well. I started looking at the Pinterest board and loved this pin with the snowy forest. As I was looking at that I knew I could you know duplicate that fairly easily and I probably have printed paper that looks just like that. But, at the time when I found that pin I was also still in play with all the postage rubber stamps mode so, Out came this old one from Hero Arts called Celebrate the Season #E2323 It's part of the boxed set from them from 2001 called Holiday Post De Luxe #LL712 if you are hunting old stamps. I stamped this twice on some Strathmore Mixed Media paper and twice on some Neenah Environmental cover sheet. 

I have some process shots of this but, they also show what is coming for the December Dirty Dozen prompt for Dec. 1st and I decided to just show these tags. they are pretty straight forward. I did add some Daniel Smith watercolor paints to the trees along with some Windsor & Newton white gouache to the snow areas. I cut these all out with scissors and I was not that careful about it, I just wiggled my hand as I was running the paper through the scissors. I did ink all those edges of cardstock with DOX inks. Found some green and kraft tags and 3X3 card bases in the (already to go be finished container) and added some sentiments, ribbons, charms, You know the usual suspects and got these into the Happy Gift wrapping season packages going out at Thanksgiving. That's about if from me, If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

Christmas Tags Continued

 It's that time of the year... Gift Wrapping Season right? :) I actually enjoy making tags and do them off and on all year so, that particular idea of a season for wrapping just makes me smile. Stamping Up has it as a stamp in the set called North Pole Mischief. 

 On this top box, its stamped and then diecut with a rectangle die and is on a Tag cut from the Ellen Hutson Modern Tags set of dies. 

 I wanted to find pretty paper covered boxes to contain them as Thanksgiving weekend gifts but, I used to find those boxes at Joann's Fabrics and when I went to Micheal's I did not see anything like that would work for me. ( they are still putting Christmas on the shelf at our local store so) I did find these plastic containers in the organize your stuff isle and thought OK this will work. 

I am debating if this one can work for a guy gift or not, I am thinking Maybe... The boot and sentiment "Life is short, buy the boots" is from Taylored Expressions Cute to Boot set. ( the dies came with the stamps) they had a sale last week and this was one of the things that came in the mail yesterday. The other boot really looks like Sunflowers to me and I think I will do it more girly. but, I did do this on one some Kraft cardstock and then used the kraft/red distressed color for the background thinking not only guy but, Christmas. There is some Daniel Smith watercolor paints on it and Stickles glitter glues. The edges of everything were inked with DOX Scorched Timber ink.

4 more mostly reds Tags The Gifts on this are printed paper as is that Santa. the little one in the lower right corner is a folding 3X3 gift card/tag. 

I might have flashed these while they were on the table under consideration. I did them close to the same time as the "guy tags". That Joy diecut has Stickles glitter glue on it and so do the stamped packages on the big tag. 

 Each of these the main Snowman here is from Inky Antics. 

 I had stamped off and started watercoloring a bunch of random Snowmen a while back and finally finished some of them into gift tags. This view shows off the Stickles glitter glue on these guys.

 This view may show the colors a little better, All of these snowmen are from Whipper Snapper Designs. 
I  have piles under construction but, some of the finished things will go live next week and the weeks after for challenge Samples and these are just some bonus things that I did for fun for me. and I have to tell you I enjoyed that. doing what I wanted. That's a hard thing to do some day's when you check a calendar for the next thing and so on as far as samples go. I try really hard to only make things that I like and or that interest me anymore but, some days that is the challenge part of being a maker I think. when the challenge is do you see something you can tweak into something you can use. I have also been cutting up some printed papers and putting those things in piles of things to work into tag ideas as well. I get so caught up in the whole you can make just about any theme that interests you anymore with the tools you have that I don't hardly touch the papers of the sitckers or anything that could make it easier as a process and I think. I need to make a dent in using up some of those things. And I tell my self its OK to do things in a time saving Easier way. that's why you have these things right? At any rate, I am getting ready to start wrapping and usually Do end up making more tags at the last minute to suit the gift or the person and I will probably have more to share soon. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

 

Watercoloring Abstract Branches

 This week Brenda is sharing these abstract style Branches with berries seen here on YouTube by Wendy Powell-Jones called Watercolour Christmas Card Ideas festive berries tutorial step by step. I did use some Arches cold press and sketched on some random berries onto a scrap and In my head I was thinking Tag when I started this. 

 I used Windsor & Newton masking fluid to cover my berries and skipped the do some additional Swipes for white space step.

 First layers of paint and splatters.

 When that was dried I did remove the masking fluid from the berries.

 Added paint to the berries and some branches along with some more darker greens in a few spots near the bottoms of the berries. and through the really undefined needle spaces in the background.

 While that was drying I did think I may as well start another one going and put the berries in nearly the same pattern as the first branch. 

 I was messing around with this Time For Tea A6 frame die and it nearly fit the painted panel with a sliver of the watercolor paper being too short for it to fit, and I also have some "wrapped up" type Christmas sentiments on the table at the moment and I did work this in and out of the frame on an angle and thought this will work for some interest. That is all up on foam pop dots over the Recollections printed peeling wood grain printed paper. That green frame and the base are some SU river rock cardstock and the sentiment is on Soft seafoam and cut with an Tim Holtz stitched die. The sentiment is from an old retired set from Waltzing Mouse called Season of Love tags set. This is A7 in real life.

 

 This was the second piece or Arches and I did the branches in about the same/similar way so, this one I diecut with an Impression Obsession tag die. The reinforcer part was cut from a scrap from a 49&Market printed paper. The stitched ribbon, I don't have any clue anymore who makes it but, it is soft not stiff. The green burlap string is from May Arts & I did that sentiment sometime last weekend but, I have forgotten its details. There is a bit of DOX Iced Spruce on the edges of all those papers.  That's about it from me, I hope you're doing well. Thanks for stopping by. If you'd care to play along you can find the challenge details here. 

A couple of guy tags

 Yesterday Angie tossed out an "make it for the boys" challenge and I want to make more tags, so that was not a hard thing in my head. I already had this Tim Holtz Stamptember set ( from 2023 ) on the table and I had stamped a few of the images on some Neenah Environmental cover sheet to color. 

 This first one, I stamped those words and images on a piece I had used the stamptember ( or July) I forget tag dies that came with one of the classes. ( I think it was this year's stamptember) and I used some of the watercolor pencils ( TH ) on the mittens, used a damp brush to drag the color around a bit more and then used some stickles glitter glue over the paint when it dried. The snowflakes are really bulky and I am finding I have a huge stash of bulky things I like and want to play with but, they are not finding there way onto cards much anymore because, paying package freight for a card is not fun. And I figure tags are OK because, you are either hand delivering the gift or the gift is going in a box to mail. So I have noticed mine (Tags) are getting lumpier and Lumpier. This was an angled shot on the table. The way the tag with the snowflake button dangles is something I have seen Anna Wight & Jill Norwood do and it catches my eye but, I usually tie things closer to the hole so this was a lets see if I like it experiment. It's not too bad. I may do some more like this. 

 The Sweater tag is not really that green in real life but, it is pretty bright-ish. I shot these before the sun came up under the studio lights. The sweater I cut out by hand and put it on some foam pop dots. That sweater sentiment is from the Colorado Craft Co. Sweater weather set and it has a matching die. The edges of everything on that tag were inked with some DOX scorched timber. The tiny little hex tag sentiments are from lili of the Valley. It's my understanding that they no longer do actual stamps but, do have these as digital print them your self items in their etsy shop. 

 A few more that have not gotten photographed yet and how the mess kind of looks on the table at the moment. I have been you know cutting up scraps all year long so those little envelopes in the big container across the table are holding tag die cuts ( paper ones are backed with cardstock) stamped images or sentiments or what not. Most of its within reach and ha, the remains of the July & Stamptember 3-D project pieces are still in a container waiting for me to get around to them as well. I am hoping to get a lot more tags finished this weekend. I hope you're doing well too. Thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Ruby Lane}

 This week Kia is sharing the Ruby Lane site & Pinterest boards for Inspiration at Splitcoaststampers. And I came across these sweet reindeer  and I knew that I had seen similar kinds of sweet deer on Printed papers in my stash and I thought, you can do those as Tags... win win. 

 So I did. The small oval tag on the left here is an Impression Obsession die, the deer print on it is from some loose papers that came in a monthly kit and when I look at the Paper I think its from the Prima 25& Peppermint pad. I have that pad and it looks nearly the same to me. The square tag laying down in the front is from the Sunny Studios die and the what looks like an Deer slide paper is from the Simple Stories Simple Vintage Believe Bits & Pieces Ephemera package. The Skinny kraft tag in the center is from the Simon Says Stamp Luggage Tag dies set and the black background printed deer is from a piece of paper from the Simple Stories Simple Vintage Holly Jolly paper pad, it was just cut out with scissors. and the Largest deer on the left is from the Simple Stories Simple Vintage pad. The sentiments on the tag on the right with that largest deer are from Tim Holtz. I did ink most of the edges that you see with some Distress Oxide Scorched timber ink and All the hemp string is Lawn Fawn ones. I am pretty tickled with how quickly these went together. ( I had all the tag bases cut and sitting here ready to be decorated in this bin of bits and pieces I had previously die cut) and I think that was really encouraging to me and I am thinking I am going to do a few more maybe Santa's or some other theme but, more quick little tags. 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. 

 

Red Cup Day

 I had an email yesterday from Starbucks that proclaimed today would be "Red Cup Day" And I mentally debated about going by there today to get one, but I think you have to buy a "Christmas" flavored coffee to buy it? I'm not that sure, I go to Starbucks maybe once a month and I tend to get half sweet Hazelnut Latte's. So, that being said I knew there was a coffee lovers blog hop going on and I have been making Christmas tags the last little while and I have a bunch of Tim Holtz stamp sets on the table at the moment. I have been coloring little things on Neenah Environmental colored cardstock with his Watercolor pencils. And just cutting them out with scissors. I seen this cat from the Stamptember 2020 set and I had already stamped this sentiment from the Stamptember 2023 set on the little Lawn Fawn Hearts & Stars Skinny tag set that came in the mail recently so, I decided that cup should be Red. I don't really need any coffee themed cards at the moment and I tend to end up buying all the things I see when I play in this blog hop so, I have been not peeking.

 I did cut the cat out with scissors and he is up on foam tape to be popped up a little. I tied the lawn fawn hemp string through the tag hole and the background print was cut from a scrap with an Impression Obsession Crazy stitched set a while back so the edges of both of those panels were inked with some Scorched Timber Distress Oxide Ink. This red cardbase came to me in one of those monthly kits. ( I suspect it is School House red from SSS but, I'm not 100% on that) and This is A2 in real life. That's about it from me, I hope your doing well & your coffee is Hot! Thanks for stopping by. 

Watercoloring a Winter Scene

 This week Linda is sharing this video from Cat seen here on YouTube. The full name of that video is how to paint a simple Christmas landscape/Christmas watercolor card. I love how round her tree trunks are in this scene and that was the thing I most wanted to learn as I watched it. I did skip adding a rabbit to the scene. 

 I did for a few minutes consider just doing the left side of the scene ( the birch bark trunks ) without the Christmas tree on the right but, did end up doing a dotted triangle for the evergreen tree as well. 

 As I was watching/ listening to her video and I was painting I realized that there had to be drying times in there and I was not really looking up at the video just listening and it went really quick. So, When I looked up it was like Whoa she is already painting all the bark and tree haha. 

So I did a few shadows in where the snow would go and added a layer of green to the tree and let it dry. I did not have that good of luck with the credit card thing ( but, I tried and nearly put a hole in the paper to the left of the masked trunks) This is Arches cold press with Daniel Smith paints. 

 

I removed the tape and the masking fluid dots at the same time so, That may have been out of order but, that is what I did. 

Started adding some branches and red to the white spaces on the evergreen. I did add more layers of paint to the birch trunks and more sticks. 

 

I felt like I painted this on fast forward warp speed. I realized after the snow was drying I had skipped the rabbit and I am OK with that. I did consider doing a bird in the tree but, the branches are too close to the ground for that the way these were done so, I skipped that idea as well. I am not sure who makes that sentiment at the moment but, first guess is Hero Arts cut with an Simon Says Stamp strip die that I cut off the part that overhung the side of the card. This is an A7 sized card in real life. The snow here is some Windsor & Newton white gouache. That's about it from me, I hope you are doing well. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {The Permanent Garden}

 This week Denise is sharing for Inspiration The Permanent Garden site and collection of Pinterest boards seen here. I started on the Christmas board and I found this display of Bottle Bush trees in the Milk Glass. and this is something that I could very easily do at my house as I have both the tiny bottle brush trees and milk glass so... it seemed like fate and I stopped looking. 

And since I have piles of Postage things on the table at the moment. I decided to go that way with the framing of the display. 

 So, I used a piece of Mixed Media paper that had been cut with the 4X4 Cottagecutz postage die and then used the Picket Fence studios Evergreen Stencil with some lost shadow DOX ink to add some depth to the background of the diecut. I kept adding those star banners (Penny Black) across the top and I do like how that looks but, its distracting and not really part of the scene on the pin so, they are waiting for the next idea.

 And I wanted some bottle brush trees in the foreground. 

 So I stamped some of the small Bottle brush trees from Tim Holtz's set with DOX inks and then cut those out with scissors. I am not sure if that is one of his stamp sets that have dies or not but, the ones that interest me the most are the more complicated stamped images, these were pretty straight forward to cut out. 

So I started laying the things on top of each other to figure out the design. I had pop dots under the trees and the Christmas trees label ( its from the Winter Woodlands set also by Tim Holtz) Stamped with some Lumberjack plaid on Neenah Environmental and then the edges were inked with Vintage Photo and Scorched Timber. 

I cut a piece of Neenah Solar white for an A2 card base and ended up cutting out that last tree to have it be "out of the lines" the Joy here is from the Spellbinders Christmas 2024 set and then the from our home to yours. ( I don't remember off hand) but, that one was inked with Lost shadow & iced spruce on the edges. I also added some crystal stickles to the bottle brush trees for a little bling. 

I think I may try this idea again with more greens on it but, I was trying for more neutral like the pin shot. 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. 
 

 

 

 

 

Playing with Postage Collage

 The last little while I have been making bits and pieces using various Postage Collage items I have on hand and I have done some online shopping ( happy bday to me) for some new things for the last little while and I have been taking some snap shots. And today when I came home from work I seen that there is a feature a Hat on the project for the ways to use it challenge and I had some of these Santa Postage stamps colored and cut out in the piles so, I used that as the top layer on this tag. 

 This Santa and Snowman postage stamps are really old ones from Hero Arts. They were stamped on some Artist loft watercolor paper which is pretty textured and colored with Daniel Smith watercolors and a bit of Windsor & Newton white gouache. they were cut out with scissors and the edges were inked with Vintage Photo DOX inks and they were set aside. because, I was on the stamp all the stamps mode.

I did mess around with the Impression Obsesssion Postage dies ( I have both sizes ) The holly and snowflake postage stamps are also very old Hero Arts ones. While I was at it with the reindeer tags I've done lately I also cut up some papers and cardstock with various tag dies, glued some together so I have a pile of those on hand as well. 

(that plaid Print is from this years Hobby Lobby pad called berry and pine.)

I did stamp more deer, over stamped them with more postage bits and pieces. Tried some postage backgrounds with Sand Dune ink on the Neenah enviornmental cardstock. ( its pretty subtle) I had dug out some big Unity Stamps backgrounds Santa Express ( is the one in the top left of this shot) I also pulled out the Frost & Fawn background along with the A little Christmas carol background stamps. Stamped some of those on the Environmental as well. 

 This framed Deer stamp is from Unity stamps called Hello Deer. The stamped and diecut words on this are from the Spellbinders set called Christmas Sentiments from July 2024. I really liked how that worked with the Tim Holtz / Simon Says Stamp set from one of the class kits over the last few months and so, When I seen that set on the Spellbinders sale list I decided to get it and the matching dies to have a few more of this style of words to have on hand to play with. The tags these are glued to are from the waffle flower nesting pierced tags die, 

 These big deer (Unity Stamps Winter Cheer & Deer set) were also stamped with Pinecone ink on some Neenah environmental, Inked with DOX vintage photo and cut with I forget. The postage edge die here is the Waffle Flower Nesting Postage dies. The tag here is from the Tall Tag frame from  My Creative Time. The Noel & Be Merry sentiment stamps are from Red Lead Paperworks Circle Christmas stamps set. Those were diecut with one of Anna Wights Impression Obsession stitched dies. ( the set name escapes me ) 

 So right about the time I had finished all of these yesterday. I had remembered I do have that Waffle Flower A2 Postage Collage Die set and I had seen Nichol Spohr's Video with that die used as a background for some cardfronts using bits and pieces from Tim Holtz. So, I fished that out next because, I knew I had not ever played with it. and I really loved how cool it looked when she masked and inked it before it was cut up. So, The color choices here were heavily influenced by what I had seen in her video. 

I knew I wanted white edges for my postage bits and pieces and I have a stack of this Strathmore Mixed Media paper so, I used that knowing it was sturdy and could take the inking.

I started with Iced Spruce DOX and then added Espresso to the corners over that. I do not own the stencil. I have mentioned I don't really like cleaning them and I wanted those edges white so, I just used some Spellbinders tapes and taped the diecut paper to the glass mat. 

 

and I collage stamped it from ( I have an entire container of stamps sets used in this blog post and lets just say it was a lot and go from there) 

 Using the tape worked well enough so, I did cut this up.

And I loved that enough to try it a couple more times.

 

 The base color of this one is lumberjack DOX. 

 But, I did go back to the Iced Spruce / Espresso combo for the third round. 

Which lead me to today. 

 Happy Mail ( my first order ) from Wintertime Crafts on etsy. I found this shop from that same video of Jill Norwoods that had the collage stamping on it and decided to give them a try. The stamps arrived packaged so cute and had a little gift charm and fern print with them. These are made in the U.S. and down in California so, they arrived really quickly to me.

 The stamp set's that I picked up. You can find her shop here. I love the scale of these and I had also dug out this CottageCutz Postage Stamp (4X4) die and cut it with Neenah Enviromental, taped off the edges. Inked it with some Lumberjack and Espresso DOX inks. and Decided to collage it. 

 The base tag here is an PTI one. tag sale something. I will look for its name. I put the Postage collaged diecut up on foam dots over it with some Black hemp string wrapped around it and then I tucked in a couple of the hero arts postage I had stamped and colored and inked earlier over the top. This view maybe show the sparkle added to the hat and mitten cuff along with the berries on the holly branch. ( its just Stickles) The little metal tree here is an old one from Making Memories. 

I forget who the from Santa sentiment is from but, the tiny banner its on was die cut from the Art Impressions stitched tag die set. The larger stitched banner is from the Pretty Pink Posh sentiment Strip Dies set that also came in the mail recently. And that's about it from me so far. This could just clean out my "to be uploaded someday folder" ha ha. I hope you're doing well, Thanks for stopping by. 
 

Watercoloring a hot mess

 This week Kia is sharing this video on YouTube seen here. I Did watch it, I did sketch the still life based off the inspiration photo she has here on Pinterest. I did print it out at work on Monday afternoon so that I had something to look at while I sketched. I knew I wanted to do it smaller so, I did do that with a piece of Arches cold press watercolor paper. 

 one thing though, I used a water soluble pencil as usual... and that is maybe not such a great idea. I do know that my very literal brain was not getting all the words in the closed captioning while I was watching the video I felt like information was missing. So, I don't know if it makes a difference with the noise on. 

 So, I started skipping around adding some paynes grey to the "black" areas while the yellow wash was still wet on the leaves and what ever those orange things are. I have no clue what colors she used but, her "black" looked purple to me and I cringed at that. And then what I did use it of course turned into a hot mess. I did see that with her video but, I am half way wondering if this would be easier on a larger scale. not sure, because you may just have room to correct the paint flowing over the lines where you want to have your (I don't know what to call this vine) The photograph looks like a vine to me. 

 I kept adding paint and even though its not warm here paint was drying everywhere so adding more wet to this various spots made a lot of blooms. and this has become a muddy mess to my eye. I did try to lift paint for the veins on the leaves but, that also failed. At this point I do not see any choice but to see what it does when the whole thing is dry. But tossing more paint on it while its wet is not working well for me. It sure is "impressionist style eh?" haha. I have not been so frustrated with a painting in a long time so that was a surprise and humbling. Yes, I did laugh and I also decided its time for more coffee as well. Might try dragging some thing through the leaf veins before its totally dry to see if I can get the yellow to come through. 

So I did do that, add one more layer of paint and I did use an Nib on a handle to do the veins on the leaves.

And I am letting it dry now because, although the colors are not that bad by the third layer of paint. I think it needs the next round to be glazed on to get some details I guess, and that might just toss the whole Impressionist thing out the window but, my brain looks at this and sees a lack of detail. 
 

And So, this is as far as I got. I did stop and let this dry and I will take another look at it tomorrow. That's about it from me, If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here. Thanks for stopping by.