Dirty Dozen March 2025 Christmas

 This whole year the Dirty Dozen Christmas card prompts for getting things done early are using specific Inspiration photographs for the jump start of the cards and this month's theme shot can be found here in the special forums set aside for Fan Club Members. 

I decided to use the very old Stampin' Up! Cowboy Christmas set. Stamping the cowboy Santa and the herd of cows on a piece of Artist loft watercolor paper with some Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink.

 I think the no line look is a better look with something like foliage or leaves or big bold things. and I find every time I do this that I want more depth and detail to faces so, after the paints dried I did add some black and grey marker to the face and in some of the nooks and crannies here. The watercolor panel was diecut with an Taylored Expressions Postage stack die and the edges of that were inked with some Distress Oxide vintage photo ink. The sentiment was done on a scrap of smooth Neenah and diecut with an Simon Says Stamp stitched square die and also inked with the DOX vintage photo. I have forgotten who makes that stitched ribbon wound around the top of the scene panel but, best guess is probably May Arts. The plaid printed paper is I think Hobby Lobby and the blue is some Bazzill. The base on this is some Tim Holtz Coredinations finished out at A6. This is a little different and probably going to go to the work section of Christmas cards later in the year I am guessing. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired By {Welcome to Nana's}

 This week Julie is sharing the Welcome to Nana's site and pinterest boards for the Inspiration destination. And I stopped looking when I came across these rice crispy treat bird nests. And I knew I had not done any thing with a bird nest for some time so, I just started poking around in the drawer that holds birds and nest stamps in my studio and fished out this very old seasonal borders mini #1 set from Stampin' Up.

 I stamped it with some Versafine Clair falling leaves ink on a small scrap of Arches cold press watercolor paper and added a little bit of Daniel Smith watercolors to the image. I did cut this twice with an My Favorite Things Stitched basic edge die to make it have a little more interest. 

 

I knew I wanted it to be on an A2 Sized card and so, When I opened the drawer of pre made card bases I had intended to do this on a white card base to keep it simple but, the colors of this Tim Holtz card caught my eye and it went darker. The sentiment here is also from Tim Holtz the occasions sticker pad. And it was just that simple. I am totally looking forward to spring. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Tulips

 This week Kia has shared this video tutorial on water coloring Tulips seen here on YouTube by Emma Jane Lefebvre. I did watch the video a couple of nights before I had time to try it and so this was a memory game painting. (what I remember) I am guessing its "close enough" :) 

When I stole the time to do this, I had this palette on the table with left over paints from the poppies a couple a weeks ago? so, I just went with that adding some sap green to the green. This is Artist Loft watercolor paper. cut to about A6 ish in real life.

I knew there was a little bit of adding some shadows but, I don't remember if there was splattering but, I felt like flicking some on so, that is why there are splatters.

I did add more shadows and then when it dried I die cut the painted panel with a Memory Box Fringed scalloped die and the sentiment I fished out of the container of previously stamped sentiments that are awaiting die cutting. and It seems to me this one was hard to find a die that it would fit in as it is pretty tall for the length of it. best guess is it could be Hero Arts but, I don't remember anymore. I just trimmed it a little with a Tim Holtz cutter. (minds blank) the one that is about card front sized. 

After I glued on the sentiment strip I did add a few more darker green stems below the words for shadows as a few of these stems and leaves ended at behind the sentiment. I ended up picking a piece of Textured Salmon colored Bazzill for the base and this one is A6 in real life. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired By {Everything Kitchens}

 This week Amy is sharing the Everything Kitchens site and pinterest boards for the Inspiration destination at Splitcoaststampers. And It seems like most of the people in my family are good cooks and have that Whole read the recipe and know what to add to it to enhance it gene. ( that gene skipped me) fortunately hubs has it. ;) but, I did spend some time poking about the store, seeing things that I do have in my kitchen as my mom was a kitchen gadget collector and she hooked hubs into that also so, I was mostly window shopping for gift ideas as I looked at the site and I liked these vintage looking recipe cards seen here. And that had me looking at all the recipe cards and The Aprons. I liked this particular chicken series. As it happens a lot of my old recipe card stamps and food gift tag type stamps are all from Stampin'Up! and I have these stamps inside the same box together so, playing around with these and some Artist Loft watercolor paper this is what I have done so far.

None of these things actually look that much like what is in the store but, they have elements from all the things that got morphed in my head as I was painting these bitty stamps. The tag on the top was cut with a Dress my Craft tag die, the From the kitchen of was cut with a Penny Black stitched rectangle and then the layer under it is some Riding hood red cut with a Blanket stitched die, The recipe card stamp was cut with an Waffle flower A7 rectangle die. And that is as far as I got with it. the truth is most of the things I know how to cook, I learned them just watching and stirring and tasting a spoon so, I don't actually collect recipes on paper but, I like the idea of it and I do have some but, I have not written any down in a long time. I think I like the idea of it more then the actual doing of it but, I am also thinking about making a few more little almost finished things like this that could be gifted out quickly because, the art part is already done. Well, that's the plan anyways. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.
 

Watercoloring Loose Poppies

 This week Brenda is sharing this video about doing very loose poppy flowers seen here on YouTube. by MarenaArt.

 I did watch the whole video before starting and then cut a piece of Artist Loft watercolor paper in half. ( it makes them about A6 in real life so, I taped them to some old cardboard ( the back side of a pad most likely) and wet and splattered them. 

Second layers of paint on the one first one

and second layers of paint on the second one. at this point I walked away and let them dry.

 

When I removed the tape from the paper it did tear them the one on the right was worse ( closer) to the blooms than the one on the left so out came some rectangle dies ( waffleflower) 

I am mostly in need of birthday cards at the moment so one of these will head to my oldest niece next month and the day after her birthday is my gma who will be 102. Both the happy birthday sentiments were previously stamped and diecut and I pulled them out of the envelope where I store such things, I know at a glance the one on the left was probably cut with a Tim Holtz stitched rectangle die and the one on the right is either SU or Hero Arts. but, that's about all I could tell you about that. The bases here are Textured Bazzill and cut to finish the cards at A6. The insides are lined with some neenah solar white. That's about it from me, I really like how these turned out and I intend to do it again some time. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring a Snowman with Depth

 A few weeks ago Kia shared this video tutorial on doing a snowman that has some 3-D depth to it. and I loved all the shadows and cringed over the idea of sketching the snowman. So, its been a thought in the back of my mind to try some day with a stamped snowman as I have probably 100 snowman stamps ( not kidding) and then yesterday Julie shared this gallery belonging to Patti S Brown for the Featured stamper and She had done a series of cards using this old Penny Black Snowy stamp and I started to grin as I knew that this image was pretty close to the one that was shown sketched in the Video Kia shared. 

So I stamped it with some Morning Mist Versafine on Artist loft watercolor paper.

 Added a smidge of paints ( Daniel Smith) and walked away. 

It was actually snowing here as I did this so, it took some time between layers to dry and I did not finish it until Monday Afternoon.

 I did not follow detailing of the snowman in the video that closely but, did add layers and layers to the shadows. 

there was a bit more after this was shot and the final photo below.

 

Remembering what I had from Patti's card I knew there was sparkles in the layers and the red background so, to make changes I used a piece of Recollections red snowflake printed paper, wrapped some large vintage lace around it and used some SU morning mist? cardstock for the base. The watercolor panel was cut with the mid sized blanket stitched die in the Pinkfresh set and I used the same die to get the outside stitches on a scrap of must be riding hood red. ( best guess) and Then I used a Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle die to cut out that drop piece to make the frame. The Poppy Stamps let it snow was diecut and glued together sometime after new years and out of the little tray on the table. And I realized as I looked at this that there are no sparkles in the layers. I'm OK with that. you have to make changes anyways to Featured Stamper inspired cards. This one is 5 1/2" square in real life. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {A Makers Studio}

 This week Denise is sharing the A Makers Studio site and pinterest boards for the Inspiration site and The very first photo in the challenge thread is an alcohol ink background with mixed colors and metalics. So very pretty. And I had it in my head I had seen the watercolor challenges I had missed while I was gone and one of them was the one Angie shared that you could do a splatter background as the third option and some pen work to sketch the blooms over the dried paint. So in my head this was an easy two-fer challenge idea. 

I chopped up some artist loft watercolor paper and started the splatter background process using up paints on the palettes. 

And after the palettes were clean then it was just a matter of mixing up some other colors. 

I decided the first round of splatters needed more depth so, there was a second layer of paints between the photo above and this one. when the second layer was dry I used a Micron pen to doodle the sketchy blooms with heart leaves.

 This scripty sentiment has pale purple-ish/blue rubber and was unmounted years ago. I had the idea that it's possibly from SU but, I am not certain on that front anymore. 

I mounted these flush to some SU pale plum and some textured Bazzill finishing them all at A6 in real life. I do like the simplicity here and the fact that I was able to do a stack at once to have a little stack done quickly. If you'd like to play along with us you can find the Watercolor tutorial here and the Inspiration challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring simple Hearts

 It's my turn to host the water coloring challenge tutorial at Splitcoaststampers this week and I had chosen this video seen here on YouTube by Leisel's Artistic studio last month thinking that perhaps it would work well for people who are looking for quick last minute Valentine ideas. So I started with some smaller scrap pieces of Arches Cold press. I did not use a stencil to draw the hearts just winged it with a paint brush.

 I walked away at this point and let this dry.

 I knew I had this piece too close to the edges and felt like that made it a good one to practice the leafy wreath feeling petals on it. 

In the back of my head I knew there was some where in that video an angled brush used for something maybe the leaves maybe the rose buds, so while the heart was drying I grabbed some non round brushes and a scrap of Neenah and just played at making leaves with brushes I have.

So, I was not getting things that looked like rose buds and I tried one more brush seen below.

 

And I decided the people I am making cards for, I'd rather have leafy wreath looking hearts more than floral framed ones so. I tossed this scrap. washed those brushes and ordered a couple of small angle brushes off Amazon. They are supposed to arrive on Tuesday so, I may or may have time to try them out before this goes live. 

My favorite shape of hearts lean a little more to the primitive side so, I started a long tall wreath on this scrap.

 I die cut the roundish heart with a square stitched die from Simon Says Stamp and the long tall heart with an Crealies X-stitched rectangle die. Those words were cut last month when the Newton's Nook Valentine word trio dies landed in my mail box. I had cut some from the Maja Prints paper with tiny hearts on it and some from watercolor papers. I fished these pre-made sparkly red A2 card bases out of the drawer and then decided I will use the XOXO block on the roundish heart and added some stickles crystal glitter glue on it for more sparkle.

The card on the left I finished it with a sentiment from the Taylored Expressions Love everywhere set and cut it with an Waffle flower A7 rectangle die. The XO diecut sentiment block on the card on the right is up on foam pop dots and has some depth from that. 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 {Nicebai}

 Hello, it's been a long while. I know, I have been Well, there's no nice way to say it but, my Mama passed away last month the morning after her 75th birthday. So, the grief comes in waves between the rounds of doing what needs to be done. And so the travel time also factors in there. This is the first thing I have tried to create since then. Kia is sharing this Nicebai store online that also has an Pinterest boards seen here. I came across this shirt with the Vintage printed cowboys. And my first thought was, I think I have paper like that. And I fished out this old "wanted" pad from Cosmo Cricket and I found this paper that had the colors right but, no cowboys on it haha. I trimmed it down to 5 1/2" square. So, I pulled out the Wild Wild West stamps from Stampin' Up! and stamped this cowboy herding that cow directly on the paper and added some watercolor paints over it.

 That didn't really go well, the ink beaded up on the paper and so did the paints. So, I grabbed a piece of Arches cold press watercolor and stamped it again and started adding just a little bit of paint to it. I did end up adding a few more shadows this morning after we got home from the round of grocery shopping and cut that out with a Memory Box stitched rectangle die and just layered it over the directly stamped image. I found this sentiment stamped and diecut in the little milk glass tray on the table and my mind is completely blank as to who made it an such.

The base on this is some really old as well SU creamy Carmel cut to 5 1/2" square. I am probably going to pop it in the mail for my step dad as one of his favorite things to watch are the old cowboy movies and shows like gunsmoke. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. That's about it from me, I hope you all are doing well. Thanks for stopping by.