Inspired by {Anthropologie}

 This week Kia is sharing the Anthropologie site for inspiration. I was curious to see what they had for sale as I have purchased sweaters online from them in the past and so, I was surprised to see they had a section for "Weddings". While I was poking around this pillow caught my eye because of the almost hidden bird in the print as I had seen earlier in the week the teapot destination is Brenda this week whose family lost her son last month. And some how because, he was a hunter they wanted the project to have some kind of camo on it. and that just totally stumped me. When I think about Brenda, I think about Birds and snowmen and tulip flowers...

So, I knew I had Leafy printed papers and I decided to use this Hobby Lobby Eucalyptus print as I think it is So Pretty. ( maybe not a serenely somber enough print for a Sympathy card but, I decided if I was going to do this and try to follow the theme I need to just do something rather than over think it forever) 

 I have been die cutting all my postage type background dies lately to have some to play with and I had this back piece already cut with this AALL & Create Edge Spin die cut when I got this idea and I thought the leafy print looked OK with it. ( all the edges of the leaf print and the tan print have been inked with DOX speckled egg ink) and then I found this fancy vintage trim to wind across it and then I cut the Penny Black Finch die from some Arches cold press watercolor paper. I did keep the paints subtle on this so that it could you know hide and blend with that background. The base here is unknown but, this one is 6" square in real life and then I finished the inside with a few stamps from a couple of different Altenew sets. I did not take a photo of that part. I find it so very hard to come up with the thing to say, words fail me so, I had put off doing a card for them until today. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find these challenges here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

A Few Valentines

 When I looked at my stash of cards a week or two ago, I realized I didn't have a stash of Valentines day cards. I think I may not have made any at all last year. Since I stopped doing the way way in advance design team things I have been trying to create more in the moment type things. So, right now without a need for a Valentine it was fun to start pulling out both things that have not been played with and heart dies and such. 

What my desk looked like last Sunday. Nope, I did not watch the superbowl. I forgot about it, I know most the people in my family root seriously for the Chiefs and they were thinking the teams who were playing this year were well matched and it should be a good game to watch but, that is seriously all I remember hearing about it. I needed to see something happy and pretty so digging through these papers and dies helped. 

I did come across this video from Nichol Spohr on YouTube doing a postage collage background (Waffle Flower die) for a Valentine and I thought Oh, I have that die and dug it out and did a couple of them. I really liked her color combo with the browns coming through so, that was a totally copy for me to dig out those colors. Tattered Rose, Salt water taffy, Candied Apple, Antique Linen Distress Oxide Inks. 

The first one on the right was more heavily influenced by her card than the one on the left, so the one on the right I am probably going to give to hubs. I just used what ever, but it did have me digging through my Tim Holtz office supplies type dies as well and I cut stacks of file folders and bitty envelopes too while I was at it. These are both A2 in real life. The one on the left I used some shimmery opal stardream paper ( a while back to emboss that plaid ish texture to and it was just handy. That chiffon ribbon wrapped around it is something I came across at Hobby Lobby in January after the holidays. I do like this and if they still have it next time I am in that store I will probably buy the other colors. 

 Then monday came and I had seen the Clean and simple challenge at SCS was to include a heart and I had received these Penny Black dies in the mail that day and so, I did cut them from some of those papers on the table and thought OK this could work. That Love diecut is something old from Poppy stamps that I did a long time ago and then you know used an eraser on it after this was shot because, there are a lot of times it's such a cave up here when it's cloudy I just don't see things the same anymore. So, its interesting and helpful to me to see them as a photograph that I can enlarge on the screen and fix bloopers after the fact. And since its just for my own amusement and I am in the whole keep it real phase I just post it and move on.

Which lead me to looking at my other Penny Black dies and I came across this pot with all the heart stems growing out of it set and cut a stack of them from some Artist loft water color paper and then added some paint to them yesterday after work.
 

The Happy Valentines day tag is a Lili of the Valley stamp ( I believe they have gone strictly digital now but, I have physical stamps from them and I still play with mine) The mini copper-ish brad is probably from Recollections. I have a tiny jello mold on my table filled with these things because, when you could go to the store and buy them I did. ( I am glad I stocked up on them I don't see these in the stores anymore and I do like brads more than eyelets actually) 

 

So, I shot this last card early this morning way before the sun came up and so, the colors are a little off and dark. That card base is some Stampin' Up! Blushing bride ( I love that shade of pink) And the circle framing diecut in the center is something from My Creative Time called Circle card front dies. I tend to shy away from circles so, I have been die cutting and taping a bunch of these together out of these papers and some of the scraps laying around and now I have a little pile of them to play with as well. The frame part of this its a little busy so, its hard to see but, these die cuts the frame has some cute stitching details on them. I did try to tilt that pot straight here ( its on with a glue dot and it decided to just wiggle it self back to crooked again. I did run the top cover of the card base through the big shot with a Sizzix folder but, It only says sizzix on it so, I don't remember its real name anymore ( I want to say it could be an old Basic Grey Christmas one but, that is a best guess situation.) That's about it from me, I hope your doing well & thanks for stopping by. 

Watercoloring Simple Hearts

 This week there is this video seen here on YouTube called "3 easy watercolor Valentine's cards for beginners" by artby_Shagun on doing a trio of very simple heart ideas for Valentines day last minute cards. I was able to see this at lunch and did two of them after work. so, they really are quick ideas. So I had a piece of Arches cold press and I cut in half to have two smallish pieces to try this on. I did use Daniel Smith watercolors that were on the table.

 The first idea show's dangling hearts from a branch that needs drying time so, this is where I walked away from this one to start the next idea. 

 Which for me ended up being the third idea in the video. my brain totally forgot about the jar filled with heart stems until I linked to the video here so. I feel OK with getting two of the three done.

 When both of those were dry I decided to add a little more paint to the hearts and then decided to do gold to the hanging loops and the dotted berries on the wreath.

 I did end up using a brown pen to make the hanging loops for the branch idea. And since my favorite idea in the video was the wreath and there as a limited amount of time to finish this I focused on it and I ended up cutting it out with an really old Spellbinders Labels 2 die. 

 I knew I wanted the card to be a red one so, I did make the base from some SU ridinghood red in an A2 size and then found this dot print in one of the Maja designs packs and cut that down to fit. and I looked a lot of other printed papers for a mat for the painting and finally decided to just go darker red with this textured Corrugate from Fancy pants cut with a larger die in that same set. This got wrapped with some vintage lace and there is a layer of foam pop dots between the diecut layers for some depth. The sentiment tag here is from lili of the Valley stamped with some tulip red on some artist loft watercolor paper and cut out with scissors. the tiny brad is probably from Recollections and its on this with Glue dots. That's about it from me, I am pushing the branch panel around still trying to decide what to do with it. 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 {Proflowers}

 This week Julie is sharing the proflowers website & Pinterest boards for the Inspiration challenge. I seen these pretty pink roses and thought OK you could paint something. And thinking that I started a painting which did not go well. I tossed that and pivoted to trying this embossing folder. ( which If I had realized it would do 2 different patterns I probably would not have bought this) 

So I started adding paint to it and that was kinda not going well so, 

After adding more paint I decided this was going sideways and not working so, I set it aside and decided to start over again today when I got home. 

And I had this Maja Designs Miles apart paper pack and it has this roses, ( and others that are so very pretty in it, the heart background has the stripes as its reverse print on it) and decided it was all too busy for the things I had done earlier and thought, you know. you could just use this paper and use it together. So, I cut the main bouquet out of one of the sheets and used another and its drop trim for the rest. The With Love is an Simon Says Stamp die and I just got this. The vellum mat is from PTI cardstock and the detail letters are cut from some really old MFT insulation pink. The base here is some SU pink ( I can't spell it but I think its a Ballet term) that pink. Pir something. And this is 5 1/2" square in real life. I think the sentiment can go a few different ways so, I have not added anything to the interior as of 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. 

Watercoloring a loose blue Arrangement

 This week Linda is sharing this video tutorial seen here on YouTube called Easy Fun watercolours florals to try by Andrew Geeson Loose Watercolors. It's a quick one so, I did change the colors of blues to Cobalt and Indigo and used Sap Green and Indian red Daniel smith paints with some Arches cold press.

 I cut the paper to 5" square and used a water soluble pencil for the vase.

First rounds of paints, I just kept painting between these layers I did not let this dry.

 

I probably kept going too far but, I realized the waterline in the vase was for the back side of it so, I did add more to the "front" curve and that lead to adding water to the whole what ever its sitting on and adding more paint there as well.

 Where I stopped before it turned into a pile of mud with the brushes I used. I am now waiting to see what it looks like dry. 

 When it was dry it looked like this and I decided to leave it alone. Found this Maja designs gingham print that was a "close enough" blend of those blue shades and added it to a SU cream paper at 6" square. I have left off a greeting as I do not know what I am going to do with it as of yet. I hope you are doing well & if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here. Thanks for stopping by. 

An Inspired VSN Scene

 This week Denise is sharing the Happy Walls site for Inspiration and I happened across this chilly looking scene and I knew I had this pad of paper from KaiserCraft on the table ( the sheet music paper came out of it) and I also knew that LizBeth had a Make it Icy VSN Challenge.

 

 It took a little while to clear the decks enough to have some space to do it and so, I did leave the paper out, not in this shot is a little white container that has like 3 wells and a tall handle and it has previously cut and colored images and sentiments in it, and there was this cat that had been stamped and colored last November some time and he has been patiently waiting for me to use him.

The Tim Holtz cat is from the Snarky Christmas cats set from 2020 and he was stamped on kraft cardstock and watercolored. The sentiment was die cut with a TH sentiment labels die and that base is some SU Taupe at 5 1/2" square. This card took probably less than 30 minutes to do because of the everything was in reach and thought about before hand. That's about it from me, Thanks for stopping by & stay warm out there today. 
 

 

Virtual Stamp Night { Go 4 the Gold Continued }

 Good Morning, I hope you are staying warm and have some time for yourself this weekend. I decided to steal some for me in snatches yesterday and I did do a couple of simple cards for VSN that is going on now. And this morning when I came up the stairs this is what I seen. And I decided. that if I would like to do a few more of the challenges today I need to clear the decks.

 The view when I got to the top of the stairs.

 Where I actually stand to stamp. Yeah, the struggle is real and it looks like I lost.. haha. I won't put away everything you see here as I do create with what ever is in front of me and I "Know" that pad of printed paper that was used on the snowman card below just may have a forest scene print that will pull together a wall paper I seen for this weekends IC that Denise is hosting and LizBeths Icy VSN challenges... but, that will be later this morning maybe after the sun is up is the hope. 

 Kim is hosting a back to the basics challenge ( stamps, ink & paper only) and I had this drop piece of Bashful Blue card from my VSN sample I made for my challenge and I also have ( its hard to see but, on the first desk shot, I am making stamped sheets for pockets that I laminate for cling stamp storage and this sentiment is in one of those silly dog sets from Unity Stamps ( a new one I think ) and I knew it was over there so I stamped it on the bottom of this 3" square and then started looking for a face that would fit above it. ( This gal is one of the oldest stamps I have and I took her off the block a long time ago and my memory does not remember her name at the moment) but, I did add a little bit of watercolor paint to this. ( very little water in the paint) and called it "good enough" 

 The next one I did finish is this long tall snowman for Vickkijo's made from snow challenge. I stamped it on some Arches cold press watercolor paper with Versafine morning mist and started adding DS watercolors to it, I also had stamped two of the twig arms on a scrap from when I cut around the body but, I was not able to successfully cut around those "fingers" so, the pivot was I decided about where he would stand on that Kaiser kraft music sheet print and then stamped one twig directly on the printed paper, glued him down, then waited for any paint on his body to be fully dry then stamped the cross body arm. There is watercolor on both of them and it was very little water so, the printed paper was fine with that. The base here is some Textured Bazzill and this one is A6 in real life. I did that sentiment tag a few weeks ago and I no longer remember the details. ( I might edit this if I find the packages as I am "cleaning" ) 

Those were the two I got done in the middle of the very early Saturday am night and then when we got home in the afternoon I stole some time from helping Hubs to do this one for Brenda's Mountains / Gold Mining challenge that had gone live when I went up stairs again.

The scene here is from the Stampin' Up! Beauty of Life set and its on some cold press Arches with a light first round of DS watercolor paints. ( My eyes seen a lack of shadows on this and I may add more paint to it later) This was cut with a large Spellbinders deckle die and the edges have some Scorched Timber DOX ink on it, its up on foam pop dots. That sentiment is from the Paper Artsy Sara Naumann set that I have not clue what the sets name is. maybe ESN40 ?I stamped some time around last Christmas and it was just sitting there waiting for me to diecut it, so I used a Spellbinders Perfect touch rectangle die on it to give it some interest on the edges and found this green in my ( I don't know what brands loose sheets hanging folder of green papers and made it A2.) And then I added some white gouache to the clouds and the water ripples because, that paper is not really a "bright" white and I wanted those highlights. That's about it from me at the moment. I am hoping to be back later with more progress. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Dirty Dozen February Christmas Wishes

 It's almost February and the Dirty Dozen Christmas card prompt for Fan Club members is up and available here at in the special forums seen here. 

 I started with that green ledger looking paper from Graphic45 because, even though its kinda office supply looking I loved the faded greens going on and wanted to use it for Christmas. and I had these Spellbinders postage stamps folders and dies set on the table I had started trying to figure out how to cut and emboss them as they are a folder with 2 dies. I had thought the die was going to just be one inside the folder ha ha but, I ended up doing these about 3 times each in the machine to get it to look like this. And then I started looking for something that would fit in the opening. This printed paper girl was cut from the Prima 25 & peppermint pad and then I found that the Stampin' Up Sage shadow cut to 5 1/2" square looked pretty good with those bits and pieces but, there was too much of a mat gap between the greens so, I found this 49& Market evergreen season print that would bridge the gap between them. The mulberry flowers are out of the canning jar on the wall and I've forgot who makes them. The Christmas wishes was stamped on some watercolor paper a while back and then cut with a Tim Holtz label die. And then I needed some things to tuck into the other frame and I found this bit of red stripe in the same envelope from the prima envelope and the fa la la washi tape stamp from 49 & Market a while back. I am crossing my fingers that it does not unravel it self from the papers. The edges of the green print and the frames were inked with some Distress Oxide Scorched Timber ink. I debated about those flowers for a long time because, the trend here is to use those things on tags so that I don't have to pay parcel postage on the cards for the lumps but, as I was building this one I decided I know who it will go to next year and it will be hand delivered. That's about it from me. I hope you're doing well & thanks for stopping by. 

VSN Go for The Gold

 Hello & Welcome here, It's the winter VSN ( Virtual Stamp Night ) event at Splitcoaststampers and I am hosting one with a color challenge theme that uses this pin from Pinterest for the frosty color sparking idea. I fully intended to do some kind of landscape painted scene because, I think that is so very pretty but, life happened and I decided the only way to get a hour created card done would be to use printed papers to carry the weight so, I found this piece of Whimsy Stamps printed paper with the various shades of purples and white and stars and snowflakes and decided to cut it with a My Creative Time zig zag stitched square die and then found this old Stampin' Up Bashful Blue cardstock and cut it to 5 1/2" square and it sat and I pushed it around for a while because, that was as far as my brain would go.

  And then I thought OK I had this snowglobe stamp from Impression Obsession out and thought maybe you could use that as a frame and put something fun behind the glass area. So I stamped it with some Versafine Morning mist on Arches cold press and started adding DS watercolors to it.

 I did walk away from this so it could dry and then I added more paint and did the same thing again.

 And again... and then I decided even though I don't actually see any gold in that photo I could squeak some in since the theme is tied in with Winter Olympics and Go for the Gold... After I cut it out with scissors I decided to add some white gouache to the "highlights" on the glass as well. The watercolor paper is not really all that white in real life. 

 I did paint that snow globe part of the stamped image and since I could not think of anything to put in the framed area, I pivoted and grabbed an envelope of previously diecut snowflakes and stuck a trio of them into the "glass" area and then tied this May Arts blue sheer dotted ribbon around the printed paper, found this LOTV hex tag sentiment in an envelope and tied that on with some iridescent cord. and then put foam pop dots behind the globe. I think I really am not impressed with this at all at the moment. maybe it will grow on me haha. I may pull the snowflakes off and do something different in the globe down the road but, this is what I am supplying as a sample for this challenge I am hosting. You can find all the details here to play along. Stay warm out there and Thanks for stopping by. 

 

 

Watercoloring a Heart Topiary

 This week I am sharing this heart shaped topiary video called Valentine's day Topiary Watercolor by Petite Mesquite Studio on YouTube seen here. I was thinking even if people do not need Valentines cards that this could be used for sending love type greetings. 

It starts with a pale lavender/purple wash where she uses a cookie cutter as a stamp for the heart shape. So, I pulled out some of my Heart stamps that were not solid ones that could work as a "frame"

So I used this old Hero Arts stitched heart stamp that I had removed from the block a long time ago so, I don't know off hand its "real name" I also had this scrap of artist loft watercolor paper on the table and used it. 

 

Right after I started this I had to stop so, I walked away from it at this point. 

 And I came back to find that it had of course pulled up from the chipboard it was taped to.

 At this point I had really forgotten how the flowers were done specifically so, I just kinda ad-libbed adding flower/leaf petal shapes to the topiary shape. 

 

And I came back to this and decided it needed more.

So I used these clips hubs had put in my Christmas stocking to make it stay flatter on the chipboard. They were almost too small for it so, I left it like this to see what happened.

 

So I took the tape off this afternoon intending to turn it into a card and the tape coming off ripped the top of the paper. And then I had the bright idea to use scissors to trim it to the edge of where it was taped. 

 But that didn't really work so well, so then I started ripping the edges which I liked but, it was a little too close to the image. I am considering doing this again with a smaller rounder heart stamp and may do that next but, I have run out of time so, That's about it from me for the moment. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

Happy Mail

 The brushes came, These are the ones I ordered. They do come in smaller sets but, it looked like the most bang for your buck to get the 5 piece set on the day I was looking. ( their prices go up and down) 

The box contains a thing for propping up your laptop on a table to give it that correct angle and let some of the heat escape kind of a thing. I had seen them on Amazon before Christmas and have one exactly like this on my wish list that my son gave me so, seeing the "gravity" idea in the painting I linked to in the post before this I was you know buying these brushes anyways and so, I tossed one of these in for to try with painting. It is this one in the green.

 what they look like out of the package. So, I got the smallest one wet and I had this scrap of wc paper here that was handy and started doing a "tree" type shape with it. I did not get my paint on the palette wet enough but, it did give me that how loose and wiggly those bristles are sense. I totally intend to play with this some more soon. 

 

Some other things that came in the mail was an order from Frantic Stamper ( I picked up a lot of yards of May Arts ribbons that will need wound and put away) and this Elizabeths crafts design called twiggy shapes ( dies) and one of them is a heart. 

So, I cut the heart from some kraft (paper bag colored) cardstock and used one of the flat spin top brushes to get some scratches of color onto it for texture and depth. Cut, the bow from the set from this scrap of watercolor paper and started adding yellows, oranges and reds to it. 

And this is ultimately what I ended up uploading to the gallery at Splitcoaststampers for the paint what ever you like challenge we are doing this week. This painting was previously started and shared at the beginning of the month when Kia had that pair of pastel landscapes. I painted this off the first one in the series and kept thinking it needed birds on the frozen ice in the bottom-ish area. And I got this Honey Bee stamps A2 die in the mail recently so, it was also in the pile off to the side and I thought, this may work so, I cut the scene from the center of that painting, cut some layer with watercolor paper for depth for the frame, cut the bottom piece from some kraft (paper bag colored card) and then this sentiment had been previously stamped and die cut and was in the milk glass tray on the table so, it worked. After it was all glued together I did paint that tiny trio of birds flying into the scene from the top right corner and called it Done. And that's about it from me, I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by. 

A Start on a Vertical Landscape

 This week the Watercoloring challenge tutorial team is painting what ever they want. and I spent some time being lost down the rabbit hole at YouTube finding new artists. I landed on this one from Rachel Parker Varner where she does a tree very loose with a very long bristled brush. She name drops a bunch of Artists names during this video and so, I watched it in bits and pieces because, I googled the other names she mentions. ( and ordered some of those brushes while I was at it, they are supposed to be here Today haha) I then seen this one from John Lovett I loved the colors and the detail with the softness, at the very end he puts on some may be white gouache and brushes it mostly away to soften those edges like doing a Vignette with your photo processing is the way my brain translated it. 

But, the very best video I stumbled across is this one from the American Watercolor Society seen here. By Thomas W. Schaller. This is so interesting and informative and just made sense to me the whole time he is painting. He is someone that I really feel like I was learning all kinds of things. but, one thing that stood out for me right in the beginning was the use of gravity for his painting and the whole paint the whole background with a curved wash. ( by the time I started mine I think I had not enough paint to it and I forgot a few colors) but, I had also started with a piece of cheap paper to just try it because, that was what the original person's video was, if you are not wrecking cheap paper as often as possible how can you know what works when and where? 

But back to the last video. He uses flat brushes to do his building shapes and I could not remember if I have flat brushes. ( I know I have a couple of either 3/4' or 1" ones for doing washes but, I didn't think I had any tiny ones. ) 

Which lead to me going to the jar and looking at the shapes of brushes I have collected since we started this watercoloring weekly challenge at SCS. (not that I started it but, I have played along since almost the beginning.) It's something my mama used to ask me all the time. Did you watercolor it? and I always said no for many years, to me it was only something "real" artists did. ( her mama's gpa was an oil painter) In the back of my mind the fact that I am coloring other peoples art ( stamped images) did not make me an artist. true story. Anyways that's a whole 'nother topic. I am trying to work on that thought and squelch it like a bug. So, I took another shot looking down so that if I were tempted to buy more brushes I could zoom in and see sizes on these.

And I thought OK, there are some smaller almost flat brushes here. ( they say they are spin top ones on the handle but, I think I may be able to use them like he did for dry brushing texture shapes type of a thought) which lead me to looking at my paint drawer. I took 90% of the cheap paints out, the colors are not me, too bright and too opaque and I do not find joy using them. I kept some of the prima sets and some of the shimmer sets but, the ones I started with are all in my re-gift them box.

 And I found all these dot cards in there. So, after this was shot I spent some time actually wetting them so I could see the colors better than what they came in like. not dramatically different but, a little bit. I am debating adding Naples Yellow and possibly Indian Yellow to my pile but, really yellow is not my favorite color to play with it's either hard to see or garishly bright. and I shy away from bold bright colors. 

And I started running out of time to actually PAINT something so, I started with this Artist Loft paper cut to A7 taped to a board so I could use the gravity idea. and I did a curved wash of colors all the way down it. I did have the board in my hand a lot and I think I had not quite enough paint and water but, I did do this. 

 The colors are barely there. but, I started with a yellow and then went to a coral, a red, a purple and then cobalt blue. so, I don't see the colors that well and I just decided to keep going as it was a little wet and it was propped up on the palette for a tiny bit of gravity.

 I don't very often do too many vertical scenes and I like painting trees so, I started with that in the middle of the sheet. the cheap paper was mostly leaning dry when I did that. 

And I dragged some of the blue down under the trees thinking snow. that there needs to be more life in it. maybe even a snowman haha. but, about this time I found out that my husbands hunting buddy was found in his home and this is as far as I got yesterday. His family does not live in this state and they rely on my husband to do all the things. 

 So, I don't have a "thing" to post in the gallery and I may be off line the next few days. We will see how it goes. its still part of that one day at a time deal. Last week was the anniversary of my mama's passing and There is not a day that goes by where I don't think she would have loved this when I see something or think some fairly snarky thought. If you read all that sorry, I know I ramble. I hope you are doing well and Thanks for stopping by. 

So, I could not sleep and I came upstairs to see what it looked like, ( it's still shy of 6 am here and the sun does not come up for a while) 

And this is what I found. When I tape paper ( it can be Arches Cotton, it can be cheap paper it does not matter) If I use this gorilla "delicate surface" masking tape to tape it to a piece of stiff chipboard. it will curl as it dries. So, I don't know if its the board or the tape but, I do not have good luck with these things not curling. I am still thinking about what to add to this scene next. Just thought I would add this is as something to remember to look for. supplies that maybe work better for taping the paper down.