Dirty Dozen August Christmas

 It's that time of the month again, and the Dirty Dozen Christmas challenge prompt is up here inside the special forums set aside for Fan Club members. I have a very loose thought about this months prompt so. I decided to focus on just one of the words. Pink. It's not something I do a whole lot of for Christmas. After I made that decision I decided to do a flower. ( of course right) well, actually in advance I thought I was going to use the little boy from that old old Stampin' Up set where he is laying in the snow making a snow angel. ( and I could not find him ) So, switching gears as I was down to the last minute to get my sample done I came across this old Penny Black brushstroke Poinsettia and thought it would paint up quickly. ha ha. 

I stamped this with Simon Says Stamp barely Beige ink on some cold press Arches paper and it got most of the image but, not all of it, so I ended up add-libbing what I thought it should look like and after a few rounds of paint the shadows, crevices really were not doing what I wanted them to so, I am leaning towards taking a pencil to this in the morning when I can see it in the day light. The polka dot print here is from my minds eye and the base is some textured Bazzill. the ribbons are from May Arts and Offray. This one finished out at A7 in real life. I hope you are all doing well and staying cool. Thanks for Stopping by.

Inspired by { Garden Collage }

 This week Julie is our hostess for the Inspiration challenge and she has chosen Garden Collage where I came across this shot of Snapdragons because, I had seen my Inky Antic's Snapdragon sentiment in the drawer last weekend and it was right after I had finished painting the cone flowers for the watercolor challenge a few days ago. 

SO with that whole loose painting idea fresh in my mind I just painted this real quick. No pencils, no sketches. its very loose. are you tilting your head sideways and squinting? 

The sentiment is on the inside of the card and reads "I've entered the snapdragon part of my life... part of me has snapped and the rest is draggin'! " hahaha. ( you can find that here at Inky Antics) It's wicked hot here. So, the painted panel is Arches cold press cotton paper with Daniel Smith paints cut with a waffle flower lacy layers die and up on foam tape. The Bazzill base is 6" square in real life. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoastampers to play along with us.  I hope you all are doing well, Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Loose cone flowers

 This week Brenda has found for us a tutorial on doing loose cone flowers. and I did watch the video on YouTube seen here. 

Then I proceed to sketch a pair of blooms in the lower right side of this piece of Arches hot press cotton paper. that pencil is water soluble. You can find one for yourself here at Amazon. If you sketch light enough you will not see the lines after. 

after first round of paint went on, and I realized that maybe a pencil that fades in the water is not going to get that sketchy look the video has. But, I keep going adding more paint and water. and some watercolor colored pencils. 

Like so, and more splatters and more paint and water trying to get the pencils to spread a little.

I actually have these growing in my yard as both a mauve pink version and some orange-ish ones too. so, I decided to go pink. This is on a base of Neenah earthstone and it's A7 in real life. I hope you are all doing well. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us, Thanks for looking.

Inspired by {Brighton}

 This week Amy has shared with us the Brighton site where I came across this butterfly Key ring and I knew there was a "Butterfly with a banner" challenge happening on the last day of Dare to get Dirty So, this morphed into being a combo card for both challenges. 

I looked through all my butterfly stamps and found this trio that is from two different club scrap sets that were small enough to fit onto these My Favorite Things jumbo fishtail flags and I was like "YES!" this in a million years is not a card I would have ever come up with without these challenges as a prompt. So, since the butterflies were not floral ones like the key ring I decided to hang my banner on a floral printed paper. (Moda Scrap fly & scrap set) The base on this one is from Bazzill, the sentiment is from Impression Obsession and I did poke the May Arts cord through the tops of the banner die cuts and just taped it to the back side of the printed paper so, its pretty flat in real life. There is a tiny bit of stardream gellyroll pen over the watercolor paint on the wings since the cord is sparkly in real life. You can find these challenges here and here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us, thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Tips for Light

 This week Linda has shared with us a quick tutorial on how to build layers of paint for the "light" to be there in the finished piece. You can find this tutorial here on YouTube.

It's also about the half-way ish point for Dare To Get Dirty. It's the 15th anniversary so, this year the challenges are open to everyone and you can find them all here at SCS. So, I decided to combine my Watercolored Viola's with Judy's Challenge seen here. 

First layer of faint paint on some Arches 100% cotton hot press paper that was stamped with Simon Says Stamp barely beige ink and that Personal Stamp Exchange Viola's stamp. 

Second round of paint dried on the image. 

The step where I combined it with Judy's challenge and I did use Daniel smith paints for this rather than ink. So, it "kinda" worked but, when it was dried I decided to take a brush and smooth it out and add a little more detailing to the soil. 

The painted panel was cut with a Spellbinders hem stitched rectangle die ( love that one) This is up on foam tape above the base and I added at Gina K. Designs wishing well sentiment to one of the scraps. I think this will make a nice birthday card for my MIL this year. You can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by { Baby Dream Backdrops }

 This week Sue is guest hosting the Inspiration challenge at SCS and she shared with us this beautiful site filled with Photographer backdrops seen here. Where I came across this one that I just love so much.

If I were shooting portraits I would be all over these things, they look brilliant on the computer screen. 

So I started by using this Personal Stamp Exchange wreath on some Neenah to practice painting in tight spaces and less water ( good when its so hot and dry) and I liked how the practice one finished so, I die cut it with a My Favorite Things mod square die and added the Simon Says Stamp sentiment. The printed wood grain paper was cut up in the paper trimmer to give it some "green" space similar to the IC shoot. You can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us, hope you all are doing well. Thanks for stopping by.