Dirty Dozen September

 For this month's photograph prompt what really struck me was how soft it was... and I loved that the soft colors and image and the sweetness. I don't really have stamps that sweet so, I decided something Prim could work with the soft colors... 

 So I stamped this Inky Antic's stamp (V1-0076-L designed by Tammy DeYoung) with some Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink on Arches cold press paper and started adding a soft wash of Cerulean blue to the background. 

 Another layer of paints with some shadows starting. 

 I had the bright idea to add some white gouache to this and I did do it straight out of the tube so it could dry a little 3-D and then I had the idea to do some pattern to the fur on the kitty and then I had the idea to give him spots that I am not so crazy about but, it is what it is. 

 I cut that painted layer out with a Memory Box Fringed scalloped frame die ( the largest one in the set) and I have been chopping up my scraps lately in my spare time so, I dug out this pack of Impression Obsession dies Anna Wight did a while back called "trims" and then I cut the pale green ric rac and the red shiny loopy looking trim and layered them. That pale fuzzy looking yarn printed paper is from the Mintay Merry Little Christmas pad. I did trim it down to just under A7 on a paper trimmer and the base here is some textured cream. I left off the sentiment as I am not sure if this will become a "happy winter" type card rather than an "Merry Christmas" card as of yet. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us the photograph is in this thread in the special forums set aside for Fan Club members seen here. Thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Botanical Arts Co.}

 It's my turn to host the Inspiration Challenge this week and I have chosen the Botanical Arts Co. and their Pinterest boards can be seen here. I love looking at this, I think everything I looked at was Watercolored and I considered painting something but, I recently got this Stampin' Up! Totes & Notes set of stamps and dies in the mail and I wanted to see how big this would be assembled and such. ( I think this will be large enough for a gift card to rest in the tote with some peeking out the top. So, I poked around in my printed papers in the drawers and stopped on this shimmery rose print that I had two sheets of and decided to use it. And then chose a rose from the site. Which is kind of backwards from the way I normally pick something but, I just decided to roll with it and tried not to over think it to the death. 

 So, I used some textured green Bazzill cardstock for the trim on the bag and then used some DCWV pink shimmer for the handles. The sentiment here is an Letterpress one from Spellbinders done with Black ink on the white cotton paper from the A little message set. I did cut the tiny tag from the totes die set and then used a couple of shades of mulberry flowers and glue dots to decorate it, the sparkly gem is from Queen & co. twinkling clear goosebumps. I tied it on with some Natural colored hemp string. and then the tissue paper is just something from the gift wrap container in my closet. I think this is just so cute so, I am sure you will be seeing more of these from me. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Decorate the Season

 I don't know about you but, I have a little stash of these old sweet Penny Black kids that are just a lot to color. So, I have not colored any of mine before today I don't think.

So, as a trial I stamped her on some Studio Loft watercolor paper with Versafine morning mist ink thinking I did not want any dark black lines and I had to laugh at my self because, once the paint was dry I ended up taking a black micron pen to most of the edges of that panel. I cut her out with scissors and put foam pop dots on the back. The plaid paper here is from one of the Simple Stories pads and that aqua trim with the faux red stitching is the back side ( drop piece) from the plaid. I cut the red ric rac ( IO die) from some shimmery red paper and just wrapped it around the edges. The red base here is something from SU. Probably ridding hood red as its one of my go-to colors and its finished out at A2 in real life. I did use the white gouache straight from the tube so it would dry 3-D and I am pretty tickled with how she turned out. Thanks for stopping by. 

At the same time I was painting the one above, I had a second panel going in shades of Pastels.

So, since the simple stories plaid worked well with the one above I did nearly the same thing on this one as well. The plaid on this one was from one of their Winter pads. The pink ric rac was cut from scraps with the IO trims die and the plaid mat under the painted panel was from one of their other pads. ( simple stories) and those are up on foam pop dots. The base here is something I want to say an herb type name from Neenah and its A2 in real life. I am debating adding a little more color to the birdhouse here as the creamy color kind of fades into the scene I guess. I think I like the contrast of the darker one on the top more but, she is still cute. That's about it for her at the moment. 

Watercoloring Human Doodles

 This week Linda is sharing this video tutorial by Stephen Coats doing quick sketches of people from the back in simple scenes and watercoloring them. The video is called Watercolour Doodles Human Figures seen here on YouTube. 

 So, I started doing sketches of people after watching the video in these sketch books. 

 And I thought OK this is not so bad as the mental thought of drawing people or even sketching people so, I picked up a second sketch book with watercolor paper that I had not used as of yet and did a larger couple on it. This is a link to this particular pad. 

And then right before I started painting it I remembered that you were supposed to ink over it and I actually remembered to test it on a scrap. 

 

 I grabbed an Micron pen and found it bled with just water so, I went online and found this multipack of the Uni Pens in the video on Amazon here. And then I scribbled on some of the black from that pen on the same scrap of Arches paper 

 And it looked like this pen bled more than an Micron pen... so, I decided that I would use the pen and let it sit for a while incase there was some drying time needed. 

 I did try to mix some plum paint from the ultra marine and some red (not a what ever red he used and I did not really see the paint move as well on this paper. I will have to look for a link for this particular sketchbook but, it is not Arches paper for sure. 

I did drag the paintbrush below their feet trying for some blurry shadows in the rain um, reflections type movement.

 

So, after that paint dried I added on some more shadows at the feet for a reflection and Sketched inked shadow lines as the paint had dried by this point. And this is where I stopped. I did not have time to build a scene and I am OK with that, I still grin about the whole "carrot" people comment but, I was glad to see this explained in more depth as the first time I had heard him say that during the beach scene tutorial from Last month seen here I did not try to add legs and feet like I did there and this is more realistic to me so that was a cool thing to learn. 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 {Lamps Plus}

 This week Amy has chosen the Lamps Plus site for inspiration and their pinterest boards here. I came across this chair with a collage/bird print fabric on it and went from there. 

 I have spent a little time this last week diecutting some of my scraps with new to me dies and this Creative Expressions Sam Poole Cheesecloth background from one of those old SU brown colors ( its the one that is darker than Chocolate Chip whose name escapes me..) that was how this card started as the envelope of these was laying front and center, So I dug out this old PSX decoys stamp # G-1737 from 1995 and stamped it with some Versafine Clair Pinecone ink on some Neenah classic cream cardstock. I ended up adding the sentiment from the Woodware happy birthday set ( this only has two sentiments in the set) with the same ink as I liked the font and my dad's birthday is next week. The scripty text printed paper is from Hobby Lobby and the base here is some textured Bazzill. This is 5 1/2" square in real life. I did use a Simon Says Stamp notebook edge die on the cream cardstock stamped panel and then used some DOX vintage photo ink along the edges of the paler shades of papers here. I thought about adding an Egg image or two to the collage but, I needed to get this in the mail so, I just left the birds as line art and did not color them either. That's about it from me, I hope you're doing well & thanks for stopping by. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. 

Watercoloring Old Trees

 This week Suz is sharing this video seen here on YouTube that is using brush strokes to create old looking trees, so it's a water coloring practice drill that creates a row of trees if you are in need of a forest card. 

 

I did use a water soluble pencil to do the un even ground line.

I was watching the video when I started painting the first tree on the left and by the time I started on the second tree it was over with haha. so, I did do the next batch of trees and leaves by memory and then I re-watched it to see the rocky/ground part as I did not see that at all the first time around. I only seemed to get the dry brush strokes correct for texture going the wrong direction so, I ended up filling in that ground with more green and browns a few times and so.

 

First layers of ground paints.

 Added more paint to the ground and some grass sprigs, and started thinking if you keep messing with this it is going to be so overworked it looks stupid and cauli-flowered... so. 

It's fairly funny to me how different the colors look between the cell phone shots ( all the ones on the table) and one taken with an DSLR. I do not remember if there was more paint on this layer but the blue tones in the Paynes Grey Blue here really seem much more deep and dark than they do in real life, so the greens are also off and darker. Such is life. :) I do like how the bark looks on the tree trunks and I will be doing more of that in the future I am sure. 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.