Dirty Dozen April Promt & Sample

 It's that time again, time to unveil the April theme for the Dirty Dozen Christmas cards challenge at Splitcoaststampers. You can read all the details here in the special forums for Fan Club members.

I started out thinking about doing some kind of a play off the 12 days of Christmas but, all the things I started pushing around were just too big for a card front, and I almost made some tags. and then I found this piece of paper in a Prima pad that had this little file folder collage on it and I liked that, so I cut it off the printed paper and started pulling out ephemera from some 49 & Market packs, and sentiments I had previously stamped and die cut, Stickers from Simple Stories pads and ended up with this.

I did leave some blank space in the top left corner of the library card piece because, I'm considering adding a monogram to that space when it gets gifted. The edges of all the diecut sentiments were inked with some DOX speckled egg ink and this is actually a little more on the Minty & Pink-ish toned side in real life but, its grey and gloomy here. ( Maybe going to do a last hurrah snowstorm tonight. and That's not an April fools joke. ) ( we could certainly use the snow in the mountains so, fingers are crossed all over the place in this part of the state at the moment) 

The no peeking has some burlap string tied through its hole to the diecut clip piece and other than that this is pretty flat in real life. It's also A7 on some Stampin' Up succulent cardstock. That's about it from me, I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by. 
 

 

Adding Depth to Painting

 This week Linda is sharing this quick video on adding depth with paint values to some tulips. And the basic gist of it was wet the area, paint. let it dry and repeat. 

And I started thinking I own dozens of Tulip stamps there was no reason not to find one as I started this watercoloring journey as a reason to color stamps I already own. So, with that thought in mind I dug out one of my oldest Tulip stamps from Club Scrap. I used some Arches Hot Press cotton paper as its smooth and takes stamps with details well and some Versafine Clair Morning mist (grey) ink.

 I had this red/purple mixed color on the palette and decided to roll with that. and then I did add some yellow to the center bloom.

 Second layer of paint.

 next layer of paint. It was billing day at work today so, I started this late and I knew it was not going to turn into a finished project with the drying times so, I am just adding more paint as I steal time to this. I feel like I want to trace over some of the stamped ink lines are that grey is a little too dark for this light wash. and so, the flowers may end up going a lot darker than this with more layers.

 I think I remember reading her say not to outline the flowers with the paint so, so far the ink lines have stayed that way. and they are a little bit too dark I am guessing for a no line look so, I may try this again with a paler tan shade of ink. That is another thing I have issues with on sketching is I use an water soluble pencil so, getting it wet from the get go means I lose the shape instantly more or less. I am having some fun seeing this evolve and I think you may enjoy it was well. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Elephant Stock}

 Hello & Happy Spring This last weekend of March this year Amy has chosen the Elephant Stock site for inspiration at Splitcoaststampers and I seen so many cute things that I finally had to stop looking it was such a deep well of eye candy. I decided to use this Joy sign with a bunny and flowers as my jump start.

 

 I knew I had this Penny Black Immense Joy die and I decided to cut it from some thin 90# watercolor paper by Artist loft. ( I grabbed this pad because it was on sale and did not notice the weight.) flimsy for painting on but, works OK for die cutting and stacking. The Joy was cut 3 times and glued together. After some debate and running out of time I decided to leave that as it was and focused on bunny dies. This particular one is called Rabbit from Gummiapan and I did cut it twice from the same watercolor paper and then added just a smidge of Daniel Smith watercolor to it, to bring out the details the die has. Wanting to add some soft flowers I pulled this page off of a pad from Hobby Lobby I picked up last weekend called Distressed Florals. I did trim it down to be slightly smaller than A2 in real life and just inked the cut edges with some speckled egg DOX ink. The base here is a pre made 49 & Market cardbase that is probably a Christmas one but, the colors worked so, all that is left to do to this is line the inside of the card where the note gets written as this cardbase is on the thin side to my fingers. 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 an Abstract tree with flowers

 This week Suz is sharing a Paul Clark video seen here on YouTube. Called How to paint a spring garden Scene. So I used some Arches Cold press paper and Daniel Smith paints. 

I realized as I started the yellow into the wash that the pencil was going to dissolve and the only thing I had tried to sketch was the tree trunk.

 So, I did watch the video and I really could not remember what came after the yellow in the sky if it was the purple flowers, the grass or the tree trunk. So, I just kept painting as I knew I probably would not end up with something that looked too much like his painting and I knew I had to keep going to keep it moist. 

 So I started in with the trunk and did remember the drag the end of the brush through the paint detail.

 So I added in some tulips to the background and then more grass.

 More splatters in the purples, more tulips, more grass. misted the paper some more as it was drying pretty quickly by this time.

 Decided to add a third kind of abstract flower that was a combination of red and purple. more splatters etc.

 more of the same.

 I did add more splatters which did not do much so, I ended up dropping in the paint where I wanted some darks.

Tried adding some yellow tulips and more drops of paint to the dark red-ish purple flowers at the bottom.added some darker colors to the edges. 

Tried to add some dark to the edges of the paper as it was so faded. and added more to the edges of the branches and such. I did start to wonder if this would have turned out better on Rough texture paper ( I have some but, it was handy to reach for just the cold press. I have let this sit aside to dry and see what happens when it is dry. 

 What it dried like. I am not so sure I have an idea for this yet so, its just loose paper still. I am thinking I like how the purple flower layers dried and maybe this will work cut down smaller than this someday. Not sure yet. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here. Thanks for stopping by. 

Watercoloring Blue Grape Hyacinths

 It's my turn to host the watercoloring tutorial challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week and I recently came across this blue grape hyacinths video on YouTube that is in what I think of as Loose. The full name is how to watercolour paint grape hyacinths muscari by Art by Lynn Norris. 

I did not sketch anything and just started on the background with the paints. This is Arches cold press cotton and Daniel Smith paints.

 The bulbs growing in my yard have wide blades of leaves and tend to grow upright in big clusters so, the space between these looked odd to me but, I kept going.

 Those leaves are making my eyes cross since they do not grow like that here for me and this is where I stopped so, I am debating about chopping this up or giving it a frame that covers up the bottom of this as I do kind of like how the dreamy blooms look. ( not real realistic but, a little loose and drippy) So after peeking at the yard again I did add more green with bigger curves trending down to the green leafy parts.

 But, I think I am still going to cover up a lot of that with a wide frame ( I am waiting for the paint to dry since haha this goes live soon.) 

 I like this one much better being framed and cut down a bit. The frame here is from Mama Elephant Flourish Frame cut from some grey DCWV paper and the edges have some Scorched timber along the edges. ( as do all the printed papers actually) The Sentiment here is from Unity Stamps Pansy Praise set and that was cut with the label die inside the Tim Holtz Stitched Slots die set. I do not know who makes that leafy green print anymore but the base here is some SU Soft Seafoam cardstock cut to A6 in real life. 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. 

 

 

 

Inspired by {Barn & Bunkie}

 This week Kia is sharing the Barn & Bunkie site and I knew before I opened the site I wanted to do something Easter and so, when it opened I started looking for Green/Blue ideas as that is something that appeals to me at the moment and I came across this vase. And what I seen when I went back to the link is it is blurry as all heck so? you get the idea I guess. 

 So the background here is blues and greens ( Broken China & Cracked Pistachio Inks smooshed over the Embossed with Ranger Verdigris powder. The stamp is an old background from Stampin' Up! called Fine Lace. I think it has a blurry almost gritty texture to it and I think the colors are brighter than the vase but, I just kept going. I have a stack of these backgrounds because, when I make them I do a few at a time when I am making a mess. 

And I have been die cutting a bunch of Bunnies and baskets the last week or so and this particular basket is from the Lawn Fawn Build an Easter basket die set and so is the grass. The bunny here is the tiny one from the Sizzix set from Tim Holtz called SideKick Spring set and it has like a little chick and a butterfly and some tiny embossing folder in the set. So, this bunny is smaller than the one from the old magnetic Movers and Shapers Sizzix die. ( I cut some of those as well) 

 The bow was cut from some turquoise shinny paper and the Happy Easter sentiment here is from Personal Stamp Exchange It's number is D2504 Stamped with some Versafine Pinecone ink on some Neenah earthstone cardstock. I cut this with an Nellie Snellen tags 3 die and inked the edges with some Speckled Egg DOX ink. I did use some of that ink along the distressed edges of the green mat paper. This card finished out at A6 in real life. The lace here is vintage. 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.