Watercoloring a Simple snowy bird scene

 This week Linda is sharing this video seen here on YouTube to do a winter scene with a bird on a branch, and she uses a piece of yarn to get the frosty looking branch effect. I have not crochet with yarn in a lot of years but, I have a tiny stash of fancy fibers to tie on gift tags and found a piece of chenille. ( it did not work by the way) so, if you have some yarn maybe try a different one.

I started by cutting a piece of Arches cold press with the largest die in the Mama Elephant Deckled edge frames set and using Indigo & black as a color wash for the background, got the chenille damp, sprinkle don salt, layered a little more water on the string and walked away. ( it's been snowing off and on here the last few days and so, the drying time is in the hours and hours stage. 

When I removed the chenille I had this. So, there was no damp under where it was I may have waited too long to pull it up. I did let this sit overnight and all day while I was at work today.

So, I grabbed a damp brush and tried to make a line of where I thought the string was originally for a branch, added a hint of brown to that and then did the bird based on what I remembered from watching the video a few days ago, My bird sketch I did make a letter D with a bump for the head but, the space for the tail I had painted over so, I did spend a bunch of time adding brown paint to the tail area.

After adding more paint to the bird I decided to splatter the whole thing with some Dr. PH Martins bleed proof white. and then (this is not in this shot) I did drag the brush along the outside of the stitched line on the diecut to take away some of the sky color washed background there. I am not so sure that was any success as of yet but, I did try that. 

 After that dried I did use a piece of textured Bazzill for a mat and then roughed up the edges of that. dug around in my blue ribbons box and found another piece of yard that came from "Fibers by the yard" a long time ago, wrapped it where the painted branch was supposed to be and its mostly floating there with a couple of micro glue dots in a couple of spots. I decided to use an premade card base of Strathmore watercolor paper in an A7 and used it for the base. And I have not decided on the sentiment as of yet so right now this is where I stopped with this one. if you'd like to play along with us, you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

Thanksgiving Gift Card Holders

 These were built around this printed papers I found in my stash, I knew that I needed something on the A2 size as the place we buy Turkey Thanksgiving gift cards from sells them on post card type paper now rather than just the card. So, I cut up the plaid and word prints, found this orange cardstock and pushed them around on the table for a week or so. and I kept thinking maybe pumpkins maybe leaves. ( I've done leaves a lot over the years) so, I found this Pretty Pink Posh elegant Pumpkins die in the stash and It had not been played with before so, to keep some of the white I decided to cut it from some Artist loft (cheap) watercolor paper. 

And the very first one did not instantly fall apart when I removed it from the die so I decided to tape up the backside of it and keep it as an embedded die, cut a couple more and did the same thing with a few rounds of Daniel Smith watercolors over the top. 

I had some thoughts about leaving no words on the front. ( the inside has the waffle flower Happy Thanksgiving from their set that looks like Farm House font words) mind went blank. but, one of the card front layers I decided it was crooked, lifted it up (so of course the plaid paper ripped) at this point you know all three cards were nearly done so, out came the tin of previously diecut tiny tags and I found this Just for you ( it has to be SU but, who knows what set off hand) and layered those in the same general area where I had the one card rip. I am currently overthinking that idea but, I am also running out of time to come up with some other idea so, I think these are going to stand as is. 

I am really liking this die like this on watercolor paper all taped together and I think I just may do a few more of these while I have everything out. That's about it from me, hope you are doing well. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {the Wreath Shop}

 This week Denise has shared the Wreath shop as the inspiration destination at SCS and I happened across these wings. And although the words say they are metal my brain seen them as barn wood. So, I decided to cut the bottom base layer of these Sizzix Lisa Jones Angel wings as some mostly white woodgrain printed paper, inked the outside edges with DOX vintage photo and then cut the top detailing layer from some vellum so the light could pass through and the woodgrain would peek through.

This sentiment is an old one from Validated and I cut that out with an Lawn Fawn Extra Sentiment banner die. the center of it has an old Stampin Up (not sure what they called theirs but, it looks like an "goosebump" type gem) The base here is some Ellen Hutson linen texture white and its 5 1/2" square in real life. 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 Snowy Forest scene

 This week Brenda has chosen this video seen here on YouTube by Julia Lis art doing a simple forest scene with trees "out of the box" or oval as it happens. 

I did use an water soluble pencils to do the slightly wonky oval here. 

First layer of paint and I walked away from it at this point to let it dry. this is Indigo and black. 

second layer of slightly deeper shades of the same paints. I was hoping for a reindeer shape to my silhouette and I am thinking this is not too bad. 

added a little more and the first round of white splattering was done with Dr. PH Martins bleed proof white. (which faded when dried) this is some artist loft (cheap) watercolor paper.

More bleed proof white added with also some Windsor & Newton white gouache. ( which also faded away) so, the final card has a bit of Tim Holtz distress picked fence paint ( I think it may be acrylic) and I used an acrylic paint brush to add a few more dots to the finished card below.

The mulberry paper has hints of blues to the grey so, I felt like it blended well with the paints in real life. ( this did not want to photograph for me those blue undertones) the base here is Neenah solar white. The sentiment here is from Red Lead stamps and done with some Versafine ink. this one has finished out at A7 in real life. 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.

Celebrating CJ Nalley

 This week CJ is the featured stamper at SCS and I happened across this Country living birthday card of hers and Knew I could do something with it as the inspiration. I do have that set but, You have to make at least two changes so, I stamped this Comotion light wrapped cowboy boot with some Versafine morning mist on the cheap watercolor paper. 

First layers of paint.

So, after the first layer dried I did add a second layer and decided to add a wash to the background to help the "glow" pop and was lucky it did not turn green but, it did get some funky lines. I decided I needed some sparkle to the glow and lights and such. 

So I added some stickles glitter glue to the light bulbs and some white gouache to the catch lights on the bulbs. I had saved space for that but, I did goof the blue bulb and so, this was an attempt to even them out. after this dried I did add some stardream gelly roll pen to all those dots around the "glow" and the spur out the top of the boot. 

Because I had changed the them to Christmas I did wrap the red ribbon (May Arts) around a couple of corners as a nod to that sentiment and those red banners she has on the corner of her card. I did use the Simon Says Stamp wonky stitched rectangle die to cut the watercolor panel. The wood grain here is pretty old its from Provo Craft the natural pine print had red splatters. The base here was cut to A6. That's about it from me. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Bronner's Christmas}

 This week Kia is sharing the Bronner's Christmas site for Inspiration at SCS and I came across this Ornament seen here. What caught my eye besides the red and white combo was the sparkle and the whole you could do a lot of CAS off of that. 

So, I pulled out this Sue Wilson die from Creative Expressions and cut it from some cheap watercolor paper, painted it red and when that dried.

I decided to go over the top of it with some red-ish sparkle paint and it really does not sparkle that much unless you tilt it just so but, that is on there. 

I had some happy mail arrive that I bought my self for my birthday this year and so, ( you can see that loot pile above haha) in it was this Penny Black Classy Frames die set and that Lisa Horton Rustic Hessian Slimline embossing folder. So, I cut the frame from the same paper as the words were cut from and I grabbed a scrap of what looked like hmmm, possibly Sundance Felt natural white and ran it through the folder. I trimmed it down to the just the piece of the embossing and then cut that at 5 1/2" to make a band for the front of the card. (the cardbase here is totally glittered red on the front and back from Paper Accents) and I hauled home that ribbon from Micheals? or Joanns sometime last summer and the words just got lost so, I grabbed the drop piece end of the embossed panel and tucked it over the ribbon and under the frame to park the words on. I did after the liquid glue dried tuck in some small folded in half glue dots under the parts of the frame that were floating as the ribbon and embossing is not exactly flat here. 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.