Watercoloring a Spring Wildflower scene

 Good Morning, It's Wednesday and it's my turn to host the Watercoloring tutorial challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week and I came across this little one from Julia Lis Art on YouTube that I loved the simplicity of containing the view in the circle color block. My brain said this design would make very neat Clean and Simple projects. 

I had a few days from when I watched the video to when I started the painting and (it's tax season crunch time here) and although mine are all filed that is not the case with older family members. So, I needed this time to just decompress and paint. When I started this and then pulled out my phone to shoot this first shot I thought, add more color before it dries.

 

So I did and then I walked away and came back to this late in the afternoon yesterday to add the grass & wildflowers.

I realized as I was adding the grass that I did not add any splatters when I did the main circle background so I added some on top of the flowers. Then added some more on top of this after that. I used some white gouache for the "daisy" type blooms and when I added the yellow to the centers that overwrote the white spots for the most part and I just let it go. I knew as soon as I did it I should have let it dry longer but, I was out of time. I do tend to try to start these paintings on Saturdays so I can have drying time but, it just didn't work out that way this week.

I look at this and do not see much spring, but the artist did mention she was painting this last fall so, I see it that way but, still love the idea of it. I trimmed down the Arches cold press watercolor paper with an Spellbinders Perfect Touch Arches die and then found this sentiment stamped previously in the drawer of such things. I am guessing its an Stampin' Up! sentiment ( an old one maybe with critters in it) but, so far that is all my brain has remembered. It was cut with an deckled edge die ( probably SB as well) and both of these panels are up on foam tape over the Neenah Environmental base that was finished out at A2 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. 

A few Easter Bunny Cards

 I had done some other Easter cards and I did not blog them as some were in the mail and such so, here are a few more that I did this year.

 I used a Sizzix Layered spring die to do that bunny scene ( it has a couple of top layers that do the flowers and sprigs) and I am not sure what order they are supposed to go in but, I am also guessing it does not really matter. Those tiny pom poms are some old Christmas thing and I do not know the size of them. I wish I did because, when I order pom poms online I end up with ones much larger than this size. 

 This one ended up going to June & Dale this year, the Happy Easter sentiment is from probably SU but, not sure about that anymore. The Hole was cut into the Basic Grey print for the framing with an Whimsy Stamps A2 Antique Frame die. I used Distress Oxide inks to add color to the die cuts so, this was actually a pretty quick and simple card to put together as there was not a lot of hurry up and wait for it to dry. 

 

I did spend time cutting a lot of the Bunny dies I have collected over the years and or inking them as well. pushing them around with Basket dies to see what would work scale wise.

This one that Bunny is from Tim Holtz, the eggs are from an The Greetery set and that basket is from Marianne Designs Pansy basket die, the folded satin ribbon is from Stampin' Up. the Sentiment here is from the Clearly Besotted set called Message me. Those rectangle mats were cut with a Spellbinders Perfect touch die and I like the subtle detailing they have. This one went to Gma Mary.

Some how the table really shrinks doing this so, I did keep going however and did play with the Memory Box Easel Basket die set. 

 And it does not really cut a shaped card. not a complete card, It cuts one side of the card and then a third of the back half. So, I cut it twice ( the full die) and then used bits and pieces to build up the under the matting on the inside to make it Flat for writing a message on. This used a lot of paper to create a shaped card with this die set. I don't get the easel part in my brain so, I totally skipped that. The bunny here is from The Greetery. I did see they came out with a new chocolate bunny die this year but, it sold out while I was at work so, its one of those things on the mental wish list and the reality is I have a nice assortment of scales and bunnies to play with. I don't remember which set that bow die came out of and the eye on the bunny here is a fingernail head gem thing. ( its like a really flat pearl) I did send this one to James & Bri. 

 

 One of the things I started doing was taking dies that had not been cut out of their packaging and at least trying them. So, this is a Tim Holtz shadowbox die and I did use some bunnies from the Sizzix Spring layers set in it. The grass I have no clue what set that came out of anymore and the Sign die & stamp are from Penny Black. I did give this one to Hubs. Its not really a card but, it is 3-D and interesting to see the way it goes together but, I am no so sure I would do much with this right now. I do like miniature things and the depth this has but, I have to overthink this die some more I guess. That's about it from me, I hope you and yours are having a really nice Easter. Thanks for stopping by. 

Tulip Thoughts

 I did end up trying this tutorial again with some larger and more simple stamped tulips from the Hero Arts "Hero Florals Tulips 3X4 set from 2020 with some Simon Says Stamp Barley Beige Ink on Arches hot press cotton watercolor paper.

 I did stamp the loose leaf directly over the smaller stem on the right rather than masking it and I did these in the Misti so they were inked a couple of times so that I could see the ink on the paper. Its not quite a bright white in real life so, the photographed colors are off as I think the camera's wanted to make the paper white and that effects the red tones I guess. 

I ended up cropping these cell phone shots down to the painted part as that paper was cut to 5" square in real life. 

These are the same colors in the painted stamped tulip image from a few days ago but, the more open space in the images I think it makes it a little easier to see the colors of the paint.

 I did go over the petals and stems and leaves several times just adding more into where I am thinking the crevices would be to give it some depth.

 what it looked like when I got home today and yes, I did add more paint to it between this shot and the finished one. 

 I used the drop piece of that lily pond Bazzill for the base here and cut it down to be an 5 1/2" square card. The sentiment I think is Stampin' Up! from the perfect Pennants set. I used some Versafine Clair nocturn to stamp it on the watercolor paper and it did take forever to dry. That's about it from me, you can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us if you are so inclined. Thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Zenglo}

 This week Julie is sharing the Zenglo site and Pinterest boards where I found this sweet pin with the blue and pink birds and I just started to grin because, I happen to have a pad of printed paper that has sheets with you guessed it Pink & Blue birds... and I decided why not.

 So I used the largest die in the Pinkfresh notched corner frames set to trim down the sheet of printed paper that came off the Piatek Trzynastego Called Awakening. I did ink the edges of this with some Distress Oxide Speckled egg ink and then used some memories Hero Arts soft sage ink with the Impression Obsession Hello Spring sentiment stamp directly on the paper. The base under this is the Neenah saw grass cardstock finished out at A6. I though the birds needed just a little pop from the background so I did under line them in the place you would normally put a shadow when painting with a white gel pen line. I think it pops the birds a little more in real life as these colors are a little darker on this computer screen than the card looks to me. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by. 

Tulips Continued

 So, I've been adding layers of paint to the stamped tulips off and on for days. and this morning it looked like this

 

 And I thought about it and thought you know, you may as well finish this off into something. I had this pad of paper from a company called Piatek Trzynastego "awakening" and I decided to pull out this green distressed text paper and I cut a hole in the center ish of it trimmed down to just under 6" square to work as a window frame for the tulips. ( Club scrap ) 

 This is actually a soft pale minty type green in real life. The colors are off between the iPhone camera and my DSLR so. I also found that the spellbinders tape I use to hold dies down on paper to cut it decided to tear the top layer off this paper when I removed it. and I thought about it and decided that I did not really want to find a vertical sentiment but, I had this other tulip set out on the table from Hero Arts and it had a Happy Birthday in it So, I used that for the sentiment on the paper and just decided to ink the edges of this printed paper with some DOX bundled sage ink. ( it picks up a bit of the yellowish green in the stems in real life) 

 I am debating roughing up some more of the edges as the inked white space in the "holes" is kind of obvious where my fingers hit it and pulled the paper apart more. might just stick some glue in there and press it flat again. I also added some shadows under the petals and some dots of green paint over the grey ink "splatter" in the stamped image part of it. I am thinking this turned out better than I had hoped with the adding the paint in layers over time. I am slightly curious how many layers of paint was on the painting that partial tutorial had in reality but, not curious enough to pay to know. Its just one of those odd moment thoughts as the reds in her crevices are nearly black they are so deep to me when I loop at it. I think I am going to try this again with some tulip stamps that have more open space and less definition on them to see. That's about it from me, Thanks for stopping by. 

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.