Inspired by {Paper Fashion}

 Did you play with paper dolls? That is what the Inspiration made me think of when I seen Kia share it and I loved the sketchy look to these gowns seen here. And I told my self this would be an awesome mixed media piece.

And I knew in my head I had a rack of dresses from Unity Stamps May kit of the month 2014, and I told my self I could just ink the top of the dresses and leave the bottom of the stamp un inked so I could just whisp away the hemlines. and I ended up grabbing a Simon Says Stamp Beige pad and stamping it with that. ( the whole thing) the dresses are not really that big in real life. So, then I had the idea to trace over the inked impression with some polychromos pencils and it gave it a sketchy no line coloring outline but, I added the color to this with copic markers. and I tried to keep them sketchy flecks too. After that I added some stardust gelly roll pen to one dress and went over all of them with clear wink of stella.

The whole time I was working on this card the newest Distress color Salvaged Patina Oxide pad was sitting on the table a couple inches from this, So I stamped off this Inkadinkado Sentiment with some Versafine Clair warm breeze ink and then added some swipes of Salvaged Patina Oxide with an Aqua brush. The swirls of pearls are from Prima and turned out to be waaay too big for the scale of the gowns so, they became like fancy pins on an idea board. the woodgrain is printed paper and the photo corners are from Heidi Swapp. This one finished out at 5 1/2" square in real life. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us. That's about it from me, stay safe out there & thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW # 622 { View Improvements }

 

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 

So bright and early Saturday AM the window came out and was replaced in the west side of the room I am sitting in to type this at. 

I have moved the dresser and rolling cart that used to sit at this end of the table I stamp on to back on that wall again as, it will be at least 2 to 3 weeks before the inside trim goes in to be "finished" ( from the view above you can see the corner needs turned and two more ground floor windows need replaced still and the insides get stained window sills and trim and such so, its easier to hubs to do all the insides at the same time after all the outside is done. From this view you can also see quite clearly the 6" paper pads that migrated from one case into two have multiplied to be too many to close the lids again. 

(you'd think I would stop buying it but, usually what happens is at this point I start pulling out the oldest pads, putting the papers I will use into hanging file folders in the file cabinet and setting the rest of what ever is left of those pads into a pile to re-gift.) Because, I will buy more, its a fairly sure thing.

along top the file cabinets the stacked dies are annoying because, it never fails that the one you want is on the bottom at the back of the pile so, I have ordered a couple of these die storage holders seen here. and I intend to stack them behind the tier of paints and sprays. ( at least they will hold only 3 dies per shelf so it will be easier to slide out the one you want and read the words I hope)  

I am still debating the table issue.

So, during this upheaval I have been taking a look at my storage and noticing things that annoy me and also I have been watching you know "how to" water color videos every week when the challenge is posted at SCS ( these are learning things, not competitions) and lately it has become apparent to me that those people who can do every single thing with one Round brush have way more talent then I do so when someone shows you a different brush that you can do something easier with. and or you watch someone who paints with two brushes at once ( one with paint, one dry) it makes you realize its OK to own more than one brush lol... so, Amazon delivered this newest haul late Monday night. the box is empty. I am planning to move 4 of the 5  filled 12 half pan sets of Prima watercolors I have to it because, having a half a dozen little boxes open at once to get 3 different colors annoys me. Not sure yet what I will do with the small boxes but, its possible that as I go along a little more I will use some of the empty pans with my tube paints and make say smaller travel sized configurations or some thing. (and mix the colors the way I want them) at this point, I do not know enough about exactly what I want or even how to pick the colors yet that I want for sure. Some colors I have something like 4 or 5 brands of paints and I think I will eventually end up with a custom box of the colors I like best from all the choices I have collected. I continue to use the cheap strathmore card I picked up to learn on but, I will tell you using better brushes is getting better results for me. And I am more tempted by the idea of using the better cotton papers I have collected and stacked in the closet too :) I am thinking the strathmore works really well for die cuting and adding paint to the die cuts so at some point I may just chop a bunch of it up.

So, I was pretty pleased to see this idea would work better for me, ( to have more colors to choose from in less space) I still have two small boxes of Daniel Smith watercolors and one more Prima set in the background so, I will probably do this again some day, buy another empty pan to hold a lot of them.

That's about if from me, stay safe out there and thanks for stopping by.

Sun Tea

 This week's featured stamper at SplitCoastStampers is Elizabeth and I found this pretty card in her gallery to use as the jump start for mine.

Using some Daniel Smith Watercolors on Strathmore 400 series #140 water color card and a retired Stampington & Co. sunflower tea stamp.

This particular challenge always needs 2 changes so, I made my scrap strips narrower and added a 4th to this card front. Instead of layers of diecut blooms I used the image from above with a little more paint on it. That was cut with a Hero Arts rectangle die. This panel is up on foam pop dots over the base. The sentiment here is from Two Paper Divas ( also retired) This card base is a funny little 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" in real life. ( it was part of a package of them that was a gift) I have it in the back of my mind that if you want to mail cards this size you have to put the whole thing into a bigger envelope but, I have not tested that yet. That's about if from me, stay safe out there and thanks for Stopping by.

Inspired by {Nina Cloak}

 This week the Inspiration destination has headed to Nina Cloak's site and pinterest boards.

 Where I painted this simple little card based off of this shirt (seen below & found here) that I would totally wear in real life. So, I started off masking an A6-ish panel of Strathmore 400 Series #140 watercolor paper and doing a pale green color wash, and then a few leaves. ( which dried as shadows) when that was dry. I decided to add more leaves. and then did another color wash over the top of the whole thing. and when that was dry I added the leaves you see here. after those dried I went back over them with the tiny 0 brush and added some lines and spots to some of them. The sentiment here is from the Simon Says Stamp You got this set, cut with one of their sentiment strip dies and that panel is up on foam pop dots over the base. Just a simple one but, it is something I can see my self doing again some time as I practice more brush strokes and have a wider variety of leaves to paint.

You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

{A catch up post}

 

 

Recently the Inspiration challenge headed to a pinterest board with Paper Mache art on it where I found this bird trio pin. And I did this card. The newsprint bird is from Hero Arts and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession.

This last week the Inspiration headed to the sweet lulu shop where I found these silly work related pencils and decided to chop up some scraps at random widths and glue them all on an angle to another scrap to use as the pattern for this to let the snarky Picket Fence studios sentiments shine.

Last week on "Earth" day the idea was to use recycled items on the project, so this is the innerds of some cardboard shipping box with acrylic paint on the exposed ribs and a clothing tag. the coffee cups were cut from some Yupo alcohol ink backgrounds. 

Last week's color combo challenge. ( my dresser I shoot on is away from the window at the moment awaiting the new window to be installed so, I shot this flat on the desk and really do not like that look.) but, you can see the depth of the layers and the sparkle on the top letters so there is that. 

This weeks Featured Stamper was Heather who had this card here which I used as the Inspiration for mine.

This current week Martina is the featured Stamper and I found this pair of teen cards in her gallery that I used as inspiration for mine.

This one goes all the way back to the middle of March when Sandy was featured Stamper and I used this card of hers as a jump start.

This one goes back to Valentines day when Linda was the featured stamper and I picked this cute card of hers for a jump start. 

I think this was just a using up things on the table card. It never went into the gallery at SCS at any rate.

This was done for my oldest Nieces birthday this year. The balloons and frame were cut from some brusho type watercolor backgrounds.

This was done when Gem was featured stamper and I giggled over this of hers.

This was done a few Mondays ago for both challenge the CAS was to do a silhouette and the try a technique was for faded watercoloring a stencil.

this was done for my oldest niece who lost her older dog a few weeks before we lost Grace, and I never posted this ha, I even lost it in a pile of cards on my table because, I knew Grace's time was about up and so. I eventually found it in the mess and mailed it off to her family.

This was done for Grandma Mary's 97th birthday last month.

There was a watercolor Wednesday challenge a little bit ago to do loose roses as the tutorial. (free hand) 

 

A closer look at the one I did.

The featured Stamper a few weeks ago was Mary Ellen and I found this cute card in her gallery.

And I made mine a Christmas version because, that is where my brain went when I seen the red typewriter.

WOYWW # 621 {again}

 

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 

So, the window is not in yet. and I have been cleaning and putting things away and had the bright idea to drag that big rolling cart that is usually at this end of the folding table I stamp on to over by the window to see if it will fit next to the baby dresser that holds some stamps and dies that I use as a flat spot to shoot photos of finished things and since its on wheels it will not be a big deal to drag it back out of the way for them to work on the window. And Izzy is supervising. one thing is different from this view. What feels like a million years ago, we received a book shelf from hubs grandma's estate and I had it turned around backwards under this side of the table where those suitcases are stacked and it held just the two top cases which contain finished cards as those are two of the cases that go to the schools craft bazaar in the fall. And I had hubs take it out of the space and put it into the someday we will really have a yard sale pile in the barn and that gave me the space to stack a bunch of the other suit cases that were under the window next to the dresser for a long time that got drug down to below the other window when I moved  that altered bakers rack to sit next to the dresser in the window last year some time, well. that is not working because, moving things around I seen that even with the curtains closed on that side, some of the plastic iris project case boxes are turning yellow tinted and so, that had me re-arranging this space off and on. the rack is now where the sofa table I sit to color on was, that table moved to behind this love seat. and the table that matches the coffee table has been drug around the corner to the back side of the wall of the stair case. the good news about that is, it gives me more counter space with a plug in on the wall so, the intention is to get the things that plug in out of the closet and be able to be used on that table there. ( I will take more photos when the window goes in and I get it more the way I think it will work when the dust has been cleaned up)
 

 So, sometime last Wednesday after that post, I started watching the video for the watercolor challenge and it ( can be found here) and decided to give that a whirl. the one on the left was the first one and doing it landscaped view I felt like I did not have enough room for the sky and water so, I tried it again in a portrait view and I was really tickled to see there was a rigger brush in that set of brushes I had gotten in the mail a few weeks ago. I had better luck with the grass using that skinny little brush than a round one. DS has arrived and we are enjoying this time together a great deal. That's about it from me,  Thanks for stopping by & I hope you are all doing well and stay safe out there :)