Inspired by {Running with Sisters}

 This week Julie has chosen Running with Sisters as the destination for Inspiration and they have a collection of Pinterest boards seen here. And without really thinking much about it I did go poking about in those huge ( hundreds of thousands of pins group boards at the bottom of the "saved" boards..) which means who knows who pinned the piece I stopped on to that board. But, I came across these cute kitty printables and loved how soft the fur looked. This is one of those times I really miss how pinterest used to be when it was new and you could you know find something again fairly easily because, it showed you where someone had pinned something. ( what board it was pinned to I mean) 

anyways, what I remembered about it was soft, mostly white with pink and blue.

So, I decided that because what is mostly showing of this kitty is the face I could make this work. The Penny Black Brimming with Love  (retired)was stamped on some cold press Arches cotton watercolor paper with Versafine misty morning (grey) ink and watercolored with Daniel Smith paints. The white spots on the cheeks were done with a White gel pen. I just trimmed that in the paper trimmer. the gingham ribbon is May Arts & the bow is Natural hemp string. The sentiment here is from the Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Flowers set done on a blue scrap that was diecut with a stitched rectangle die a long time ago. ( so, I don't know for sure what color that blue is off hand) the Pink scrap is some Papertrey ink sweet blush that was run through the big shot inside a Spellbinders hand drawn scallops embossing folder. The printed paper sheet below all that is from the Melissa Frances 5th avenue pad  (this is really old) and the base is some textured Bazzill which finished out at 6" square in real life. And this will be a two-fer card as I had seen earlier in the week that the monthly theme at Caffeinated Christmas cards is to have hearts on it. 

 It's not really a "Christmas" card, but I think it could work in a pinch for a thinking of you card any time since I did not go red & white and Valentines with it. That's about it from me, I hope you all are continuing to do well.  If you'd like to play along with the inspiration challenge that can be found here at Splitcoastampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Dirty Dozen February card sample

 Painting This one was a longer process than I thought it would be. (It's been 20 some odd degrees colder than normal the last little while so, paint takes longer to dry) I picked this stamp to use for this month's Dirty Dozen Christmas cards prompt found here inside the special forums set aside for Fan Club members at Splitcoaststampers. 

I stamped this Stampendous Candle Chorus House Mouse stamp with Versafine grey ink on Arches cold press wc paper and painted the first layer of "sky" hoping to end up with a night sky. 

This red is Windsor & Newton red. ( it is really red to me, the darker shades of it has a smidge of green mixed in) added some shadows to the snowy ground. ( Or I think it is supposed to be snowy ground, that sounded better in my head than dirt) :)

another round of paints on the candles, sky and a bit on the mice.

more paint on the mice, bird, wicks 

 I probably could have kept adding paint to this for a couple more days but, I needed the sample to go live tonight. So, this afternoon after work I put some stickles glitter glue on the snow. 

I had intended to stamp an old PSX candle sentiment on the inside but, that stamp is being camera shy and I decided to open this Simon Says Stamp Christmas Blessings Stamptember set I had picked up last year and have not inked as of yet. (yes, I probably have more sentiment stamps than images... but, that does not stop me from buying more)(and its not one of the sold out sets if you are interested)  and then today I had some happy mail. 

My friend June gave me some of this Tim Holtz velvet ribbon as a gift and I had googled ribbon sliders one day, I know I have some plain Making Memories ones that are like silver ( those are also hiding) but, I found this pack of hearts, squares and circles on Amazon a while back and they came today. I was hoping they were going to be just a tad smaller than they are to use with this velvet but, this does not look too big. So, some of that made it onto the card front too. I have heard of people using alcohol inks to change the colors of these but, I just wanted the sparkle.

The velvet is so thick though, that wrapping it around the wc paper, it does not allow the wc paper to hit the front of the card base on the bottom so, I am debating about putting some double sided foam tape under the wc paper between it and the base. ( the thing is with it being so cold here and the plastic content in Bazzill papers, I have a little bit of wiggle room for moving things.) if it was hot I would not even try it. That's about it from me, I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Valentines

 This week Kia has shared with us this video from Maria Raczynska, that has 3 different Valentines day card ideas in watercolor. I did choose the middle one with the negative painted hearts and stitched doodled looking hearts between them. So, I started this with stamping the painting bunny by Ann-ticipations on some cold press Arches watercolor paper. and I did free hand the space where the heart would go with the paint brush. ( and I probably should have stamped the sentiment before I painted the background, as the one I chose from Impression Obsession is a retired rubber one and I got the I right in the shadow of the heart where the brush was. ( you know after all the paint was dry ) 

first round of paints wet.

more paints, tried making the ground be a shadow-y purple-ish shade to not distract from the bunny much. 

When I drew the first tiny heart with the bleed proof white I had left it open and I quite liked that effect and then I made my stitches go straight down, and then I add-libbed some leaves... and that made the rest of them become a stitched quilted look of blooms growing along the bottom edge. 

A look at the inside. that sentiment is from Riley & Co. This card finished out at A7 in real life. I am still on the fence about all the purple in the background.  ( I think it makes the bunny blend into the background too much.) but, that's OK You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers if you'd like to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

I just mounted this flush to some textured dark pink Bazzill which finished out at A7 when it was all said and done.

Inspired by {Mud Pie}

 This week Amy has shared with us the Mud Pie site & Pinterest Boards where I came across this pin on the same weekend that had started making "Galentines" cards. (it's the day before Valentines to send cards to your gal pals...) (you'd think it would be the day after so that candy would be half price lol...)

Okay back to the card. I had started out flipping through my stamps with "hearts" or scenes with hearts that I could wiggle into becoming "galentine" notecards more or less so, when I seen that baby boy's birthday party color combo I had just seen this Stamps Happen Cat & Hearts Stamp where the index sticker has a mostly Patriotic color combo on it. 

So, I stamped one off on some Arches cotton watercolor paper and painted it with Daniel Smith watercolors ( the red is Windsor & Newton red) tucked in the sentiment from the Taylored Expressions Love everywhere set. The red textured layer is from Provocraft. The stripe print is from a Park Lane pad. The chevron ribbon is unknown as is the red fiber & tiny heart brad. I did use real sewing pinking shears on the water colored panel as it just cuts better than the "deco" scissors. I have a pair dedicated for papers in the drawer. And I think this turned out pretty cute. ( even if it does not look all that much like the shot that jump started it) That's about it from me, I hope you all are doing well. If you'd like to play along with us this challenge can be found here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Mountain Reflections

 This week Linda has a video for us to try on youtube from Julia Lis Art doing a mountain scene reflection.

So, it starts out with wet the back side of the paper then the top then start the base layer of paint and let dry. ( this is supposed to make the paper not warp)

Yeah, so this is first layer of paint dried. at this point I decided to just keep painting on the top of the paper and did not bother to wet the back side again after that first round.

Second layer of paints.

Evidently I did not shoot the other layers of paint as they were happening. one thing about this was there was an add more trees to the beach and I did have too much water on the brush that round so my closest trees ended up as a brown blur. ha ha. If I were to try this again, I'd probably make mountains that look more like what I see out my window. I thought the blue mountain was hard because, I do not have a visual in my head for what it "should" look like. So, this was a memory game thing from what I remembered about the video.

 The sentiment here is from Hero Arts, This was stamped with some versafine after all the paint was very dry. The base here is something aqua blue ish from Hobby Lobby in an A7 size. We did give this to his dad for his birthday today and he seemed to like it. 

If you'd like to play along with us, you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by { Frankie Print Co}

 This weeks inspiration destination was suggested by Angie Bode (ohmypaper!) And that was such a help to me. While I was poking around in their Pinterest boards I came across this color combo and thought Christmas. I know right? ( totally not what I would do for Christmas) 

 and then I added in a POP of Red. and thought ok that is too much red.

I had recently decided to take a chance on a generic embossing folder sold on Etsy and Amazon. I do not know if it is a knock off stolen design or not. ( I spent months before I plunked down the money looking through known mfg sites for something similar) the closest things I have seen are from a co. called Do Crafts X cuts. ( they print the black on the top layer of their folders and do some in Square formats )

So I ran that sheet of printed lace paper through it in the big shot and it ripped the paper. so, I used scissors to remove the wonky scallops off of it and just used the raised stitches as a frame for the Inky Antics Snowman with light strand from Tammy DeYoung. I did paint him with watercolors on that printed paper. Added some antique linen and Vintage photo oxide inks to the edges. roughed up the edges of both it and the star print under it from the Be Merry pad by Couture Creations. The base is Bazzill and the Sentiment is from Altenew Holiday tag sentiments set done in Versafine Pinecone ink.

 

and the turned around it did it again. This version the snowman was stamped on some Arches cotton watercolor paper as I had debated paper piecing it onto the image above and decided at the last minute not to. The sentiment on this one is from the Papertrey ink Just believe set. the green lace is vintage, the burlap string is May Arts the green printed paper is from the Maja Designs Traditional Christmas pack. The white paint on both of these is Dr. PH Martins bleed proof white. 

This one is A6 in real life and the top one is 6" square. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.