6.30.2022

Dirty Dozen July Christmas

 This month for the Dirty Dozen Christmas card challenge prompt ( which you can find here in the special forums set aside for Fan Club members at Splitcoaststampers.) I changed my mind about a dozen times over this one and finally settled on this stamp that I picked up from Unity Stamps wintertime window a while back and never got around to inking. Same with the sentiment its an older one from a Hero Arts offbeat holidays set I have played with other stamps on that set. 

The other day I had a scrap of this Canson 120# watercolor paper on the table and so I stamped the home image with some Morning Mist versafine on it and used Daniel Smith water colors to add some paint. my bricks dried a little on the pink-ish side and so, I used some Dr. PH Martins bleed proof white ink as highlights / splatter in the snow parts. The sentiment was stamped with some nocturn in the Misti and I used a piece of this Pebbles ( text) printed paper as a mat. The base is some core-dinations pale red that was more like the color I was hoping my bricks would be but, I did not end up going over and over them as I didn't want to end up with bricks that were "too dark". The painted panel was die cut with a waffle flower A7 rectangle die and this one finished out at 5X7 in real life. That's about it from me, you can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.
 


6.28.2022

Clean And Simple Watercoloring

 This week Angie has shared with us this quick tutorial from Lydia about using the delicate frog tape to do quick little watercolors. And I have some, I bought it years ago from something she shared but, I have no memories of seeing this particular video ( seen here on YouTube )

So, as I was looking at the video I had the idea to do something ( not floral) and I knew if I kept the angle for the strip I had this encouragement sentiment stashed and thought it would be pretty easy to make a side of a hill/mountain with tree tops on it. So, I picked up a quarter sized sheet of some Canson 120# textured watercolor paper I have ( as its not flat so as a test to see if there would be "leaks" under the grooves) and the good news is that tape sealed to the grooved paper pretty well as you can see in the next shot. but, I did tear a corner of it. 

As I was removing the tape, So I grabbed the Hero Arts rectangle dies to cut it down smaller. 

It finished out as an A2 card on some "Pool" pre-made cardbase. That sentiment is from the Club Scrap Dahlia Jumbo set that I am sure is not made anymore as its a rubber stamp. That's about if from me, Thanks for stopping by. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS.



6.24.2022

Inspired by { Wildlife Wonders}

 This week Amy has shared with us the Wild life wonders site where this pretty Hummingbird mug caught my eye as I have been you know sorting and organizing my stamps the last long while and I have been stretching my self to try and paint some of them. 


So I stamped off this Stampa Rosa Hummingbird Express stamp on some Arches 100% cotton hot press paper with some Versafine morning mist ink, and started giving it layers of paint. 

I read somewhere that hummingbirds tend to fly just above the tree tops so, I did sketch in some pine tree tops along the horizion but, I am thinking now the scale is way off ha ha. It's OK and I figure it has to be a little more "real" than just sky everywhere maybe. 


I just trimmed the painted panel with the paper trimmer leaving a larger white space at the bottom like a faux Polaroid look. I did leave off a sentiment as I do not know what I want to do with this yet. The crepe paper is from the paper studio ( Hobby Lobby) and the base is some pale blue textured Bazzill. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us, thanks for stopping by.


6.23.2022

watercoloring hanging flowers

 This week Brenda has shared with us this tutorial video of watercoloring a sketched hanging basket of flowers seen here on YouTube. And when I seen it I thought, oh this is going to be such a help with coloring that old old HUGE art impressions porch scene stamp. (combined with the wet blending of last weeks tutorial) and so I sketched one basket off to "practice" it and that was as far as I got. 


This was done on some windsor & newton 100% cotton cold press with Daniel Smith watercolor paints real quick ( one layer of paint) I probably should have gone back in to add more shadows but, I just ran out of time and even with the air on up here the paint is drying faster than I can move it lately. If you'd like to play along with us, this challenge can be found here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

6.17.2022

Inspired by {Darya Karenski}

 It's my turn to host the Inspiration challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week and I have chosen Darya Karenski's pinterest boards seen here.  She also has a website seen here

One thing that got me thinking when I was looking at her boards is, A I always need more Christmas cards and B I have been stock piling scraps again so, When I seen this pin with fabric strips it made me think I could do that with scraps of papers for a quick card. Wanting this to be a "quick" card I dug though the bin of already colored images I have done in the past, Fished out this cute "spring" gnome with a bird and decided he could be a "Natural Christmas" card easily, and then fished out some neutral scraps like so. Which of course means my inspired by card does not look a bit like the inspiration as far as colors and patterns go.


 I used everything here except the cream crinkled shimmery texture. ( it was a tad too small to be a mat i the design) This gnome is from the Simon Says Stamp Spring Gnomes set and that sentiment is from their Joy For you set. 

I diecut the Gnome panel with a Penny Black Zig Zag stackers die, the sentiment was cut with a stitched circle ( probably Memory box) the inside the sentiment is from the Ton's blizzard hugs set diecut with an oval die on one of the other scraps. The Basic grey scrap ( the ones with the snowflakes in the top shot) was flipped over to show off the greenish side and diecut with a lots of squares die from the Paper Rose. 


I decided to rough up the edges of the kraft mat under the painted panel and did embed lots of squares die frame back into its drop piece. 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, thanks for stopping by.





6.14.2022

Watercoloring wings values

 This week Linda has shared with us this tutorial on creating depth with values of paint layers. You can see the video here on YouTube. So, I decided to just use this Penny Black blue wings stamp as it's pretty big and I figured I would have wiggle room to see the paint flow on it. I stamped it with some pale green Memento ink on Arches cotton cold press paper. I did switch out the third color of pink for green and I think this works OK.


First layer of paint ( while wet ) 

Second layer of paint also still mostly wet.

Third layer when more on the dry side and looking at it I decided that it needed a little more shadows on the edges in spots and also decided to add some dark green paint to some of the veins of the wings and such. 

When I pulled the paint off I had a leak of it on the bottom right corner so, I ended up cutting the piece down to fit a 6" square. Thought the pale green of this shade of bazzill played well with the other colors and left it blank. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us, Thanks for stopping by.





6.10.2022

Inspired by {Linen Chest}

 This week Kia has shared with us Linen Chest and their pinterst boards where I came across this beach one here which lead me down the trail to this one here

And I decided this would work really well with a House Mouse scene and since I have a few of mine stamped off and taped down to watercolor I decided to go with this Tweet Disguise from Stampendous

I cut this with a Lawn Fawn Large cross stitched die when the paints were dry and I used a piece of ( I think) My Minds eye print for a mat and I did do this up rather than centered as I was going to tie on a sentiment to the pool party ribbon. And then I could not make a decision about what I wanted it to say. So, it is just like this. I may or may not add a sentiment later when I know who I want to send it to. This one is 6" square in real life. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us, Thanks for stopping by.


6.07.2022

Watercoloring wet in wet blending

 Hi, this week its my turn to host the watercoloring on wednesday challenge at Splitcoaststampers and I have chosen this cool video from Sandy Allnock where she lets the wet paints bleed into themselves to mix some cool neutrals. You can see the video here on YouTube. I stopped in my tracks seeing the wood on the Porch done this way. I have never colored any of my porch stamps, they all have a lot of wood on them ha ha. So to start with this I decided to poke around in my stamps with wood fence boards to see if I could pull it off, and I picked this fenced in snow from Peddlers Pack as I am way way behind on the getting Christmas/Winter cards done early wagon this year.

I stamped it with some Versafine on Arches hot press cotton wc paper.

A look at the first layer of paint while still damp. and I walked away with it like this.


A closer look at the finished piece, I did add a little more paint to the spaces between the boards for shadows and under the noses and hand here for shadows. 

I diecut that painted panel with a blanket stitched die from Pinkfresh studio's set. this card is A6 in real life with the base being that deep Stardream shimmer that is nearly navy and very sparkly in person. The sentiment here is from the Mama Elephant Holiday Messages set. You can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us, Thanks for stopping by.



6.03.2022

Inspired by { Happy Happy Nester}

 This week Julie has shared with us the Happy Happy Nester site where I clicked on a decorating your yard post because, it had a big birdhouse thumbnail shot and as I was scrolling down the page these stacked stones caught my eye. Because, I had recently given it a whirl to try water color painting some stacked rocks . Mine are you know different colors/shapes and such but, I decided to roll with it because, it felt like a gift of free time. 

 


 I decided to add an Altenew sentiment to this from their Sentiment strips #2 set with Versafine after the paint dried. The base here is Bazzill & the liner is some Neenah solar white. This is A2 in real life. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.


6.01.2022

Dirty Dozen June Christmas card

 I am having problems with google. ( I am signed in and when I try to leave comments on some blogs ( not all of them) it tells me I have to sign in to blogger which since I have the dash board open to write these posts it ends up being a mental head banging session. That being said I am continuing to make these posts with the thought that it's probably happening to other people too. 

This months prompt totally made me go for the humor of the situation and I picked this Stampendous Tangled tumble stamp to watercolor. This was stamped with Versafine on Arches hot press & painted with Daniel smith paints. That vintage trim was picked as it looked like a garland / light strand to me. The diecuts with a view green shimmer mat was cut with a heffy doodle wonky stitched rectangle die ( its A6 / metric one) 

A peek at the inside. The sentiment here is from Impression Obsession and I think it really plays well with the silliness of the front of the card. As untangling the light strands even from special light organizers is my least favorite part about decorating for the holidays. 


This card is A7 in real life. The tree printed paper here is from Authentique. I did use the waffle flower lacy layers A7 dies for that and their A7 rectangles for the image panel. The prompt for this months Christmas card challenge hides here inside the special forums for Fan Club members at Splitcoaststampers if you'd like to play along with us and get ahead. Thanks for stopping by.