Inspired by { West Elm}

 This week Julie is sharing the West Elm site & Pinterest boards and I came across this twisted handle purple coffee mug... and my first thought is I wonder just how uncomfortable that is to try to hold for a while... I take my coffee and comfort rather seriously ha ha. and as a side note, I am not that big of a purple fan. but, I did buy a purple handmade watercolor that arrived this last week and I thought why not...

 

 The mug here was water colored with some Plum Graphite from the etsy seller  Jazperstardust. and it does have a slight sparkle to it in real life. the kitty was also painted with some of their paint the Yellow seen here ( which kinda looks brown to me, I did add some of this Celtic Violet to it and it also looks kinda brown to me as well. ) It's OK as I happen to like brown. and that lead me to finding this DCWV brown corrugate to use as a trim on the pale gingham ( from the maja designs vintage baby papers pack) That lace on the bottom of the painted panel is vintage and the sheer ribbon across the corrugate is probably offray. The painted panel and the sentiment panel are up on foam pop dots here and the base is some SU pale plum finished out at A6 in real life. This image is from Unity Stamps called Pissy Kitty. The sentiment is from their June 2022 "Could be better" set. 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. 

 

More Snow

 We had a long weekend last weekend and I did start painting a whole bunch of snowmen ( most I think will morph into tags) but, I did finish one into another card today after work.

 Seriously, I am thinking maybe happy winter? ( most of my Christmas paper is red or poinsettias but a lot of red and or red & green haha) so, It's kind of funny how much I like to color snowmen... 

 Before I did all the stamped ones, I tried doing the dies from the PTI giftcard snowman dies, and I just do not see how this becomes a gift card holder. ( that sentiment is from the set that matches the dies) and the dies just make two sizes of snowmen.. So, I inked some of the diecuts and added some chunky snowflake glitter mix to the edges of them. I am still debating about how these become gift card holders so, they are works in progress.

 I decided for the heck of it to try "handmade" watercolors, I have not actually done this before but, these colors caught my eye in this shop in ETSY. And so, they arrived yesterday and I decided to give them a whirl. 

 What they look like dry. I think the Cerulean Grey is my favorite of this batch and I thought ( of course) it will work so well for snowmen.

 And so it did, that color is on their bodies. The hats are some DS moonglow. I did add some Stickles glitter glue to the base line of snow and some white gouache to the falling snow then add-libbed some extra falling snow on the bodies. This is an old Buttermilk Basin stamp by Inky Antics which has a # on the block as P4-9081-3L. Stamped with Versafine morning mist on Arches cold press paper.

 I cut that panel with a Tim Holtz deckle die and then inked the edges with some Iced Spruce Distress Oxide ink and wrapped on some SU pool party sheer ribbon that has a pretty shine to it. Found this Anna White tree printed paper in the pack from her Sweet Miss Daisy Etsy store called let it snowman. ( its not flimsy paper more like printed thin cardstock or coversheet rather than paper) the base here is some PTI oceantides finished out at A6 and that's about it from me, I will probably be gluing snowman tags together for sometime to come hahaha. hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by. 

 

Watercolorings a Pumpkin Still life

 This week Brenda is sharing this video from Jenna Rainey called how to paint watercolor pumpkins with Eucalyptus & Berries Seen here on YouTube.  My first thought about it as I was watching it was I do not think I even own a size 16 brush hahaha... So, this paper was cut in an A6 ish size and I used maybe an size 8? ( something like that) and I my favorite part was the little curly vines out of the stems so, I got those a little close to the top edge of the paper and I thought, its OK I can counter sink it.

I ended up add-libbing in some splatters and shadows as well. 

 So, I had the bright idea to use these deckle dies from Honeybee stamps and after the fact I decided I probably should have gone with straight edge dies as after I cut a hole into the front of the sage shadow cardbase I decided if I wanted those curly vines I had to you know edge it a little off set and So I just started cutting up various pieces with those dies, cutting windows trying to layer them and hide the hole and such. ( the frame is actually pretty thick on the finished card as a result) 

 The brown texture on the top was also cut with the largest dies and then the third down in size to cover up how goofy all the layers under it looked. but, it allowed some of those colors to peek out, which was OK but, still off set. and then I seen this sentiment I had previously cut (twice ) and added some paint to thinking it was going to work with some snowman tags also under construction and I thought OK the colors look OK but, in real life, its probably a little bit too matchy- matchy as its hard to see unless you tilt the card. I did end up cutting the first cardbase in half and then putting foam tape under that layer and trimming it down a smidge so it could go onto a slightly darker cardbase that was 6" square. That sentiment is one from Sue Wilson and 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. 

 

Dirty Dozen September

 For this month's photograph prompt what really struck me was how soft it was... and I loved that the soft colors and image and the sweetness. I don't really have stamps that sweet so, I decided something Prim could work with the soft colors... 

 So I stamped this Inky Antic's stamp (V1-0076-L designed by Tammy DeYoung) with some Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink on Arches cold press paper and started adding a soft wash of Cerulean blue to the background. 

 Another layer of paints with some shadows starting. 

 I had the bright idea to add some white gouache to this and I did do it straight out of the tube so it could dry a little 3-D and then I had the idea to do some pattern to the fur on the kitty and then I had the idea to give him spots that I am not so crazy about but, it is what it is. 

 I cut that painted layer out with a Memory Box Fringed scalloped frame die ( the largest one in the set) and I have been chopping up my scraps lately in my spare time so, I dug out this pack of Impression Obsession dies Anna Wight did a while back called "trims" and then I cut the pale green ric rac and the red shiny loopy looking trim and layered them. That pale fuzzy looking yarn printed paper is from the Mintay Merry Little Christmas pad. I did trim it down to just under A7 on a paper trimmer and the base here is some textured cream. I left off the sentiment as I am not sure if this will become a "happy winter" type card rather than an "Merry Christmas" card as of yet. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us the photograph is in this thread in the special forums set aside for Fan Club members seen here. Thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Botanical Arts Co.}

 It's my turn to host the Inspiration Challenge this week and I have chosen the Botanical Arts Co. and their Pinterest boards can be seen here. I love looking at this, I think everything I looked at was Watercolored and I considered painting something but, I recently got this Stampin' Up! Totes & Notes set of stamps and dies in the mail and I wanted to see how big this would be assembled and such. ( I think this will be large enough for a gift card to rest in the tote with some peeking out the top. So, I poked around in my printed papers in the drawers and stopped on this shimmery rose print that I had two sheets of and decided to use it. And then chose a rose from the site. Which is kind of backwards from the way I normally pick something but, I just decided to roll with it and tried not to over think it to the death. 

 So, I used some textured green Bazzill cardstock for the trim on the bag and then used some DCWV pink shimmer for the handles. The sentiment here is an Letterpress one from Spellbinders done with Black ink on the white cotton paper from the A little message set. I did cut the tiny tag from the totes die set and then used a couple of shades of mulberry flowers and glue dots to decorate it, the sparkly gem is from Queen & co. twinkling clear goosebumps. I tied it on with some Natural colored hemp string. and then the tissue paper is just something from the gift wrap container in my closet. I think this is just so cute so, I am sure you will be seeing more of these from me. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Decorate the Season

 I don't know about you but, I have a little stash of these old sweet Penny Black kids that are just a lot to color. So, I have not colored any of mine before today I don't think.

So, as a trial I stamped her on some Studio Loft watercolor paper with Versafine morning mist ink thinking I did not want any dark black lines and I had to laugh at my self because, once the paint was dry I ended up taking a black micron pen to most of the edges of that panel. I cut her out with scissors and put foam pop dots on the back. The plaid paper here is from one of the Simple Stories pads and that aqua trim with the faux red stitching is the back side ( drop piece) from the plaid. I cut the red ric rac ( IO die) from some shimmery red paper and just wrapped it around the edges. The red base here is something from SU. Probably ridding hood red as its one of my go-to colors and its finished out at A2 in real life. I did use the white gouache straight from the tube so it would dry 3-D and I am pretty tickled with how she turned out. Thanks for stopping by. 

At the same time I was painting the one above, I had a second panel going in shades of Pastels.

So, since the simple stories plaid worked well with the one above I did nearly the same thing on this one as well. The plaid on this one was from one of their Winter pads. The pink ric rac was cut from scraps with the IO trims die and the plaid mat under the painted panel was from one of their other pads. ( simple stories) and those are up on foam pop dots. The base here is something I want to say an herb type name from Neenah and its A2 in real life. I am debating adding a little more color to the birdhouse here as the creamy color kind of fades into the scene I guess. I think I like the contrast of the darker one on the top more but, she is still cute. That's about it for her at the moment. 

Watercoloring Human Doodles

 This week Linda is sharing this video tutorial by Stephen Coats doing quick sketches of people from the back in simple scenes and watercoloring them. The video is called Watercolour Doodles Human Figures seen here on YouTube. 

 So, I started doing sketches of people after watching the video in these sketch books. 

 And I thought OK this is not so bad as the mental thought of drawing people or even sketching people so, I picked up a second sketch book with watercolor paper that I had not used as of yet and did a larger couple on it. This is a link to this particular pad. 

And then right before I started painting it I remembered that you were supposed to ink over it and I actually remembered to test it on a scrap. 

 

 I grabbed an Micron pen and found it bled with just water so, I went online and found this multipack of the Uni Pens in the video on Amazon here. And then I scribbled on some of the black from that pen on the same scrap of Arches paper 

 And it looked like this pen bled more than an Micron pen... so, I decided that I would use the pen and let it sit for a while incase there was some drying time needed. 

 I did try to mix some plum paint from the ultra marine and some red (not a what ever red he used and I did not really see the paint move as well on this paper. I will have to look for a link for this particular sketchbook but, it is not Arches paper for sure. 

I did drag the paintbrush below their feet trying for some blurry shadows in the rain um, reflections type movement.

 

So, after that paint dried I added on some more shadows at the feet for a reflection and Sketched inked shadow lines as the paint had dried by this point. And this is where I stopped. I did not have time to build a scene and I am OK with that, I still grin about the whole "carrot" people comment but, I was glad to see this explained in more depth as the first time I had heard him say that during the beach scene tutorial from Last month seen here I did not try to add legs and feet like I did there and this is more realistic to me so that was a cool thing to learn. 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. 

Inspired by {Lamps Plus}

 This week Amy has chosen the Lamps Plus site for inspiration and their pinterest boards here. I came across this chair with a collage/bird print fabric on it and went from there. 

 I have spent a little time this last week diecutting some of my scraps with new to me dies and this Creative Expressions Sam Poole Cheesecloth background from one of those old SU brown colors ( its the one that is darker than Chocolate Chip whose name escapes me..) that was how this card started as the envelope of these was laying front and center, So I dug out this old PSX decoys stamp # G-1737 from 1995 and stamped it with some Versafine Clair Pinecone ink on some Neenah classic cream cardstock. I ended up adding the sentiment from the Woodware happy birthday set ( this only has two sentiments in the set) with the same ink as I liked the font and my dad's birthday is next week. The scripty text printed paper is from Hobby Lobby and the base here is some textured Bazzill. This is 5 1/2" square in real life. I did use a Simon Says Stamp notebook edge die on the cream cardstock stamped panel and then used some DOX vintage photo ink along the edges of the paler shades of papers here. I thought about adding an Egg image or two to the collage but, I needed to get this in the mail so, I just left the birds as line art and did not color them either. That's about it from me, I hope you're doing well & thanks for stopping by. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. 

Watercoloring Old Trees

 This week Suz is sharing this video seen here on YouTube that is using brush strokes to create old looking trees, so it's a water coloring practice drill that creates a row of trees if you are in need of a forest card. 

 

I did use a water soluble pencil to do the un even ground line.

I was watching the video when I started painting the first tree on the left and by the time I started on the second tree it was over with haha. so, I did do the next batch of trees and leaves by memory and then I re-watched it to see the rocky/ground part as I did not see that at all the first time around. I only seemed to get the dry brush strokes correct for texture going the wrong direction so, I ended up filling in that ground with more green and browns a few times and so.

 

First layers of ground paints.

 Added more paint to the ground and some grass sprigs, and started thinking if you keep messing with this it is going to be so overworked it looks stupid and cauli-flowered... so. 

It's fairly funny to me how different the colors look between the cell phone shots ( all the ones on the table) and one taken with an DSLR. I do not remember if there was more paint on this layer but the blue tones in the Paynes Grey Blue here really seem much more deep and dark than they do in real life, so the greens are also off and darker. Such is life. :) I do like how the bark looks on the tree trunks and I will be doing more of that in the future I am sure. 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. 
 

 

It started with one diecut

 So, I have this pile well, actually its more like 3 little piles of containers of dies new in their packages and or new to me ones on the floor behind where I stand to paint and under the penny candy wall of Jars of stuff and stamps on display. And I fished out this Spellbinders ornaments die from the top of the bin closest to me, and I cut it with watercolor paper.

Which lead to cutting this sentiment and adding paints to them both, 

 And then more paints. 

 So, while the paints were drying more ornaments were cut and then they got coats of paint..

 Which had me opening yet another set of Ornament dies ( tonic studios) and cutting those from scraps with mostly watercolor papers and I happened across this piece of Arches that had this snowdrops painting on it... I don't remember why it failed but, I started pushing the large skinny ornament over it thinking, you could tweak this. The original blog post about painting the snowdrops can be seen here. 

 So, I did cut two of them from that painting, then cut a second layer of watercolor scrap to go directly under them as the paper was not actually "tall" enough to do that whole die, so then a third one was cut from plain Neenah cardstock to be the back layer and the ornament hanger pieces were also cut, and so at the top of these they are actually 4 layers of papers. 

So, I added some shadows along the underside of the blooms and stems with some Indigo paint and then I added some white Gouache to the petals straight from the tube for texture. 

 

I added some silver shimmer paint to those ornament hanger parts at the top. 

Dug out the blue fibers fishing tackle box from the closet and found this fuzzy fiber that had deep blues and silvers mixed in and thought that was cool, tied some May Arts (it almost looks like thick tinsel type fiber to the one on the left and made it a bow. I spent a bunch of time looking at my tie them on metal things and decided the bow was "enough" for that one on the left.

 

And I found a little charm/gem thing that was tied on to the one on the right with some navy Hemp string. and I am pretty tickled with how these turned out. The really did take most of the afternoon today to do. and that makes me curious what else might be hiding in the bin of started painting them a long time ago things across the table. I think these may just find there way tied onto Christmas packages this coming year. That's about it from me, I hope your doing well & thanks for stopping by.  

Inspired by {Colossal Shop }

 This week Denise is sharing the Colossal site and pinterest boards and this very nearly stumped me as I have a hard time with really graphic lines I guess, which is funny as I build my cards in a pretty linear way most of the time. but, I came across this red french knot textured ( I am not sure what it is supposed to be) but, I liked how the red dots "Popped" if you will and I had happy mail from Sweet Miss Daisy Stamps on the table and since I like red & white as a Christmas theme I decided I would just go that away using that fabric as a jump start on the theme. Because, I'd rather make something I will use rather than something that is a total CASE. 

 

I started by stamping this Santa from the Hope for All Set with some Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink on Arches cold press watercolor paper and adding a layer of Daniel Smith paints. 

 while that was drying I recently updated my palettes and moved one of the 48 ones to a smaller size and so, I am laughing at my self because, my colors are reversed. ( the greens used to be closer to the glass mat) so, I need to get the cheat sheets laminated this weekend before I spill paint on them) 

More paints, the white is Windsor & Newton Gouache straight out of the tube for texture. And then when I was dry I decided it really needed more "red & white" pops. So, keeping with the textile-ish theme I used a Penny Black zig zag die to do the cutting around the painted layer and then again on the printed holly paper. 

 I used scotch tape to put the die cut mat layer back into the drop piece and then just used the whole thing for the mat on this. The base is some SU Sage Shadow finished at A6 in real life, that holly print is from the Simple Stories 'tis the season pad. and that red & white embroidered ric rac if Vintage. The Believe diecut came out of that little milk glass tray off to the side that has scraps diecut into tags and words and such. It was painted with watercolors an then tied onto the ric rac with some natural hemp string. I am really impressed with my self that I have an almost blues Santa card here and then I had to laugh that it does not look at all like that pin that started it but, that's life and I will use it so, that makes it a win for me. That's about it for now, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

Watercoloring Flowers & Foliage

 This week Brenda is sharing this video from Marena Art that is an abstract foliage/flower painting with fall type colors. I loved the colors in the painting so, my first thought was what do you have that is close. 

 So I started out mixing some Raw Sienna & Quincindrone Coral and got that color (left in the line) and thought that is not bad, not sure if its really what she used but, I liked it and then picked up some of the other colors in the line mostly straight with some Sepia Brown later in the painting. 

 This is a 4 1/2" square piece of Arches cold press watercolor paper with Daniel Smith watercolor paints. I thought OK its not too bad, I don't know how "abstract" it is but, I do like the colors and I kept going.

 I think I will use this for something so, I set it to the side and started a second one also cut to 4 1/2" square because, the stems are not curvy enough for this to be "pretty" to my eye, its all a little too tight together. I can see it being cut in half and becoming a couple of tags with the painting off the edges of them actually. Something in a smaller scale then this I guess.

 So I started a second one trying to get it a little more loose.

 I did add a little more paint to the crevices of this and more splatters before they became cards but, I am leaning towards fall birthdays of which I need ones for gals in October and November in my family so, I think these will work for a couple of those ladies. 

 Found this textured peach-y colored bazzill in the stash and thought its nearly the same color as the paint I mixed. ( the colors look a little more on the orange shade here but, they are really more peach in real life.)

That's about it from me, these are 5" square in real life,  The ribbons are unknown at this point. I've had them a lot of years. The sentiments are Tim Holtz cardstock stickers from the occasions sticker book and they have glue dots holding them onto the scraps I cut with his label dies from the drop pieces of the base cardstock. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

 

A Sunny Day Hug

 This week Linda is hosting the color combo challenge at SCS and she has a desert option of sunflowers...  I knew I had the Cajun craze color so I used that for the card base and just made it up as I went a long for the other two colors that I am pretty sure I have never seen before. 

 So, I cut a piece of Arches cold press watercolor paper and started doodling some sunflower shaped daisy type colors loosely on it, splattered it. drug an dry nib through the leaves for veins. and I really did not like it that much the most interesting part of it to me was the center of the large flower.

So my next thought was to add a side view flower to the left to try to fill in the white space and have something there to cut the large flower out of the center maybe.

So I used every die in this blanket stitched set from Pinkfresh studios to take out some of the whole blooper looking parts of the flowers. I just might use that drop piece frame for something later. 

The base here is Cajun craze and I did cut it to A2 and then I mounted the outside frame crooked. ( it was warped) so, when I trimmed off the odd side it did get a little smaller. I fished out that sentiment ( lili of the valley) from the tray on the table and added some Vintage Photo DOX to the edges of it and an yellow brad to the top and added it with some glue dots to the corner. The center panel of blooms are up on foam tape for a little interest and all in all I think this is OK. :) If you'd like to play along this challenge can be found here at SCS, thanks for stopping by.