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. 
 

Little Christmas Notes

 This weekend Mspork was chosen as the featured stamper at SCS and I really liked this simple holly framed card she has here. And I thought I could find things already cut and being pushed around on the table to make something.

 So, these words were die cut from Scraps using the Newton's Nook Christmas word dies and the letters are scotched taped into those holes to embed them back in as a contrast. They also have foam pop dots under them. the printed collage paper is from a Simple Stories SimpleVintage 'tis the season pad and I had ripped it out of the pad to see how those Tim Holtz paper dolls would look with it, I like it I just never did anything with it but, I happened to get some happy mail with a bottle of that Dina Wakley glossy white acrylic spray to try and when I put this paper into the spray box I have and I did shake that bottle then bend over to spray all the paint came out of the side of the sprayer. ( where it connects to twist onto the bottle) so, it must have gotten banged around in shipping although it looked perfect when I cut the clear wrap off of the bottle) so, what I did was I used the end of the sprayer nozzle tube to drop some drips on it and then I used a paint brush to add some smaller ones. I did see this dry with a shimmer to it but, it dried flat for me. I had seen it on projects in the SCS gallery where it looked 3-D so, I am guessing I will have to play with that some more to see what else it will do. otherwise its just watery acrylic paint in a defective bottle for me. Its probably easier to just add water to your regular acrylic paint but, the idea of a spray of it was a cool thing in my head when I ordered it.

I don't remember who makes that holly die, I did poke through a couple of boxes of mine to find it but, it came out of an envelope of previously cut things and so all I did to this was add the red stickles glitter glue to it to catch the light and sparkle. I want to say its either Penny Black or Memory Box that's the kind of feel it has to me I guess. I am debating about adding some Holly to the one on the left later maybe a different die cut. 

And then I used up some of the other things I have chopped up recently and did 3 little 3X3 note cards. the larger ones above are just a tad under 4" square. 

 The wrapped sentiment is I want to say an Impression Obsession stamp, the merry little Christmas is from lili of the valley and the let it snow is an die cut from Poppy stamps, the mat part of it is vellum and the little snowflake diecut has some stickles glitter glue on it as does the packages and stuff on the merry Christmas panel.

That's about it from me, what I am finding is that since I stopped doing the booth making at this time of the year I am totally enjoying making these cards again but, in smaller batches with more intent rather than "the old shut up and glue process" to mass produce. I think I will bundle some of these things up and make little gift packs of them using that sentiment from one of those SU sets that reads "Happy Gift Wrap season" but, I have not found containers I want to use for the project yet so, that would you know give me an idea of how many to make each gift knowing what fits into the container.  I have no clue how it is already Monday again, but have a good one where ever the day takes you. & thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Macy's}

 This week Kia has chosen the Macy's department store and their Pinterest boards for the inspiration site. I Started out looking at dresses thinking I would find bigger patterns to look at then say Tops and then I came across this Pink & Purple floral dress really quickly and stopped looking because, earlier this week Kia had shared this floral watercoloring tutorial where I had started this peony flower. So, I added a little more paint to that and then cut it out with scissors. After I cut it out I decided I needed more flowers to create something more like the dress, 

 So I cut an A6 Panel of Arches cold press and stamped one of the other Peonies and two of the leaf stems from that same Ellen Hutson mondo Peony set and started painting them. I had placed this in a Misti to make sure I was leaving enough space around the edges. 

 First layers of paints, I did keep the same Morning Mist ink for the bloom then switched to Memento Pistachio for the leaves. This is first layer of paints. I did want to keep it more subtle since it would be in the background. 

Started adding some colors to the background so it was not just white and then I did add some darker to the lower right corner. at this point I started thinking I will need an Anniversary card next month for hubs parents and this might work. 

 

Even though there is some purples in this, its not nearly as purple/pink as the dress so, I popped up the cut out bloom on foam dots and made the card base be a really rich deep shade of purple. 

 With the thought of having this become an Anniversary card I stamped this sentiment off on some neenah scraps for the inside from the Altenew Say it with love set and this Cherish today on a Arches scrap for the front.  I think the Cherish stamp is an old Hero Arts one that I unmounted but, this is one of those your guess is as good as mine deals. ( also possibly SU) 

 About the only time I can find lately to shoot on top of the dresser with a camera is late in the day and the sun comes right through that west facing window so, the colors are a little off here but, you get the gist of it I am guessing. 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. 

 

 

Watercoloring Hard & Soft edged color

 This week Kia is sharing this watercoloring tutorial seen here on YouTube  By Sunlit brushtrokes that is part of the tutorial the basic idea here is to do soft and hard edges on the flower petals. ( which is very cool) if you would like to see the whole painting finished there is a second video seen here and it also has links to the flower if you wanted to print and trace it. 

So the main thought in my head was, the scale of the flower she is painting is not going to fit on a card or a tag so, just go grab a flower stamp with some open space in the petals to try it. So, I started out with this PSX botanical Hibiscus because, it had some open space on the petals and a stamen to do shadows under.

as a side note, I normally start my painting on Saturday for this challenge. and so, this last saturday we got in the truck bright and early like normal, we have a standing go out to breakfast date and then grocery shop. but, this last weekend we did make the drive to an Best buy and Costco and a mall & Barnes & Nobels book store these are about 80 miles from our house so we were gone all day. And what I got was a TV bracket that allows a little TV in the hobby room to be seen from where I am standing to paint. Which turns out to be a better visual than a 15" laptop screen for sure.  

Anyways, that is some cold press Arches wc paper and just what ever paints were left on palettes from last time around. It was stamped with some Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink, which may have been too dark to do the fading of the petals on the edges. at least when you do sketch with a soluble pencil it fades. 

The first layers of paints I did add some yellow to the leaves and the petals and tried for some shadows under that stamen. 

I did try to deepen the shadow areas of the flowers and leaves by this point and I did add some of the purple pink color to the leaves.

At this point I had  already skipped ahead to the second video and started watching it before I had ever started this flower so, I had forgotten how it started. the second video adds color to the background around the bloom and I decided that there was just too much detail on this stamp to show off the color flow effect. 

 So, I grabbed an Ellen Hutson Mondo Peony stamp to try it again, and this time around I actually remembered to do the center as Yellow as the first color down. and it did spread thinly to the out skirts of the bloom.

 I did add layers of paint to some of the places I thought there would be shadows and used a damp brush to smooth them out a little. 

Another layer of paints. Tried adding some to the center including some "shadows" under the stamens.

 

More paint added here, its not a dramatic change between shots but, I am seeing it deepen and I am like struggling with this as I like how the yellow peeks through the petals but, I am also thinking this is not quite right for a Peony. so, I started looking at some of my mug shots from my yard of plants.

And when I look at these I see the darkest pinks in the center shadow places. so, Looking at my stamped flower I am thinking all the shadowing I did is in the wrong places ha ha. So out came the paints.

I am thinking this having the darkest color at the center is better but, I seem to have the shadows wrong, this is almost as bad as trying to color folds into people clothing. (that is another thing that I tend to put the shadow on the wrong place) Now, that I have shown you the pitfalls of painting your stamped images, this is where things stand at the moment.  

They are pretty and I probably will do something with them but, I am running out of time to actually get something ready to post for tonight and I may end up sticking this photo above into the gallery. And I may add more paint to them, the paint is drying on the palette as I try to switch back and forth between brushes so, its slow going. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Frontgate}

 This week Julie has chosen the Frontgate site for the Inspiration challenge destination and I came across this Santa Gift Sack pin  on their pinterest boards and I of course was drawn right in by those colors and the theme. And I didn't do anything right away about that but, I let it sit for a while and that whole time I had this old Santa's list stamp from Azadi Earles on the table and knowing that and that I wanted to do something with it, I decided to use it and just morph these tags into what I wanted. So the sack shot was more of a Inspired by Jump start rather than a CASE piece. 

Earlier in the week I had attempted to clean up some of my scraps pile by die cutting more little words and such to tie onto projects and so, 

The Believe diecut words on these tags came out of that little milk glass tray that pretty much stays there with bits and pieces in it, which is why I tend to forget the MFG info. sometimes they sit there a long time, but, I do remember the one that is tied onto the tag on the left is from Impression Obsession.

The one on the right I want to say is an UK die and I am drawing a blank off the top of my head but, maybe Sue Wilson? Yep, Creative Expressions. The tag and its folded over re-inforcer are from the IO Stitched tag set. I cut those from some SU riding hood red and some dotted scrap of printed paper. The Santa lists were stamped on some just plain white cardstock ( which was too white for me) so, I added layers of Daniel Smith watercolors to them, cut them out with scissors, inked the edges with some DOX vintage photo ink and then added stickles glitter glue over the red berries. I kept the jingle bells and tied those onto the ribbons with some hemp string. The backs of these are plain right now but, I was thinking that the space on the "List" would work for writing a name on. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS.  That's about it from me, I hope you are doing well & Thanks for stopping by.