Inspired by { The Willow Tree}

 This week Amy is sharing the Willow Tree site & Pinterest boards for Inspiration and I was hoping to do something Christmas-y so, I searched for Red and found this silky scarf nearly right off the bat and thought. I have a ton of red ribbon. and so it went.

 I stamped this dog from Unity Stamps Pawsitivly Wrapped Up set with some Versafine ink on Neenah Solar white #110 paper and started giving him some scruffy dog colors intending to make the ribbon red. But, I did not add a lot of water to this I did not want it to warp the cardstock. 

And I added in this sentiment from Stampin' Up North Pole Mischief and thought this works for a silly little card. I like to give handmade tags as gifts to a few people around Thanksgiving as that is when I would start wrapping unless someone is deployed and I have to get things shipped early the buying goes on all year in my world but the wrapping does not start until after Thanksgiving. So, this is a proto-type for those gifts this coming next year and I wanted to have the red ribbon be the eye catching part and I wanted it to wrap so I found these premade A2 sized gold cardbases in the closet and kept it simple. I did trace along the edges of the red ribbon with an stardream gelly roll pen for some subtle sparkle.

This angle gives you a better idea of what the card looks like. It's kinda solid foiled gold shimmery base. I do not remember what dies I used for the sentiment and the dog but, ones that fit around what I wanted to cut I guess. 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 {Neiman Marcus}

 This week Kia is sharing the Neiman Marcus store & Pinterest Boards for inspiration and I came across these Pink Jimmy Choos and stopped looking. I love these, every detail about them but, I would not wear them so, they are not something I'd buy but, I like to look at shoes.  ( I am more of a rainbow of Chucks kind of a chick when I am not barefoot) 

So I started by Stamping this shoe from Limited Edition 1997 with some Versafine Baby Pink ink on some Authentique lace paper that was really cream colored. So, I smooshed some DOX Salt Water Taffy ink over that and cut it out with scissors then used a stardream stardust pen on the buckle and bottom of the heel and used some Daniel Smith watercolors in the "shadow" parts of those straps that mimic's the colors of the Paper Studio paper behind it. The mat under this is some brushed silver that sparkles and the card base is some Star Dream cardstock that also sparkles and shimmers. This is 5 1/2" square in real life. The sentiment here is from Inky Antics and was stamped directly on the Paper studio layer with some Versafine Nocturn ink. And I ended up choosing it just because, it made me chuckle. I have not decided who needs to receive this in the mail as of yet so, the inside is blank. Thanks 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 {Scully & Scully}

 Do those words make you think the truth is out there? ha, I remember that name being one of the what were they FBI agents? something. I don't watch much TV but, I remember watching something a long time ago with Mulder & Scully. At any rate this is a fancy gift shop I am guessing and I came across these trees and I knew I had a watercolor panel started from a few months ago ( seen here ) that had simple trees and I decided it could work. 

 So I did manage to clear a space to play before Dinner last night but, then I ran out of daylight so I didn't make it back up here until about 3 am and I took the tape off the edges of the tree panel from January and it tore on both sides of it. ( the other two sides the paper was flapping in the wind go figure right?) So I used a Memory Box globe? something an arched die the largest one in the set to trim it down.

 You can't really tell from this angle but that pile that has the plastic piece on the top of it has previously started things, Die cut things, colored images, painted things. I and have the idea that if they were out and in my way maybe I would do something with it... so everything on this card came from that pile under the plastic. The home is a die cut from the tall tags die set from the stamp market. So there is an envelope of some of those I cut way back when. This one the home was cut from some woodgrain printed paper and then I used a scrap of Neenah cardstock for behind that to give it some stability. This is up on foam pop dots over the scene. The sentiment came out of that milk glass tray and it turns out to be from the Taylored Expressions Santa Stop Here set. I have not figured out what I die cut it with as of yet. the blue card base was also in that pile and I guess I made it as it feels more sturdy than those premade cards so? not sure but, its A2 in real life. And so far that's about it from me. The clean up will commence after this and hopefully. This will become a little more peaceful up here soon. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. I hope you are having an nice weekend as well, Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired By {Essential Stencil}

 This week Denise is sharing the Essential Stencil site for Inspiration this week at SCS. They also have a collection of Pinterest boards found here. And I came across this silly fishing one that instantly sparked ideas for me as 1. I need a birthday card for hubs soon and 2. I have an old Rubbernecker sentiment that is nearly the same sentiment. 

 And I also knew I had bought these Gone Fishing set of stamps and dies from Stampin' Up! a couple of years ago and had not played with them and then when I was fishing those out ha ha, I found this other die set of lures from Impression Obsession and thought the scale of those would work well with the SU set in the wells of the fishing tackle box. So, as I was cutting and inking things I started pushing them around the top of the box to see the scale and where there might be room for more. 

 So, the round bobber in the lower left-ish area was stamped on white cardstock with some ( this is a 2 step stamp) Versafine Clair Morning mist ( the bottom layer ) and some Tulip Red for the overstamping, I did stamp this on the diecut as I had cut it before I stamped it and I got the white halo off so, I did cut it out again with scissors and then inked the edges with scorched timber DOX ink like all the other layers. Those metal hooks I cut from some Tim Holtz shiny cardstock and The iridescent cord from May Arts was tied on to the round bobber to mimic fishing line. 

 The finished card here is A2 in real life, The reel-y sentiment is from Unity Stamps Reel Great Guy set and that panel was glued to the inside after this was shot. The vintage bingo chip has the number that hubs will be soon ( he is counting down to Retirement and still has a few more years to go) but, I was trying to keep the inside of the tackle box on the cleaner side since the stencil is and I thought the colors worked well with all the paper layers. ( it is pretty thick though) And then I did cut the skinny bobber and the top lure ( IO ) from Watercolor paper and used red Windsor & newton paint on those. and then added some metallic silver to the round places where the line would tie it on. Oh I have a second metal hook I cut to glue under the popper looking lure in the top left box and I seen ( after I shot this that it was missing) 

 

So, I ended up cutting another pair of hooks from the shiny silver card as I lost the one that I originally was pushing around on that bobber lure so, This is what it looked like with the inside glued in and the hook back in place. That's about it from me, I hope you're doing well and Staying warm. Thanks for stopping by, you can find this challenge here to play along with us if you are so inclined. 

 

An Inspired VSN Scene

 This week Denise is sharing the Happy Walls site for Inspiration and I happened across this chilly looking scene and I knew I had this pad of paper from KaiserCraft on the table ( the sheet music paper came out of it) and I also knew that LizBeth had a Make it Icy VSN Challenge.

 

 It took a little while to clear the decks enough to have some space to do it and so, I did leave the paper out, not in this shot is a little white container that has like 3 wells and a tall handle and it has previously cut and colored images and sentiments in it, and there was this cat that had been stamped and colored last November some time and he has been patiently waiting for me to use him.

The Tim Holtz cat is from the Snarky Christmas cats set from 2020 and he was stamped on kraft cardstock and watercolored. The sentiment was die cut with a TH sentiment labels die and that base is some SU Taupe at 5 1/2" square. This card took probably less than 30 minutes to do because of the everything was in reach and thought about before hand. That's about it from me, Thanks for stopping by & stay warm out there today. 
 

 

Virtual Stamp Night { Go 4 the Gold Continued }

 Good Morning, I hope you are staying warm and have some time for yourself this weekend. I decided to steal some for me in snatches yesterday and I did do a couple of simple cards for VSN that is going on now. And this morning when I came up the stairs this is what I seen. And I decided. that if I would like to do a few more of the challenges today I need to clear the decks.

 The view when I got to the top of the stairs.

 Where I actually stand to stamp. Yeah, the struggle is real and it looks like I lost.. haha. I won't put away everything you see here as I do create with what ever is in front of me and I "Know" that pad of printed paper that was used on the snowman card below just may have a forest scene print that will pull together a wall paper I seen for this weekends IC that Denise is hosting and LizBeths Icy VSN challenges... but, that will be later this morning maybe after the sun is up is the hope. 

 Kim is hosting a back to the basics challenge ( stamps, ink & paper only) and I had this drop piece of Bashful Blue card from my VSN sample I made for my challenge and I also have ( its hard to see but, on the first desk shot, I am making stamped sheets for pockets that I laminate for cling stamp storage and this sentiment is in one of those silly dog sets from Unity Stamps ( a new one I think ) and I knew it was over there so I stamped it on the bottom of this 3" square and then started looking for a face that would fit above it. ( This gal is one of the oldest stamps I have and I took her off the block a long time ago and my memory does not remember her name at the moment It is called Elegant Hat by Inkadinkado.) but, I did add a little bit of watercolor paint to this. ( very little water in the paint) and called it "good enough" 

 The next one I did finish is this long tall snowman for Vickkijo's made from snow challenge. I stamped it on some Arches cold press watercolor paper with Versafine morning mist and started adding DS watercolors to it, I also had stamped two of the twig arms on a scrap from when I cut around the body but, I was not able to successfully cut around those "fingers" so, the pivot was I decided about where he would stand on that Kaiser kraft music sheet print and then stamped one twig directly on the printed paper, glued him down, then waited for any paint on his body to be fully dry then stamped the cross body arm. There is watercolor on both of them and it was very little water so, the printed paper was fine with that. The base here is some Textured Bazzill and this one is A6 in real life. I did that sentiment tag a few weeks ago and I no longer remember the details. ( I might edit this if I find the packages as I am "cleaning" ) 

Those were the two I got done in the middle of the very early Saturday am night and then when we got home in the afternoon I stole some time from helping Hubs to do this one for Brenda's Mountains / Gold Mining challenge that had gone live when I went up stairs again.

The scene here is from the Stampin' Up! Beauty of Life set and its on some cold press Arches with a light first round of DS watercolor paints. ( My eyes seen a lack of shadows on this and I may add more paint to it later) This was cut with a large Spellbinders deckle die and the edges have some Scorched Timber DOX ink on it, its up on foam pop dots. That sentiment is from the Paper Artsy Sara Naumann set that I have not clue what the sets name is. maybe ESN40 ?I stamped some time around last Christmas and it was just sitting there waiting for me to diecut it, so I used a Spellbinders Perfect touch rectangle die on it to give it some interest on the edges and found this green in my ( I don't know what brands loose sheets hanging folder of green papers and made it A2.) And then I added some white gouache to the clouds and the water ripples because, that paper is not really a "bright" white and I wanted those highlights. That's about it from me at the moment. I am hoping to be back later with more progress. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Inspired by {The Paper Mill}

 This week Julie is sharing the Paper Mill site and Pinterest boards for Inspiration at Splitcoaststampers. I had come across this pin and because, it is a little busy, My brain said. "You could do red plaid tags from that". ( my tags do not look that much like the pin ) but, I used printed papers I had on hand and decided to chop up to fit diecut tags I have. It's been a few weeks since I made these and I lied to my self about being able to remember the details... but, my best guess is those papers with words are from Simple Stories pads and that base plaid on the big PTI square tag is from Hobby Lobby. The only stamp here is that buying happiness sentiment the rest are just flat printed papers. There is a big gaudy jeweled brad in the hole of the printed paper tag on the TH tag diecut.

All those burlap strings are from rolls from May Arts, the ribbons are unknown. I want to say the stamped sentiment is from Picket Fence studios set called More Inappropriate Christmas Sentiments set. 

The edges of most of these papers were inked with some DOX scorched Timber ink and the tag across the bottom front is from an Ellen Hutson modern tags set. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

 

A couple of guy tags

 Yesterday Angie tossed out an "make it for the boys" challenge and I want to make more tags, so that was not a hard thing in my head. I already had this Tim Holtz Stamptember set ( from 2023 ) on the table and I had stamped a few of the images on some Neenah Environmental cover sheet to color. 

 This first one, I stamped those words and images on a piece I had used the stamptember ( or July) I forget tag dies that came with one of the classes. ( I think it was this year's stamptember) and I used some of the watercolor pencils ( TH ) on the mittens, used a damp brush to drag the color around a bit more and then used some stickles glitter glue over the paint when it dried. The snowflakes are really bulky and I am finding I have a huge stash of bulky things I like and want to play with but, they are not finding there way onto cards much anymore because, paying package freight for a card is not fun. And I figure tags are OK because, you are either hand delivering the gift or the gift is going in a box to mail. So I have noticed mine (Tags) are getting lumpier and Lumpier. This was an angled shot on the table. The way the tag with the snowflake button dangles is something I have seen Anna Wight & Jill Norwood do and it catches my eye but, I usually tie things closer to the hole so this was a lets see if I like it experiment. It's not too bad. I may do some more like this. 

 The Sweater tag is not really that green in real life but, it is pretty bright-ish. I shot these before the sun came up under the studio lights. The sweater I cut out by hand and put it on some foam pop dots. That sweater sentiment is from the Colorado Craft Co. Sweater weather set and it has a matching die. The edges of everything on that tag were inked with some DOX scorched timber. The tiny little hex tag sentiments are from lili of the Valley. It's my understanding that they no longer do actual stamps but, do have these as digital print them your self items in their etsy shop. 

 A few more that have not gotten photographed yet and how the mess kind of looks on the table at the moment. I have been you know cutting up scraps all year long so those little envelopes in the big container across the table are holding tag die cuts ( paper ones are backed with cardstock) stamped images or sentiments or what not. Most of its within reach and ha, the remains of the July & Stamptember 3-D project pieces are still in a container waiting for me to get around to them as well. I am hoping to get a lot more tags finished this weekend. I hope you're doing well too. Thanks for stopping by. 

Red Cup Day

 I had an email yesterday from Starbucks that proclaimed today would be "Red Cup Day" And I mentally debated about going by there today to get one, but I think you have to buy a "Christmas" flavored coffee to buy it? I'm not that sure, I go to Starbucks maybe once a month and I tend to get half sweet Hazelnut Latte's. So, that being said I knew there was a coffee lovers blog hop going on and I have been making Christmas tags the last little while and I have a bunch of Tim Holtz stamp sets on the table at the moment. I have been coloring little things on Neenah Environmental colored cardstock with his Watercolor pencils. And just cutting them out with scissors. I seen this cat from the Stamptember 2020 set and I had already stamped this sentiment from the Stamptember 2023 set on the little Lawn Fawn Hearts & Stars Skinny tag set that came in the mail recently so, I decided that cup should be Red. I don't really need any coffee themed cards at the moment and I tend to end up buying all the things I see when I play in this blog hop so, I have been not peeking.

 I did cut the cat out with scissors and he is up on foam tape to be popped up a little. I tied the lawn fawn hemp string through the tag hole and the background print was cut from a scrap with an Impression Obsession Crazy stitched set a while back so the edges of both of those panels were inked with some Scorched Timber Distress Oxide Ink. This red cardbase came to me in one of those monthly kits. ( I suspect it is School House red from SSS but, I'm not 100% on that) and This is A2 in real life. That's about it from me, I hope your doing well & your coffee is Hot! Thanks for stopping by. 

Silly Critters

 A while back I did a pissy kitty card Seen here for one of the Inspiration challenges and it ended up in the basket at work and a lady came in and loved it and asked for a couple more of them... You can click on any photo in this blog and it will open up larger and you can hit your browsers back button to continue reading... I just got my new "supposed to correct" the cataract's glasses the other day and as strong as they are compared to my old ones these photos look tiny to me on this laptop screen.

 So I dug out the Unity Stamps that I had handy and started adding watercolors to some of them.

 What she loved most I think was this particular Sentiment was with the cat so, I used it again a couple of times and then switched it up for the others. The lace on this one is from My Minds Eye.

 This was the stamps that were used on the first card. and this one is A6 in real life. The ribbon on this one is from Martha Stewart.

 That particular lady always chuckles over the snarky cards so, I did this one as well. 

I did this one with my tongue in my cheek, it has not gone to work as of yet. I tried to make the snow piles on the hat 3-D with some white gouache. I think that folded ribbon is from SU. 

I have a soft spot for puppies so I was tickled to see they made scruffy grumpy dogs as well. and I figured this sentiment worked just as well for him. I have had that printed ribbon for probably 15+ years and I have no clue where it came from anymore.

Which lead to using him again and adding some Dylusions Sentiment that was cut in half. And its A6. I am pretty sure that ribbon is from SU, but don't ask me its color name.

And then while all that was going on, I had placed another order with Unity and this pup is so far the first thing colored from that order. it just made me chuckle. this sentiment is actually from the same set as this pup. This one is 6" square in real life.

I find it fairly easy to go back and forth between two images that need drying time so, I did this pup twice while I was at it and then just used different papers and some wired ribbon to change it up a little. This one is A6 in real life. I have more stamps that need colored but, I have a to-do list of samples to make for the SCS gallery and I will hopefully be working them in here and there soon. That's about it from me, I hope you're doing well. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

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. 

 

Inspired by { A decorated flowerpot}

 This week Amy is sharing a pinterest board with a collection with decorated flower pot photos. And I came across this one with this fun chicken face fairly quickly and stopped poking around because, I also received an order from Unity Stamps not so long ago with several new chicken stamp sets and a few other critters. 

So, I started  by stamping this chicken from the Clucks & Chaos set with some versafine ink on Arches cold press paper because the eyes on this stamped chick looked as shocked as the flower pot. 

I added a layer of Daniel Smith paints and walked away to let it dry. 

I did end up adding more paint to the places where I am imagining there needed to be darker for shadows and depth. The sentiment on this panel is from the Unity Stamps set called Begrudged Pissy Puppy. I did blot the sentiment before I added the foam tape to the back side of that painted panel. I did not die cut it or anything else. The wood grain printed paper is from an Crafts Consortium pad, the ribbon is really old and I know it was in a "baby" pack of ribbons from a long time ago and I want to say its Basic Grey but, it may have been Making Memories. The textured green is Bazzill and this one is 5 1/2" square in real life. 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 {Kuyike}

 This week Kia is sharing the Kuyike store site that has pinterest boards seen here. And right on the home page I seen This top with what looked like flowers painted over woodgrain, and I had an Ah-Ha moment as I have a pack of this Brutus Monroe rustic florals printed paper that is flowers on woodgrain prints...

So, out came the pack of paper and the Hero Arts nested Tee Shirt dies. ( this is the largest die in the set) 

 I had this piece of green printed paper just laying on the table from the watercolor earlier in the week and I needed some contrast so, I ran it through the bigshot in this Penny Black stitches folder. The Sentiment here is from Riley & Company and I had stamped it on this pale green scrap a while back and die cut it. ( I think that is a MFT die but, I don't remember what that shape is called. The base here was finished out at A6 in real life and it's just a simple one but, the idea that there are no pants in the scene made me snicker. 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. 

VSN Continued

 I had good intentions of doing a post for every project but... Life happens. So, here are the other things I have done so far for this round of VSN. ( there are still 2 more challenges left that I have not done as of yet and one I am still overthinking about )

 

The next challenge in the line up is this sketch seen here. And I seen after I had this glued that I missed a layer below the curved end banner one and I decided it was OK and left it alone. I had stamped and cut out this poppy and two of the leaves from the Power Poppy Poppy XL set on some watercolor paper and I cut up one of the leaves to make those pieces. I think if I were doing this again I would have stamped and colored a third leaf.

I cut the handmade paper with the botanical bits and pieces in it with a Memory Box nested globes die and then the Poppy here has foam tape under it to be up over the leaves that are just tucked in with glue dots. I found this Sentiment already stamped and diecut with the labels die in an envelope in the drawer so, I don't remember which set it came out of anymore. The base on this card is some sundance felt in natural white cut to 5 1/2" square in real life. 

 The next challenge has a row of pretty flowers across the bottom with butterflies and bees and such in the air above them. So I used this piece of double sided paper from the Ciao Bella Under the Tuscan sun pack and trimmed off some of the sky side to make it fit on an A6 cardbase, glued that along the bottom to give my self some space for the second line of this sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp poppy fields stamp set. ( that made this an 12 minute ish card yay me) 

The next challenge needs something real from Nature on it so, I dug out this piece of handmade paper that had real flower petals in it, and then grabbed the container of previously dried and pressed flowers and leaves to find these pansies. ( from 2003 and yes, they are incredibly fragile) so, I am thinking this will be my MIL's Mother's day card this year as it gets hand delivered and I do not think this card would survive in tack through the mail pressing machines. It's also A6 in real life, the printed paper under the frame of handmade paper is from Basic Grey. The sentiment here is from The clearly besotted message me set. 

The challenge before this one is one I am skipping as it is a fancy mountain fold card and I didn't look to see how complicated it was but, I am very much not doing stress still so, I jumped ahead to the next one which is to take a natural ( critter) and color it in an un-natural color combo. So I painted this bunny from the Happy Hoppers line with some Moonglow paint from Daniel Smith ( it has a lot of purple undertones to it) and then did the lips and cheeks with the bright pink ( its more startling in real life I think) There is a bit of stardream sparkle gel pen on the lines of the shoes and bag for some subtle sparkle. The Printed paper here is from the Memory Box magnolia grove pad and the base is some textured Bazzill. this one is 5 1/2" square in real life. that sentiment is an old one from River City Rubber Works. 

The next challenge is a color combo that is blue, yellow, green that uses the inspiration photo seen here. And when I was putting away the bunny I started opening the drawers under that to see just a way of thinking without really thinking, and I came across this stamp from Linda Grayson at Stamps Happen and thought if you change it a little you could easily do this as blue yellow green. So, I did. 

When I look at the IC photo of the challenge I see it as two shades of greens so, that is the way I went. I did squeak in a bit of black and red and brown but, I think its mostly greens here and is OK for that challenge. The sheer blue ribbon is unknown, I did use a Justrite tag die and then cut the stampendous thanks stamp by hand to glue to it. Its tied onto the ribbon with some black hemp string and this one is A6 in real life. 

 The next challenge is to do a Clean & Simple card with a realistic bird on it, and I knew I had a small pile of Memory Box dies in the basket of stuff I have been collecting and have not played with yet so out came this bluebird prince die set and the nest is also a Memory box die and I cut it from some Studio Loft watercolor paper and just daubed on some paints. ( it did bead up and do its own thing) 

The white panel here was cut with an Frantic Stamper Pierced rectangle die and the ribbon is unknown but, probably SU. The bird is up on foam tape to be above the nest and I did add some black enamel liquid pearls to the eye of the bird. ( which decided to to a hair sized trail of the glue as I was lifting up my hand so, it stained that paper where I scraped it off) and I am debating about adding more paint to it to fix that or not. This is an Pre-made A2 card base from Paper Source in their pool color. 

The next challenge in the line up was mine. And I had a plays well with others challenge that you need 2 living things that are not the same thing on the project. So, it could be plants or critters. and I had received this old PSX stamp in the mail recently and just went with that. I do better doing these challenges playing with what ever is in front of me for the most part. Its kind of my version of a limited supplies sorting for someone that has a lot of choices right? 

I have a feeling I am probably going to end up giving this one to my MIL as well as she collects teddy bears among other things but, maybe not until her birthday or something. not sure yet. I did cut the bear panel with Honey Bee Stamps deckle square here this one is 5 1/2" square in real life. the last challenge in the line up is to do a night sky with mixed media coloring and I am still pondering that one. That's about it from me so far. Thanks for stopping by.

 

VSN {Naturally Nervous}

 The final VSN challenge for tonight was thrown down by Misti and her theme is that its Natural to be Nervous about a big life change. Graduation, Wedding, retirement etc. I spent a lot of time over thinking this and finally decided on this funny stamp from Riley & Co. 

Because, it was the most "nervous" thing I could think of. and I am thinking that maybe this is a card you could only give to someone very close to you so maybe it needs a "Hugs" type sentiment on the inside. I wanted it to feel like an old guy type card so, I dug out some really old Die Cuts with a view pads. and trimmed down the ticket print to fit on an A2 sized base (SU Taupe) and then used a different pad (textured grey paper) also from DCWV to cut with a Spellbinders labels die because the clipped corners look like tickets to me but, it was just too much grey so, I tilted it for interest so more of the background tickets could peek around it, added a couple of Pioneer Photo corners to that sentiment and left space for the encouragement part of the thought to go there. ( that is from an Simon Says Stamp mom's set) That's about it from me, you can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

VSN {Natural Metals}

 Vikki Jo has a use Natural Metals for her VSN challenge (seen here) and so, I found this scrap of Silver metallic paper that I had previously stamped an Stampin' Up filigree background on it and heat embossed it with clear powder to give it that engraved metal look. ( I save these kinds of things old backgrounds, esp. if you make a mess doing them) which comes in handy on VSN nights as I didn't really have to do much more than score and cut for this card. 

I found a scrap of this golds and silvers glitter paper ( recollections) in the stash and then just trimmed the engraved panel and then When I was looking in the drawer with previously stamped sentiments in it, I came across this one done on the black cardstock with gold powder and just kind of laughed. ( its a hero arts sentiment) and decided to use a black base to tie it together. 

I am not so sure either of these shots display just how sparkly this particular card is but, it is very glimmer-y in real life. It's A6 in real life. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring a Loose Bunny

 Please join us in welcoming Suz and her first challenge she is issuing for the watercoloring tutorials challenge at Splitcoastampers This week which you can find here. She has chosen this video seen here on YouTube by Emma Jane Lefebvre called Easy Watercolour Bunny. I did watch the whole video before I started the painting and I could not remember every detail but, I think I ended up close.

 I knew there was loose grass while it was damp but, I forgot the legs/feet. so I did let this dry here knowing I needed it dry to add the face.

 I did add some details to his face with Brown paint and let that dry trying to decide what to do with the gaps between the bottom and the body bottom and the grass.

 I finally decided he needed some folded knees or something at the bottom so, I did get that whole grassy area re-wet, added some greyish knees and then did more grass over the top of the bottom again. This is Arches cold press watercolor paper and Daniel Smith paints.

Sometime last week I had seen there was a Burlap challenge and I spent a ton of time looking for mine, I know I have some but, it is well hidden. While I was searching for that I came across this Hessian embossing folder from Lisa Horton, ran it through the big shot with some Kraft cardstock and slightly inked it with some DOX vintage photo ink and decided it was not really "burlap-y enough" to pass so, it was sitting on the table when I was ready to finish this card. The background texture was pretty neutral and close in color/texture hints as the painting and the kraft panel so, I just tucked the bunny panel under the embossed strip and used this Taylored Expressions tag your gift sentiment on a scrap piece of studio loft watercolor paper that had been previously diecut in a tag shape. I have a little milk glass tray on the table that has blank things I have cut from scraps and a few Christmas sentiments already stamped and diecut in it and I fish things out of that tray most of the time when I am putting something together. The ink color here is Versafine pinecone. That sheer cream ribbon is an scrap and unknown. this is 5 1/2" square in real life. That's about it from me, I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by.