Daylilies Continued

 So I did add a little more paint to the crevices of the petals on these blooms. Like so.

The colors are actually more vibrant and darker in real life, the cell phone whites a lot of that out. 

So I found this cut piece of the darkish orange ish color in the hanging file folder so, I am not sure its name but, its a pretty shade of orange actually and I ran it through an Cuttlebug fabric swatches folder ( the A7 one in the set that is kinda like puffy stitched plaid type stitches. and used the drop piece to cut the with love from the Spellbinders sentiments 3 set and then I had a scrap of the cold press watercolor paper so I cut a second sentiment to glue underneath the colored paper. I actually signed this painting too. The base here is some SU summer sun and that's about it from me. And I was not real thrilled with the colors on this camera shot either. I can't decide if its an normal aging thing or if things just do not look right to me on this laptop screen anymore ha ha. I do know I love the (huge) screens I have for my work computers and so, it does make me wonder. I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by. 

Watercoloring Loose Lilacs

 Hello & Welcome, This week I am hosting the watercoloring challenge Tutorial at Splitcoaststampers. And I have chosen this video from Emma Jane Lefebvre called Loose Watercolour Lilacs seen here on YouTube. 

I liked the colors of here the what is it cover shot of the video on YouTube and the lilac's are blooming here. And I find it very hard to do loose watercolors so, that made it more of a challenge with happy colors. So, I thought OK lets try this.

 I started with a piece of Arches cold press cotton paper and started adding some color to the background.

 I added a little more paint while it was wet and decided it would fade away to nothing when it was dry so, I kept going.

so this is what it looked like wet when I stopped.

 

So I added a little more to the center. And really did walk away at this point because, the middle one just looked muddy to me.

 And this is how that dried.

 So I started adding a bouquet type cluster over the top and some very suggested leaves towards the bottom.

 And I thought splatters and walked away again. and went to work.

 

 What it looked like dry when I got home, and I thought the center one does not look any closer than the background sides of the bouquet so, I started adding darker colors to the edge flowers again, added more color over the top of the center flower and some more splatters. 

 I like the colors OK but, I am waiting to see how this dries. and the reality is because it is Loose-ish. I could very easily pile more paint on this for a long time trying for some kind of "more"

 

So we've bypassed loose and gone straight to muddy BUT, I can see some depth in the center around the center bloom now. so as a learning curve this was steep. 

 

So, I did cut this down with a Crealies Cross stitched rectangle die and then wrapped the green ribbon around it and tied on the sentiment panel with some Hemp string. This sentiment is from the Taylored Expressions Love Everywhere set. The base here is some Bazzill and its A6 in real life. That's about it from me, I hope you are doing well & if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

A couple more Heart cards

 Not too long ago someone who was featured stamper at Splitcoaststampers ( I've forgotten off hand her screen name but, someone on the Simon Says Stamp design team) had these really gorgeous projects posted in her gallery of altered ( really fancy shapes) um Rolodex cards. and that really caught my eye. A very long time ago I used to actually alter the cards that you buy for the containers so it was a WOW thing to see all the fun shapes of them out at the moment. So, I caved on that and started buying a handful of the dies with no real plan for a project for them, I just liked the shapes. the first one to arrive in the mail was the AALL & Create Spring Sprouts die set. If I remember correctly this is the same die she had used in her gallery and so, when it came I ended up cutting out 3 of them from random papers on the table to get an idea of the scale of it. 

Just messing around with these pieces and I needed space so a bunch of it was put away in the drawer.
 

And then a week or so later another AALL & Create die this one is called Dotted Love and it has bitty hearts with the 3 different lengths of flaps/cards. And same thing cut one of each flap and all the hearts and I just kept pushing these things around on the table along with all those hearts I've had out and been cutting. And so, this was built from scraps on the table. I really liked the idea of this shape upside down. not as a flipping card but just a curious background detail all the edges of all the die cuts you see here were inked with some scorched timber distress oxide ink to unify all those prints. The enjoy is an Impression Obsession die as is that half circle heart layer behind it. The larger heart on a stem to the left behind that is part of a Penny Black die and the little heart topiary is a stamped image I cut out with scissors. I had that scrap of shiny silver sheer ribbon on the table and just tied it around the prongs. I figured since its all glued down to the card front it should stay put. This one is 5" square in real life. That special delivery was a paper ephemera piece from ( probably Tim Holtz ) but, I have big containers of that since I bought a bunch last year and have been trying to use some of those up as well, it was left behind in the tray on the table from when ever I was poking around in that. 

 

And I did something with the other heart branch piece I painted a week or two ago? I forget, that base is Blushing bride and this one is A2 in real life, that shiny pinkish glimmer cardstock was in the recent SSS card kit from Feb that arrived. ( the one with all the rounded corner dies in it) I cut a bunch of scraps up with those dies so far but, no projects yet. That embossing folder was out from some other project as well. these are just random cleaned the table off cards for me. I ended up going through my entire drawer of previously diecut things and I need to use some up before I cut anything else as that drawer is now bursting at the seams. The with love tag is an lili of the valley stamp on some watercolor paper and the ribbons are unknown. that gold elastic is really old from SU. That's about it from me, I hope you're doing well. We've got snow again this week and since we have not been buried under it all winter its a welcome and good thing here. Thanks for stopping by. 

A Few Valentines

 When I looked at my stash of cards a week or two ago, I realized I didn't have a stash of Valentines day cards. I think I may not have made any at all last year. Since I stopped doing the way way in advance design team things I have been trying to create more in the moment type things. So, right now without a need for a Valentine it was fun to start pulling out both things that have not been played with and heart dies and such. 

What my desk looked like last Sunday. Nope, I did not watch the superbowl. I forgot about it, I know most the people in my family root seriously for the Chiefs and they were thinking the teams who were playing this year were well matched and it should be a good game to watch but, that is seriously all I remember hearing about it. I needed to see something happy and pretty so digging through these papers and dies helped. 

I did come across this video from Nichol Spohr on YouTube doing a postage collage background (Waffle Flower die) for a Valentine and I thought Oh, I have that die and dug it out and did a couple of them. I really liked her color combo with the browns coming through so, that was a totally copy for me to dig out those colors. Tattered Rose, Salt water taffy, Candied Apple, Antique Linen Distress Oxide Inks. 

The first one on the right was more heavily influenced by her card than the one on the left, so the one on the right I am probably going to give to hubs. I just used what ever, but it did have me digging through my Tim Holtz office supplies type dies as well and I cut stacks of file folders and bitty envelopes too while I was at it. These are both A2 in real life. The one on the left I used some shimmery opal stardream paper ( a while back to emboss that plaid ish texture to and it was just handy. That chiffon ribbon wrapped around it is something I came across at Hobby Lobby in January after the holidays. I do like this and if they still have it next time I am in that store I will probably buy the other colors. 

 Then monday came and I had seen the Clean and simple challenge at SCS was to include a heart and I had received these Penny Black dies in the mail that day and so, I did cut them from some of those papers on the table and thought OK this could work. That Love diecut is something old from Poppy stamps that I did a long time ago and then you know used an eraser on it after this was shot because, there are a lot of times it's such a cave up here when it's cloudy I just don't see things the same anymore. So, its interesting and helpful to me to see them as a photograph that I can enlarge on the screen and fix bloopers after the fact. And since its just for my own amusement and I am in the whole keep it real phase I just post it and move on.

Which lead me to looking at my other Penny Black dies and I came across this pot with all the heart stems growing out of it set and cut a stack of them from some Artist loft water color paper and then added some paint to them yesterday after work.
 

The Happy Valentines day tag is a Lili of the Valley stamp ( I believe they have gone strictly digital now but, I have physical stamps from them and I still play with mine) The mini copper-ish brad is probably from Recollections. I have a tiny jello mold on my table filled with these things because, when you could go to the store and buy them I did. ( I am glad I stocked up on them I don't see these in the stores anymore and I do like brads more than eyelets actually) 

 

So, I shot this last card early this morning way before the sun came up and so, the colors are a little off and dark. That card base is some Stampin' Up! Blushing bride ( I love that shade of pink) And the circle framing diecut in the center is something from My Creative Time called Circle card front dies. I tend to shy away from circles so, I have been die cutting and taping a bunch of these together out of these papers and some of the scraps laying around and now I have a little pile of them to play with as well. The frame part of this its a little busy so, its hard to see but, these die cuts the frame has some cute stitching details on them. I did try to tilt that pot straight here ( its on with a glue dot and it decided to just wiggle it self back to crooked again. I did run the top cover of the card base through the big shot with a Sizzix folder but, It only says sizzix on it so, I don't remember its real name anymore ( I want to say it could be an old Basic Grey Christmas one but, that is a best guess situation.) That's about it from me, I hope your doing well & thanks for stopping by. 

Watercoloring Simple Hearts

 This week there is this video seen here on YouTube called "3 easy watercolor Valentine's cards for beginners" by artby_Shagun on doing a trio of very simple heart ideas for Valentines day last minute cards. I was able to see this at lunch and did two of them after work. so, they really are quick ideas. So I had a piece of Arches cold press and I cut in half to have two smallish pieces to try this on. I did use Daniel Smith watercolors that were on the table.

 The first idea show's dangling hearts from a branch that needs drying time so, this is where I walked away from this one to start the next idea. 

 Which for me ended up being the third idea in the video. my brain totally forgot about the jar filled with heart stems until I linked to the video here so. I feel OK with getting two of the three done.

 When both of those were dry I decided to add a little more paint to the hearts and then decided to do gold to the hanging loops and the dotted berries on the wreath.

 I did end up using a brown pen to make the hanging loops for the branch idea. And since my favorite idea in the video was the wreath and there as a limited amount of time to finish this I focused on it and I ended up cutting it out with an really old Spellbinders Labels 2 die. 

 I knew I wanted the card to be a red one so, I did make the base from some SU ridinghood red in an A2 size and then found this dot print in one of the Maja designs packs and cut that down to fit. and I looked a lot of other printed papers for a mat for the painting and finally decided to just go darker red with this textured Corrugate from Fancy pants cut with a larger die in that same set. This got wrapped with some vintage lace and there is a layer of foam pop dots between the diecut layers for some depth. The sentiment tag here is from lili of the Valley stamped with some tulip red on some artist loft watercolor paper and cut out with scissors. the tiny brad is probably from Recollections and its on this with Glue dots. That's about it from me, I am pushing the branch panel around still trying to decide what to do with it. I hope you are doing well. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Proflowers}

 This week Julie is sharing the proflowers website & Pinterest boards for the Inspiration challenge. I seen these pretty pink roses and thought OK you could paint something. And thinking that I started a painting which did not go well. I tossed that and pivoted to trying this embossing folder. ( which If I had realized it would do 2 different patterns I probably would not have bought this) 

So I started adding paint to it and that was kinda not going well so, 

After adding more paint I decided this was going sideways and not working so, I set it aside and decided to start over again today when I got home. 

And I had this Maja Designs Miles apart paper pack and it has this roses, ( and others that are so very pretty in it, the heart background has the stripes as its reverse print on it) and decided it was all too busy for the things I had done earlier and thought, you know. you could just use this paper and use it together. So, I cut the main bouquet out of one of the sheets and used another and its drop trim for the rest. The With Love is an Simon Says Stamp die and I just got this. The vellum mat is from PTI cardstock and the detail letters are cut from some really old MFT insulation pink. The base here is some SU pink ( I can't spell it but I think its a Ballet term) that pink. Pir something. And this is 5 1/2" square in real life. I think the sentiment can go a few different ways so, I have not added anything to the interior as of yet. 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 a Heart Topiary

 This week I am sharing this heart shaped topiary video called Valentine's day Topiary Watercolor by Petite Mesquite Studio on YouTube seen here. I was thinking even if people do not need Valentines cards that this could be used for sending love type greetings. 

It starts with a pale lavender/purple wash where she uses a cookie cutter as a stamp for the heart shape. So, I pulled out some of my Heart stamps that were not solid ones that could work as a "frame"

So I used this old Hero Arts stitched heart stamp that I had removed from the block a long time ago so, I don't know off hand its "real name" I also had this scrap of artist loft watercolor paper on the table and used it. 

 

Right after I started this I had to stop so, I walked away from it at this point. 

 And I came back to find that it had of course pulled up from the chipboard it was taped to.

 At this point I had really forgotten how the flowers were done specifically so, I just kinda ad-libbed adding flower/leaf petal shapes to the topiary shape. 

 

And I came back to this and decided it needed more.

So I used these clips hubs had put in my Christmas stocking to make it stay flatter on the chipboard. They were almost too small for it so, I left it like this to see what happened.

 

So I took the tape off this afternoon intending to turn it into a card and the tape coming off ripped the top of the paper. And then I had the bright idea to use scissors to trim it to the edge of where it was taped. 

 But that didn't really work so well, so then I started ripping the edges which I liked but, it was a little too close to the image. I am considering doing this again with a smaller rounder heart stamp and may do that next but, I have run out of time so, That's about it from me for the moment. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

VSN {Would you Wood Please?}

 Melody has a use wood on your vsn project seen here. And I have a metric ton of printed paper woodgrains and embossing folders. and I thought about it and found a pack of previously stamped and heat embossed wood panel sheets that were done ( years ago) for some challenge or another and decided I liked the colors of this one. And I had this painting pushed to the side as I started it thinking it almost would work for one of the challenges coming later but, pivoted from this to something else and thought this would be a pretty focal point for the wood background. 

This is an old Stamps Happen stamp that hubs won on eBay for me fairly recently and I had it out on the table when the list of VSN challenges hit my desk as well. So I stamped this on some Arches cold press and started washing in some pale purples and pinks to the background. 

This was mostly using up paints in the palette. and they don't count your drying times against you for VSN just the assembly of the project needs to take less than an hour so. I was also adding paints to some of the other things you will see here and have already gone live as I have been working on the samples for a week or so now. 

What the stamp looks like, sometimes when I stamp a detailed stamp on watercolor paper I don't always see the details of the stamped image so, it helps my brain to look at the index sticker and say oh, those round blobs are dried pod things that I have no clue what their real names are haha. but, you get what I mean right? 

So I tied a piece of sheer aqua ribbon around the diecut painted panel and then put that up on foam tape over the embossed/inked woodgrain. This is Up on foam tape over that. The textured bazzill was cut to A6 in real life. I did end up using some white gouache for the birds in the scene but, I am not so sure they really look like birds. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Framed Love

 This week's featured Stamper at SCS is Carol and I did look at here gallery a little bit on Easter when she was chosen but, I didn't have time to play until this afternoon. I knew I need some Anniversary and Wedding cards in the back of my mind as I was looking at her gallery and I ultimately chose this pretty card because, I love the lace. I knew I wanted to keep it as simple as possible and I wanted to use printed papers. ( I have more than I can ever use up ) 

So, I started with the background stripe print ( it has some DOX vintage photo along the cut edges and the base is some textured bazzill. I thought I was going to go more browns than black and cream but, I found this frilly paper in an Authentique pad and decided if I cut a window into it, it would become a really neat frame. The Love die here is from Papertrey ink and I cut it (twice) from some Neenah solar white and stacked them for depth. I considered cutting another layer out of a glitter paper and decided to just trace along the inside edges of the Heart O instead.

An angled view, I did use some lace along the bottom edge and its not as large but, I thought it had a similar shape to the tips of it as Carols. I think I will add the rest of the words to the inside when its time to gift out the card and it could go either way in my head at the moment, Wedding or Anniversary. That's about it from me, I hope you're doing well & thanks for stopping by.
 

Watercoloring simple Hearts

 It's my turn to host the water coloring challenge tutorial at Splitcoaststampers this week and I had chosen this video seen here on YouTube by Leisel's Artistic studio last month thinking that perhaps it would work well for people who are looking for quick last minute Valentine ideas. So I started with some smaller scrap pieces of Arches Cold press. I did not use a stencil to draw the hearts just winged it with a paint brush.

 I walked away at this point and let this dry.

 I knew I had this piece too close to the edges and felt like that made it a good one to practice the leafy wreath feeling petals on it. 

In the back of my head I knew there was some where in that video an angled brush used for something maybe the leaves maybe the rose buds, so while the heart was drying I grabbed some non round brushes and a scrap of Neenah and just played at making leaves with brushes I have.

So, I was not getting things that looked like rose buds and I tried one more brush seen below.

 

And I decided the people I am making cards for, I'd rather have leafy wreath looking hearts more than floral framed ones so. I tossed this scrap. washed those brushes and ordered a couple of small angle brushes off Amazon. They are supposed to arrive on Tuesday so, I may or may have time to try them out before this goes live. 

My favorite shape of hearts lean a little more to the primitive side so, I started a long tall wreath on this scrap.

 I die cut the roundish heart with a square stitched die from Simon Says Stamp and the long tall heart with an Crealies X-stitched rectangle die. Those words were cut last month when the Newton's Nook Valentine word trio dies landed in my mail box. I had cut some from the Maja Prints paper with tiny hearts on it and some from watercolor papers. I fished these pre-made sparkly red A2 card bases out of the drawer and then decided I will use the XOXO block on the roundish heart and added some stickles crystal glitter glue on it for more sparkle.

The card on the left I finished it with a sentiment from the Taylored Expressions Love everywhere set and cut it with an Waffle flower A7 rectangle die. The XO diecut sentiment block on the card on the right is up on foam pop dots and has some depth from that. 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.