May Dirty Dozen Christmas card

 Hello & Welcome back, its that time again when the prompt for the next months Christmas cards with the Dirty Dozen at Splitcoaststampers hits the threads. You can find this challenge prompt here in the special forums set aside for FanClub members. 

 This is one of my favorite themes for Christmas cards so, it surprised me that I only have just this one done so far. Every single month I think "oh, you could do a whole bunch off this theme" or that idea but, its been a struggle to just get one done each time on time.

 So I started with this pine sprig branch from the old Stampin' up Ornamental Pine set and used some Tim Holtz watercolor pencils to stamp it on some Kraft Cardstock. Directly to the cardfront. I also ended up adding more TH DOX inks over it as well with a dauber and so, it has a few layers of color on it.

And then I decided it needed to sparkle for Christmas so, I added some White gouache paint, Rangers stickle glitter glue and some Faux Snow from a snowtex jar. I found this previously die cut from scraps Joy word block from Newton's Nook that I had cut from some woodgrain print that had falling snow on it so, I added some stickles glitter glue to its snow spots in a few places as well while I was at it. 

 I spent a lot of time puttering trying to decide how to tie that joy word block in with this branch and then I came across this sparkling winter that I had stamped and die cut who knows when using I don't remember what and thought. OK this could work. And I let it stay simple like this. I do like how it turned out and Maybe I could even do a few more of them some time. (maybe with less products on it haha) but, at any rate it is one more done that I will be sending out this year and there is that. I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by. 

 

Dirty Dozen March Cup of Joe

 This month I have been buried in life things so, when it came time to do this sample I struggled because, I knew it would be "easy" to add to any card, which when there is too many possibilities it just shuts my brain down. I do better with a tighter idea I guess, so I just happened to decide to look in the little bin on the other table of "colored images" and at some point in the past I had this done and in the bin just like you see below.

So, I decided to just roll with it. That base is some Neenah either millstone or earthstone ( I forget which is what anymore, one of them has a decidedly yellow tint and the other does not. this is the one that does not that they do not make anymore as far as I can tell) This is A2 ish so, I decided to trim it slightly and distress the edges. And then I added some DOX scorched timber to that.

 

Wrapped this I forget what it's name is ribbon ( its sheer-ish) from Hobby Lobby after Christmas this year so maybe they still have it?) and then added white gel pen to the hearts outside the cup and the lid area. Added some stardream gel pen to the hearts on the cup. Found this Maja rustic snow print in their Christmas wonderland pack. The base is some Kraft cut to A6.

 This was all glued together when I finally decided on which previously stamped tag to add to the cup and since I didn't want to chance ripping this to poke a shiny brad through the tag hole I found these tiny old pearls from Recollections and did that with liquid glue. no holes. That's about it from me, if you'd like to get a jump start on your Christmas card stash for this coming season you can find this challenge here inside the Special forums set aside for Fan Club members here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by. 

Watercoloring a snowman in the forest scene

 I had some paint left on a new palette today that was for something going live in a few days I had received this as a Christmas gift from my son & his girlfriend along with some new brushes and clips and a new brand of papers to try from hubs so, these things are on the table at the moment.

 and I had seen the other day that Jeanne is hosting both the free for all ( snow ) and the mixed media challenges this week ( snowman) and I decided it would be super easy to combine them and be able to get a winter Birthday card done ahead of time as well. So, I started with a piece of Arches cold press watercolor paper that was cut to A6 and taped off the edges.

I wanted some depth to this and let the first layers be blurry.

I decided I could add some skinny bare trees to the scene and shadows to the snow in the front.

I splattered some Dr. PH Martins bleed proof white ink to this for falling snow and then , let that dry before I started adding a snowman to the scene.

I did add more shadows to the scene and more paint to the forest background as well. 

I ended up adding more splatters and then some snowtex (lumpy snow) to the shadows under the forest floor and the snowman ground and it was very subtle so, when it dried I did end up putting the whole sheet in the Bigshot so that it could try to press flatter, even though this was taped down but, it still had a warp to it when I took the tape off.

I was trying to not flatten the snow So I did not use a die to make it smaller hoping to keep the lumps of snowtex and I ended up cutting it with a deckle trimmer to give the edges some interest and I did end up inking that with some DOX scorched timber ink. 

 The base here is some Bazzill cardstock and the sentiment is from a spellbinders letter press set called A little messages that I made previously. I did add some scorched timber to the bottom edges of the sentiment as some shadowing and put it up on foam pop dots. And that is about it from me, if you'd like to play along with these challenges you can find the snowman one here and the snowy one here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

Create Together Tim Holtz & Heidi Holiday Collage Card

 A funny true story. I have a ton of Tim Holtz products, you knew this already right? but, I don't really use much of the papers and chipboard pieces I think I am more of a collector of them more than a collage person. I use a piece here and there so, I was really excited about the live class they were offering from Simon Says Stamp and teaching it as an YouTube video. (you can watch the replay here) I also had assumed that the 11th was going to be a Saturday when I bought it without looking at a calendar so, I heard part of it at work yesterday between payroll and customers and our IT guy coming by so, This morning I started watching the video where I could just sit and watch it. It starts with a collage card. 

 

I opened my box this morning so, no homework done here. I do have packs of some of these packages from last Christmas that are open in a container so, I picked and chose from both the kit box and my Tim Holtz papers stash box.

This is what I was thinking my card might turn out to look like. 

I built my shaker frame piece and I had not used that liquid glue much and I got it too close to the acetate and I thought ok, you're going to have all this shaking sparkle inside anyways it does not matter, but the glue leaked out the front of the frame under where you see this girl sitting. and I thought OK but, as I was moving piece around to do the collage building part I thought, you know you could move her to the other side of the frame the way her back is in the mugshot she'd probably look more natural posed there, so. I did. I also stacked one of the smallest poinsettias tilted on top of the medium one under her feet so, the flowers are a little 3-D here also. 

I think she turned out pretty cute, I shot all of these photos with my cell phone and the colors are a little off to me but, not in a this is terrible kind of a way. (that card base is a very deep green color in real life) I did use the Candied Apple crayon on her hat and the mowed lawn green on her coat for tinting, the cheeks are worn lipstick. I had not ever thought to do this, and I love how that turned out.  

I am excited to see what the next project is. I am also thinking I just may add some stickles or something to the center of that poinsettia for a little more sparkle. I probably could have added a little more to my shaker window but, I do like that you can see the corner bit of the layer under it as well so, there is that. 

The bits and pieces I did not end up putting on the card, some have been inked with the iced spruce ink. I am thinking I may also add some of that cello tape to the top of the green ticked under her feet as well but, I have not gotten that far. I have replenished my cuppa Joe however and this means the creating can continue. I hope you are having a really creative Saturday as well, Thanks for stopping by. 

and I stopped the video too soon, they added tape after I thought they were done with the cards haha.

 So I cut a piece of the tape sticker and used it at the top and bottom and decided the flower stamens just needed that sparkle as well. I am not sure how it works but, this class has a hashtag that is #sssholidaycollage if you are playing along on maybe Facebook?  I know there are some people from Splitcoaststampers who have also bought the kit and will be playing along, so I am just going to try the hashtag there in the gallery as it is keyword driven. That's about it for the moment. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

Snow for Polly

 This week the featured stamper challenge is sharing PollyPeeps gallery she had passed away recently and everyone is free to choose anyone's gallery that was also taken too soon but, I did start looking at Polly's gallery and smiling over quite a few things that I had saved over the years but, I finally stopped at this snowman. It seemed appropriate as it is snowing here and I love them as well. 

I loved the colors, textures and patterns of Polly's card so those were the things I tried to keep. I did change the stamps, no stenciling, added in the sparkle in the form of liquid pearls and stickles glitter glues over the watercolor paints when they were dry. 

because it is snowing, this is a little darker than it is in real life. The snowman (Whipper Snapper snowman circle) was stamped with some Versafine clair Nocturn ink on Arches hot press watercolor paper which has a cream tint to it to my eye. I did use Daniel Smith watercolors on him and the white snow drops are some Windsor & Newton white gouache ( straight from the tube to be thick enough to dry 3-d ish) This panel was cut with a deckled edge rectangle die and the edges of that were inked with some DOX vintage photo ink. The blue texture paper came out of this package found on Amazon. I just love that stuff and the colors are pretty in person, so I tend to cut it into pieces and use small amounts. It's on the wood grain print with some liquid glue. This is A7 in real life. The sentiment here is from ah heck, I forgot again. sorry. That's about it from me I am hoping to perhaps do a second one later. If you'd like to play along you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {McGaw Graphics}

 This week Amy chose the McGaw graphics site and pinterest boards for the inspiration challenge and I came across this print of the couple under a red umbrella in the rain and I loved everything about this. 

So I stamped the Unity Stamps Harmony girl from Angie Blom and I stamped her both on some vintage dictionary page ( Dance) and watercolor paper. and proceeded to add Daniel smith watercolors to both.  I did paper piece the text version over the watercolor paper when they were dry. I wanted it to feel moody so I did go dark with the rain.

I needed more texture as I had a pale grey Bazzill base cut for 6" square so, used some Hobby Lobby crepe paper on the side and then used foam tape under the watercolor paper. the grey sheer ribbon is really old from SU ( maybe going grey?) and the sentiment is from Tim Holtz snarky sticker pad, I just poked a hole in the end so I could tie it on like a sentiment strip diecut. There is also some white gel pen, Stardust gelly roll pen with Stickles crystal glitter glue on the dried paint in the rain parts here also.

I am pretty tickled with how this finished out. I hope you all are doing well, Thanks for stopping by.

Distressed Snow

 

So, last week's watercolor Wednesday prompt went to this video from Debby Hughes that uses distress inks and water to give a stamped image a watercolor vibe. and I watched it, and I think where mine goes off into left field is in the past I have always done these direct to paper type things with either flowers or leaves. and this time I reached my hand in to the I have not opened this stash and came out with these prismatic snowflakes set from last years Stamptember at SSS. (really) It's kind of crazy how much I have collected in the last year, but I wanted to do my part to help these stores stay afloat. ( that's my story and I am sticking to it) :) This sentiment is from Mama Elephant's peaceful wishes set.

anyways, the straight lines of these snowflakes, they really have this wrought iron look going on, did not really lend it self to the blurry effect very well. So, I ended up adding more layers of paints and splatters and such and then I had the bright idea that if I cut out the best snowflake and chopped the panel up it would look better. So, I tried that and the edges looked kinda neekid so, I went around them with some copper krylon leafing pen. Part of the video there is some vellum under the sentiment panel so, I started flipping through a baggie of already diecut snow looking for something in vellum and found this My Favorite Things one cut from some pale aqua shimmer cardstock and decided it works with these colors and as I was layering things together I decided it needed more sparkle so, out came the stickles glitter glue too. 

and it does not look a thing like Debby's card and that is OK. I love the colors I chose and I am tickled that it is different than everything else I have set aside so far for this coming winter/Christmas. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Some more from Dare to Get Dirty.

 There were 49 challenges in total this year for Dare to get Dirty week at SplitcoastStampers. I have not done them all as of yet, the good news is the inspiration stays up on the site for future use. So, here are the rest of the ones I have done so far. I cannot tell you what the challenge is but, I can say what I did or used. This will be a really photoheavy post so, grab your cup and enjoy.

This was done for Lydia's first challenge, this girl Unity Stamps Just Sorry was stamped with versafine on Neenah and watercolored with some Karin Markers ( skin & hair) and Daniel Smith Watercolors on the rest of the image. The sentiment here is also from Unity Stamps the Crappy Day set. ( its up on foam pop dots)

The front panel here I have cut a hole into the top end of it to tuck the girl from behind and used the same acrylic paint on the edges of her panel as the front to make it a little more seamless. I did run that textured panel through the big shot a few times to flatten it a little more. ( its Masking tape with covered with gesso and paint) I thought it looked like a messy bed. And this one finished out at A7 in real life. 

For Dina's first challenge I used this So Many Hearts girl from the precious moments line at Stampendous ( this is a really old one) colored with pencils and copic markers (skin) and the sentiment here is from Hero Arts Many everyday messages set. the door is an Alexandra Renke called wing door. This one is A2 in real life. 

So a week ago the inspiration went to a home design magazine site and I being an alumni dirty girl also had access to the master list of challenge knew what Lori C's first challenge would be so, I combined these two. The home design photo that jump started mine can be seen here. What an awesome back yard hmm? So, I picked up the My Favorite Things perfect pool stencil when it first came out and this is the first time it has been removed from the packaging. so I decided to tape it down to a piece of cheaper canson watercolor paper and "paint" through the exposed holes. It did bleed a little bit, and I did go over the top of some of the bleeds with white Gouache after the stencil was lifted and the Duck was stamped with some Cheerful (yellow) Versafine Claire and watercolored with Daniel Smith paints, I cut a slit into the water panel to tuck his tummy into and taped over this on the back side to help keep him flat. The sentiment here is from The My Favorite Things you float my boat set, and it finished out at A7 in real life.

This was done for Gem's challenge and I used a Spellbinders hemstitched rect. die on the cover of the cardbase and Their shapabilities Joy set for the center. The letters are up on foam pop dots and the pearls are from Kaiserkraft, ( they are a blush color but on the barn red texture they may show up as cream on your monitor) the inside was lined with some Neenah because, I always put white cardstock on the insides of my colored bases to write on. This one is A6 in real life, and the first Christmas card I have done in months and months. which poked my brain into looking at more of the challenges thinking and over thinking to see if they could be modified to become Holiday cards too. 

Which lead me to Lee's challenge, the base stamp here is a background from Simon Says Stamp that was heat embossed with white SU powder on some pink shimmer DCWV. the Vellum layer is an older holly berry house that was also heat embossed on the top side and then I used water base markers in spots of the back and I really thought that gave it a kaleidoscope look. So, I added some dots of glittered stickles glue in a few spots too. this one is 5 1/2" square in real life. 

I found this image Our Daily Bread Designs the mighty sea already colored with some pencils in the envelope on the table and so, I used some previously made watercolor background for the framing and then while I was looking at this, I have had my Daniel Smith watercolors on the table for a few weeks now, I decided to add some paint here and there over the pencils. The sentiments on this are from the Altenew camp life set. and this one finished out at A7 in real life. 

So Kia has a challenge that I decided I would watercolor for it, and this is the center piece of a frame diecut and so the bloom is from the eclectica3 kay carley 47 the pretty flowers were a feast for the eyes set and heat embossed with white powder over the paint. I did go over the center with white Gouache and some stickles glitter glue. That sentiment, I spent hours over several days trying to figure out which set it came out of. I cannot find it in evernote so, I will probably end up poking around in the stamps them selves here and there and edit later. I found it in the file cabinet in one of those pockets of previously stamped and diecut sentiments. the center panel is up on foam tape and this one is 4" x 9" in real life. 

So this is the actual entry into her challenge and its also a slimline card. the homes and sentiment are from the Concord & 9th city stacks set. 

a closer look at the painting from the card below. The road runner is "on the run" the Wil E Coyote is called "Yipes!" the center has some shimmering from Stampscapes ( but, it is a small stamp, so I deliberately used the paints in lines to add more streaks around them.)

The silhouette in the back is from the sweet n sassy landscape silhouettes set and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession pandemic humor. 

The painted panel is on foam tape above the base and this one finished out at 4" x 9" in real life, the edges were cut with deco scissors. 

You might remember this panel, it happened to fit Pat's challenge so, I did some layers of speckled Neenah cardstock to frame it trying to detract from the fact that I had taped the tape across the top crooked when I painted it a while back and that was one of those hunh moments when it was revealed. 

I probably could just mix up some more blue ish paint and touch up the top left corner but, so far I have resisted the urge to do so. This one finished out at A7 in real life. 

 Done for Liz's challenge, the Victoria's Secret is from the Emerson line at American Art Stamps, the bra-less is from Art Impressions. She was colored with Karin markers and Daniel Smith watercolors with some stardust gelly roll pen on the glasses. 

Some where around Wednesday the watercolor prompt came out and it was to do some free hand blooms and I had a mess of yellows on the palette at that point and I knew what the DTGD line up looked like so this ended up being made for 4 different challenges, the Wednesday watercolor, Jen, Holly & Ann's DTGD challenges. the Sentiment here is from the Penny Black A little bird set. 

You may have remembered seeing this dog face ( Impression Obsession) being painted when he arrived in the mail, the sentiment came out around the same time too, so this was done for Bev's challenge. 

This was done for Shelly's challenge. the birdhouse is from the old SU set called scene in a garden. The sentiment here is a reverse printed one from Simon Says Stamp ( some spring set) That red panel is vellum with alcohol inks on it and to allow the light to flow through like a window, the front panel of the card also has a window cut into it from the inside of the base. This one is A2 in real life. 

This was done for Mary's Challenge. The sentiment is from Riley & Co. the Oscar reading the paper is from Art Impressions ( this was stamped twice as the top colored layer is paper pieced into the scene.) the rest of the room are from two different My Favorite Things sets, Cozy Companions and Our Story. the main layer here was all colored with Daniel Smith paints. 

 Now this I did not make, this one came to me the other day in the mail from Shelly with a sample of some gold leafing flakes to play with and the sticky note that said do not open with the fans running. This is one of her samples she made for DTGD and it sparkles so beautifully in real life. Thanks Shelly!

 Which lead me to playing with them for a little something for Judy's challenge. the cat is from Art Impressions, the sentiment is from the Shut up and Color set from Dylusions. this one is A2 in real life. that pale aqua color is an shimmer cardstock from Micheal's recollections line. 

This week the Inspiration destination is looking at Nordic Wall where I found this piece of art 

and my first thought was you could paint that. ( not a normal thought for me) and my second thought was, you could have a two-fer card and use it as a sample for Tracie's challenge. So, I did this is Daniel smith watercolors with a bit of White Gouache. the sentiment here is from the My Favorite Things anything but basic birthday wishes. It's 4" X 9" in real life. 

 Which leaves me with something I had done for Jayne's challenge. the teabag here was paper pieced back into the design using a used dried coffee filter. the other color around it and on the tag are DS watercolors. the sentiments here are from the Verve Stamps one cup set. the embossing folder is one I had borrowed a while back from my MIL and I have forgotten its name, but there is a heart underneath the image panel in my card on it. the lace here is vintage from the notions dept. and this one is A6 in real life. I do have something drying / de-fume - ing for Jayne's second challenge and hopefully sometime soon I will get it done. I hope you enjoyed this, thanks for stopping by.

Decided to just edit this post with the last card, this was done for Jayne's first challenge. the butterfly was painted last April some time, the cardboard was painted along time ago too. the background panel was run through the big shot inside a Cuttlebug goochie script folder and it has some Antique linen and Salvaged Patina DOX over the top of the leaf pattern. and I realized the reason I never used this butterfly is. I did not leave space to give it a body. ha ha. ( did you notice that before I wrote it?) ( I didn't) 

I did actually get a group mug shot of them all before I started mailing some out.

Dare to Get Dirty {Out of Jail}

 Today is the last day challenges go live for Dare to get Dirty week at Splitcoaststampers. And one of those happens to be mine. Its a two-fer challenge where you can read the secret details for fan club members here about the dirty part and later tonight once it's live you can also see the second half for the Inspiration challenge this week.

So, I can not tell you what the challenge is but, I can share what I did here. The coffee cup is actually a teacup and saucer one from Judi Kins that my friend Janice rescued for me from that art recycle store near her a while back. It was stamped with some Versafine Pinecone ink on a piece of watercolor paper that had been done no wrinkle distress with distress Oxide inks a while back. over the top of that I added some Daniel Smith watercolors for shadows. The coffee part was paper pieced into this design and the background  & framing were also, I had decided to spin the frame when I pieced it back together and while I had it apart I flicked more paint onto the frame then the body too. That sentiment is from Rubbernecker and is pretty tiny in real life but, it reads " I have one cup of coffee each morning just to start the day off right. The other ones are to keep me out of jail, help me form sentences & find my razor sharp wit." Which sounds about right eh? Hopefully you are starting your day off right too about now and can pop over and play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

{A catch up post}

 

 

Recently the Inspiration challenge headed to a pinterest board with Paper Mache art on it where I found this bird trio pin. And I did this card. The newsprint bird is from Hero Arts and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession.

This last week the Inspiration headed to the sweet lulu shop where I found these silly work related pencils and decided to chop up some scraps at random widths and glue them all on an angle to another scrap to use as the pattern for this to let the snarky Picket Fence studios sentiments shine.

Last week on "Earth" day the idea was to use recycled items on the project, so this is the innerds of some cardboard shipping box with acrylic paint on the exposed ribs and a clothing tag. the coffee cups were cut from some Yupo alcohol ink backgrounds. 

Last week's color combo challenge. ( my dresser I shoot on is away from the window at the moment awaiting the new window to be installed so, I shot this flat on the desk and really do not like that look.) but, you can see the depth of the layers and the sparkle on the top letters so there is that. 

This weeks Featured Stamper was Heather who had this card here which I used as the Inspiration for mine.

This current week Martina is the featured Stamper and I found this pair of teen cards in her gallery that I used as inspiration for mine.

This one goes all the way back to the middle of March when Sandy was featured Stamper and I used this card of hers as a jump start.

This one goes back to Valentines day when Linda was the featured stamper and I picked this cute card of hers for a jump start. 

I think this was just a using up things on the table card. It never went into the gallery at SCS at any rate.

This was done for my oldest Nieces birthday this year. The balloons and frame were cut from some brusho type watercolor backgrounds.

This was done when Gem was featured stamper and I giggled over this of hers.

This was done a few Mondays ago for both challenge the CAS was to do a silhouette and the try a technique was for faded watercoloring a stencil.

this was done for my oldest niece who lost her older dog a few weeks before we lost Grace, and I never posted this ha, I even lost it in a pile of cards on my table because, I knew Grace's time was about up and so. I eventually found it in the mess and mailed it off to her family.

This was done for Grandma Mary's 97th birthday last month.

There was a watercolor Wednesday challenge a little bit ago to do loose roses as the tutorial. (free hand) 

 

A closer look at the one I did.

The featured Stamper a few weeks ago was Mary Ellen and I found this cute card in her gallery.

And I made mine a Christmas version because, that is where my brain went when I seen the red typewriter.