Fooling Around with Watercolors

I bought an inexpensive set of Yasutomo Niji tube watercolors a few weeks back and finally broke them out of the box yesterday.  For the 5 bucks I spent, I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with them.  The colors are fairly intense, and I was able to mix any color I needed from the 12 hues included in the set.  I'm definitely not a watercolorist, but this was awfully fun to do.

The stamp I used on this card is from Class Act, Inc. and the papers are Basic Grey Urban Prairie.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Card of Many Challenges

I was in the mood to play in some challenges today, and I made a card that fits several.  The Friday Free for All on Splitcoast today is to make a project with a "home" theme, and these stamps from Class Act were sitting on my table just begging to be inked.  My watercolor pencils were also sitting on my table from a project I did yesterday, so I used them for my coloring.  Yesterday's Ways to Use It on SCS was Flower Frenzy, so I picked floral paper (Basic Grey Green at Heart) and embellishments (Hero Arts Art Flowers).  For my layout, I used the current Card Positioning Systems sketch. 

Thanks for stopping by my studio today.  Have a great weekend!

Dutch Treat

This card just had to be made.  Sitting on my table right next to each other were my set of Dutch Doll stamps from Class Act, Inc. and my copy of the Technique Junkie Emboss or Die CD which, among 78 other awsome techniques, includes the Faux Delft Tiles technique I used here.  How could I not made a card like this?

To create my center tile, I stamped the windmill image with Versamark ink onto watercolor paper, and then embossed it with white embossing powder.  Next, I spritzed the entire piece with water and watercolored with several different shades of blue.  When I diecut the tile, I also embossed the edge and then watercolored the edge with brown, using the embossing as a guide.  The blue mat is cut and embossed from Core'dinations paper and then sanded.

Thanks for stopping by my studio.  Have a great day!

Finally!

I can finally start sharing some of the projects I've been working on lately!

I'll start off with this set of Artist Trading Cards that I just finished for a trade over at Drawspace.com.  The theme was Windows and Doors, and I decided to use Art Deco stained glass window designs for my cards.  I sketched the designs in pencil first and then inked them with a Rapidograph pen.  The coloring is done with Inktense pencils.

Have a great day!  I'll be back tomorrow with a greeting card or two to share.

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 32

Our Inspiration this week comes from the Container store.  Lori chose this lovely gift wrapping for us to work with.  I was inspired by the beautiful soft colors, the delicate flowers, and the distressed background.

The stamp I used for my card is an older Magenta tile/frame stamp, which I just love and have used many, many times.  This time, I stamped and embossed it in white onto a piece of shimmery white cardstock.  I then watercolored the frame and flower with Derwent Inktense pencils.  The mustard yellow background is stamped in a matching color ink with my SU Sanded background stamp.  My apologies for the quality of my photo (it was dark at the time)...in real life the colors are a bit more vibrant. 

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to see what the other Divine Divas have some up with this week.  You can find their links in my right sidebar.  And, as always, we'd love for you to join us...use keyword DDIC when uploading to Split Coast or Papercraft Planet.

Bye for now, and have a great rest of the week!

Fun Stuff!

True to plan, I've been packing lots of fun into this weekend.  Yesterday, Dave and I went out and did some shopping, and I scored a couple of new outfits and an external hard drive so that I can back up my thousands of photos.  We had dinner out and stopped for an ice cream cone afterwards, and then I spent a couple hours in my studio.  After Dave went to bed, I indulged myself with a couple of episodes of True Blood.  What a perfect day!

Today is going pretty well, too, even though I do have to do a couple of unavoidable chores, like laundry.  I slept in a bit, had a late breakfast, and noodled around in my studio all morning finishing up a few projects I have in the works.  This little pink fish ATC is my favorite of the lot:

It's done with Prismacolor pencils and Derwent Inktense pencils on Arches hot press watercolor paper.  Fun stuff, but I have to stop now because I have to get ready to go to a party.

The only bad thing about a weekend like this is that work is going to stink all that much more on tomorrow morning, lol.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge 28

I love Clinique Bonus time, and I still can't believe I didn't get this one.  But, thanks to Lori choosing this photo as our inspiration this week, at least I have a card!

This card was really pretty easy to make.  I embossed a scrap of hot pressed watercolor paper (unlike cold-pressed, it's smooth) and then added color with Inktense pencils.  I didn't actually draw on the paper, I took color from the tips of the pencils with my wet brush and painted the colors on.  The butterfly is from Starving Artistamps, and it's colored very quickly with Copic markers.  The whole thing took me about an hour, which for me is lightening fast!

The other Divine Divas always come up with some amazing cards, so be sure to have a look at theirs too.  You can see all of their creations on their blogs: Anne, Chris, Lori, Julie, and Kerri.  And, don't forget that you're welcome to join us.  If you do, post a link on Lori's blog, and if you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, use the keyword DDIC.

Thanks for stopping by!

Winter Orchid

I bought a set of Derwent Inktense pencils awhile back and I've really enjoyed playing with them.  They work like watercolor pencils, but the colors are so much more vibrant, and I find that they're perfect for coloring flowers.  Tracey Berkey (Starving Artistamps) suggested that I try them on one of her orchid images, and here is the result.  I must say that I'm pretty pleased with the painterly look of this one.

I stamped the image on watercolor paper with grey ink so that the linework wouldn't be so prominent.  I used Ancient Page ink, but any permanent, water-resistant ink would work.  And then I painted.  I don't know much about watercolor technique, but the more I play with these pencils, the more I think I want to learn how to watercolor.  This is FUN!  Tracey's got some really great floral images in her line so I'll definitely be trying this with some of the others.  I'm thinking that a grouping of these in frames would look awesome in my dining room.

This one I made into a card, though.  Starving Artistamps is the sponsor for 2 Sketches 4 You this week, so naturally I used Kazan's sketch for my layout.  The design on the pink background paper is stamped in Versamark ink using a background stamp from Starving Artistamps called Fern Leaf Tooled Leather.

Have a great day!

Starving Artistamps is sponsoring 2S4Y this Week!

I play along with the 2 Sketches 4 You challenge whenever I can because I just love a good sketch challenge. Whenever Starving Artistamps is sponsoring, I make sure to get a card done...you know...being on the SA design team and all, lol. The 2S4Y design team always has some amazing cards for inspiration so be sure to check them out. And, here's mine to (I hope) add a bit more inspiration. And if you need a bit more incentive, the stamps I used are part of the awesome prize you could win!

Star of Light

Stamps:  Starving Artistamps - The Nativity
Specialty Papers: Strathmore cold press watercolor
Inks: Versamark; Fluid Chalk Blue Iris
Other Supplies: White Embossing Powder, Inktense Pencils, Copic marker, scalloped border punch, ribbon, Nestabilities die, Cuttlebug, Waterbrush
Special Techniques:  Watercoloring - Stamp image with Versamark onto watercolor paper. Wet an area of the image with water until it is quite wet.  Use the brush to pick up color from the tip of an Inktense pencil, and the lightly touch the tip of the brush into the wet area.  The color should start to spread immediately.  If the color doesn't spread, rewet the area with more water.  Continue wetting and adding color.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

The card I'm sharing with you today is one that I made using the ABC-Bountiful stamp and a sentiment from the Square Say set, both from smARTworks.  I stamped the image on watercolor paper with Stazon Black ink and colored it with Derwent Inktense pencils.  And because I just can't seem to resist glitter lately, I added just a bit of Crystal Stickles here and there.

I Never Get Tired of Sunflowers

Especially this time of year, I just love sunflowers, and this is one of my favorite sunflower stamps.  It's from Starving Artistamps, and it's so much fun to color.  I've used everything from colored pencils, to paper piecing, to Copic markers...it comes out great no matter what!

This time I decided to try yet another way to color the flower.  I used Derwent Inktense pencils to create the base underpainting for the flower.  I started by stamping the image onto watercolor paper with Ranger Archival Ink.  Then, I very loosely colored the flower and leaves, and washed the colors with a waterbrush.  The background was created basically the same way.  I chose 3 shades of red and a gold and scribbled patches of color all over the background, then used a waterbrush to pull the color outward from the image toward the edges.  Once everything was dry, I used my colored pencils to add shading and highlights to the flower and leaves.  I also dotted on some red, black, and cinnamon colored Stickles in the flower center.  Since this is such a large image, I cut it out "outside the box" style so that I could add some borders and a few dew drops.  I have to say, this version is one of my favorites!

And, here's the latest progress pic of my dining room project.  I still need to find a replacement for the chandelier (I HATE the one that's there), and I need to finish up some of the woodwork, but the bulk of it is done...Yay!  I love the way it turned out, and now I'm itching to tackle the living room.  You know how it goes...one project begets another!

See you later.  I have some drawing homework to get after.

Starving Artistamps Classic Decor Blog Hop

Come on in! You've found the Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Classic Decor Blog Hop. We're celebrating the release of some brand new, very fun DoodleFactory images...Classic Decor and a set of sentiments to go along with them! I've used some of the images on my cards, but there are more, and there's blog candy hidden somewhere, so make sure you visit all the blogs in our hop. I'm the second stop, so if you didn't come here from the Starving Artistamps Company Blog, you should head over there first.

Juliana Swanson at Stampin with Inky Fingers is next in our hop. Juliana is an amazingly brilliant designer AND she's turning the big 40 today, so you'll definitely want to stop in over there to see her cards and give her a shout out for her birthday! There's a list of all the blogs in the hop at the end of my post...just in case you lose your way.

I've got some pretty awesome cards for you (if I do say so myself), but before I get to them I want to tell you about the awesome special that Tracey is offering on the new set. For 3 days only (July 8th-10th), buy both the complete collection of stamps and the coordinating sentiments and get enough cling cushion to mount them FREE.

OK...now for my cards! This one is paper pieced with Basic Grey Offbeat papers and kraft cardstock. The black accents are done with a glaze pen so that it looks like laquer, and colored accents are done with Copic markers. I thought this one would be a nice way to present an Ikea or Crate and Barrel gift card.

Next is another room scene using Basic Grey Marrakech paper with Copic marker coloring. Don't you just love that cuckoo clock?
And, here's another room scene that doesn't use any printed paper at all. All of the images are colored with Copic markers, and I made my "wallpaper" with the Fern Leaf Tooled Leather background stamp.


Now for the grand finale! What in the world is Yapples up to now?!? You just never know where he's going to turn up! This one is colored with Inktense pencils on watercolor paper. I embossed the chandelier, wet the paper with a mister, then used a waterbrush to pick up color from the pencil tips to create the tie dyed background. The rest is basic watercoloring, and you can't see in the photo, but I added Stickles to the chandelier to make it sparkle.


Blog Hop List
Starving Artistamps Company Blog
Me
Juliana Swanson
Donna Baker
Kathy Daume'
Lori Tecler
Lydia Fiedler
Andrea Cloutier
Natasha Trupp
Irene Silva
Dawn Mercedes
Jenn McMillan
Nina Aaslund
Laura Davis
Kazan Clark
Tracey Berkey

Mark your calendars and set your alarms!

We're having another Blog Hop at Starving Artistamps! There's a new DoodleFactory release coming out on July 8th, and trust me, you don't want to miss this. Irene has outdone herself this time. I won't give anything away, but I will tell you that the new stamps are something new and different, but they still have that DoodleFactory quirky charm and will mix and match with other DoodleFactory collections. Did I get your curiosity up? Then make sure you check back here at 11 a.m. EST on the 8th to see what all the buzz is about!

Since I can't show off the new stuff yet, I'll share a card I made with one of my favorite Starving Artistamps images. I know I said that I posted my last tulip a few days ago, but I couldn't resist doing just one more. I stamped the large tulip with Versamark and embossed with Zing! white embossing powder. For the coloring, I did a variation of that watercolor technique that been so popular lately. I don't have many reinkers, so I did my version with Inktense pencils. I worked section by section and started by wetting the area with plain water. Next, I used my wet brush to pick up color from the tip of the pencil, and then dripped the color onto the wet paper. Worked like a charm!

Don't forget...mark those calendars!

Monday Again?!!

I can't believe it's Monday already. Seriously. Here's hoping that this work week goes as fast as a weekend!

Quickly, before I head off to the salt mines, here's a card I made the other day. I got a new set of Derwent Inktense pencils, and I just had to play a little. I didn't do anything special with them here, but they are very, very cool...definitely more like ink than a regular watercolor pencil, and the colors really are intense.

The stamp I used here is from smARTworks (ABC Fresh Picked), and I used a couple of Technique Junkies techniques: Cuttlebug Highlight and Chalk Lines.

Have a great week!

Mellow Yellow

It's Tea Party challenge time again, and this challenge is brought to you by the color Yellow (and Peggy Lamb).

Peggy specifically mentioned "bright" and "sunshine" in her instructions. But, my cards have been rather on the bright and colorful side lately, so I decided to switch gears a bit for this challenge and tone things down a bit. I went with a soft yellow, which I think might be SU Barely Banana for my background. For the image, I used one of my all-time favorite, go-to techniques--I colored the flower image direct to rubber with Lyra Watercolor crayons, misted the stamp lightly with water, then stamped onto dampened watercolor paper. Once that dried, I overstamped the sentiment with black ink and added a few Rain Drops for embellishment.

The images I used are from the SBO Cookie Plate #1, which are available through the smARTbucks loyalty program.

The gang's all here this week, so be sure to see what my fellow Cookies did with this challenge:

Susan (and Sarah and Peggy)
Dina
Donelda
Giovana
Trish

And by all means, join us!!!

A Bunny Fiesta

I didn't realize it until after I finished this card, but it really has a Mexican feel, and these two bunnies look like they are at a fiesta. I guess my brain was still in San Diego, which is understandable since I'm going back to San Diego for a conference on Monday.

Just like my life lately, this card is crazy busy! The bunnies (DoodleFactory Easter from Starving Artistamps) are colored with Copic markers. I had watercolor wash background in my stash that was the perfect color to use behind my bunnies, and just because watercolor paper embosses so nicely, I ran it through my Cuttlebug. Next, I created a mitered frame with some striped paper on red cardstock and glued my watercolor background on top. The cool ribbon frame was the Try a New Technique challenge (TLC212) on Splitcoast Stampers last week. And last but not least, I put my bunnies on top of everything with some pop dots.

Ole'!

Home Again

It feels good to be home again, if only for a few hours. I'm off to Copic Certification class tomorrow, and you can just go ahead and color me excited! I'm sure I'll have lots to tell you after tomorrow's class, but in the meantime, I'll leave you with a new card.

The stamp is from Great Impressions, and the paper is from Memory Box. I colored the image using a Technique Junkies technique called Marker Watercoloring. As you might guess, the technique is done on watercolor paper and involves partially coloring your images with waterbased marker and then using a waterbrush to blend the color. It's not my favorite way to color, but it was fun for this little image.

See you after class!

Show your Metal!

It's time for smARTworks Tea Party Challenge #12. Trish gave us a sketch this time and told us to add something metallic. Now, I could have just added a couple of brads or something, but where's the challenge in that? So I started searching through past Technique Junkies newsletters for cool techniques using metallic paints. Cuttlebug Glow fit the bill perfectly. Basically, you take a piece of acetate, smoosh on a mixture of Lumiere paint and reinkers, run it through your Cuttlebug, and then highlight the embossing. Trust me, this photo doesn't even begin to capture what this looks like.

That wonderful flower image I used is, of course, from smARTworks. It appears on the Cookie Plate, which you can get for free through the smART Bucks loyalty program. I stamped the flower using watercolor crayons applied directly to my rubber. I then spritzed the stamp with water before stamping onto watercolor paper. It looked kind of stark to me, so I also flicked on some speckles of bronze Lumiere. The sentiment is a partial stamping of one from the Daisy Square set. The ribbon I used is sheer and very shimmery, and I can't believe I found something that matched so well in my stash.

The rest of the smart Cookies will be joining the Tea Party throughout the day. Be sure to stop by their blogs and take a look for yourself:

Susan (and Peggy)
Dina
Donelda
Giovanna
Trish

And as always, we'd love to have you play along! Just post a link to your card in the comments of any DT blog so that we can all Oooh! and Aaah! over your creation.

Look Carefully

It's February now, and if you look carefully, you'll start to see signs of Spring. Already I've noticed that the days are longer, the sun is stronger, and it shines into the windows at a slightly different angle. One day soon I'll look up into the trees and notice that the buds are swollen. Yes, Spring is there waiting, and you can see it if you look carefully.

I'm going to focus on Spring this month and ignore the fact that February can also bring some of our worst winter weather, courtesy of coastal storms we New Englanders call Nor'easters. Wicked nasty!

Keeping with my decision to ignore winter, I stamped this card yesterday using the Large Peony stamp from Starving Artistamps. I decided to watercolor this one just for a change of pace, and as you can see, my watercoloring skills are marginal. I used a combination of watercolor crayons and pencils, and I enjoyed the process immensely...very relaxing.

Have a pleasant Sunday, and remember -- think Spring!

Holiday Tea

Today is Tea Party day at smARTworks. Design Team member Peggy Lamb picked the theme for this one...ovals. I managed to sneak some time to make a quick card using a couple of my favorite smARTworks stamp sets, Chickadee Wishes and Pine Bough. I did a masked frame technique from Technique Junkies with the pine bough stamp and Fluid Chalk ink in warm green and chestnut roan. I stamped the chickadee with chestnut roan and watercolored it with various dye inks. The printed paper is from Memory Box.

Have a great day!