Watercolor Potpourri...

Hello, again! My crafty mojo is apparently on a small vacation lately, and when that happens, I start to reorganize my work space, and play with making clean and simple watercolor cards (which is a lot more fun, and truthfully, more productive, than the reorganizing chore... ha).

So today I have a small collection of watercolor cards to share with you. A couple pieces were practice pieces that turned out perfect for a card front. I'm thinking I should tell myself that they're all "practice pieces" from now on. I seem to relax more when I view them that way, and when I relax more, they have a tendency to turn out just the way I want them to! You'd think I'd be wise to my own Jedi-mind-tricks at this age, but I admit it...I effectively psyche myself out a lot, even as an adult who should know better. :)

So on to the picture show. This first pair is made using a Unity stamp. For one, I drew a brick wall in the background, and after I painted the second one with no background, I liked it, too. So, both became all occasion cards with the same sentiment...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Unity Stamp Co. "Erica Girl" and "enjoy this day"

Color Mediums:   Grumbacher Transparent Watercolors;   Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

Miscellaneous:   white twine,  small colored gems,  "yellow" Stickles

This next card is a 4"x 6" note card that I painted after seeing a red poppy card painted with a similar treatment. Unfortunately, I didn't note the name of the creator of the card that gave me the idea, I just wrote "shade with brown" next to the words "large poppy stamp" in my little idea notepad. (I sometimes do this rather than pinning the inspiration piece so I don't copy it too closely.) So if you see this and it reminds you of a similar card, please let me know and I'll edit this paragraph to credit my inspiration artist!

It was a little difficult to photograph this purple to look the same as it does IRL, but hopefully you can see the raspberry highlights and deep purple shadows...

On this card, I double cut the "hello" die in black and white, heat embossed the "just saying" stamp with white powder onto black cardstock for contrast, then spot-glued them both to the twine bows using liquid glue...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Penny Black "divine" (poppy);    Altenew "Super Script" ("just saying")

Dies:   Simon Says Stamp "small hello"

Color mediums:   Sakura Koi watercolors;   Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

Miscellaneous:   twine,  clear sequins,  white embossing powder

This final pair of images were my small "practice pieces." I was playing around with coloring and shadows on penciled-in tables beneath the flower pots. I liked how they turned out, so I cut the pieces from my practice pad, and turned them into note cards...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Prima "Nature Garden" collection (purple);   Glitz Design "French Kiss" collection (brown);   My Minds Eye Lost & Found "Heirloom" collection (dot)

Stamps:   Penny Black "A Bunch" (jar);   Hero Arts "Things We Love" (single flower);   Simon Says Stamp "Friendship Messages" (hello);   

Altenew "Super Script" (just saying)

Color medium:   Sakura Koi watercolors          Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com            Pearls:   Recollections

And last but not least...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Glitz Design "Vintage Blue" collection (gold and blue);   Pink Paislee "Cottage Farms" collection (taupe print)

Stamps:   Penny Black "Flower Gallery" (irises);   Penny Black "A Bunch" (jar);   Simon Says Stamp "Friendship Messages" (sentiment)

Color Medium:   Sakura Koi watercolors          Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com          Pearls:   Kaisercraft and Recollections

Thanks so much for visiting today...I hope your week started with a smile!

A Mini Pair...and a Spare...

Hello, again! With all the "fully loaded" cards I've made lately, I felt it was time to get back to some clean and simple (or my version of it, anyway) cards. I wanted a reasonably "flat" note card to send off, and decided to pull out one of my newer stamps and my watercolors and have a go.

When it was done, I realized the design would be fun on a "mini pair" - the 3-1/2" x 5" size note cards, so I made a pair of those, too!

It all started with this A2 size card...

I added several layers of color to these flowers, and although I wanted the layers to show imperfectly, they did turn out a bit more "splotchy" than I had hoped - because I didn't wait long enough for the layers to dry between applications...ah, well...lesson learned...I still like them!...

I couldn't resist adding a bit of sparkle with Crystal Stickles...

I was determined to find a way to add the gold spiral clip to the center of the twine bows. I ended up simply gluing it using Tombow Mono Aqua clear glue - it's solid as a rock...

Supplies:

Stamps:  Penny Black "demure";   Simon Says Stamp "Friendship Messages"

Color Medium:   Sakura Koi watercolors

Miscellaneous:   colored crystals, "Crystal" Stickles,  twine,  spiral clip

And here's the mini pair inspired by the A2 card. I started first by using the same stamp, but off the side a bit on the smaller size...

 

Once again, I used some of the Crystal Stickles for fun...

And I was a bit more patient this time and let the layers of watercolor dry before adding more  :) ...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Penny Black "demure";   Simon Says Stamp "Friendship Messages"

Color Medium:   Sakura Koi watercolors

Miscellaneous:   colored crystals,  "Crystal" Stickles

And for the second in the pair, a different poppy stamp...

And a much simpler background of just a light shadow effect...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Penny Black "divine";   Simon Says Stamp "Friendship Messages"

Color Medium:   Sakura koi watercolors

Miscellaneous:   colored crystals

Thank you for stopping by for a visit today!

Same Image...Different Seasons...

Happy Wednesday, everyone. I didn't get back to creating as quickly as I had hoped, but it's all for good reasons. This year, my birthday fell on a Friday. Friday birthdays have a way of turning into "birthday weekends" and that's how it went this year - celebrating with a friend who's birthday is exactly one week before mine, then a couple celebrations with family - lots of fun!  Hmmm...maybe I should make this a yearly thing! LOL

Today I'm sharing three cards that all used the same stamp for the background image. It's been quite a while since I played with this stamp, and I wanted to try something new (to me).  I changed the colors/hues I used, and ended up with three cards that "represent" spring, summer, and autumn. And once again, I played with watercolors, so the cards are a bit more clean-and-simple than my usual style. But a change now and then is a good thing!

I made a watercolor wash in the background, then used watercolor markers on the stamp, spritzed it with water, and applied the stamp to the watercolor paper for the background.

Here's "spring" - bright and fun colors with a medium sky-blue background wash...

I did double-stamp the large dandelion on the left side...the orange appeared too strong, so I added a bit more water to the orange and let it run together more. After the watercolor stamping was dry, I added another layer of only the plum color, stamping it dry (no water spritz prior to stamping) to show the details and turn the original orange stamping to the background shadow. The only embellishments I added were a single punched butterfly, and a sprig of spring-like stems and leaves from the top of a craft-store flower stem...

Supplies:

Background stamp:   Hero Arts "Dandelion Frame"

Sentiment stamp:   Unity Stamp "Touch the Sky"

Butterfly punch:   Martha Stewart          Pearls:   Recollections          Florals:  local craft store

Miscellaneous:   Sakura Koi watercolors, Marvy LePlume markers, Ranger Stickles

Here's "summer."  There's a paler background wash, more bright yellow and green in the background, and just a bit lighter overall with just a few extra-bright areas of orange. The stamped sentiment and three butterflies were added as the only embellishments...

Here are some closeup detail shots...

Supplies:

Background stamp:   Hero Arts "Dandelion Frame"

Sentiment stamps:   Papertrey Ink "Mega Mixed Messages," "Botanical Silhouettes"

Butterfly punches:   Martha Stewart          Mini pearls:  Queen & Co.

Miscellaneous:   Sakura Koi watercolors,  Marvy LePlume markers, vellum, Ranger Stickles

And finally, here's "autumn."  The colors are richer, deeper, more traditionally autumnal (and you can see that just by the difference in contrast between this photo and the pastel colors of the other two cards). There's a twine wrap and bow accented with a raffia bow, a piece of a seed stem, and a simple stamped sentiment...

Here are a couple detail shots...

Supplies:

Background stamp:   Hero Arts "Dandelion Frame"

Sentiment stamp:   Winnie & Walter "The Big, The Bold, The Happy"

Seed stem:   Petaloo         

Miscellaneous:   Sakura Koi watercolors, Marvy LePlume markers, jute twine, raffia, seed spiral

Here's a side-by-side shot of all three cards for easy comparison...

Thanks for stopping by today...I hope you're having a wonderful week!

Shabby Meets Mixed Media...Just a Little Note...

Happy Tuesday, everyone. Lately my creative time has come in small increments...mostly because my creative mojo is intermittent. LOL  So I've been using this time to gather up a few new supplies and play with some new (to me) techniques...you know, the things you've seen around and said to yourself, "one of these days I'm going to play around with that." So, "these days" are here now. That's what's happened with the last two cards I've posted, and why they're a bit more technique-heavy than usual. It's easier to add techniques one on top of another when you're not doing every step at the same time - you have a little more time to consider alternatives and options.

Here's today's shabby-meets-mixed-media-and-spring card fun...

I didn't take in-progress photos with today's card as I did with last week's, but I can show you a similar piece that was the base of it. One night I played around with a couple new My Favorite Things Abstract Art stamps and Distress Inks, along with a small Maya Road ledger stamp, and made a couple pieces like this using a couple different color combos...they sat in a baggie for a few days until I got around to playing with them again:

(I lightly and randomly swiped a cotton rag on parts of the ledger stamp after inking it to get the uneven and faded areas and edges.)

The first step of the layering was to use gesso to adhere a small piece of cheesecloth in the center, and to spread the edges of the gesso out toward the edges and onto the ledger stamp to lighten the center. The nice thing about gesso is, with a single coat, it's not as heavy and opaque as acrylic paint, so it gives that lightened-color look without being too overly obvious.

Next, I grabbed a Crafters Workshop reverse chickenwire template, and applied modeling paste mixed with black acrylic paint over the left upper corner, partially covering some of the ledger stamp. After I applied the black accent, it looked a little too bold for the overall look I was going for, so out came the gesso again, and I lightly dry-brushed a little more gesso over the part of the chickenwire closest to the center...it gives it a bit of a shabbier look...

At the bottom of the piece, I used a Tim Holtz Measured template, and this time, applied the modeling paste straight out of the container, and let it dry. Can you see the fun effect this makes, all on its own?

The modeling paste seemingly "absorbs" the color of the inked area just beneath it, adding to the subtlety of the paste accent. You can see that the brown, blue, and pink inks from the base piece show through the ruler template lines of the paste right over them. (If I had wanted an opaque white appearance, mixing the paste with white acrylic paint would have done the trick...but this time, I wanted the ruler line to be understated, and just a bit of contrasting texture at the bottom of the card.)

Then it was time to add fun die-cuts, flowers, pearls, a snippet of crocheted lace, and a sweet little sentiment stamp. At the center of the florals is a two-toned gardenia, and it's surrounded with a couple lilies and roses...

Supplies:

Stamps:   My Favorite Things DC Abstract Art;   My Favorite Things Jumbo DC Abstract Art;   Maya Road Ledger;

Papertrey Ink Mat Stack 2 Collection ("just a little note")

Dies:   Memory Box Chloe Stem;   My Favorite Things Leaf-Filled Flourish

Templates:   Tim Holtz Measured;   The Crafters Workshop Chickenwire Reversed

Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts          Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com          Pearls:   Recollections

Miscellaneous:   Maya Road leaf stick pin (embellished), Distress Inks, cheesecloth, gesso, modeling paste

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I hope your week started with a smile!

Just a (Hybrid) Note...

Years ago, I used to make all my clothes...even took a couple advanced tailoring classes in college. I loved being in a fabric store, spending hours looking at and matching fabrics, feeling all the different textures and weaves, and dreaming of different ways to combine parts of different patterns to make unique outfits.  When the cost of making my own suits and dresses and casual clothes became higher than ready-made, and time for hobbies became less and less, sewing faded as my main hobby.

These days, I guess I've substituted papers for my old fabric obsession. :)  I can spend a couple hours just going through my stash of patterned papers, matching 3-5 different ones and stacking them together for future projects. And now and then, I like to dabble with my digital images, making collages and printing out card-sized digital papers to add to the fun. That's where the papers for today's card came from...with a little help from some scraps from previous projects.

This time I printed out two copies of the digital collage, cutting one into a decorative oval shape to sit above the rectangular one, to add some interest and dimension to the usual placement I'd use...

Small touches of Stickles are on the butterfly wings and daisy centers...

The little fabric daisies are from a chain craft store, with a bit of Aqua Stickles added to the centers for fun...

The sentiment tag is held by a Tim Holtz memo pin that's shabbied with white acrylic paint and fancied up with a crystal spacer and cream pearl...

Supplies:

Digital Paper:  Playing WIth Brushes Torn Paper edge over MTerasawa/Designer Digitals paper

Patterned papers:   BoBunny Gabrielle collection (tan);   My Minds Eye Lost & Found/Madison (banners)

Die:   Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves          Punch:   Martha Stewart Medium Branch          Daisies:   local craft store

Hug Snug seam binding          Tim Holtz Memo Pin (embellished)

Digital collage elements:          

Background papers:   MTerasawa/Designer Digitals   

French label:   TheGraphicsFairy.com

Butterfly/daisies image:   KarensWhimsy.com

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!