Allie's Birthday Card

It's my crafty niece's birthday today!  And like me, she is a creative soul.  We both love the Art Impressions watercolour line... and I used a couple of sets for the first time to make up Allie's birthday card.  Ai came out with a sweet little boy set, along with benches/logs/wharves to put them on, so that's what I used, since she has a little munchkin of her own.

I used a combo of my Tombow & Marvy markers to stamp the little boy, then masked him & added the bench & puppy.  Then I had to create a scene behind him.  Since they live on the edge of the Rockies, I wanted to make something similar to their backyard, so I sketched in the mountains and hillsides directly with my markers and paintbrush.  He's looking off in the distance at something, so I grabbed the kite from the Cottage by the Beach set, making it look like someone was flying it just over the hill.

Stamp sets used are: Foliage Set 1, WC Dogs Set, Cottage By the Beach, WC Mini Flowers Set, WC Sitting Places Set, WC Little Boys Set, WC Tree Set 1 - All Art Impressions;  Canson Watercolour Paper; Cardstock is Tulip, and patterned paper are both Close To My Heart; Maya Road Twine; Marvy and Tombow markers.

Art Impressions Wooden Door class

I have another Art Impressions Watercolour class coming up at the Crafter's Workshop in Stouffville, Ontario in a few weeks (October 16th & 19th you can sign up online here!), so I thought I'd share what we're going to be making.  We'll be doing two cards, both with "Wooden Door"- and the set is included in the class fee, so you get to take it home with you.  At first glance - this looks like a holiday stamp set, but we're going to see just how versatile these stamps are when you change them up a little, since we're going to do both a fall & winter/holiday version.  Here are the samples:

Our first card is following pretty much how the set was designed to be used - a wintery doorway, with a wreath and a covering of snow.

 For the fall version, we'll be using the same doorway, switching up the colour palette with some fall foliage, and a pot of flowers instead of the wood pile.  *We're going to be doing a third project, too - that will be a surprise.  Hope to see you at the Workshop - spots are filling up fast!

Open Window

Today I'm using one of the original Art Impressions Watercolor Mini sets: #4608 Open Window.  It's such a great little scene to paint, and it made up quickly into a card:

Patterned papers are Jenn Hadfield & Lawn Fawn; Wonky Stitched Square die, My Favorite Things; Stamp set is Open Window from Art Impressions; Tombow & Marvy markers;  Sentiment is Close To My Heart.

Ai Wishing Well watercolour

I painted up a bunch of Art Impressions watercolour images earlier in the summer, and have been trying to get them all made up into cards.  Here is WC Wishing Well Mini Set:

If you live in the Greater Toronto area, you can find a huge selection of the Ai watercolour stamps at the Crafter's Workshop in Stouffville.
Stamp set is #5012 WC Wishing Well Mini Set by Art Impressions; Tombo & Marvy markers; Cardstock and patterned paper are Close To My Heart; Sentiment is Verve.

Watercolour Class

Hello!  I am excited to share the first of four cards that I will be teaching in a class at The Workshop in Stouffville, Ontario.  The class will be featuring the Art Impressions watercolour stamps that Sheri carries at the store.  I've been using them for years, and they're a fun way to quickly put an amazing looking watercolour scene together to use on a card.  There are two classes, Tuesday, April 17th 7-10pm, or if you prefer: Friday, April 20th 1-4pm.  All the details are here.  Here is the first card using Garden Wagon Mini Set, and the Flower & Foliage sets:

Sign-ups for the classes are open now!  Contact Sheri at the Workshop to reserve your spot.

One last 2017 post

Thought I'd sneak in one more post before the year runs out... I painted this image a few months ago using the Art Impressions watercolor collection stamps - something I just love doing.  For Christmas I made up a couple of dozen cards for my nephew to have a stash on hand, and this is one of the ones that was part of the collection.  So even though Mother's Day is a few months off, I loved how this pretty card turned out and thought I would post it.  I have stepped down from the Ai Design Team effective today, which is very bittersweet for me - I've been on the team for 4 1/2 years, met the loveliest people, have had my cards published in a magazine, and featured by some prominent retailers, and I'd like to think that my colouring skills have improved in the mean time.  Oh, you'll still see me using an awful lot of Ai images, especially these watercolour stamps... it's a bit addicting.  Wishing you all a Happy New Year, and a big round of thanks for all the lovely comments I've received here on my blog.

Ai Watercolor Minis!

 The Art Impressions Design Team are showing off the new Ai Watercolor Mini sets, as well as two new flower/foliage sets, and a Watercolor Sentiments stamp set (you'll love this!)

A few weeks ago I had a very productive afternoon painting with a bunch of the new Ai Watercolor sets (so you'll be seeing a few more from me this spring!).  Today I'm sharing a card made with Wooden Chair Mini Set (Sku #4876):

 The set includes the chair, two flowers, a vine and a flower pot.  I used the vine in the set to create my rustic little vine wreath, by stamping it four times to create the wreath shape, and tried to make it look as if it's hanging off the edge of the chair.  The smaller flowers are from WC Flower Set 2 (Sku #4868), the grass is from Foliage Set (Sku #4051) and the bird is from WC Birds Set (Sku #4872).  After double matting, I used pop dots to elevate the image, and stamped a sentiment from WC Sentiments Set (Sku #4903) directly onto my card base.

 I used Marvy Markers on some smooth watercolor paper for my project - you can find a wide range of Marvy Markers on the Art Impressions website here.

Happy painting!

Wooden Gate Watercolour

 I'm starting my 2017 Art Impressions posts with some watercolours!  For the last couple of years, my New Year's Crafting resolution has been to watercolour more - and I've actually stuck to it!  I own quite a few of the Ai Watercolour sets, and really love pulling them out and painting all afternoon...  Here are a couple of creations that I made using one of the Watercolor Minis: Wooden Gate (Sku # 4762):

 I used an assortment of Tombow & Marvy markers by colouring directly onto my stamps, and then softened the lines with a damp paintbrush.  I used my Gansai Tambei watercolour palette to add a bit of a wash to the sky & background.  Here's a lavender version:

 I added in a couple of stamps from the W/C Foliage Set 1 (Sku #4051) and the small flowers from W/C Flower Set (Sku #4052) to finish my picture off.  You can find all of the Ai watercolor sets here.  Happy painting!

InLinkz.com

Happy New Year!

A little belated, I know!  I never intended to take a three week blog break!  I've actually been creating like crazy for CHA (so nothing that I can post yet!) so between getting those projects shipped off, hosting a couple of times over the holidays, and holding down the fort at work, it meant that things were a little quiet around my blog.  I wanted to share a couple of Watercolour Minis that are older Ai sets that I was working on.  Here is Old Barn Mini Set (Sku #4807):

 And Blooming Birdhouse (Sku #4603)

Both are using a combo of Tombo & Marvy markers.

Old Barn Watercolour

 I had fun painting and distressing today, using the newly released Old Barn Mini Set (Sku #4807) from Art Impressions which is one of the Watercolor Minis collection:

 I love this!  The set includes the barn, the tree, and the fence stamps, so I added in the tiny leaves stamp that is part of Covered Bridge Mini Set (Sku #4808), the tiny grass from WC Foliage Set 1 (Sku #4051) and the Teeny Tiny Flowers from WC Flower Set (Sku #4052)

 After my painting was complete, I grunged up all the edges a little, and sponged some soft brown ink on.  I used my edge distressor to tear up the edges a little, and got out some sandpaper as well.  I added the pewter brads to the corners to make it look like the picture was tacked up on the wall.  Happy stamping!

InLinkz.com

New Watercolor Mini Sets at Ai!

I am up on the Art Impressions blog today with a watercolour tutorial:

It's time for some wonderful new Ai Watercolor Mini sets!  I was thrilled when I saw the Covered Bridge Mini set (Sku #4808) that I'm sharing today - it reminds me of New England... and there's no prettier time to drive around New England, than the fall.  So I decided to share a fall painting with you.

I started by stamping the covered bridge image, then stamped it again on a post-it note, and cut it out to create a mask that I placed on top of my artwork.  The set includes this wonderful group of Birch trees, that I coloured with a Sepia marker and stamped partially over the left edge of the bridge mask.  I inked up about 2/3 of the image again, and stamped it on the right edge.  Now when I remove the mask, the trees appear to be behind the bridge:

 With the tiny leaves image, I inked up two different warm yellows and stamped repeatedly to start the foliage, then filled in with two shades of green.  I used the small grass from the WC Foliage Set (Sku #4051) and the small daisies from the WC Flower Set (Sku #4052) in oranges to create some bright fall bushes.  I softened everything with a wet paintbrush to pull the colour out.

 I added some brown to the roof, gave the building some purplish shadows, then painted in the water, sky and the suggestion of mountains in the distance.  I added a few purplish shadows to the trees as well, especially up near the leaves.  And there's my fall scene!