Gina K Designs October release - Missing You Turtles card

Hi crafty friends! I'm sharing a water colored turtle card using the new Serene Sea Life stamp set by Gina K Designs. There are quite a products released this month including and you can check them all out HERE.

SERENE SEA LIFE STAMP SET

There are quite a few sea critters in this set, but my son's favorite animal is turtles, so I chose this lovely image. I wanted to do some simple water coloring, so after I made the sea background, I stamped the image with Versafine black ink and heat embossed it in clear. I googled sea turtles and found them to have the most gorgeous rich brown tones for their shell, so I went with those colors.

I kept things pretty clean and simple, so I added a few dew drop adhesive gems from my stash and a small black and white striped paper along the bottom. I adhered the turtles on the card base with 1mm foam adhesive for a little dimension. I really love how this turned out!

Products used on this card:

These are affiliate links which means that if you shop with these, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. If I've inspired you in some way I appreciate your support.

 Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Watercolors: MeiLiang 36 color set from Amazon

 

Foiling with BetterPress Plates and Trying New Metallic Watercolors

 Hi everyone! I tried a little something different for these cards. I foiled a BetterPress plate! I've seen other crafters do it with great success, so I tried it myself and it worked beautifully. At first I tried it with a shim and realized that I didn't need it. So if you have the Glimmer and fall in love with a BetterPress plate, go for it! You can used it like a glimmer plate!

I glimmered on dark cardstock and used some new metallic watercolors to color them. I love the sparkle and shine with these metallic watercolors. Check them out.

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**Blogger is randomly deleting my blog posts, so this post was originally posted January 28, 2024**

SEALED FLORALS PRESS PLATE

 

I used the Sealed Florals press plate (from the Pressed Posies collection) for both of these cards. I glimmered on black cardstock with gold foil and on navy cardstock with matte silver foil. I use white cardstock for 85% of my cards, so branching out with dark colors was really out of my comfort zone. I even considered not posting them, I just really love crisp white cardstock. But in the end, I liked these well enough to share.

On a whim I purchased a metallic watercolor paint palette by Arteza from Amazon and it sat on my desk a good long time until I got the idea to glimmer on dark cardstock. While I do love the shimmery effect, I was a little disappointed on how the colors showed up on cardstock and I was hoping for more pink and green options in the palette. I didn't realize these were heavy on the iridescent which shows up different then in the pan. But this image doesn't have much to color and I think all and all they turned out pretty. 

I foiled the press plate with matte silver foil on to navy cardstock. Then I matted the navy panel to matte silver cardstock and then onto a white card base. The "hello" sentiment die came from the Wonderful Script Sentiments die set. I love that the wispy font goes with the tall stems of the flowers! I added a few small silver pearls, a piece of twine and some silver splatter for the final touches.

This card uses matte gold foil and I used one of the new Must-Have Wax Bead mixes in Pink. I love the mix of wax beads in this set. 3 shades of pink and some gold. Perfection! The wax seal is from my stash.

Like my other card, I matted the black panel to matte gold cardstock and die cut the sentiment from the same. I added a few gold gems to the large flower center and added some gold splatter as finishing touches.

Supplies used on these cards:

 Arteza Iridescent watercolor paint set

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Spellbinders | June 2023 Small Die and Embossing Folder of the Month

 Hi everyone! It's the first of June and that means the previews for all the Spellbinders monthly club kits go live. My card today uses this month's Small Die set and the Embossing Folder. The Small die set is called Dancin' Octopus & Friends and it's another winner! It's a set of 12 underwater friends featuring an Octopus, Jelly Fish, Star Fish, Sea Kelp and a sign to hold with 2 sentiments. The Octopus has 3 layers of dies and it gives all the legs such a fun detailed look. LOVE it!

 I kept this pretty simple and let the Octopus be the star of the card. I lightly water colored with a few Karin markers and die cut a few circles from it. Then I used the Embossing Folder of the Month and embossed the circles. The folder is called Splish Splash and is so cute and perfect for all your water themed cards. The Octopus is die cut from regular cardstock and is holding a sign which is water colored like the circles. I added a few splashes of color to the background and called it good. I wanted to add some of the fun sea kelp, but it just detracted from this simple card.

I love how this turned out!

Supplies used on this card:

These are affiliate links which means that if you shop with these, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. If I've inspired you in some way I appreciate your support.

Karin markers in 264, 305, 621, 213, 199

Number 8 round paint brush

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!! Here is a close up picture of the details.

Watercolored purple roses

 Hi everyone! Well, I think I figured out how to have fun with water coloring. Don't expect perfection. Yeah, seems easy, right? Nope. Not for us perfectionists. But today, I just wanted to play around so I stamped out a beautiful rose from a new stamp set, scribbled some of my Karin and Zig markers on my glass mat and loosely colored in the rose petals.

I was having fun with the different shades of purple I was getting and before I knew it, I loved the result! And here is the finished card.

The stamp set called Rarest Rose from Gina K Designs, illustrated by Arjita Singh. It is SO beautiful. It has a large rose bouquet cluster, a single rose, 2 small accent flowers and a couple sprigs. I bought the set 2 months ago and finally had the chance to use it!

The card has so much water coloring that there is not much else to it. A few gem accents and a couple stripes of black cardstock and it's done!

Here's a peek at how I scribbled my color down.

Colors used:

Purples: Karin- Plum, Pale Violet/Zig -Plum Gray, Blossom Pink

Yellows: Karin -Gold, Canary/Zig -Bright Yellow

Greens: Karin -Grass/Zig -Ever Green, Olive Green
 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Simple CAS card, watercolored roses and a bonus tip for hand drawn frames!

Hi everyone! Today I'm sharing another card using the newly released Always Delightful stamp set from Gina K. This one is super CAS with some light copic coloring and a hand drawn frame. I got a few questions about how I made the frame, I used the Sakura Pigma Micron 05 pen in black (this is also copic friendly) and a ruler. Easy peasy! 

One tip I have when using a ruler to make lines, wipe the ruler with a baby wipe (or damp paper towel) after each line. The ink from the pen can transfer to the ruler and you can accidentally mark up your cardstock when moving it around.

Next up is a lovely rose image from Gina K's Peaceful Rose mini stamp set. I love these roses because they are a perfect blend of realistic and whimsy.

I colored these beauties with my MeiLiang Watercolor paint set (from Amazon). And the woodgrain paper is from the Wood Texture 6x6 pad from Craft Consortium and is a MUST have! There are patterns in a variety of colors and patterns, you can find something for any project! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! Here are a few close up pictures.

Water colored poppies -Stamp Simply Summer Florals release

 Hi everyone! Today Stamp Simply released their Summer Florals stamps and dies and I'm excited to share a water color card using the stamp set, Pretty Poppies! Take a look!

My card is pretty simple. I used my MeiLiang watercolor palette to color the poppies, added a couple jewels, piece of 1/8" black silk ribbon and a strip of black/white striped paper.

I haven't water colored in awhile, and it does not come to me naturally. So after pulling up an image search as my reference, I colored these beauties over the course of a few evenings and I love how they turned out.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Other supplies used:

Stamp Simply Steel Dies Fishtail Sentiment Banners

Bee Watercolor paper

MeiLiang watercolor paint set

1/8" black silk ribbon

Two floral cards colored with Zig markers

Hi everyone! I'm finally getting some of my mojo back and today I'm sharing a couple cards I made using my neglected Zig Markers. Truth be told, I gave these a try awhile back and really struggled. Then I saw a video from Arteza showing a designer coloring with the markers by themselves and not using any water. I thought I'd give it a try and it worked much better for me! I did use a number 2 watercolor brush and used it a little on the lighter parts. So yay, I found a way that works for me!

First up is a lovely wreath from the Gina K Designs set called, Kindness Wreath. GORGEOUS! Right?!? The sentiments are from the Just Because set.

Next up is the gorgeous Rose Bouquet stamp set from Picket Fence Studios. We all know my love for roses and this set is beyond words beautiful. I played around with the colors and did each flower different. That vibrant violet color is my favorite!

Thanks for stopping by and have a blesses weekend.

Watercolored Oak leaf with acorn card

Hi everyone! I have been playing in the 30 Coloring Challenge for the month of November -this is a challenge where you color 1 thing a day, could be something big or small and it's open to anyone- and have a card to share using one of the images I water colored.

My favorite tree is the mighty Oak (closely followed by the Twisty Locust) and I absolutely love this oak leaf with acorn image from the Stamp Simply Clear Stamps Give Thanks stamp set. Isn't it stunning?

I stamped it on water color paper and colored it with my Pretty Excellent water color palette. I usually heat emboss my images when I water color because it helps me keep in the lines, but this time I challenged myself and I didn't. I almost tossed this a few times, but stuck with it. One thing about water coloring, there are ways to fix or color over things.

I'm glad I stuck with it because I really do love how it turned out. I die cut the image and then again with Gold Mirror cardstock with the coordinating Give Thanks die and layered them together. I trimmed a few patterned papers from the Echo Park My Favorite Fall pack and layered them behind the leaf panel.  The sentiment is from the set Autumn Blessings and I heat embossed it in white on dark brown cardstock.

Stay tuned next week I'll post a few more cards from my colored images. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. Here's a close up picture.

Stamp Simply Fruit of the Spirit release

 Hi everyone! Long time no post. I took the summer off from crafting to do some much needed front yard redo/landscaping and to spend time with my boys.

Today I'm back to share a trio of note cards I made with the Stamp Simply Clear Stamps newest release, Fruit of the Spirit!

I colored each fruit image with my Arteza Watercolor brush pens. These were actually pretty quick and easy to color. I think I've finally got the hang of it!

The note cards measure 4"x4" and each have a strip of white cardstock embossed with the Spellbinders Elite EF bordered by a strip of patterned paper from Craft Consortium Watercolors 6x6 pad. The papers in this pad are seriously GORGEOUS, you have to check them out! My cards don't do them justice, you have to see the complete patterns!

I was in a matchy-matchy mood, so each card has a piece of coordinating 1/8" silk ribbon.

Here's a close up look at each note card:

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

Other supplies used:

Spellbinders Standard Circles LG and Circles SM
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Arteza watercolor brush pens

Water coloring with Distress Inks

Hi everyone!  I have a quick and easy coffee card to share today.  Full confession, I bought a fancy water color palette, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm intimidated by it! Honestly, I open it up and unless the exact color in the palettes are exactly what I want, I'm a bit lost.

SO... I'm in the process of starting an online water color class to help me with mixing colors and learn the basics.

But in the meantime, using  distress inks is a super easy way to water color images.

OK, this is nothing new and I've even done this before, but I need to remember it more often! Just tap your ink pad on a solid surface and spritz with water. Dip your brush and start coloring.

For my card, I stamped the coffee word cloud sentiment on water color paper twice using my mini Misti, wet my piece of water color paper, then dropped (painted) in some of the ink.

After it dried, I die cut it into my cup shape, moving the die around until I got the perfect pattern of colors.

The stamp and die set is called A Cup of Java  and I used the smaller of the 2 java cup sizes on this card. I just LOVE that I found Prima flower in my stash that coordinates perfectly. I pulled off the center pearl that came with it and put in a yellow rhinestone instead. The black flourishes under the flower are actually made from the steam die in the Java die set!

Here's a close up picture. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Other supplies used:
Distress ink in Worn Lipstick, Peacock feathers, Spiced marmalade
Prima Bloom Freshly Picked flowers
Kaisercraft Paisley Days paper pad
May Arts White Twill ribbon
Spellbinders Circle dies
Versafine Onyx Black ink
Number 8 water brush
water color paper

No line water colored summer roses

Hi everyone! I tried my hand at no line water coloring! It's not as easy as the talented designers on Instagram make it look. I went through several colors of ink before settling on Antique Linen distress ink. I think there are inks on the market that are made just for this technique, I don't have any, but if you have any recommendations leave me a comment.

This gorgeous image is from the Floral Cluster Summer Roses stamp set from Stamp Simply Clear Stamps. I used my Arteza brush pens to color them and after they dried, I went over the centers with a touch of white gel pen. The coloring process took quite a long time, so I kept the card layout pretty simple. Just a strip of patterned paper and a piece of embossed cardstock with a few pearls and string as embellishments. 

I kept the sentiment a simple hello to allow the pretty flowers to take center stage.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Other supplies used:
Floral Cluster and Sprigs die set Stamp Simply Steel Dies
Silver pearls

White gel pen

Number 2 water color brush

May Arts metallic string in silver
FSJ Embossing folder

Spring | Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome to the 2019 Spring|Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!

I love all things coffee and excited to play along in this blog hop! This hop is HUGE with many sponsors and prizes up for grabs! To enter to win you need to make a new Spring or Summer themed coffee/tea/cocoa project and link it to the Coffee Lovers blog.

To make the pretty butterfly java mug, I used the amazing A Cup of Java die set!!!  First, I die cut the mug from water color paper then I stamped on the butterflies. The gorgeous butterflies are from the Altenew set, Painted Butterflies which is a 3 step stamping set, but you can easily water color the first stamp of each image.

To water color your images, you don't need to invest in water color paints or pans! I colored the butterflies with some distress inks. It's super easy just tap your ink pad on to a solid surface, spritz with some water and dip your brush in. Easy peasy!

I chose the inks in Peacock Feathers, Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lipstick for my colors. I chose these because when the blue and red tones mix, they make purple and when the yellow and red tones mix, they make orange! You need to be mindful when you place water colors by each other they don't bleed and make brown. Unless that's the color you're looking for!

To make things fun, I turned the inside into a surprise GIFT CARD HOLDER!
It was so easy to do with only 2 steps!
Step 1: Trim a piece of cardstock (mine is 1.5" x 4")
Step 2: Adhere 1/8" Scor-Tape along the sides and bottom

I decorated the gift card panel with some stamping and a die cut butterfly. Cute, without being too much. Clean and simple.

Note: this is smaller than an A2 size card. This measures 4.25" x 3.25".

Be sure to head on over to The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store who is one of the many SUPER SPONSORS for this hop. There is a fun video posted there I made sharing a water coloring technique!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Other supplies used:
Clear sequins

1/8" silk ribbon in pink -May Arts 

Stamp Simply Steel Dies - A Cup of Java

VersaFine Onyx Black ink pad

Black silk -Fun Stampers Journey

Number 1 round water color brush -Princeton
Soft Stone and Black cardstock -PaperTrey Ink
Bee water color paper
Echo Park 6 x 6 - Coffee paper pack

Water colored Christmas - turned summer - florals

Hi everyone! I played around with some water coloring and turned this Christmas Floral image into a summer floral bouquet! I'm pretty sure I invented a purple poinsettia type flower, but I don't mind. It's super pretty! LOL!

The image is from WPlus9 and called Christmas Rose Bouquet and since it's only April I'm not quite ready to make Christmas cards. So I colored the poinsettia in purple and made it a summer floral! I even ventured out and used some of my Prismacolor pencils to add slight accents in the leaves and flowers. What?? Who am I?!?

The black strips in the background are actually black cardstock that I trimmed to be the width of the tiny space between the embossed diamond patterns. Here's how I laid them out.

It's kinda hard to see the embossed pattern in these pictures, you can see the details better here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Other supplies used:

Grumbacher Goldenedge Synthetic Round Size 3 and 2 (Dick Blicks)

MeiLiang Watercolor Paint Set, 36 Colors (Amazon)

Nuvo Crystal Drops in Simply White
Nubo Glitter Drops in Purple Rain
Black embossing powder
Bee water color paper
Embossing folder from Fun Stampers Journey

Water colored Thanks card

Hi everyone! I have a fun card to share which uses the Crafter's Companion edge dies and some coloring with my Arteza Real Brush pens. I had quite a few colored images left over that I made a second "bonus" card!

The stamp set is one of my favorites from Fun Stampers Journey called Flower Swirls. I chose to color each bloom different colors and 3 different hues within those colors. I love how this turned out. 

Here's a different view so you can see how fun these edge dies are!

And here's the bonus card I made with the left over colored blooms using the Hugs word. I didn't use the edge die to cut into the card front on this one, it I used it as a layer and popped it up with some die cut fun foam.

The splatters in the background is from the brush pens as well. I just added some of the color to a squirt of water on my palette. The fabulous deep rich purple ribbon is from May Arts -the faux canvas in violet. LOVE the color so so so much. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Other supplies used:

Cosmic Grape cardstock by Fun Stampers Journey

Silver pearls by Fun Stampers Journey

Silver metallic string by May Arts

Swiss Dots embossing folder