Watercolor Balloons

Hi friends! Has anyone else seen Dawn's video for 'watercolor stamping with hand doodling'? WOW; it's fabby; I wanted to try it immediately. I'm not so good at 'loose' or at 'doodling' - HA! I love how Dawn so easily creates this project...and the elephant card too. But that's okay; I gave it a try!

Yesterday was a really tough day; my mom has cancer and although it is in remission, she is still undergoing chemo and Easter ended with her passing out 4 times, a trip to the hospital in the ambulance and she's STILL there! So far she has had 3 blood transfusions; there is some testing scheduled today to try to locate the internal bleeding. It was just a tough days; my eyes kept leaking!!

So after work I went for a run - felt good - then after dinner I made sure to find some time to create; good for my soul! This is the final card and even though it isn't as loose as Dawn's, I still like it and will definitely try it again very soon! It's certainly a fun technique for ALL solid images and a great way to work on your doodling!

I stamped the balloons on Strathmore watercolor paper and adhered the finished panel to a Neenah 110 lb. white card base. I cut off a small piece on the right hand side of the main panel and added a layer of MFT designer paper to the inside. Since the designer paper is pretty dark and would be difficult to see a handwritten message, I added a white rectangle to the middle and duplicated another balloon inside. I finished it off with this fun sentiment from SSS April card kit, Birthday Flowers and some enamel dots.

All the balloons have sparkle from Clear Wink of Stella; too bad you can't see it! :(

Thanks for stopping by; hope you have a great week!

Hugs,

WHAT'S IT TAKE?

Stamps: SSS Birthday Flowers, PTI Scene It: Celebration Stamp Set
Papers: Neenah 110 lb. white, DP by MME, Strathmore watercolor paper
Ink: Distress Inks: Abandoned Coral, Mustard Seed, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers, Spice Marmalade, Hero Arts Black

Accessories: enamel dots, clear wink of stella, sharpie, MFT Blueprints (inside rectangle), Round 4 Brush 

Challenges:
  Seize the Birthday - anything goes

Hello Rainbow!

I'm up over at A Blog Named Hero showing off lots of Hero Arts products, rainbows...and Press'n Seal (Press'n Seal video on Laurie's blog)!

See you again soon; have a GREAT weekend!

Hugs,

SC585 + Colorful Prayers

It's time for another sketch challenge over at Splitcoaststampers; hope you'll join the fun! And remember, a sketch is just a jumping off point; you don't have to be exact...you can read that to mean I deviated slightly.

I have had these papers forever, they are actually Valentine themed but I wanted a happy (bright) card to send to a friend that has had some tough struggles lately! I let the paper steal the show and cut the lower portion at an angle. I die cut the 'prayers' from chevron paper and black fun foam, offsetting the designer paper just slightly (this in place of the horizontal line on the sketch). I cut some additional flowers from the same paper pack - just a smaller size and adhered with dimensionals. Stamped the sentiment in the lower corner in place of the panel on the right hand side of the sketch. See...it's all there!

I added some white enamel accents to the center of the flowers and sponged all the edges with Old Paper distress ink. I cut an additional piece of designer paper for the inside, sponged the edges and added the sentiment 'thinking of you'.

Thanks for stopping by; hope you have a great week ahead!

Hugs,

WHAT'S IT TAKE?

Stamps: Hero Arts Hello stamp and cut, Hero Arts Prayers stamp and cut
Papers: DP by MME, Neenah 110 lb. white
Ink: Hero Arts Black, Old Paper Distress Ink

Accessories: Hero Arts Prayers stamp and cut die, MFT Blueprints, white enamel accents

Challenges:
  SC585

  PP287

Abstract CTD384

Hi friends - happy Sunday; hope you are having a great weekend!

I adore this image from the Color Throwdown (below) and was inspired by a card I saw on Instagram last week (rejoicingcrafts). I wanted to play along but I wanted to be totally abstract and messy - no rules here! :D

I used freezer paper to cut the PTI small scribble die 6 times and adhered each one to a square cut from MFT's pierced square dies. I then added a soft layer of color using distress inks and a darker color to the center of each circle. I sprayed each square with clear shimmer mist (I tried to capture the shimmer, so hard to do). I let these air dry; reheat the scribble dies and removed them (heating them up makes them easier to remove - you can see the inspiration video by Kristina Werner HERE). As you can see, they are messy and colorful and look like little cushions!

I sponged MFT Jelly Bean ink on PTI's Limeade Ice card stock using the SSS dots and lines stencil (looks like its sold out right now - sorry!). I adhered the squares and the green card stock to a base card of white, added a flag sentiment and lots of sequins. I decorated the inside with more colored card stock and some washi tape.

See all the shimmer - LOVE

Thanks for stopping by; hope you have a GREAT week; take care!

 Hugs,

WHAT'S IT TAKE?

Stamps: Hero Arts Hello stamp and cut
Papers: PTI True Black, Limeade Ice, Neenah 110 lb. white, water color paper, freezer paper
Ink: Versamark, Distress Inks: Worn Lipstick, Festive Berries, Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves

Accessories: PTI Scribble Circle Die, MFT Pierced Square Die, Dots and Lines stencil, shimmer mist, sequins, white embossing powder, washi tape

Challenges:
  ctd384

Birthday Blessings

Look, I used Hero Arts Color Layering Flowers For You again; gosh this set is sooo beautiful, with so many options. Since water color is all the rage, I wanted it to have more of a loose feel and not direct stamping with distinct outlines. I stamped the 2nd layer of the flower in 2nd generation Worn Lipstick, the outline of the flower in Festive Berries, full strength, and the center of the flowers with 2nd generation Abandoned Coral (in that order) - each time I stamped, I used plain water to loosen the color up so it didn't have any distinct lines but rather blended a bit. I then stamped the leaves in Twisted Citron, the bottom layer being 2nd generation, the top layer being full strength - again loosening up with plain water.

I added the gorgeous sentiment from WPlus9 Doodle Buds in Versamark and poured on Platinum embossing powder; I sponged the focal point with both Old Paper and Frayed Burlap. The rest is pretty straightforward - lots of sponging, lots of dimension and layering. The red layer at the bottom actually cracked apart when I embossed it - oops, sandwich might have been a little too tight. :D But I love how it looks, just glued it all down and it's fine! Some lace and satin chocolate ribbon (from my hoard stash of ribbon), some yellow dimensional pearls to the center of the flowers (pulled out to resemble a stamen) and a heavy dose of clear Wink of Stella on the flowers finishes it off. Thanks for stopping by; hope you have a great day!

Hugs,

WHAT'S IT TAKE?

InLinkz.com

The Nick Page on

Use your stash - Sketch Challenge

Hi friends and welcome back to another Splitcoaststampers sketch (layout below). I decided to flip the sketch and USE. MY. STASH. - HA, you can relate can't you?

I have had these papers from Papertreyink (Confetti Toss) for quite some time but rarely seem to use them. :( This week, I set out to change that! I used Hero Arts color layering For You flowers stamped with various distress inks to match the colors of the card stock. I stamped the gorgeous sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Hello Beautiful in Hero Arts black ink then used a clear wink of stella glitter pen to add some sparkle and flicked on the same distress inks for even more polka dot fun.

I added some striped and glitter paper in the corner. For the second card, I added some clear sequins and used the clear wink of stella glitter pen to each flower also. Pretty simple cards; I like the first one (pink) much better - maybe too much glitter, is that possible? Thanks for stopping by; hope you have a great week!

Hugs,

WHAT'S IT TAKE?

Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Hello Beautiful, Hero Arts Color Layering For You Flowers
Papers: PTI True Black, Confetti Toss, Neenah 80 lb. white, DP by MFT, glitter paper by American Crafts
Inks: Ranger Hero Arts Black, Distress Inks: Broken China, Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar, Peacock Feathers, Dusty Concord, Wilted Violet, Mustard Seed

Accessories: washi tape, PTI small scallop die, PTI Simple Circle border die, MFT Blueprints, clear wink of stella, sequins

Challenges:
  SC584