Watercolor Greetings...

Today I have a couple clean-and-simple watercolor greeting cards to share with you. I came across a great pricing deal on some Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors, and couldn't wait to play with them. I wanted to experiment with these new colors using both a concentrated coloring and a watery, free-flowing coloring technique, so I pulled out a couple flower stamps to play with.

Instead of using a loose coloring technique all over, I played with coloring the images more exactly, and using the loose coloring in the background. These watercolors are fabulous for this...you need so little pigment on your brush to get the concentrated color that I imagine this set will last me for years!

First up, a little number using more "autumn-like" colors...

Originally I stamped the image with light brown ink to blend the outlines, but decided I wanted more contrast because I was using a blue-grey background, so I used a scribble technique over the outline with a black pen, and highlighted more with a white gel pen...

I reversed the usual order of stacked die cuts by placing a white cut under the black to add some brightness to the sentiment over the background...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Unity Stamp Co. "Lean on Me" (flowers);   Simon Says Stamp 'Happy & Smile" (sentiment)

Dies:   Simon Says Stamp "Sending"

Watercolors:   Yarka St. Petersburg             Black pearls:   Kaisercraft

Miscellaneous:   Uniball Signo white gel pen;   Zig Mangaka black pen

Next up, a stamp with brighter florals, combining a darker background with a lighter, splattered one...just for fun...

I added more image outlining as with the first card, and highlighted the stamens with a white gel pen...

I used the clear Wink of Stella pen a little differently on this card. I loaded some of the sparkly ink onto my craft sheet, then back onto a smaller watercolor brush, and flicked it over the entire card front. It makes the card sparkle, but in a very subtle way. Here's a better closeup-all those tiny white looking dots are the silvery sparkle from the Wink of Stella pen...

And this time, I used the bright white diecut sentiment above the black shadow diecut for stronger contrast to the portion of the background that was darker...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Penny Black "Jubilant"

Dies:   Simon Says Stamp "Small Hello"

Watercolors:   Yarka St. Petersburg             Pearls:   Recollections

Miscellaneous:   Kuretake Wink of Stella-Clear pen;   Zig Mangaka black pen;   Uniball Signo white gel pen

Thanks so much for visiting today!

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!

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!

A Soft and Shabby Hello...

Today I'm taking a break from the bright and colorful cards I've been posting recently, and sharing a soft, muted, and shabby card.

When I was peeking at the current Tic-Tac-Toe challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room, I realized I had a half-finished card sitting on my work surface that could be a perfect fit for this challenge.. in fact, it completes the tic-tac-toe board in a couple different directions (pennants/pearls/gingham and pennants/ribbon/vintage trims). :) It's been much too long since I participated in a TSTR challenge...it was time to say hello again to one of the first challenge sites I participated in!

So I got to work adding a banner to the side of the floral cluster, and some ribbon beneath it, and I ended up with a design I liked even better than the original design I was going to go with...I hope you like it, too!

On the top piece of patterned paper, I used a stencil and some crackle texture paste, then stamped a speckled pattern around the piece.

To add contrast to the soft, muted shades of the patterned papers, I added roses in complementary shades, but deeper intensities, along with some bright white...

I added a double row of the same lace across the pennant, except that one piece is tea-dyed...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Maja Designs Vintage Summer Basics

Dies:   Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves 

Stamps:   Winnie & Walter/The Big, The Bold, and The Happy ("hello");   Stampin Up! Gorgeous Grunge

Stencil:   Memory Box Honeycomb          Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com          Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts

Pearls:   Recollections          Ribbon:   local craft store          Clay frame:   Martha Stewart mold and air-dry clay

Miscellaneous:   Studio 490 Crackled Texture Paste

Thanks for visiting today!

Just a Simple Hello...or Two...

Happy Friday, all! After I finished a couple card projects (that you'll see here soon), I found my crafty-mojo had taken a bit of "unauthorized" vacation time! So when I started to craft the other night, I found myself sitting there with no ideas...not a happy feeling to a paper crafter who finds herself with time for crafting and no crafty ideas to fill it with! So, I decided to try my hand again at a couple clean-and-simple "hello" cards and hope for the best.

They're not my usual style at all, but they were fun to make...and went together a lot faster than my cards usually do...that part was fun, too! :)

First up is a square card made with kraft and bright white, with black accents...the kraft envelope with the polka dots was my inspiration for this color combo...

You'll notice, however, that I couldn't resist adding the lace and a small flower to the card...(baby steps, friends...one of these days I'll be able to make a "true" clean and simple card and resist the temptation to add layers...)

Supplies:

Maya Road Kraft Note Envelope

Decorative edge punch:   Martha Stewart Vintage Doily PATP

Stamps:   Winnie & Walter, "The Big The Bold The Happy" (hello);   BoBunny EtCetera (first class mail)

Lace:   local craft store          Flower:   Wild Orchid Crafts          Black rhinestones:   Kaisercraft

Next, I turned to my LOTV design-teammate Jen's bright and sassy card that was my inspiration to purchase the "hello" stamp set from Winnie & Walter in the first place. I used Jen's card as inspiration, and starting playing around with watercolors to give me the same bright, springtime feel, and here's how my "C.A.S.E." of Jen's card turned out...

No lace and flowers on this one...but a twine wrap and bow held by a black brad...

and a few golden yellow clear raindrops for accent...I'm getting closer to true clean-and-simple here...

Supplies:

Stamp:   Winnie & Walter "The Big The Bad The Happy"

Rain dots:   Fiskars          Miscellaneous:   watercolors, twine, brad

Thanks so much for visiting today...have a wonderful weekend!

Something Different...

Hi again!  Today I'm sharing a card that's quite different from my usual style. When I first saw this new zipper die from My Favorite Things, I was very intrigued. It appeared to be one of the most realistic zipper dies I've seen so far.

Then I saw some of the sweatshirt cards made by a few members of their design team, and instantly my memories went back to the early 80's when I had a fun lightweight sweatshirt-style jacket that was made of a lined cotton lace fabric, with a small lacy ruffle down the zipper's edges, and bitty roses in among the lacy trim. How fun would it be to make a card reminiscent of my old summer jacket?!

So, that's just what I did...all the while thanking myself for not being able to part with my last sheet of this old Karen Foster lace paper...heehee...(i.e., "hoarding" does pay off some times!)...

I had some chipboard letters in my stash, but of course, not the right color...they were made of manila colored glossy ledger paper, and didn't stand out against the lacy paper background...so I colored them with some Spectrum Noir pens...

I made a double thickness of the zipper tab, glued both layers together, then adhered it to the zipper with a thin foam dot, just to add a little more dimension and give the little charm a bit more "swing room"...

Supplies:

Patterned paper:   Karen Foster  Design/Antique Lace

Zipper Die:   My Favorite Things          Chipboard letters:   Heidi Swapp           Pearls:   Recollections

Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com          Roses:   Wild Orchid Crafts

Thanks for stopping in for a visit today...have a wonderful weekend!