Splashes of Watercolor

***You still have time play in the Stampers United blog hop -  you can find it ->-> HERE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today at the Angels Landing blog, Judi has challenged the design team with a 4-way sketch.  It’s one basic sketch but laid out 4 different ways.  I chose to use the one on the bottom left.

The zinnia from Angels Landing Simply Flowers stamp set was perfect to try water coloring a digi image.  Several copies of the flower and leaf images were printed on a thin watercolor paper using photo ink, and then heat set to dry.  They were “loosely” painted using reinkers and a water brush, cut out and used as one of the sketch elements.  A sentiment stamped on watercolor paper and matted on a die cut layer completes the card.

Here’s a close up of the flower (you can click on it to see it even larger):

Be sure to check out the Angels Landing blog for links to all the design team members’ cool projects!!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!  See you again soon!

• Stamps: Simply Flowers - Angels Landing, Chelsea Sentiments - Inkadinkado
• Paper: watercolor paper, soft suede, bermuda bay, dusty durango, Thoroughly Modern DSP
• Ink: computer, StazOn - jet black (for the sentiment), Reinkers - dusty durango crushed curry, kiwi kiss (for painting)
• Other: water brush, ribbon, Label Four Nestabilities, scallop border & corner rounder punches, swiss dots CB folder, foam tape
  

~

Strong coffee!  I can always use some of that!

Today is Wacky Wednesday!!  Yay!  The famous and famously talented Kittie is our hostess this week and her challenge is for us to use CIRCLES on our cards.  I’ve used several on my card below, starting with the Basic Grey Porcelain paper.

~

~

The yummy latte (or coffee with Baileys!) was stamped in Ranger Clear Resist ink on watercolor paper and painted using Tombow markers and a water brush.  Then I cut it out and mounted it on 3 layers of circles cut with my circle Nestabilities.

The stitching was done by piercing first with my piercing tool/mat/template, then sewing with a needle and 2 strands of DMC floss #3862 (which is an incredibly close match to the new Soft Suede from SU).  I fell in love with how the hand stitching looks when I first discovered Peet Roeven’s blog - Peet’s Scrapalbum.  She’s has such amazing style and hand stitches on almost every one of her cards!  Here’s a link to her tutorial: Hand Stitching

You have to play along with us!  Come on!  Everyone can do circles!!  Check out the details of the challenge here: Rubbernecker Stamps blog.  And here’s some more inspiration for you:

~

Bev * Candy * Joan * Juliana

Kittie * Linda * Shelly * Sherry

~

Thanks for visiting today!  And I’d like to issue a little reminder that the 2009 edition of Dare to Get Dirty begins at Splitcoaststampers tomorrow (Thursday).  There’ll be challenges all day long for 3 days straight, so make sure you have lots of caffeine and adhesive, and join us there!

~

• Stamps: Coffee Time Set (458), Grid background (451)
  
• Paper: watercolor paper, soft suede, dusty durango, Basic Grey - Porcelain 6×6 pad
  
• Ink: Ranger Clear Resist, Adirondack Espresso, Tombow markers
• Other: water brush, clear embossing powder, corner rounder punch, Martha Stewart arch lattice border punch, circle Nestabilities, piercer & mat & template, needle & DMC floss #3862, foam tape

Hi y’all!  It’s time for another Wacky Wednesday challenge!  Sherry is our hostess this week and we’re doing a color challenge: Pink, Purple and Green.  Sounds like a winning combination to me!

I decided to go a little vintagy (is that a word?) this week.  I love this K & Company paper and it had just the right colors in it, so that set the theme.

I’ve used the 2 Sketches 4 You sketch for the week – Kazan Sketch 30, and decided to watercolor with my Tombow markers again.  (The purple is really not quite that bright in real life and matches the background paper better.)  Don’t you love that sentiment?  I know a lot of people like that!  (Not really!)

Please join us in this challenge!  Get the details at the Rubbernecker blog and you could win a 40% off coupon to use in the Rubbernecker Stamps store!

You can check out all the great cards by the design team here:

Happy, happy birthday to Candy and Juliana!!

Thanks for stopping back by!

• Stamps: Coffee Time set (458)
• Paper: watercolor paper, elegant eggplant, rich razzleberry, confetti white, Brenda Walton Madeline (K & Company)
• Ink: StazOn jet black & timber brown, Versafine onyx black, Tombow markers 
• Other: water brush, oval Nestabilities die, Martha Stewart doily lace border punch, foam tape, wonder tape 

I’m hosting the Color Throwdown challenge this week!  Can you believe we’re already at #50?  Time sure does fly!

The colors I chose are:

Great summer colors, huh?

I chose to use my Butterfly Inchies (427) set from Rubbernecker for my card.  I misted the stamps with water after applying the ink, then stamped them on watercolor paper (after stamping off on scratch paper first) to create the dreamy effect.  I cut out and popped up another butterfly and used Stardust Stickles for all the butterflies’ bodies and the dots under the sentiment oval.

The “inky” panel is a leftover piece of the tag I used on this card.

We’d really love for you to play along with us!  You can get all the details of the challenge on the Color Throwdown blog and get even more inspiration here:

Happy birthday, Juliana!!

Please come back in just a little while for this week’s Wacky Wednesday challenge!  Sherry is hosting and it’s a color challenge too!

I got some new toys!!  A full set of Tombow markers…and I couldn’t wait to play!

Lucky for me, the Featured Stamper at Splitcoaststampers this week is (Sandra McLean (B-gin-r) who is a super-talented watercolorer.

I chose to use THIS CARD as my inspiration.  Of course mine is the little girl version of it!!   Sandra’s is just incredible!

I love using the Tombows!  And there are so many colors!   Basically I just watercolored with them by wetting the paper first, laying the color where I wanted it to be the darkest, then spreading it with my water brush.  (I decided to use patriotic colors too in celebration of the 4th!)

Thanks for visiting today!

• Stamps: Untamed - Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie
• Paper: watercolor paper (hot pressed), vanilla, real red, pacific point, Daisy D 8×8 winter fun pad
• Ink: StazOn jet black, Tombow markers, Ranger Distress - antique linen
• Other: water brush, curved rectangle Nestabilities, Martha Stewart arch lattice border punch, May Arts ribbon, button, crochet thread, ink blending tool, corner rounder punch, foam tape, rhinestone stickers, lace, wonder tape
  

Today is another Wacky Wednesday over at the Rubbernecker blog!  Be sure to check out the great challenge that Candy has presented us with….using inchies in our design.

It’s also the monthly Dirty Dozen (past and present) design challenge at Splitcoaststampers.  This month Christine has asked us to use watercoloring in a design that is based on water.

I chose to use my water to make lemonade!  What better refreshment for those hot days of summer out by the pool or at the beach?  (Well, besides a cold Bud, of course!)

My inchie lemons and the long tall glass of cool lemonade are watercolored.  The lemons are punched with a 1″ square punch and matted on black cardstock.  After I colored the lemonade and cut it out, I used Ranger Glossy Accents on the ice cubes for a really “cool” effect.

I used my Top Note die to cut out the S.E.I. linen.  The sentiment is stamped on it using black StazOn ink.

We’d love for you to play along with us in the Wacky Wednesday challenge.  You could win a 40% gift certificate to use at Rubbernecker!  Check it out!  And while you’re there, link up to the blogs of the other design team members for some “cool” inspiration!

If you’d like to see all the other cards for the Dirty Dozen designers challenge you can go here:

DCH2O0509

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Hope to see you really soon!

• Stamps: Lemonade (367-10), Lemon (367-09), Make Lemonade sentiment (367-07)
  
• Paper: black, Prism - Candle Glow Light, watercolor paper, Basic Grey Urban Prairie Hayfield
• Ink: StazOn black, Ranger Distress reinkers - mustard seed, broken china
  
• Other: Top Note die, s.e.i. linen assortment - excursion collection - mineral, 1″ square punch, water brush, Ranger Glossy Accents, foam tape

Items available at Rubbernecker Stamp Co.

When it came time to make a birthday card for my DSIL, I was at a loss.

I thought I could surely use something from one of my Kittie Kits, but alas, he’s not much of a farm type person.  Then I remembered this post from Sherry, and decided to go with her great idea!  I used this weeks CPS sketch - CPS113 too!

This little guy was watercolored using SU markers and a blender pen and cut out using a Labels One Nestabilities die (on sale right now at Rubbernecker).  Copper brads and a Tim Holtz trinket pin were added.

Now I just need to decide what I’ll use as an inside sentiment!!  Maybe “How’s it crowing?” or “It’s your birthday!  Strut your stuff!”  What do you think?  Any suggestions?

Thanks for stopping by again!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

• Stamps: Kittie Kit Chicken Coop Scene #7, Flower Silhouettes (467) - sentiment
  
• Paper: watercolor paper, Prism Desert Coral Dark, vanilla, Basic Grey Marrakech 6×6 pad
  
• Ink: StazOn - timber brown, Memento - rich cocoa, Ranger Distress - antique linen, SU markers: so saffron, pumpkin pie, really rust, ruby red, going gray
• Other: blender pen, Labels One Nestabilities dies, ink blending tool, Tim Holtz trinket pin, May Arts ribbon, brads, foam tape

Items available at Rubbernecker Stamp Co.

Wednesdays are always fun!  We get to have another Wacky challenge!  This week sweet Juliana presented us with a really cool inspiration piece, and let me tell ya, I studied this piece for quite a while before I came up with what I wanted to do.  Being an accountant, I’m usually quite literal with any interpretation, but I think I managed to free myself a little from completely CASEing the piece.  Here’s the inspiration piece:

And here’s my card:

I started by completely wetting a piece of watercolor paper.  Using a waterbrush and Ranger distress reinkers, I painted the entire page in Broken China, just spreading it unevenly to keep the random look.  Then I took my clean waterbrush and picked up a drop of Dusty Concord reinker and let it drop randomly onto the paper.  I repeated this with Fired Brick reinker.  When it was completely dry, I stamped the Grid background (451) in bleach.  Subtle and just the way I wanted it to look!

The flower silhouette from set 467 and the dragonfly from Easter Inchies (436) were also stamped in distress reinkers on watercolor paper and cut out.  I couldn’t find a button in the color I wanted, so I covered a piece of grungeboard with some textured paper and sanded, then inked the edges.  I punched 2 holes in it with my cropadile and threaded some crochet cotton through it.  Distress stickles in Worn Lipstick were added to the center of the flower.

That’s it for today.  Be sure to check out the Rubbernecker blog for all the details on the challenge and links so you can get some great inspiration from the design team members too!

• Stamps: Grid background (451), Flower Silhouettes (467), Easter Inchies (436) - dragonfly, Wildflowers (465) - sentiment
  
• Paper: watercolor paper, Prism - majestic purple dark, simply smooth white, white prismatic, DCWV - textured teal
  
• Ink: Ranger Distress pads - worn lipstick, dusty concord, Distress reinkers - broken china, dusty concord, fired brick, Versafine - onyx black
• Other: waterbrush, bleach, 1″ punch, Tim Holtz chipboard circle, ink blending tool, foam tape, cotton crochet thread, Distress stickles - worn lipstick

Items available at Rubbernecker Stamp Co.

This week it’s my turn to host the Color Throwdown challenge.  When I was a Featured Cupcake Sampler for Taylored Expressions, I made THIS CARD and just loved how the colors looked together.  When you find something that works, stick with it, right?  So here are the colors for this week’s challenge:

I stamped the flower image from Flower Silhouettes (467) onto some watercolor paper using Weathered Wood and Fired Brick Ranger Distress ink. Then I stamped just the flower 2 more times and cut them out.  After I used the Labels One die to cut the watercolor paper and 2 mats for it, I painted around the branch and the bottom right corner in watered down Baja Breeze reinker.  When that dried, I stamped the sentiment from Wildflowers (465) in Weathered Wood.

The Grid and French Script backgrounds are lightly stamped on the 7 Gypsies Nottinghill paper.  I decided to used just a portion of the image panel and cut the left edge off, then pierced down that edge.  I added the ribbon and a small flower with a pearl sticker to the bow. The main flower panel is spritzed with a mixture of water and Perfect Pearls using a Ranger Mini Mister.  While the cut flowers were still damp from the misting, I curled up the petals before I attached them to the main panel.  I added a pearl sticker to that flower as well.

I hope you’ll join the Color Throwdown team in this challenge.  You can find all the deets at the CTD blog, and some great inspiration here at the team’s blogs:

Thanks, guys, for coming by and please stop by a little later for the Wacky Wednesday challenge of the week.

• Stamps: Flower Silhouettes (467), Wildflowers (465), French Script (448), Grid (451)
• Paper: watercolor paper, baja breeze, ruby red, basic gray, 7 Gypsies Nottinghill
• Ink: Ranger Distress - fired brick, weathered wood, antique linen, baja breeze reinker
  
• Other: waterbrush, ink blending tool, corner rounder, Labels One Nestabilities die, paper piercer, template & mat, ribbon, Queen & Co. flower, pearl stickers, foam tape

Items available at Rubbernecker Stamp Co.

Here’s one of the cards I made with an SU stamp set that had not yet seen any ink.  I used Beate’s sketch WSC68 and kept it pretty simple. 

Everything but the 2 pieces of patterned paper is from Stampin’ Up!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

———————————

Stamps: Rustic Rooster (Stampin’ Up!)

Paper: groovy guava textured, close to cocoa, sage shadow, My Mind’s Eye 12 x 12 slab

Ink: creamy caramel, close to cocoa, sage shadow, really rust, more mustard

Other: water brush, curvy circle cutter, sponge dauber, Hodgepodge hardware - antique brass, ribbon