More Watercolour Poppies

I've been watching YouTube on watercolour painting again, more freestyle.  No pre-sketching, just slosh some water straight onto the paper and drop some colour in, lift some off, scrape some around, add some more, great fun!  Here's the link to the video that inspired me to have a go at these two cards.  Nowhere near up to Mitsib's standard, but I'm happy with these first attempts.

I'm entering the first one into The Card Concept.  I've been dithering about entering because it doesn't quite fit any of the styles (again!).  The nearest is probably freestyle.

I'm also entering it into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

I wanted to play along with A Sprinkle of Imagination where they have a colour challenge, so I made another card using purple, although it looks more like puce once it's dried. but it's as near as I could get.

Which one do you like?

Look Mum, No Stamps!

It's very rare that I make a card without any stamping at all, but I'd die-cut these poppies and waxed them (as they release from the iron they get a lovely schlurpy pattern that looks like frilled petal edges), and stuck them onto a card a bit too far to the right, so I doodled a border to balance, decided not to add a sentiment, then realised I can enter it into Keep It Simple - No Stamps.

I'm also entering it into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

I've got a bit of a poppy thing going on at the moment.  Back tomorrow with another one.

Seize The Birthday - Banners and/or Pennants

We've got a new challenge at Seize the Birthday today, Banners and/or Pennants.  My favourite way to make pennants is with Distress Inks and solid patterned images.  I used Winnie & Walter's Scenery: It's A Wonderful Pennant.  I inked up the stamps with Wild Honey, Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstck, spritzed with water and stamped onto the card.  I masked the larger stamps while I stamped the smaller ones. The two different sizes of pennant help to give an impression of depth of field.  The sentiment snuggled nicely into the gap on the right.

I added a few sequins, so I'm entering this into CAS on Sunday - use sequins.

So come over and join us at Seize The Birthday.

If you don't want to use banners or pennants, you can still play along with a birthday theme.

ETA: Also adding to CASology - Flutter (thanks for the prompt, Anita!)

Birthday Bicycle

I'm playing along with Darnell's NBUS challenge again before it closes tomorrow, this time inspired by Darnell's card to her Mister - doing a reverse-DJKASE.  I hadn't used this embossing folder for ages, then seeing Darnell's card prompted me to get a Distress Ink print off it.  My NBUS is the bicycle stamp.

Darnell's card

 

Darnell's poor Mister is reduced to wearing raggedy shorts held up with a bathrobe belt while Darnell spends all the housekeeping on more NBUS (isn't that what it's for?).  She's hoping some kindly widow lady might offer to take care of him.  Not me, I already got one, and one's definitely enough!

(We could always have a whip round for some new shorts for him, though.)

I'm also playing at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, Anything Goes.

Tags and Stamps and Stencils

I'm playing along with Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of 2014 - September.  Here's Tim's version:

You can just about make out the blender stencilling with the burlap stencil:

Also entering into Simon Says Monday Challenge - Stencils and Stamps

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Don't forget, there's still time to enter the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge, stamping on tissue.  You could win two washi tape rings and 13 rolls of washi tape.  I liked them so much I treated myself to three washi rings.  Here's one of them:

So neat!

Before - washi tape on a cling film tube with ribbon through it ;)

The winner also gets to be printed in a future edition of the magazine, and invited to be a guest designer for a future challenge.  Get in there!

Blue Flower Canvas

I have several box canvases in my attic that I bought at bargain prices years ago, hoping that I would actually use them one day.  Well, this week I took the plunge and slapped some paint on one, after being inspired by this post by Ellen Vargo at Paper Artsy.

Ellen's canvas

Ellen had stamped into the layers of paste on her canvas - I just attacked mine with some gesso and a credit card, then some antique cream, white and smoky blue paint, mixing them directly on the canvas.  I sponged Distress Inks (Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean) onto a spare piece of card, then stamped the leaf/petal stamps from E Lin Brown 07 several times, cut them out and mounted them onto the canvas with red liner tape.  I drew the stems with a navy Sharpie pen.  For reference, my canvas is about 15 x 11 inches (381 x 304cm).  Here are a few close-ups of the detail and texture.

I've been dying to play along with Darnell's NBUS challenge, but everything I've made lately has been with used schtuff rather than NBUS.  But that has now been rectified thanks to the languishing canvas.  It now hangs in my craft room, as it matches the colour scheme - by coincidence rather than design!

Watercolour Poppies

So my latest obsession is watching YouTube videos on watercolour painting, particularly those by Joanne Boon Thomas (she also does Brusho Secrets videos).  I want to be able to watercolour like her when I grow up.  After watching this video I decided to apply what I'd learned (!) to cardmaking.  In at the deep end.

I started off with the STAMPlorations Poppies stamp in Antique Linen.  Then, using Distress Inks rather than watercolours (and knowing it wouldn't work as well with Distress Inks but that didn't stop me) I coloured and spritzed and dripped and rolled and sloshed.  And ended up with a right royal mess.  So I cut a mask of the poppies stamp, covered the image and stamped all over it with the grunge strip stamp from Vignette: Live Love Laugh, which is fast becoming my go-to background stamp.

And now I like it.  Even DH said he liked it!

I'm entering this into Just Us Girls - Watercolouring

and Curtain Call - Wishing Well

Here's what the poppies should look like ;)

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I'm over at STAMPlorations tonight with more Distress Ink watercolouring if you want to go and take a look.

Happy Birthday Bev!

There's a party going on at Darnell's and Ardyth's, in honour of Party Planner Extraordinaire, Bev of Happy Dance.   Bev always manages to procure the most amazing virtual goodies for her parties, and Darnell has done her proud in gathering together a veritable virtual feast (she had me at the caketinis!) and Ardyth has opened the linky party doors.  Have a wonderful birthday, Bev!

There's another birthday going on -Waltzingmouse Fanatics has turned one.

I used a stencilled panel from my stash that I made during the Stencilled online class, and sloshed some Distress Inks over it, so I'm also entering it into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Make Your Own Background.

STAMPlorations Sketch #20

We've got a new sketch for you over at STAMPlorations.  I stamped and masked three poinsettia images, coloured them and the background with Distress Inks, then cut the panel into strips.  I then cut a portion off each strip, alternating top and bottom, edged each strip with black marker pen, then stuck the middle piece down centrally on the card and matched up the images on the other strips, working outwards.  I moved my sentiment to the bottom of the card.

Pop over to the STAMPlorations blog to see what the design team and our guest designer, the one and only Darnell, have created for your inspiration, then join in to win!  Don't forget to enter our monthly challenge too.

Waltzingmouse Pyjama Party

It's pyjama party time over at Waltzingmouse where there are four challenges to enter (I'm entering two).

Challenge No. 1 is Doodle Do - add doodling to your stamping.  I used the technique that Dawn Wolslagle demonstrated in the Stretch Your Stamps online class to stamp my images, then added some doodling with a black pen.

My next entry is for Challenge No. 4, Bedtime Story Sketch.  I just about kept to the sketch, with minor tweaks, which isn't bad for me.  I painted some Distress Paints onto a piece of kraft card, then stamped the sentiment in black Archival ink.  I swiped Tumbled Glass and Broken China inkpads across the base card, and stamped the solid flower image in Tumbled Glass and overstamped with the patterned flower image in Broken China, stamped the centres then cut them out and mounted everything onto the base card.

Flowers: Funky Flowers
Sentiments: Say It Loud

Blue Daisy

Have you joined in the STAMPlorations blog hop?  Three lucky hoppers will win a stamp set of their choice from the new release, and one even luckier hopper will win a $25 gift certificate for the STAMPlorations shop.  The hop is open until 11:55 PDT on Monday 15 September.

I'm channelling my inner Shery with this card.  I stamped the daisy on mixed media paper then threw some ultramarine Brusho powder over it and spritzed.  I painted some deeper shadows around it with Dusty Concord, and painted in a stem and two leaves, and scribbled leaf outlines with a black pen.  Then I added highlights with a white pen.

I used a grunge stamp for the background, then stamped the happy and birthday sentiments, adding white highlights to the birthday, and finished off with a black Gelato border.

I'm entering this into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Make Your Own Background.

Only The Crumbliest Flakiest Chocolate...

In the 1970s there was an advert on telly for Cadbury's Flake, where the girl wanders through a field of poppies, sits down to paint, and eats her Flake.  Then it rains (well, it is England) and the paints splash and run.  That must be where I got the inspiration for this card....  And you'll only get the title to this blog if you saw the Flake ads (you can google them).

I stamped the Sketched Tulips three times across the panel with Antique Linen Distress Ink and painted carefully, keeping in the lines, with Distress Inks (Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss).  I didn't like my efforts, so I sloshed a wash over the greens, and sloshed and blotted the pinks, and now I quite like it.  I stamped the sentiment up the side, then mounted the panel onto red card.

I'm entering this into Papertake Weekly, Repeat Repeat

PS Don't forget to join the STAMPlorations blog hop!

Take It Make It Reminder - Stamping On Tissue

Are you playing along with Craft Stamper Take It, Make It challenge?  All you need is a bit of tissue paper to stamp on, and you're in.

You could be in with a chance of winning two washi tape rings, along with 13 rolls of washi tape.  I think these rings are a brilliant idea.  I've ordered three for myself: one for washi tape, one to store my tags on, and one because I know I'll need it for something!

Tote not included :(

I stamped a sunflower image (STAMPlorations) onto multi media paper then sprinkled some Brusho powders over the image and spritzed with water.  I used a brushstroke stamp for a stem.  Then I stamped the bottom border (Studio 12) onto tissue, and the top sentiment (Marion Emberson Designs) onto tissue and stuck them on with Matt Multi Medium.

Pop on over to the Craft Stamper blog for more DT inspiration, and join in to win!