Jan 31, 2014 | Cards, sympathy, Watercoloring |
Are you ready for Spring? I am!
In a normal winter I think we have a handful of days that we get below freezing, let alone in the teens or lower. It seems like this winter that has been the norm. What is up with this weather? I’m afraid all my plants are going to be frozen and dead I guess I’ll find out in a few months. I did notice the Bluebirds are starting to house hunt. They have been going in and out of the bird houses trying to choose the one they want this year. Normally they always take the same one but we shall see what they decide on this year. I’d like to put a little sign on each – Welcome Blue Birds, Welcome Chick-a-dees, Welcome Titmouse – and then they would know which house is theirs – but I don’t think they would care.
Anyway this little card idea that I found on Pinterest (by Claire Daly) has a beautiful bird image on it from the Stampin’ Up! Hostess set – Simply Sketched. It’s a set you may have missed seeing in the catalog – since the hostess sets are now in the very back I think they aren’t noticed quite so much. I know I keep forgetting I have it.
Here is what I used on mine:
- Soft Suede card base
- StazOn Jet Black ink, Soft Suede & Pool Party Classic ink for watercoloring
- Ovals Collection Framelits
- Large Oval punch
- Quatrefancy Specialty Designer Paper (the Pool Party strip), Modern Medley Deisgner paper (the music strip), Neutrals Collection Designer Paper Stack (the Soft Suede strip)
- Naturals White card stock – what the bird image is stamped on
There are three greetings in the stamp set – I chose to use the sympathy one, but there is also a birthday and a thanks. It makes this a very versatile set.
It’s going to be a good one to use with the new Blendabilities Markers that will be coming out some time this quarter from Stampin’ Up! They are our new alcohol based marker sets. There will be 12 colors ( I think to begin with so I believe more will be added later) coming in sets of 3 markers – each set has a Dark, Medium and Light version of the color. If you click on the photo below you should be able to read the colors on the larger version.
There will also be a color lifter and skin tone colors. These are in production here in the US and will be available sometime this quarter. I’ll let you know when Stampin’ Up! gives us more information.
Thanks for stopping by today.
Jun 25, 2013 | Embossing, In Colors, Tags, Watercoloring |
I love this fish bowl stamp (Fishin’ Around) in the new Stampin’ Up! catalog! I think it is so cute! And I had it on my first order along with the new In-Colors which are so beachy feeling that I decided they were the perfect colors for the fish bowl. Last week we were at the beach and I had one day alone in the condo and I spent part of that time playing with this stamp and these colors. I actually made this project earlier for my In-Color Hands On class (right before I left for the beach trip) and loved the project so much I wanted to make something for convention that used this stamp. So I made a whole stack of these and I thought I would share the “steps” with you on how I water colored my fish bowls.
Wait – here is the finished project from my class –
Fish Bowl treats
Would these be so cute to send to camp or school with your kids! Anyway so here is what I did – I took pictures of each step so you can see the bowl come to “life”. First use Watercolor Paper – it works the best for watercoloring. Stamp the fish bowl image in VersaMark ink and cover with Black Embossing powder and heat set with the heat tool. The raised embossing gives you little wells to water color within.
I started with the Baked Brown Sugar color – squeeze your ink pad a little before opening it and it gives you a little palette in the lid that you can dip the aqua painter into. The Baked Brown Sugar is the perfect color for sand! Remember load your brush and touch down where you want the darkest color, as you brush out the color will lighten up.
I also used the Baked Brown Sugar for the treasure chest. Next I used Crisp Cantaloupe for my fish – body and faces.
To add some dimension to the fish add the Strawberry Slush to give some darker coloring to the tails and fins. When you are watercoloring its ok to leave touches of the white space so don’t worry about covering every little section – you want the variations of the color.
For the bubbles I used the Pistachio Pudding ink – just a tiny dot inside each of the bubbles. And you could use it for the jewels in the treasure chest (emeralds) – or use the Strawberry Slush if you want rubies.
Now add the water using the Coastal Cabana – just the perfect color! I started with darker areas under the waves and under the fish and along the little ripples in the water. And then lightened out from there. I also added the Coastal Cabana to the rim of the fish bowl – that may not be easy to see though.
Let it all dry. To finish I punched the fish bowl out with my circle punch ( I think it was the 2″ punch – I don’t have it right in front of me to check). And finally I added a dot of Crystal Effects to each of the bubbles. Let those dry for a hour or so.
I think it is so cute! I hope you like it too.
To finish the project for my class we put some gold fish in a ziploc bag and punched a hole through the top – added some Calypso Coral Bakers Twine (it works fine with the Crisp Cantaloupe color) and tied on the fish bowl tag and another little tag that says “just for fun”. here is the finished project one more time.
Fish Bowl treats – Monika Davis
Enjoy your day!
Apr 7, 2012 | Big Shot, Easter, Stamper's Club, Watercoloring, Wildlife |
I hope you are having a great weekend and that you have a Happy Easter with family and friends. I’ve been getting ready all day. The casseroles are ready to assemble and bake tomorrow, the ham is in the fridge, the brownies, cookies and treats are made, the tables are set, the eggs have been filled and the baskets are ready. I have laundry to finish and final cleaning to do and I’ll be all ready.
But for today I have one cute little purse to share – we made these last night at my stamp club meeting.
This is the new Petite Purse Die – a sneak peek from the new catalog – you can get it now during the month of April and then it will be available in our new catalog starting June 1st! These are so cute.
I made this one as a little Easter purse. The purse is cut from Crumb Cake card stock, then I cut an extra front panel and ran it through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Textured Embossing Folder and glued that to the front. I cut the back and flap out a second time with some designer paper – the new Summer Smooches Designer Series paper – also available as a sneak peek in April – I used the piece that had the Tangerine Tango print. The purse is assembled with a little bit of sticky strip on the two side flaps.
The handle is cut along with 
purse and I glued it to the back side of a piece of Tangerine Tango scalloped polka dot ribbon. Then attached the ends inside the purse with a little piece of sticky strip.
I added a “Happy Easter” tag to the handle and a little button to the front flap. Finally I stamped the little bunny from the Every Bunny stamp set on some Naturals White card stock using black StazOn ink and Watercolored with an AquaPainter. The bunny is Crumb Cake and the scarf is Daffodil Delight. For the egg I stamped the image on a scrap piece of the same designer paper and cut it out and glued it on top of the watercolored image. The cut out bunny is then attached to the front of the little purse with a Stampin’ Dimensional.
Inside the purse is none other than a yummy Peanut Butter Egg!
And I checked the bird house this morning and we have babies!
See TWO babies ready to eat!
There were 5 eggs and mom was watching me so I only took a quick peek and got this pictures showing the 2 babies – I don’t know if the others hatched yet. I’ll check again in a day or so. These are the chickadees.
And one more picture to share with you today. In my craft room I have two dogs beds for the dogs but they are different and they both always prefer the one the other one is in. So on Friday Magnolia was in the dog bed and all of sudden Aspen hops in and lays down and she gives me this look – “Mom, look what he did…….”
I hope you enjoyed the cute little project and the fun pictures. Have a great Easter Sunday and I’ll be back next week.
Apr 6, 2012 | Big Shot, Cards, Easter, Sale-A-Bration 2012, Watercoloring |
I created another Easter card using the Everybunny stamp set.
I used a strip of the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series paper from Sale-A-Bration. Tied a piece of Pool Party Seam Binding around the card (Crumb Cake). I used my Big Shot and the Scallop Circle and Circle die to cut the focal point. The stamps were stamped in Black StazOn ink and then watercolored – except for the egg – I stamped the image on another piece of designer paper from the same pack and cut it out and layered it over the stamped egg on the circle. I call that paper-piecing. Another little trick for you on the mushrooms I used a Poppy Parade marker to fill in the dots and the stripe and then used the Aquapainter to spread the ink from there to the rest of the mushroom which created the pink color.
Have a Happy Day!
Apr 3, 2012 | Cards, Easter, In Colors, Occasions Mini 2012, Retired List, Watercoloring |
These are the Easter invitations I made this year to send to our family. We always invite everyone to our house for lunch and an afternoon Easter Egg hunt. Our largest group was around 40 people. This year we have a small group there will only be 14 of us and just two little ones hunting Easter Eggs this time. The menu is planned and the seating arrangements are figured out – now to finish up the decorations and get the house and yard in order.
These cute little cards use the Every Bunny stamp set – it was one of the first sets I wanted last summer out of the new catalog – but I had to wait for so long to use if for Easter.
The base of the card is Pear Pizzazz and wheeled with the Every Egg Stampin’ Around wheel that matches the stamp set – I actually used Old Olive ink in my ink cartridge for the wheel – and I wheeled the envelope to match. Above the eggs the Happy Easter Everbunny stamp is done in Jet Black StazOn – which is also what the bunnies and mushrooms are stamped in so I could watercolor them. The bunnies and mushrooms are stamped on a piece of Naturals White card stock that was cut with one of the Framelits Labels (love them). The images are watercolored with an aquapainter – colors I used are – Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Riding Hood Red, Blushing Bride. I also sponged around the label with the Baja Breeze along the top (the sky) and Pear Pizzazz along the bottom (the ground).
I ripped 1″ strips of fabric from the Twitterpated pack – I used all three prints but just noticed the cards in my picture both use the striped print. I tied the strip with a piece of the Whisper White Baker’s Twine and on some I added one of the Twitterpated buttons. The buttons and fabric are from the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Mini catalog. I really like how they turned out.
Just a couple of reminders April is the last month for the Occasions Mini Catalog – so if there are things you still want out of there don’t let the month slip by before you order them. Hopefully some items will carry over into the new catalog but so far no word on that. This year the In-Colors from 2010 are retiring – Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade and Concord Crush – so don’t delay ordering your ink refills and card stock so you’ll have when you want to use those colors later. The retiring stamp sets and accessories will be announced later this month and anything on the accessories list is only while supplies last so once they are out – they are out. You can order online on my website or email me and I’ll get them ordered for you.
Sep 27, 2011 | Birthday, Cards, UDI Color Challenge, Watercoloring |
Oh my – I forgot to create my color challenge post for today. That is why it is late this morning. I was so busy yesterday pricing retired items for a sale that I totally forgot. I did some cleaning out the last few weeks and I have lots of stuff to sell – stamp sets, ribbons, embellishments, Designer Paper, etc. I will be posting a list soon so check back if you are looking for anything.
Ok so on to this weeks color challenge -here is the inspiration picture for the UDI Color challenge –
I usually pull out my Color Coach and get the color for the week together and let them sit in my craft room while I think about what to do. This week Wisteria Wonder, Pacific Point, Basic Gray, Basic Black and Whisper White. Really it was almost a masculine color scheme but the Wisteria kept throwing me off. I had a couple of new stamp sets on my table that I hadn’t used yet and one was a new set called Under the Big Top. It has a weightlifter, a seal and an elephant – all of which could be gray, and the blue would fit again it was the Wisteria that was throwing me – a weightlifter wearing Wisteria tights – hmmm. So which one did I end up using? I decided on the Seal.
And I used the Wisteria on the cake. The image is stamped in Jet Black StazOn ink. Then I watercolored with my aqua painter – the seal is Basic Gray, the stand is Pacific Point, the cake is Wisteria Wonder. I went over the frosting with a white gel pen. The card base is Basic Gray with a layer of Basic Black and a layer of Basic Gray Deisgner Series Paper. I pierced holes on either side of the paper and tied around some White Taffeta.
You could make a whole set of cards from that stamp set using this layout, just adjust the colors to suit each image.
Click on this link to go to the Utah Diva’s Color Challenge blog. There you can see the creations from the entire design team and add a link to your creation if you decide to play along.
Stampin’ Up! Supplies:
- Card stock: Basic Gray, Basic Black, Whisper White, Pacific Point
- Ink: Jet Black Staz On, Basic Gray, Pacific Point, Wisteria Wonder
- Stamp sets: Under the Big Top
- Accessories: Neutrals Patterns Designer Series Paper, White Gel Pen, Whisper White Taffeta ribbon, Aqua-painter, Paper Piercer and Mat Pack
To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.
Here is what I used on mine:
