HLS March Watercolour Challenge - Welcome

It's time for our Happy Little Stampers March Watercolour Challenge.  This month our optional twist will be "Home".   There are so many possibilities, aren't there?

I decided to go with the twist.  I have a retired Stampin' Up! Hostess stamp set, Life's Adventure, which has the perfect image for this challenge.  It's a sweet sketch of an old fashioned house with all sorts of pretty trim, similar to houses which I've seen along the Oregon coast and also in areas along the ocean in Vancouver, BC.  With the hearts coming out of the chimney instead of smoke and all those details on the house, my fingers itched to begin watercolouring.

After stamping my image and letting it dry thoroughly, I used my Aqua Painter and several of my Stampin' Up! ink pads to begin colouring.  For the house, I layered the colours, making it easy to add shading that way.  For my background, I just gave it a "wash", adding a pale blue for the sky and pale sand colour to ground it.

I had centred the image on my Whisper White cardstock and it seemed a bit lost in all that white space and so I added a raised stitched frame set a-kilter.  That seemed the perfect "fix" and, once I had added a red matte and adhered the lot to my Whisper White base, I was happy with my creation.

I hope you'll check out the great cards over at the HLS March Watercolour Challenge post.

Our winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE OUR RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

I've also entered this card in the Addicted to Stamps and More #281 - Anything Goes Challenge

And into the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

And finally into the City Crafter Challenge Blog Week 401 - Die Cuts

Wishing You Happiness!

I've gotten a couple of stamp sets which have just been released by Kylie Purtell of Happy Little Stampers way down under in Australia.  I wish the sets had come with mini-passports because they've travelled around the world.

Of course I had to try them out and one in particular was really pleading with me to use it.  The Dandelion Wishes set has some lovely images of the dandelion "clocks", ready to be blown away with the breeze.  If you're like me, you probably love those images, too.  I know that I loved blowing the seeds away when I was a kid (and still do) and, of course, my daughter and now my grandsons also love doing the same thing.

I decided to combine one of those dandelion clocks with a fairy from the Fairy Celebrations stamp set.  It's sweet.  It's whimsical.  It was fun to create.  I kept it clean and simple and then added a sentiment at the bottom, stamped in Calypso Coral, from the Dandelion Wishes stamp set.

I stamped the image of the fairy on white Mixed Media paper.  Then I heat embossed the image of the dandelion clock using white embossing powder, making sure it appeared to be in her left hand.  After the embossing was cold, I went over it with a sponge and Marina Mist ink, using the emboss resist technique.  Once that was done and I had coloured the fairy using my alcohol Stampin' Blends, I used a cross stitch rectangle die to cut it out.  Then I added a narrow Calypso Coral matte to the piece and mounted it above the sentiment. 

The paper which I've used as my base is actually a natural white.  It has all sorts of fibres and spots in it since it hasn't been bleached like the fancier cardstocks.  I like the effect and hope you do as well.

I'm entering this card in the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge #261 since I used the sketch as inspiration.

I'm also entering this card into the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge #281 - Anything Goes.

Happy Easter

I love the Happy Easter Bunny stamp which retired a couple of years ago.  It was only featured in the Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalogue and then disappeared.  I kept it simply because of the exuberance which the bunny shows.  He reminds me of Snoopy doing his Spring dance.

The CAS Colours & Sketches challenge is featuring a colour challange which is perfect for Spring colours and, as a result, is perfect for this stamp set.  I stamped the large image onto a piece of Mixed Media paper and then cut it out using one of my oval dies.  Colouring didn't take long.  I used my Stampin' Markers for the flowers, eggs and the ribbon around the bunny's neck.  The colours wound up being very vivid.  For the bunny, although I didn't use any colours on him, I wanted something to make him stand out a bit.  I therefore used my clear Wink of Stella marker over his entire image, leaving a portion of the ears and his tummy.  For those I turned to my Aqua Painter and the Sweet Sugarplum ink pad.  I added a very light wash over those area plus the tail.  Isn't it incredible how the light wash winds up very pink in comparison to the same colour in the Stampin' Marker?

After mounting the oval on a base of Heavy Whisper White with Dimensionals, the card was finished.

I'm entering this card into the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #260

I'm also entering this card into the Cut It Up Challenge #142 - Anything Goes

What would I do without you?

Penny Black has created some wonderful stamp sets.  I love the variety.  When I found a challenge all about cats, I had quite a few designers from which to choose, but in the end, chose a set by Penny Black which I have had for quite a long time.  Not only does it feature a happy-go-lucky cat image which simply makes me smile, but it also features some other adorable critters such as mice and hedgehogs.  This time I'm using one of the cat images, of course.

While Valentine's Day is over, love happens year-round.  This cat carrying the lovely large heart-shaped box of candies is not only going to make someone special very happy, but is also making two mice very happy as well.  I wonder how many candies will actually be left in the box, don't you?

I kept my card clean and simple, colouring the images with a combination of markers and alcohol inks.  After cutting the images and sentiment out using my stitched rectangle dies, I chose a wonky square die to cut out a piece of scrap red textured cardstock to give a bit of a pop behind the white shapes. 

The image and sentiment are both from Penny Black's Piece of My Heart set.

I'm entering this card in the Addicted to CAS challenge #130 - CAT

I'm also entering my card into the Cute Card Thursday Challenge #518 - Cute Critters

Hang in There!

Sometimes a stamp set with dies comes along and you know you just have to have it.  That's what happened when I saw the monkeys.  And what luck to have a challenge come along that is asking for clean and simple with dies.  I can do that with this set.

I used a base of Heavy Whisper White and then added a die-cut piece of Whisper White.  I love the cross-stitch pattern along the perimeter of that die-cut!  Just to make a break between the base and this layer, however, I added a very narrow matte of Pear Pizzazz.  Then it was time to begin using those monkeys.

I stamped my images on Whisper White using Memento Black ink and then used the matching dies to cut them out.  Once they were cut out, I used my alcohol Stampin' Blends to colour them.  Since the card was supposed to be clean & simple, I just attached the image of the monkey hanging from a vine to the card using Dimensionals and then added the second vine by gluing it using Tombow.

Stamping on the sentiment using Memento Black finished up the card nicely, don't you agree?

I'm entering this card in the CAS on Sunday Challenge #126 - Use a die on your card

I'm also entering the card in the HLS February Anything Goes With Dies Challenge

Turn Back the Clock

Creating ATC's is something to which I'm definitely becoming addicted.  Having to create something so small (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") and yet make a statement is really a challenge.  And, as you know, I love challenges.  The theme over at the HLS February ATC challenge is Hearts.  This was a fun ATC to create.

I began with a base of Berry Burst, added a lovely piece of Designer Paper which had the look of watercoloured paper and then stamped a few random semi-solid circles in gold ink.  Once done, I put that aside to dry properly while I got to work on the rest.

I used the fun, swirly heart shape from the Sunshine Wishes Thinlits to cut a piece of slightly patterned Berry Burst paper from the Color Theory Memories & More pack and then also fussy cut two flowers from the same pack.  I used Tombow Mono Liquid glue to adhere the heart and flowers to the card, added a few random gold foil hearts which I had lying around, and then stamped the lovely sentiment from a set of Gina Marie stamps using Berry Burst ink. 

I absolutely love that sentiment, don't you?

This ATC is being entered into the HLS February ATC Challenge with the Twist of Hearts.

I'm also entering it into the 613 Avenue Create Challenge #201 which is Anything Goes with an optional twist of Love.

Time Out for Crafting

I have a lot of hobbies but of them all, crafting takes up the majority of my time.  One of the reasons, of course, is the weather which we experience in this area.  With a good 5 months of winter (sometimes more), the temperatures outside make working inside a real pleasure.  Papercrafting, wirecrafting and painting are among my favourties. 

I created a one-layer card to show off some of these hobbies.  The container of paint brushes could easily belong to my papercrafting or to my painting hobbies.  The scissors, well when don't we use scissors?

After creating a subtle background of Distress Oxide spotches, I stamped the container of brushes and then, after masking the container, stamped the scissors.  I used a combination of alcohol inks and metallic pens to colour everything.  Finally I added a bit of dimension with a "grungy" stamp and also the pencilled-in end to the work table.

I've created this card for the Time Out Challenge #103 which is all about Hobbies.  I chose to do their optional twist of a one-layer card.

Live With Passion

When I saw a friend's card for the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge, I knew I wanted to try the sketch for this week.  It's funny how sometimes a sketch or a combination of colours can "speak" to you and make you want to use them, isn't it?

This is the sketch to which I'm referring:

Very simple, right?  And the samples by the DT show such a variety of interpretations.  It simply made me want to try it myself.  And so I did.

First of all I took a scrap piece of Heavy Whisper White and played around with two Distress Oxide colours:  Cracked Pistachio and Broken China.  I kept the colours simple and didn't layer them very much.  After I had dried it well, I used the plain dragonfly thinlit from the set of Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits to cut out my image.

For my base I used Heavy Whisper White.  After masking off a rectangle at the left of the front, I stamped the grass from the retired Inspired By Nature stamp set using the Tranquil Tide ink.  Then I stamped the sentiment from the same set using the same ink in the bottom right corner.  Once the ink was nicely dried, I attached the dragonfly which I had previously prepared to the grass using small dimensionals.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

CAS Colours & sketches #259

HLS February Anything Goes With Dies Challenge

When a heart isn't a heart

Last month the Twofer Challenge gave us Feathers as a theme.  The challenge?  Make two cards using them in different ways.  Well this month we have Hearts.  Appropriate, I guess, since February is the big, filled-with-hearts-and-love month, right?  What really threw me for a loop was the fact that I don't seem to have much in the way of hearts.  And then I noticed the Lift Me Up stamp set and coordinating Up & Away Thinlits had the perfect heart.  Like they say, one is enough.

For my first card I decided to heat emboss the heart onto Sweet Sugarplum cardstock using white embossing powder.  I did that twice.  Then I cut both hearts out using the matching thinlit and put them aside while I created the rest of the card.  I began with a base of Heavy Whisper White, a layer of Sweet Sugarplum, and then another layer of Whisper White onto which I did my stamping and also attached my hearts.  For my stamping I mixed and matched a number of sets including the Lift Me Up set, High Tide set and You've Got This set.  Along with the White, my colours are Sweet Sugarplum, Pool Party, Black and Smoky Slate. 

For the second card I took a scrap of Whisper White and three colours of Distress Oxide inks, the Fossilized Amber, Worn Lipstick and Wilted Violet and proceeded to smoosh, spray, dry, and repeat again and again until I had a combination that appealed to me.  Then I cut out four hearts using the Up & Away heart thinlit and put them aside.  I used Heavy Whisper White for my base again but kept it simple this time.  Using a rounded stitched rectangle, I cut a piece of Whisper White and then heat embossed the sentiment from the Butterfly Basics sets onto it using Copper embossing powder.  Then I took the small body from the Watercolour Wings set as well as the antennae from the same set and stamped those onto the base as well as onto the smaller heat embossed piece.  After attaching the rounded rectangle onto the base using Dimensionals, I used small Dimensionals to attach a heart to each side of both bodies, creating two pretty butterflies.

As required by the Twofer rules, this is both cards photographed together.

My cards are, of course being entered into the Twofer Challenge. 

Card number one is also being entered into the 

{PIN}spirational Challenge #209

Crafty Cardmakers #205 - Love and Romance

Card number two is being entered into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More #279 - CAS

CAS Watercolour February Challenge - Hearts

CAS on Friday Challenge #126 - Dies

HLS February Anything Goes With Dies Challenge

Lakota Prayer

Sometimes two challenges converge and ask to be played together.  For me it is the current Addicted to CAS challenge which is all about Teal and the City Crafter Challenge which is all about Feathers.  The reason these challenges converged for me is completely due to a stamp which I bought the last time I visited Calgary.  It's by Impression Obsession Rubber Stamps and has no name.  I have to admit, however, that from the first moment that I saw it, this stamp left an impression on me.  Considering that blue tones (including, of course, teal) are my favourite colours, it came as no surprise that when I saw the challenges, I also saw this stamp in teal.

I used Island Indigo ink to stamp the image.  Then I went to work with my alcohol inks (I used the current Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends as well as the retired Coastal Cabana Blendabilities).  Then, when the colours looked right to me, I let them dry completely and then added some clear Wink of Stella.  Finally, since the Lakota prayer is all about finding balance and love, I die-cut a "love" at the bottom right but left the negative pieces intact.

To finish, I mounted the stamped and coloured piece on a very narrow matte of Island Indigo and then a base of Heavy Whisper White.

I'm entering this card in the following two challenges:

Addicted to CAS #129 - Teal

City Crafter Challenge Blog Week 398 - Feather

 

My Heart is Perfect...

Valentine's Day is coming up soon.  How can you tell?  Check out people's blogs and you'll find romance or hearts or both.  Am I going to be different?  Nope!  This is the one time of the year that I haul out all those hearts and sweet sentiments.  Are you ready to see what I've done?

There is a really odd looking heart in the Sunshine Wishes thinlits die set which is all scribbles.  That's the heart for which I reached when I decided to create this clean and simple card.  First, however, I took a base of Heavy Whisper White cardstock and attached a die-cut cross-stitched rectangle of Whisper White.  Then I proceeded to add some Brilliant Red Brusho crystals and a spray of water.  To get a bit more of a controlled look, I took a medium sized artist's brush and moved some of the colour around.  Once that was done, I took the card and used my heat gun to thoroughly dry the layers.

I cut two images with the scribble heart die.  One image is Whisper White, the other image is Basic Black.  I glued the Whisper White heart on top of the Basic Black one, allowing it to overlap just a tiny bit to show both colours.  Then I glued the die-cuts to my prepared card and added the sentiment using Basic Black ink.

Don't you just love the simple lines?

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

HLS February CAS Challenge - with a twist of Hearts

CAS February 2018 Watercolour Card Challenge - Heart

Meowy Christmas!

A few weeks before Christmas, I stamped an adorable little kitten holding a stocking.  I had planned to colour it and use it to create a Christmas card for one of my cat-loving friends.  Other demands were made on my time, I put that adorable stamped image aside and, until yesterday, forgot all about it.  As I've mentioned, I'm doing some tidying and sorting and what did I find?  Well, you know all about the kitten by now. 

I decided to use my image for a challenge, knowing that otherwise it might disappear for good before I used it next Christmas.  Looking through my lists, I found that the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge is all about creating a Christmas card using pastel colours.  Okay, so pastels it would be!

I used my Soft Sky, Mint Macaron, Sweet Sugarplum, Peekaboo Peach, So Saffron and Smoky Slate inks and my AquaPainter to colour in the little kitten and stocking.  The soft colours worked beautifully.  For my base I used the Heavy Whisper White and then a layer of So Saffron and Soft Sky before adding my stamped layer.  After stamping my sentiment using Basic Black, I stamped the little paw-prints across it using Smoky Slate.

Don't you just love the expression on the kitten face?

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

     Merry Monday Christmas Challenge #275 - a pastel Christmas
 
     Addicted to Stamps & More #277 - Make Your Mark (inks and watercolouring)

     Fab & Funky Challenges #379 - Christmas

The Best is Yet to Be

It really excites me when I find something special while doing mundane and boring things like going through my stash.  Too much stuff!  How did I ever accumulate so much?

But then, among designer papers which I know I won't use, I find something special.  About four or five years ago we had some wonderful die-cut specialty paper for Valentine's.  I remember thinking that if I used it all, it would be gone.  Such a silly thing to think because here it is, just stashed away when it should be used for something to give me and others pleasure.  And I had the perfect project in mind, too.

The Paper Players' sketch challenge would be perfect for the die-cut heart.  And I had just the paper and images with which to combine it.  The black and white watercolour images of the Petal Passion Suite were begging to be used with it.  And so I used some of the Designer Paper from the Suite, cut out some images from the Petal Passion Memories & More Card Pack and created my card.

Don't you just love the Real Red with the black and white?

I'm entering this card in the Paper Players Challenge PP378.

I'm also entering this card in the Mod Squad Challenge - Valentine/LOVE with something red.