Monday, June 1, 2015

Best Thoughts in Watercolor

Today I a have a couple of cards to show you that are made with the same stamp but using different colors.  I've had this new stamp sitting around for over a week and I've wanted to try some water coloring and finally had a chance to do it.  As I was looking through some blog challenges I noticed that the Friday Mashup is all about water coloring with a very open sketch.  Perfect for what I wanted to do.


I made these for my daughter's best friend and her mom.  They lost their grandma and mother so I wanted to make something special for each of them.




I know...I have a lot of pics so I hope you'll bear with me while I post a few of each.  I've enjoyed trying out water coloring ever since I saw a video by Heather Telford on Splitcoast back in November or December.  She makes amazingly beautiful cards and I've sat down and made a few here and there because I enjoy it so much and because I wanted to have my images colored in.  I figured I'd use my aqua painters and ink since Stampin' Up! got rid of their Blendabilities and I couldn't color things in with them anymore.  Oh...if you'd like to check out Heather's work click HERE.  This link will show you one of her videos, then you can scroll through the rest of her blog if you'd like. :)




I forgot to add that I actually started with this card because when I think of hydrangeas these are the colors I think of.  When I wanted to do other colors for the second card I looked for pics of orange and yellow hydrangeas and they are actually out there too!  I knew there were blue, purple, green and pink, but I didn't know they come in orange and yellow too.  Guess I learned something new today. :)  Both of these cards were pretty easy to make.  I just used sponges and sponge daubers to get the colors on my stamp, but used a marker for the leaves.  I spritzed the stamp a couple of times and stamped it onto my watercolor paper.  After that I used an aqua painter to fill in the colors of the flowers and leaves.  I did use my stamp-a-ma-jig to re-stamp the image because I didn't think it was defined enough anymore.  I actually just re-spritzed my stamp instead of re-inking the whole thing again.  To get the blue background on each of the cards I just made sure the watercolor paper was wet...not too wet, but not so little wetness on it that it would dry right away.  I started going around the flower, leaves and stem and let the wet watercolor paper pull the color out away from the flower (the flower is dry when I do this!).  If I want it darker I just go back in and repeat making sure my aqua painter isn't quite as wet (but the watercolor paper still is) and get some more ink from my ink pad (in the lid).  I did tape off each of these pieces before I painted them to give them the border you can see.  I used masking tape and carefully pulled it off when the ink was dry (yes, I use my heat gun if I get sick of waiting for it to dry! lol  I also run it through my Big Shot if the paper is warped.  I just put it under an embossing folder instead of inside it.  That straightens it out in a jiffy!). 




Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Water Color Paper


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Thursday, May 28, 2015

Merry Christmas

Hi Everyone, I'm here to show you another Christmas card today. :) We have a fun sketch over at 'Tis the Season, so it's pretty much anything goes on your card as long as it's Christmas and you use the sketch.  I hauled out a set I haven't used in a while called Beauty of the Season.  It's definitely helped me make a few beautiful cards. :)  



Make sure you head over to 'Tis the Season HERE to check out the other fun Christmas cards and to play along too.  We'd love to see what you create!  Plus you'll love getting a head start on your Christmas card stash. :)  We are also looking to add to our Design Team.  If you like to make Christmas cards and want to be a part of our team head to our blog and check out the details. :)


This was a pretty simple card to make.  I used StazOn black to stamp my images on watercolor paper and used my aqua painter to color everything in.  The colors I used will be listed below in my supplies.  Oh I also used my Northern Flurry embossing folder because I have a hard time leaving something blank even though it wasn't that much space!  I guess I just needed the card to look a little more winterish or something. 


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

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Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Simply Sketched in Watercolor

As you can tell I've been into water coloring lately!  It was my mom's birthday and I wanted to make a nice card for her so I worked ahead (for once!) and used Try Stampin' on Tuesday's sketch #220.  I tried to use a set that's retiring, Blooming with Kindness, but just didn't like how anything turned out so I pulled out the retired set Simply Sketched.


This is the sketch I used.  As you can tell I left mine pretty clean and simple.  I water colored the circles on the three pieces that stick out too.  Nothing else looked right because whatever I used just wasn't soft enough to match the painted panel.


Make sure you head over to Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE to check out the other great cards made by the team.  They are quite lovely!  If you get a chance give it a try too.  We'd love to see what you create. :)


I used Coastal Cabana and Wild Wasabi Stampin' Write markers to stamp the image, then blended the colors using the small aqua painter tip.  Once the flower was dry I added the wash using Pool Party and Wild Wasabi ink pads.  I made sure I worked on a wet area, but not a overly wet area so the color wouldn't wash out too much or run everywhere.  Then as I moved to the next area I made sure it was wet too so I didn't have streaky areas that had already dried.  Not sure if that makes any sense, but that's how I got it to blend and flow and mix the colors the way I did.  I did go back and add more green to the stems after everything was dry (and, yes, I get impatient and use my heat tool to dry things fast! lol).  As you can see it looks like I used a little So Saffron (yellow), but I didn't.  You never know how Stampin' Up! inks are going to blend and bleed when adding water.  Since it's all I have that's what I use and I think it's working out pretty good so far. :)


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Retired Stampin' Up! set Simply Sketched  
Masking tape to mask the watercolor paper

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Saturday, May 16, 2015

Pretty Painted Petals for Mother's Day

Since I didn't show you the cards I made for my mom and mom-in-law earlier this week for Mother's Day I figured I'd quickly post them now.  I was in the mood for a little water coloring again, so that's what I did. :)  I always make their cards similar, but never the same.  I try to use colors that reflect who they are (if that makes any sense!) and what they like too.  I love how they both turned out and I'm not sure which one I like better.  

I really like the light blue on this card because it makes the flowers stand out...


but I really like the bright background on this one because it accentuates the flowers. :)


Here's a couple more pics of each card.  I hope you enjoy looking at these cards as much as I loved creating them. :)







Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on these cards:

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Thursday, May 14, 2015

Christmas Postage Due

Today I have another Christmas card to show you.  It's a color challenge this time at 'Tis the Season and it's all about cherry, kraft, gray and red.  I had a little bit of trouble at first trying how to figure out how to use the colors together, but managed to come up with a card a really liked. :)  I did end up making four, but never got pics of that last three I made.




Head over to 'Tis the Season HERE to check out the other beautiful cards made by the designers and show us what you can create using these colors.




Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

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Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Thinking of You with An Open Heart

I have a cute clean and simple card for you today using this weeks Try Stampin' - or not - on Tuesday sketch challenge #218.  I didn't quite follow the sketch since I put the sentiment at the bottom where the stars are at, but I just kept thinking of a window when I saw the sketch so I wanted to bring a little of the outdoors indoors.


Make sure you head over to Try Stampin' HERE to see all the other great cards by the design team.  I loved checking them out.  If you get a chance why don't you play along?  We'd love to see what you create with this sketch. :)


Just another quick pic.


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used:

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Friday, May 8, 2015

Great Guy Greetings

It's been a while since I've posted so I'd better get back to it before everyone thinks I'm done with stamping for good. lol  Today is my nephew's 16th birthday and I had to make a card for him right?!  I've spent a good amount of time with him in the past year or so since I would pick him up after school and drop him off at work.  Well today that all ended.  He got his license was able to drive the 1979 Ford F150 truck he bought two years ago and has been slowly restoring with the help of his dad, my brother (he paid for it on his own too except for the labor to do some of the work he wasn't able to do...how many 16 year olds could do this and pay for it too?!  He's a hard worker and an awesome guy!).  I was able to see progress he made since I work for my brother at his collision and restoration shop.  I do NOT do the collision or restoration work though. lol  That is one dirty and difficult job let me tell you!  It's an art for sure just like card making.  I don't have a before and after picture right now, but if anyone is interested in seeing them so you know what he started and ended with let me know and I'll add it to this post.  Guess I'll see if any crafters are interested in trucks at all (which by the way I'm not into them too much, but this one is special).  Ok now that I've gone on about all of that I'd better get to the card I made.

About a month and a half ago or so I posted this card...


I had a leftover packet from a stamp a stack and decided to use it to make my nephew's card.  I didn't use the So Saffron banner, but used all the other pieces.  Here are a few pics below of the new card I created using Guy Greetings and Calling All Heroes from Stampin' Up!  I really like how it turned out too.  Not too bad for whipping it together in about 10 minutes.  Yes, I am a SLOW stamper.  I look at some cards ladies say they create in 10 minutes and think it would take me 20 minutes alone to come up with part of an idea for a card. lol






Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!


Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog
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