Happy Little Stampers - Watercolor - August 2019

UGH! I'm late again. Trust me, jet lag is a "thing". It has totally affected my thinking or lack of thinking. 

I missed the deadline to post my card and blog link at Happy Little Stampers - Watercolour Challenge, where this month's challenge is

Here's my card

I started by inking a 96 lb bristol A2 panel randomly with distress inks (salty ocean, peacock feathers, mermaid lagoon) and placed the Hero Arts Mermaid Sea Waves stencil on the panel and spritzed water through the stencil. I carefully lifted the stencil and used a paper towel to pick up excess water. I let the panel dry. For the fish, I used Rubbernecker Stamps Fish Group stamp set. I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink on 96 lb bristol. I added colour using distress inks (peacock feathers, carved pumpkin, seedless preserves) with a water brush. I fussy cut the fish. I added crystal effects to their eyes for a bit of shine.  I popped them up with dimensional adhesive. The  sentiment is from Paper Smooches Birthday Buddies stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by
sue


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Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #327

I'm late! Jet lag seems to have affected my brain and my thinking, or lack of thinking. 

It's time for a new challenge at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge

Here's my card

Just a simple card using patterned papers for the background, from Authentique Seasons: Winter 6x6 bundle. I added some scrap cardstock for the next layer. For the flower, I stamped the image from Hero Arts Color Layering Graphic Flowers with Hero Arts Bubble Gum ink. I fussy cut the image, adhered it and added an adhesive rhinestone. For the tag, I stamped the sentiment from Poppy Stamps' Peony Stems and Blossoms and added a thin strip for the striped patterned paper to help bring everything together.

Hope you'll be able to join us this week.

Thanks for stopping by
sue


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Stencil Sunday at STAMPlorations

I'm up again at STAMPlorations with a couple of cards for Stencil Sunday. It's a nice change for me to work with stencils. I tend to grab stamps and inks when I'm making cards. 

Here's my first card

I wasn't quite sure what colours to use for this flower so I "googled" lupinus. I found that there are some which are reddish near the top and the rest is purple. So, I tried to re-create that variety. I used STAMPlorations ARTplorations Lupinus stencil and added colours to the flowers with distress inks (fired brick and seedless preserves) applied with ink daubers. I used peeled paint distress ink for the leaves and stems. I added the sentiment using STAMPlorations New Day clear stickers. I trimmed the panel down a bit and added a green mat to complete the card. 

Here's a close-up.

Here's the second card I made

For this card, I started by stamping a scripty background stamp (Stampin Up's French Script stamp) with Hero Arts Soft Brown ink on kraft cardstock for a tone-on-tone look. I chose to use some Faber-Castell polychromos coloured pencils with STAMPlorations ARTplorations Abstract Oats stencil. A hint, if you're wanting to try this, is to be sure that your coloured pencils are sharp - to get into the "little bits" of the stencil. I love how vibrant the colours of the polychromos pencils are. To complete the card, I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of yellow cardstock from STAMPlorations Noteworthy 2 stamp set and used a strip of kraft cardstock for contrast. 

Here's a close-up

There will be three Stencil Sunday posts at STAMPlorations blog during the month of July. One person who leaves a comment will be picked randomly from the three July Stencil posts and win a $15 gift code.

Thanks for stopping by
sue


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Addicted to Stamps and More! Challenge # 351

It's time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More! This week, the challenge is

Do you like "anything goes" challenges? For me, sometimes, "anything goes" is just too much freedom and I get stuck with too many ideas swirling in my little brain. Sometimes, I need a theme or a sketch or a color scheme to get me started. What about you?

Here's my card

I was at the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo in Puyallup Washington a few weeks ago and saw some examples of cards made with Gina K's Art Stencil - Floral. They were so pretty, I just HAD to buy the stencil. My first card made with the stencil was this card. I find stencils really help me achieve an artistic look to my cards because an artist likely designed the stencil. I used distress inks (wilted violet, shaded lilac and peeled paint), applied with ink blending tools. I used some scraps of paper, to help keep the ink in areas where I wanted the ink and to not "bleed" into other areas. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Communique Curves sentiments stamp set, inked with Hero Arts Soft Granite ink. The card panel is matted by some gray cardstock.

So ... what will you create this week? We'd love for you to join us.

Thanks for stopping by

sue

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Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge # 325

It's Monday so it's time for a new challenge at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. Here's this week's sketch

Here's my card

I started with Unity Stamps' Moments in Bloom and added ink using Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers (pale dawn gray, mustard, dark oatmeal and yellow). Before stamping on 96 lb bristol, I spritzed the stamp a few times with water. Spritzing the stamp with water gives a watercolor look to the image. I stamped the sentiment from Poppy Stamps' Peony Stems and Blossoms with Hero Arts Cup O' Joe ink. I trimmed the panel down slightly and matted with dark brown cardstock.

We'd love to see how you're inspired by this week's sketch.

Thanks for stopping by
sue


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Stencil Sunday at STAMPlorations

I'm being featured on the STAMPlorations blog here with a Stencil Sunday post. I have a collection of stencils and working on the cards for this post reminds me how much I love working with them. My artistic skills are stuck in kindergarten with stickman images. However, working with stencils designed by talented artists, I can give the illusion that I have artistic skills. When in fact, I'm using an artistic tool and a super affordable craft tool at that!

I have two cards to share today.

Here's the first one

I used STAMPlorations' ARTplorations Prim Triangles stencil with distress inks (barn door, spiced marmalade, mustard seed mowed lawn and salty ocean), applied with an ink blending tool. I used a 0.75" strip of red cardstock. I cut a 2 5/8" circle using Sizzix circle dies from white cardstock. I used one of STAMPlorations New Day clear stickers - "find your tribe", which I cut into two pieces for the sentiment. To complete the card, I die cut using a Spellbinders scalloped circle die to frame the sentiment circle. Here's a close-up.

Here's the second card

For this card, I created the background by inking up an A2 card panel using an ink blending tool and distress inks (tumbled glass and salty ocean), in random fashion. I then added the birds with STAMPlorations' ARTplorations Some Birds stencil, hickory smoke distress ink and an ink blending tool. Again, I added a clear sticker sentiment, which I felt was perfect for the birds, from STAMPlorations New Day clear stickers.

There will be three Stencil Sunday posts at STAMPlorations blog during the month of July. One person who leaves a comment will be picked randomly from the three July Stencil Sunday posts and win a $15 gift code. 

Thanks for stopping by
sue


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Addicted to Stamps and More! Challenge # 349

It's time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More! This week the challenge is

Clean and simple is my favorite type of card. Here's my card.

I stamped Unity Stamps' Hang in there Lady stamp, inked with Versafine Onyx Black ink onto an A2 card panel. I also stamped the ladybug onto a scrap piece of red cardstock and fussy cut the ladybug out. I carefully positioned the ladybug onto the stamped image and adhered it in place. I used Wink of Stella on the ladybug to make it sparkle! Here's a close-up.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set. I trimmed the A2 panel down a bit and used a black A2 panel to frame the ladybug panel. 

We'd love for you to join us this week. Show us your clean and simple style.

Thanks for stopping by

sue


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Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #323

It's Monday, which means that it's time for a new challenge at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. Here's this week's sketch

Here's my card

I started with one of my favorite techniques - one I've seen by Jennifer McGuire. She's called it Faux Textured Metal Paper. It looks impressive and it's so easy to do. I rotated the sketch so that it's horizontal. I masked off the outside 0.75" on each edge with post-it tape. I randomly added spun sugar and shaded violet distress inks with ink blending tools. Then I added perfect pearls with a dry brush over the inked area. The perfect pearls makes the inked area shimmer.  I carefully removed the post-it tape. I embossed the panel with We R Memory Keepers Geometric embossing folder. Here's a close-up.

I diecut the sentiment using Papertrey Ink's Wondrous Words: Thank You die. For the flowers, I used scraps of cardstock and My Favorite Things Die-namics Flower and Leaf Trio dies. To complete the card, I added some rhinestones to the centers of the flowers, for a bit of sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by
sue


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