New Ai Houses

 There are two more Watercolour sets being released on the Ai blog today!  Here's my project with #5527 - WC Cape Cod Village

I coloured the smaller image with #969/565 and stamped it on Bristol Smooth Cardstock (I haven't used this in a while!).  After pulling out the colour with my damp #4 brush, I picked my palette of colours, using #569/993 and a mix of 856/969 to make a rusty, muted red shade - then painted in the houses.  I chose to have the sun coming in from the right, so I kept all of the surfaces facing that direction brighter, and added shading to the opposite sides that would be in shadow.  Using my stamp positioner, I added in the mountains from #5198 - WC Mountains Set coloured in #553.  I added the trees using #5372 - WC Mini Foliage Set in #177/249, masking the houses so that they would appear behind them, and adding some shrubs in front.  I painted in the hills with #565, added a wash of green for the grass, blue for the sky, and then placed the fence from #5371 WC Barn Set using #969.

I used a decorative die, wrapped some twine several times around my card base, and mounted it with some 3D foam adhesive.

Toadstools

 I purchsed the wonderful Toadstool Dies in my recent order from The Greetery.  I've really wanted them ever since they came out last fall... so I went to town this weekend, making up about 30 of them to use on a few cards.  I made use of 13 Distress Oxide inks to create some fun blends:

I ink blended some grass onto my kraft cardstock, assembled and adhered my toadstools, and added a few magical sparkles with a white gel pen.  The photo doesn't show it well, but the panel is matted over some matt/metallic gold cardstock that sets off the gold embossed sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio.

New Art Impressions Watercolour stamps!

 I am excited to share some of the newest stamps that are releasing today on the Art Impressions blog!  These little critter containers are going to be a sure hit with all the Ai Watercolour fans.  Here are a couple of cards made with 5521 - WC Animal Planters and 5528 - Desert Succulent Set:

I had some fun with colour.  Cacti are interesting plants, and I thought these needed some touches of colour, so I added fun accents to the plants, and a few reflections to the pots.

I've used all 6 of the succulents in my two paintings, but there are two other critters in the set - check out the Ai blog to see the other images painted by Dot, Tricia & Bonnie.  And stay tuned - there are more new sets to come!

Happy 25th

 My youngest and all her friends are turning 25 this year, so I had a special request to make a pink and girly card that matched the party theme for one of her friends today.  I loved doing this!  Used a mixture of old CTMH papers/stamp, and some newer dies from Spellbinders & Pinkfresh Studio.

I ink blended some Distress Oxide inks behind the image, and around the edges of the paper to deepen the colour a little, and added a metallic sentiment and a little bling to finish it off.

Foundations Rocker

 I am excited to finally be using 5470 - WC Foundations Rocker for the first time for the Watercolour Weekend on the Art Impressions blog!

When I use a larger image like this, I like to pick out a limited colour palette ahead of time - and I stick to it.  It ties the scene together, and keeps it from becoming too busy.  For my scene I used these Tombow Dual Brush Markers: 027/N65/126/177/606/493/676.  I do the same thing with the flowers and foliage, repeating the same images in different areas.  Here are the stamp sets that I used: 4867 - WC Foliage Set 2 New/4868 - WC Flower Set 2/5009 - WC Mini Flower Set/5007 - WC Foliage Set 3/4964 - WC Branches Set.

I placed my Foundations stamp into my Misti, coloured it with #027 and stamped it onto some Canson XL Watercolour Paper.  I started with light washes of colour, and gradually built up the layers to achieve the tones that I wanted.  I painted the pots, chair and birdhouses first, and then began filling the pots.  I start with one stamp, and place the image in several pots in the same colour, then move onto the next - making sure to balance out where the colours are, while building my pots.  I added a few branches and dots, and added shadows with 565.

Be sure to check out the Art Impressions blog on Saturday to see what Dot & Tricia have to show!

Spring Mix

 I've been working with some new products from The Greetery over the last week or so - this is the lovely stamp & stencil set called Print Shop Spring Mix.  The stencils fit together beautifully - the hardest part is picking your colour palette:

I used different combos of Distress Oxide inks along with my blending brushes and foam blenders.  This was such a quick way to have multiple backgrounds ready, and then I just chose an assortment of sentiments to have a nice group of cards for my stash.

I was able to get eight of these made, and plan to give a few as gifts.

Pussy Willows

 So excited to have some new products from The Greetery in my hands... these are the new Pussy Willow dies that I had fun putting together this weekend.  Not gonna lie - they were fiddly and took some time to assemble, but I absolutely LOVE the end result.

The 3 stems come together on one die, so I cut them out of white cardstock, and coloured them with layers of Copic Markers, then the stems are glued down over the pussy willows.  It made sense to do a whole bunch at once, so I have a little stash to use over the next while.  I used an oval Pinkfresh Studio die, a bow from The Greetery, and some older papers from Close To My Heart to put a couple of cards together.

Here's my stash of pussy willows!