Living Water

I've done a little masking today to put my scene together for the upcoming Watercolour Weekend post on the Art Impressions blog.

Using 5068 - Living Water Set, I positioned the bucket along with the geese from 4207 - Feather Friends on the same block, and stamped them onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper using Tombows #969/565.  After masking them both, I used my stamp positioner to place the wishing well just behind them.  I pulled the colour out of the lines with a damp brush, using it to create the greys of the stones and rocks, and shadowing the wood and geese.  I used the Daisy Bunch from 5074 - Bible Flower Set and #565 as the flowers in the bucket, then stamped my greenery from 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4 on either side of the well in #126.  Tones of #992/977/969 were used for the bucket and wooden posts, to create an aged, weathered wood look, and #407 was painted on the roof and spindle.  With the medium sprig from 4867 - WC Foliage Set 2 New, and #177, the vine was stamped to be winding up the well onto the roof, and after dampening it with water, I went in a second time to add some darker branches.  The heart circle from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 was stamped in clusters using #993 to add in the yellow flowers.  I used my #905 and 933 markers directly on the paper to colour in the beaks and feet of the geese.  *To make sure that the geese didn't fade into the background, I made sure that there was enough greenery behind them to give contrast to their white bodies. 

The small grass from 5073 - Bible Foliage Set was stamped repeatedly in #126 to add touches of grass around the scene, and a wash of the green extended the look of grass on the ground.  To finish up, I used Bleed Proof White ink to add white centers to my blue flowers, used #565 to add shadows on the well, the rock and around the geese - and finally, used my blue Twintone marker to add a few dots, and darken up some of the lines.  A wash of # 493 was painted in as the sky.

Happy Pride!

 It's Pride Weekend here in Toronto, so I've made a couple of fun rainbow cards to give out to friends.

I love this method of adding strips of paper to create whatever kind of rainbow you want!  After die cutting the heart from the first one, I loved the negative so much that I used it on the second card.  Have a love-filled weekend, everyone. 

Handcart Scene

 For this weekend's Watercolour Weekend post on the Art Impressions blog, I'm using several sets for the first time, that were released a little while ago.  I wanted to create a scene where the sweet little gal is selling flowers, so this is what I came up with:

I started by stamping the 5569 - Handcart Set onto my Canson XL Watercolour paper with Tombow #969/565, and separately stamped 5717 - Little Girl FB.  After pulling the colour out from the lines, I picked a warm summer palette of colours, and started adding my flowers & foliage.  Using the Daisy bunch from 4052 - Flower Set, I added them in #925 and #407.  With the smallest image from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 and #725, and the tall stems from 4052 in #565, I filled in all the flowers.  The tiny sprig image from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set was stamped in both #126 and #312 as the foliage in both the cart and her basket.  Tones of browns #969/947/992 were painted on the cart trim & wheels, her basket, hat and shoes.  I wanted to add a sign to my scene, so I used the signpost from 5131 - Stone Path Set, altering it a little, and painting it in the same brown tones.  I used my Twintone Chocolate marker to write on the sign, and then cut it out.

N65 was painted onto the watering can, and as the white shadows on the cart, and #947 created the look of a terracotta pot.  The yellow of her dress and the banner on the cart are shades of #991, with some #992 shadows, and her skirt is #407.  I used the tiny grass from 4051 - Foliage set in #126 to add grass around the cart and sign, painting it out as a wash, and added a wash of #493 as the sky.

The background was cut out with 5061 Square Double Stitched Dies.  I cut the Little Girl out with her matching die, and fussy cut out my sign.  I attached them both to my base painting with foam adhesive, to make them both appear as if they are in the foreground.  Be sure to check out the Ai blog on Saturday to see what Diane & Tricia have created!

More Perfect Pies

 These aren't the kind of cards that you just make one of!  I think I have 14 pie cards in various stages of completion on my craft desk - so you'll be seeing a lot more of them over the next while :-)

This is the Perfect Pies collection by Tina Smith from Spellbinders.  I had cut all of the pie and decor bits when I previously used these sets - it just makes sense to cut and ink blend a whole bunch at the same time, when you have all of the papers out and ready to go.

I'm using up pieces of October Afternoon papers that I've been saving for a long while.  After assembly, a little chunky glitter gave the pastry that sugared-up look.

This should make a nice little gift set.

Ai Rocker

For this Saturday's Watercolour Weekend on the Art Impressions blog, I wanted to create a scene with warm, pretty colours, so I pulled out the 5568 - Rocker & Plant Stand Set from the Winter release:

I coloured the image in Tombows #969/565, and stamped it onto my Canson XL Watercolor Paper.  After pulling out the colour with a damp brush, I selected my colour palette.  For my yellow rocker, I used #993, using layers to build up the warm yellow tones, adding in #947 to some of the darker areas.  The bird's belly and the lower pot were painted with #407, using it to paint a darker stripe around the pot as well.  The other pot and the squirrel from 5599 - Mini Mice & Squirrel Set were painted with layers of #947, making the edges of the pot deeper in tone, as well as the under side of the squirrel.  The pots were filled with the two trailing foliage stamps from 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4 in #126, by just colouring part of the stamps, and varying the angles they were stamped around the pots.  Using the Daisy bunch from 4052 - Flower Set, in #993 and #803, and the tiny heart circle from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 in #533 and #925, I filled the pots with flowers.  #565 was used to paint the bird's wings, and as shadows around the pots and on the chair.

I wanted to ground the rocker, so I created a line behind it, and drew in the suggestion of the siding on a house, to indicate that the rocker is sitting on a porch.  The floor was washed with N57.  To finish my scene, I used two of the branches from 4964 - WC Branches Set in #969 added to each pot, and used my Twintone marker to add a few dots around them.  Be sure to check out the Ai blog this weekend to see what Diane & Tricia have created.