Latest Watercolor Weekend

A quick card today for the latest Watercolor Weekend, using the harp image from 5199 - Praise Instruments Set:

 Using my Tombow Dual Brush Marker #992 Sand, I coloured just the harp strings (as I wanted them to be a lighter tone, and then used #969 Chocolate to colour the frame before stamping it onto my Canson XL Watercolor Paper just left of center.  I scribbled #947 Burnt Sienna onto my palette, and painted it onto the frame, leaving some white areas as hightlights.

 With #565 Deep Blue, I stamped the daisy bunch from 5074 - Bible Flower Set, multiple times in different spots around the harp.  Then with #249 Hunter Green and the small sprig in the same stamp set, I added greenery in and around my flowers.  I touched everything with a damp #1 paintbrush to soften the lines, then I pulled out a few of the colours to ground the harp, and add a background of #565.  The sentiment is from 5130 - On The Sparrow Set, stamped in Onyx Black Versafine Ink.  I die cut my scene using a 5062 - Rounded Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Die, and used pop dots to adhere it to a deep purple mat, and onto my card base.

Make sure to check out the Art Impressions blog on Saturday, to see what Dot & Tricia have to share!

Ai Bible Journaling Release

Time for another release by Art Impressions!  This week the Design Team are helping to launch 5 new Bible Journaling stamp sets.  I love using them for cards, so today I am using 5200 - Butterfly Set:

I was aiming for something a little mystical to show off this wonderful sentiment, so I created an ink blended background using five colours of Distress Oxide Inks. 

I kept the lightest shade in the middle where the sentiment would be, then worked with the two pink/blush shades and finally using the purple and blue around the outside. 

Using my Misti, I arranged the butterfly stamps around the sentiment, testing out my positioning on some scrap paper.  With just the butterflies in the Misti - I dampened all the images and stamped them onto my ink blended background.  The nature of Distress Oxide inks is that when you add water, the inks oxidize, so I was left with chalky white butterflies - a bit of an ethereal effect.  I then spattered the cardstock with water using a wet paintbrush, which gave it a wonderful speckled look.

Positioning the sentiment in the center of my piece, I stamped it in Onyx Black Versafine ink.  I used my Hemstitch Rectangle die to cut out the pattern around the rectangle, and mounted it onto black cardstock before adhering it to my card.

As The Deer - Watercolor Weekend

Art Impressions recently released five new Bible Journaling stamp sets, and they make up into beautiful cards!  Today I'm using 5128 - As The Deer Set:

 Since I knew that I wanted to use my oval Spellbinder's die set, I started by marking it's shape in pencil on my watercolour paper, so that I knew where I wanted my images to be placed.  I coloured all of the images with my N57 Warm Grey marker, and other than the stones (where I pulled out the colour a bit for shading, with a damp #4 brush) - I didn't touch the lines, just painted within them.

 I used 947 Burnt Sienna for the deer and the tree, layering the colour to get the deeper tones.  Using the floral cluster from 5074 Bible Flower Set, and my 856 marker, I stamped clusters of flowers and dabbed them with a damp brush to intensify the colour.  I used the tiny leaf sprig from the set to add some foliage under the flowers and to the tree branches, using my 177 Dark Jade marker.  I also used the 177 with the large and small grasses from the 5073 Bible Foliage set, and then pulled the green colour out to fill in the green areas.  I darkened up their hooves and noses with the N57 Warm Grey, and then picked up 565 Deep Blue from my palette and painted in the flowing river.  I went back in and added a few ripple marks around the rocks, and added shadows under the deer.

This is another card that I think would make a wonderful Try-fold!  The stamp set also includes three lovely script sentiments, perfect for journaling.

New Ai Bible Journaling Sets

If you're a fan of the Art Impressions line of Bible Journaling stamp sets, today is your lucky day!  I am helping to launch the five new sets for 2019 by sharing 3 projects made with 5130 - On The Sparrow Set.  I wanted to show how you can use these sets for so much more than journaling - so I have two cards and a bookmark to share:

When I first saw the On The Sparrow set, I immediately thought of using it for a Try-fold card (Art Impressions style!) so I played around with the stamps to create a Try-fold card in a size that worked with the images.  I'm using a smooth watercolour paper that scored well and doesn't create a bulky card when it's layered three times.  It measures 10 1/4" x 5 1/4" and is scored 3 3/8" in from each side.

 I used three of the lovely script sentiments that come with the set, putting a different one on each layer, because they worked so well together.

 And finally the card opened up:

 I created a simple card using one of the bird/branch images, along with the nest and the fourth sentiment "Sing".  *I'll list the colours I've used on all the projects at the bottom of my post.

I've used Tombow Dual Brush markers, starting by colouring the birds/branches with 969 Chocolate, then softening the lines with a damp brush.  I used N57 Warm Grey for the robins, scribbling the marker onto my palette, and picking up the colour with my paintbrush, layering a few times to build up the darker shades.  Their red breasts are 856, and I used the 993 marker directly on the paper to add a bit of colour to the beaks and feet.  I used the medium leafy sprig from 4867 WC Foliage Set 2 New to stamp the leaves in 177 Dark Jade, stamping multiple times without reinking to get both light & dark foliage.  I added a touch of robin's egg blue to the eggs in the nest, colouring directly with my 451 marker.  And finally, I watered down 565 Deep Blue to paint a blue wash suggesting the sky.

Head on over to the Art Impressions blog to see what the rest of the Guest Designers are sharing today!  And Happy Stamping!