Allie's Birthday Card

It's my crafty niece's birthday today!  And like me, she is a creative soul.  We both love the Art Impressions watercolour line... and I used a couple of sets for the first time to make up Allie's birthday card.  Ai came out with a sweet little boy set, along with benches/logs/wharves to put them on, so that's what I used, since she has a little munchkin of her own.

I used a combo of my Tombow & Marvy markers to stamp the little boy, then masked him & added the bench & puppy.  Then I had to create a scene behind him.  Since they live on the edge of the Rockies, I wanted to make something similar to their backyard, so I sketched in the mountains and hillsides directly with my markers and paintbrush.  He's looking off in the distance at something, so I grabbed the kite from the Cottage by the Beach set, making it look like someone was flying it just over the hill.

Stamp sets used are: Foliage Set 1, WC Dogs Set, Cottage By the Beach, WC Mini Flowers Set, WC Sitting Places Set, WC Little Boys Set, WC Tree Set 1 - All Art Impressions;  Canson Watercolour Paper; Cardstock is Tulip, and patterned paper are both Close To My Heart; Maya Road Twine; Marvy and Tombow markers.

Ai Watercolour Tractors

A few more watercolour samples to share with you today.  I did both a summer & fall version using the WC Harvest Set (Sku #5059) from the Art Impressions Watercolour collection.  For the summer version, I added one of the WC Rustic Cabins Set (Sku #4962) and the trees from WC Tree Set 1 (Sku #5010):

 I drew in the hillside, and painted in a few faint mountains in the background.  For my fall version, I added one of the pumpkins that comes in the tractor set, and created some fall trees using WC Tree Set 1.

Both images are matted on a dusty brown cardstock, and adhered with pop dots.  I am entering my second card into the current Art Impressions challenge, which is "Add Embellishments!"

Seasonal Watercolours

Two more watercolour cards today, using the Art Impressions Watercolour stamp sets: the barn and truck are from WC Truck Mini Set; and the trees are from WC Tree Set 1.  The tree branches in the truck bed are from the WC Branches Set:

 I used my Marvy African Violet marker to draw in the hillside and snow mounds, then painted in the mountains and added a setting sun and some whispy clouds.

 I used my sewing machine to add some zigzag stitching to the background papers, stamped my sentiment and popped up the image with some pop dots.

 For my second card I created a spring version of the truck, making a grassy meadow, and adding  some purple flowers with the tiny flowers from the original Flowers Set.

My upcoming class at The Workshop in Stouffville is showing how to use the same stamps to create scenes for different seasons, so I'm going to take these along as examples.

Watercolour Fawns

I am trying hard to get all of my watercoloured images made up into cards!  This sweet fawn is from WC Mini Critter Set - part of the Art Impressions winter 2018 release.  The first time that I break open a stamp set, I usually like to copy the scene on the packaging, which is pretty much what I've done here.  I also used the tree from WC Tree Set 1, and bits from WC Foliage Set 3 and WC Flower Set 3:

 I did both a rectangular (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") version, and a 5 1/4" square version, and added some simple sentiments:

Happy stamping!

Art Impressions Wooden Door class

I have another Art Impressions Watercolour class coming up at the Crafter's Workshop in Stouffville, Ontario in a few weeks (October 16th & 19th you can sign up online here!), so I thought I'd share what we're going to be making.  We'll be doing two cards, both with "Wooden Door"- and the set is included in the class fee, so you get to take it home with you.  At first glance - this looks like a holiday stamp set, but we're going to see just how versatile these stamps are when you change them up a little, since we're going to do both a fall & winter/holiday version.  Here are the samples:

Our first card is following pretty much how the set was designed to be used - a wintery doorway, with a wreath and a covering of snow.

 For the fall version, we'll be using the same doorway, switching up the colour palette with some fall foliage, and a pot of flowers instead of the wood pile.  *We're going to be doing a third project, too - that will be a surprise.  Hope to see you at the Workshop - spots are filling up fast!

Open Window

Today I'm using one of the original Art Impressions Watercolor Mini sets: #4608 Open Window.  It's such a great little scene to paint, and it made up quickly into a card:

Patterned papers are Jenn Hadfield & Lawn Fawn; Wonky Stitched Square die, My Favorite Things; Stamp set is Open Window from Art Impressions; Tombow & Marvy markers;  Sentiment is Close To My Heart.

Ai Wishing Well watercolour

I painted up a bunch of Art Impressions watercolour images earlier in the summer, and have been trying to get them all made up into cards.  Here is WC Wishing Well Mini Set:

If you live in the Greater Toronto area, you can find a huge selection of the Ai watercolour stamps at the Crafter's Workshop in Stouffville.
Stamp set is #5012 WC Wishing Well Mini Set by Art Impressions; Tombo & Marvy markers; Cardstock and patterned paper are Close To My Heart; Sentiment is Verve.

Pots of Flowers

I've had these images painted for a couple of years now - and only just made them up into cards this week.  I am using the Art Impressions Watercolour stamps, and have painted them on the Close To My Heart smooth watercolour paper.  It's a fairly blue-white paper, and shows the pigments from the markers quite strongly:

 The plaids are from Jen Hadfield for Simple Stories, along with the Lawn Fawn Watercolour papers.

Stamp sets used are WC Containers; Flower Cart; Foliage Set; Flower Set.  Marvy & Tombow markers.  Sentiment sets are both CTMH.

Art Impressions Watercolours

Well, we are just coming out of the horrible ice/snow/freezing rain situation that has plagued the east for the last few days... and the one upside was that I was forced to stay indoors and craft (forced!!).  I somehow managed to get 16 cards put together.  I will admit that I had a pile of Art Impressions watercolour images already painted up, so it was just a matter of picking papers and putting them all together.  Here are the first of them that I'll be sharing over the next few days:

 I am teaching two Ai Watercolour classes at the Workshop in Stouffville Ontario this week, so these are some of the samples that I brought to share.  I finally had a chance to use the gorgeous new Lawn Fawn gingham papers - they were the perfect soft background.

Art Impressions Watercolour sets used are: Rustic Containers Set; Garden Wagon Mini Set; Foliage Set; Flowers set; Flower Set 2; and Watering can.  Sentiments are CTMH. Marvy & Tombow inks.

I am playing along with Laurel's Sketchy Saturday sketch, as well!

Watercolour Wonders challenge

I am playing along with the current Art Impressions challenge, which is "Watercolour Wonders"!  I got this stamp set a little while ago, and only just had a chance to paint it.  I've paired it up with (my favourite!) Lawn Fawn plaid papers, and made two of them for some bright & pretty spring cards:

Stamp sets are WC Series 5 Set 2 (Sku #4059), Flower Set (Sku #4052) and Foliage Set (Sku #4051) all from Art Impressions; Marvy Markers; Maya Road jute; MFT Dienamics, Wonky Stitched Square die; Lawn Fawn plaid papers.

One last 2017 post

Thought I'd sneak in one more post before the year runs out... I painted this image a few months ago using the Art Impressions watercolor collection stamps - something I just love doing.  For Christmas I made up a couple of dozen cards for my nephew to have a stash on hand, and this is one of the ones that was part of the collection.  So even though Mother's Day is a few months off, I loved how this pretty card turned out and thought I would post it.  I have stepped down from the Ai Design Team effective today, which is very bittersweet for me - I've been on the team for 4 1/2 years, met the loveliest people, have had my cards published in a magazine, and featured by some prominent retailers, and I'd like to think that my colouring skills have improved in the mean time.  Oh, you'll still see me using an awful lot of Ai images, especially these watercolour stamps... it's a bit addicting.  Wishing you all a Happy New Year, and a big round of thanks for all the lovely comments I've received here on my blog.

Holiday Watercolour Cards

 I have several different cards to share today using a variety of the Art Impressions Watercolor stamp sets.  I was so excited when the WC Fir Trees Set (Sku #4960) debuted in the summer, and was very keen to try using it for Christmas greenery. I really love the results! 

 I started out with my watercolour paper and Marvy markers, and used the No. 4 paintbrush that is available in the Ai store.  For the urn, I used WC Ornate Container Set (Sku #4890) and my Brownish Grey Marvy marker.  I intentionally didn't colour the top edge of the container, as I knew that I wanted the foliage to be spilling over the edge.  Using my Jungle Green Marvy marker, I inked up four of the branch stamps, stamping the lower branches first, and filling in upwards.  I left a space in the center, and inked up one of the branches from WC Branches Set (Sku #4964) with my English Red Marvy marker (these are Red Dogwood branches!!).  I then used the brush end of my Marvy marker to hand draw in the pinecones by using a dabbing motion in a pinecone shape.  I used the fine end of the marker to add some shadows to the twigs:

 I used just two stamps from the set to make my wreath, and you can either draw a faint circle with a pencil to use as a guide, or do what I did, and stamp a branch on the top, bottom and on each side - forming a square shape.  Then continue stamping in between, shaping it into a circle.  I occasionally double stamped without re-inking, which gives a bit of depth to the wreath, by having some lighter toned sprigs.  I didn't fill in every white area, as that left me with spots to add in berries that I drew in directly with my red marker.  I also hand drew the bow in before there were too many sprigs around it.  I use a very light touch with my damp paintbrush, as I like to see some of the definition of the pine needles.

I was so happy with how these turned out, that I've made multiples to send as my Christmas cards.

Flowers & Foliage

The Art Impressions Design Team are back with week 2 of our Flowers & Foliage challenge - and we are helping to launch the newest collection of Ai Watercolour sets.  (If you didn't see last Thursday's post on the Ai blog - check it out, our Watercolour Design Team posted some gorgeous creations!).  I made a special card today for my wonderful niece, who just completed her Masters degree - an achievement in itself, but she also did it while teaching full time, and building a new house with her husband.  Yes, she is Superwoman.  I couldn't be happier for her!  She also got a very cute new puppy named Axe recently... so when Ai came out with the cute little puppies set in their watercolour line - I new what I was creating!

I started by stamping one of the puppies from WC Dogs Set (Sku #4959) and added an eye patch just like Axe has...  Then I masked him and stamped the milk pail from WC Containers (Sku #4111).  The bits & pieces in the pail are all from the WC Fall Set (Sku #4963) - love these!!  And then I used one of my favourite new Ai products - the WC Fence Dies (Sku #4967).  I die cut the fence out of a scrap piece of paper and used it as a mask behind my images, and then painted around it to create my grassy hillside.  I added some shadows to the undersides of the fence boards to give it some dimension.  (If you take another peak at the Halloween Shadow Box that I shared a few weeks ago, you'll see that I used the Fence dies to create my creepy fence!).  The grasses are from Foliage Set (Sku #4051) and the sentiment is from WC Sentiments Set (Sku #4903).

Watercolour Birthday

It was my Mother-In-Law's 89th birthday yesterday, and I thought she would enjoy a pretty watercoloured card.  I had painted my scene a little while ago using the Art Impressions Watercolour stamps and my Tombow & Marvy markers.  I used WC Series 7 Set 2 (Sku # 3545), along with a few of the flower and foliage stamps, and Verve's Happy Thoughts for the sentiment.  The papers are ancient ones from Close To My Heart!

Crafty Girls - Art Impressions Girlfriends

 The Art Impressions Design Team are swapping with Marvy this week!  So I am using some wonderful Marvy markers on today's project using one of the newest Girlfriends sets - here is Crafty Girls Set (Sku #4890):

 I used the Marvy Le Plume Permanent markers - in six different flesh tones to colour in the skin tones of my Girlfriends (these are wonderful alcohol based ink markers).  I also used the wonderfully sparkly Deco Just Glitter Premium gold marker to add a little glitter to one of the cards and an earring - here's a better shot so that you can see the glimmer!

 Our current challenge here on the blog is "Off Kilter" - we want to see your tilted panels on your creations.  Hope you can play along!

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Happy Stamping!

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