Critter Pots

We'll be kicking off the 2023 Watercolour Weekends on the Art Impressions blog this Saturday!

I've painted a bright and fun scene today using 5519 - WC Mini Critter Pots.

I placed the snail, owl & puppy onto one clear block, which allowed me to place them exactly where I wanted them, and I could ensure they were straight as this is a clear set.  I inked them all up in #565/969, and stamped onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper.  With a pencil, I sketched in the plant stands.  I used #569 to paint the owl, #346 for the snail, and #N55 for the puppy.  With these colours: #565/757/993/346/126 I created the flowers and foliage using these stamp sets: 5008/4052/4868/5009/5126/4964.  After softening the images with a damp brush, I used #N52 to paint in the background, and went in with #565 to add shadows under and on the images.  I used my black Twintone marker to add the dots around the flowers, and to darken the eyes of each critter.  I die cut the image and adhered it to my base with some 3D foam adhesive.

Be sure to check out the Ai blog on Saturday to see what Tricia, and our new Design Team member, Diane have to share!  Now... before I finish up - I'd like to share my second card that I made for the Watercolour Weekend post.  I intended to post both versions to show how you can do just half of the images to make a second card.  I ended up finding the oval image WAY too busy, and prefer the slightly less crazy rectangular image.  But in the end, I've decided to post both of them here on my blog, as they both turned out to be really pretty - is the oval one busy?  Absolutely!  But I like it anyway :-)

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!

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.

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!

Watercolour Bunnies

 The new 2017 WC Bunnies Set (Sku #4874) is such a great new addition to the Ai Watercolor collection!  I love being able to add a few animals in with the foliage:

 I stamped the stump from WC Rustic Container Set first, then masked it and stamped my bunnies and the foliage around it.  The flowers are from Wooden Chair Mini Set (Sku #4876); the small greenery is from WC Foliage Ste 2 New (Sku #4867) and the grass is from Foliage Set (Sku #4051).  I drew in the flower stems myself.  After stamping, I used my damp #6 Art Impressions paintbrush to soften the lines, and pull out the colour.  I painted in a soft sky, and then using the leftover paint on my palette - I spattered it lightly all over the image.

On the inside I stamped "Celebrate Spring" from the Celebrate Spring MTF set (Sku #4849).  This would also make a great Easter card. I used Marvy Markers on some smooth watercolour paper for my project.  Happy painting!

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New 2017 Ai Watercolors

If you're a fan of the Art Impressions Watercolor collection of stamps - you're going to be in heaven!  Ai has just released ten new watercolor stamp sets: new containers, flowers & foliage - and my favourites... kittens, birds & bunnies.  Oh, and there's a brand new sentiment set made especially to work with the watercolor sets.  I have two cards to share today, scroll down to see which new sets I've used:

 Look closely - can you see the little bird's nest?  It's possibly my favourite stamp of the new release!

 The inside sentiment on this card is "Your kindness spreads like sunshine".  Both cards are using pots from WC Ornate Container Set (Sku #4870); Greenery from WC Foliage Set 2 New (Sku #4867); Flowers from WC Flower Set 2 (Sku #4868) and Wooden Chair Mini Set (Sku #4876).  The grass is from Foliage Set (Sku #4051).  Both sentiments are from WC Sentiments Set (Sku #4903).

 I kept both card designs fairly simple, as I really wanted the paintings to be the focus.  I used a mixture of both Tombow and Marvy markers along with my Ai #6 paintbrush.  Be sure to head over to the Art Impressions blog to see what the rest of the Design Team has to share today.

Happy painting!

Farmer's Market Watercolour

 I'm combining a bit of old & new today.  Last fall I painted up several images using WC Series 3 Set #1 (Sku #4056) and WC Series 3 Set # 2(Sku #4057) by Art Impressions.  I had always thought of these as "harvest/fall" stamps... until I saw this watercolor tutorial by Kendra Krebs - and she used it as a spring/farmer's market theme.    Here is one of the images that I painted, that I made up into a springlike card, along with the brand new WC Sentiments Set (Sku #4903):

 I used some smooth watercolour paper along with my Tombow & Marvy markers, then softened the lines and pulled out the colour with a damp paintbrush.  I added a little bit of sky, and stamped the sentiment once everything was dry.  After matting, I used pop dots to mount it, and tied some Maya Road twine underneath.

The grass is from Foliage Set (Sku #4051).  You can find a wide range of Marvy Markers on the Art Impressions website here.  Happy painting!

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