Hiker Foundation and Water of Life

  

I am on the Art Impressions blog today for their Watercolour Weekend post!  My first card is using one of the newly released Scenic Foundation sets that have more of a masculine feel to them.  This is the 6068 - Hiker Foundation set.

Using my Misti, I stamped the image onto my Canson XL watercolour paper using Tombows #969/565.  *With a larger image like this, it helps to use a stamping platform, as you can reink and stamp it a second time if your first impression isn't perfect.  Before stamping the foliage, I painted light shades of #565 on the mountains, getting a little darker for the hills in the foreground.  I was aiming for some striking contrast, so used #346 to paint in the two closest bits of land.  I wanted a bit of a sunset sky, so I started by mixing #991 and #856 to give me tones of yellow and peach.  I echoed the same colours in the water, reflecting both the mountains and the sunset.  I added streaks of darker tones to the water to make it look like ripples on the lake.

The grass in the foreground was painted with a wash of #177, and layers of #992 were painted on the pathway.  The two main trees were painted with streaks of #992/969/947, as were the edges of the pathway under the grass overhang.  After pulling out the colour of the rocks with my damp brush, I added more shades of N52/565/992 to the stones, creating contrast between the rocks.  I used the foliage stamp from 5373 - WC LG Tree Set and #177/249 to stamp the foliage on each of the trees, turning the stamp so that it would appear irregular.  I touched the foliage with a damp brush to soften it, and added in a few darker tones for shadows.  I used the tiny sprig from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set and #177/ to add a few low shrubs in and around the trees and rocks, then added a few branches from 4964 - WC Branches Set in #969.  A little grass was added in #177 using the small grass from Foliage Set - 4051.

I painted the hiker in coordinating colours #565/992/177/969, other than his bright hat in #856.  I hadn't painted in the sun before I added the foliage (should have!), so I just dabbed some white at the edge of the mountain, and then painted some white streaks into the water to indicate the sun.  White paint was also used to add in some flowers on the shrubs.  As a final touch, I used my paint brush and #346 to add a line of pine trees to one of the hillsides.  The image was die cut with the 5063 - A2 Rectangle Double Stitched Dies, matted with a warm brown, and adhered to my base with 3D foam adhesive.

My second card is using two of the new sets from the Bible Journaling line.

I die cut my Canson XL watercolour paper with the 5063 - A2 Rectangle Double Stitched Dies, and stamped the sleeping lamb from 6025 - Fear Not Set using #969/565.  After masking him, the stone well from 6055 - Water of Life Set was stamped behind him.  I pulled out the colour from the lines on the well, concentrating the colour where shadows would be - then added more N52/565 to darken the stones.  On the lamb, I added #850 to his ears and nose, and painted it as a wash over his fleece, to add a little warmth.  N52/565 were used for shadows, and to add some dabbled texture to indicate the fleece.

#126 was painted as a wash for the grass, and #493 done as a wash in the sky.  The two long grass stamps from 6025 were stamped around the well in #177, and two of the floral images were stamped in #177/856, on either side.  The small grass from Foliage Set - 4051 added a little texture in #177 around the bottom.  I used a light version of #565 to paint the bird, and touch some pale orange to his beak.  I used my black Twintone marker to darken the eye of the bird, and those of the lamb.  My grey Twintone marker was really helpful in redefining the lines of the well that had blurred a bit after painting, and for darkening the bird's legs.  Since I don't have a lot of luck in spattering paint on my images, I used the grey Twintone to add little dots around my image to suggest a little texture in my painting.

The sentiment is from the retired Exclusive Daisy set from several years ago.  I added a grey mat to my painting, and adhered it with 3D foam adhesive to my base which is paper from the 6011 - Basic Teal PP.

October Watercolour Weekend

  I am up on the Art Impressions blog today!

Scroll down to the end of my post to enter my Giveaway!

 

October crafting - it's a balance between fall & Christmas projects for me, so these will be the last of my fall Ai paintings for a while!  My first card features the tub from the recently released 5923 - Farmhouse Container Set, filled with different flowers and foliage.

I stamped the tub in N55 on my Canson XL Watercolour Paper, then masked the top edge of it and added the two sunflowers from 5594 - Harvest Scarecrow Set in #993/177/969.  The ferns from 5830 - WC Mini Wreath Set were added in #126, and the foxglove from 4052 - WC Flower Set 1 was stamped repeatedly in #565, angled in different directions.  Everything was touched with a damp brush, and layers of colour were painted on the flowers.  The small grass from 4051 - WC Foliage Set 1 was added in #158, and painted as a wash below the tub.  #496 was added as the sky.

The background paper is from 5835 Mini PP.

My second card is a slimline (8 1/2" x 3 1/2"), and I have cased this card by Marie Nicole, as I loved how she used a gnome for the A, and I knew how great this would look with the 5785 - Gnomes Set.  I die cut the letters from the 5072 - Block Letters Die Set in kraft paper to spell out Grateful, omitting the A.  I blended some Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink onto the bottom of each letter to create a soft gradient effect.

All of my images are stamped in N55 on Canson XL Watercolour paper.  I used a mix of #565/249 to create the teal colour that I painted on his hat and pants, using several layers to create the darker tones.  N55 and N75 were painted on his boots and mits, and light tones of N55 were painted on the edge of his beard.  A little #850 coloured up his nose.  Some #947 is painted on his tunic, as I wanted it to match some of the shades on the pumpkins.

The two pumpkins from 5059 - WC Harvest Set are always my favourite pumpkins to use on projects!  They were painted in tones of #993/933/947/969 and #249/565 respectively, with #126/158 added to their stems.  I wanted a few leaves scattered around my project, so I used the two clusters from 5795 - Berries Set, colouring them with dabs of #993/126/905/933158.  After fussy cutting everything out, they were mounted to my project with some thin 3D foam tape, to add a little dimension.

I used the 5463 - Slimline Dies Set to cut out my background paper, which I matted with some teal cardstock, and then adhered it to my kraft cardstock base.

Giveaway time!

I have two of the recently released flower sets (5917 & 5918) to give to someone who leaves a comment on the Watercolour Weekend blog post on the Art Impressions blog. **Please note** - the giveaway is open to Canadian residents only! - I'm afraid that's where I'm mailing from, and to keep mailing costs down, avoid duty etc... we're going to give our Canadian fans a chance this time.

Just leave a comment (click here for a link to the Ai blog!) before midnight ET, Sunday, October 13th - and I will update thepost with the winner's name on Thanksgiving Monday, October 14th.

December Watercolour Weekend

It's a short month on the Art Impressions blog for the Watercolour Weekend posts, as the blog shuts down for a holiday break later this month.  So Tricia and I are both posting today on the Ai blog.

My card is a twister.  I adore making these!  I've wanted to try this idea for a while...  I started by picking my patterned papers from the new 5812 - Christmas S2 Paper Pack, and used that as my colour palette to paint the front and back images of the snowman from 5815 Mini Christmas Twister Set:

I stamped him using Tombow #N55 (using a grey for a less muddy outline) on some Bristol Smooth cardstock, then painted him in with #312/249/847/N55, and I used my 933 marker directly for his nose.  The dies that are included in the set cut him out so easily!  And they add on the little notch at the top and bottom that fit into the opening for the twister.  I used the 5724 Nested Rectangle Dies to cut out all my background papers, and mounted them onto my card base.

With the smaller (lemon-shaped!) die, I cut the opening for the twister, through all layers of paper (I did trim away a few to make it less bulky).  I cut a frame for the opening out of the same red cardstock for both the inside and outside of my card - I always like to make the inside of the card neat and tidy looking, and glued them in place.  I love the 5072 Block Letters Die Set, and cut the J and Y in red, and a second set in the striped paper from the pack - layering them both for a bit of a shadow effect.  After gluing the back-to-back snowman pieces together, I bent him slightly to fit him into the frame.  I added a sentiment from 5566 Christmas Sentiment Set with some 3D foam adhesive.

I will have another project to share later today.  Check out the Ai blog to see what Tricia is showing this week.

Brand New Art Impressions Foundations

 It's time for a new Watercolour release with Art Impressions!  The four new Foundations sets are each a different large scene, where you simply decide what is going to go in each container.  I'm using the wonderful 5434 - WC Foundations Wood Table today!  I decided that I would make my scene a Farmer's Market - just think of all the different things you could put in those containers!

Before I started, I stamped out all of the images from WC Peeking Animals, and WC Veggies to create masks.  The first thing I stamped was the pumpkin!  Using #933 Orange/#177 Dark Jade, then covered it with a mask.  After stamping my foundations image in Tombow #969/#565, I started by stamping the squirrel in #947 Burnt Sienna, and the possum (I think??) in #992 Sand.  Then, I went to town masking like crazy.  I masked off the edges of each pot, so that the veggies would appear to be in them.  I'm just going to list all of the images and colours used:  Eggplants #636 Imperial Purple; Tomatoes #856 Chinese Red; Broccoli #249 Hunter Green; Artichokes #076 Green Ochre; Yellow Peppers #993 Chrome Orange.  I used the Salvia from 4052 - WC Flower Set 1 in #565 in the top bucket, and the bloom from 4605 - Spring Basket in #856 in the lower bucket.

I painted all of them in by picking up the colour from my palette, adding it in layers to achieve deeper colours.  The warm pots are painted in #947, the blue ones in #493 Reflex Blue, and the greys and wood table are all painted by mixing combinations of #969/#565.  The large grass from 4051 - WC Foliage Set 1 was stamped in #177 around the containers and the colour was pulled out with a damp brush.  I used #565 to create shadows around the sides, under rims and in all the darker corners of my veggies & pots!  #493 was painted in as the sky, and I stamped the sentiment from 5136 - WC Sentiment Set 2 on a circle of watercolour paper cut with the 5064 - Circle Double Stitched Die.  The entire scene was cut out with the largest 5063 - Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Die.  Head over to the Art Impressions blog on Saturday to see the gorgeous projects Dot & Tricia have made!

Watercolour Weekend: Mask It Up!

 It's Watercolour Weekend on the Art Impressions blog, and our theme is 'Mask it Up'!  I'm using one of the new die-only sets from the Fall release for this week's project.  Here is 5367 - WC Birdcage Dies:

I started by diecutting the larger birdcage die from some Masking Paper, then placed it onto my Canson XL Watercolor Paper.  Be sure to stick it down firmly, as you don't want paint or water seeping under the mask.  I began stamping with my flowers - using the small daisy bunch from 4052 - Flower Set in #993 Chrome Orange, then used the circle of V shaped flowers from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 in both#533 Peacock Blue and #565 Deep Blue, stamping multiple times in a circle to create my clusters.

To add the foliage, I used the two trailing ivy stamps in 4867 - WC Foliage Set 2 New, in #249 Hunter Green, stamping in and around my flowers.  To fill in any empty spots, I used the tiny green in the set with #126 Light Olive - which gave my scene a nice bright punch of colour.  To finish, I picked up #565 from my palette and painted in the background - carefully making sure to paint right up against all of the birdcage bars, so that when the mask was removed, the white 'negative' of the cage remained.  With my fine #1 paintbrush, I painted thin lines around my birdcage to create shadows, and the suggestion that it is a 3D object. 

                           

I added a sentiment from the Exclusive Daisies Set available at Scrapbook.com in Versafine Onyx Black, then die cut my scene with a decorative die.

Watercolour Snowman

 Hello Ai fans!

I'm using the sweet Art Impressions image from 5060 - WC Snowman Set for my holiday card today:

I started by colouring the entire body image with my #565 Deep Blue Tombow Dual Brush marker, and then carefully coloured over just the hat, scarf and bits of coal with #969 Chocolate, before stamping onto my Canson XL Watercolour paper.  I coloured and stamped the twig arms in both colours, adding them to either side of my little man.  With my damp #4 paintbrush, I pulled the colour out from all the stamped lines, concentrating the blue where the shadows would be.  I added #158 Dark Olive and #856 Chinese Red to my palette, and painted them onto the scarf and hatband, leaving a few white areas as hightlights.  I did the same with #N25 Lamp Black, painting it onto the shadowy areas of the hat, fading it down to nothing.  I used the N25 marker directly on the paper to add a few more defined shadows to the hat and all of the lumps of coal.  My damp #1 paintbrush was used to pull the colour from the twigs, and a little more #969 was painted in where needed.  I used the small greenery image from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set coloured with #158 to stamp some greenery on the hat, and used the tiny dotted flowers in #856 to add the berries, then touched both with a damp brush.  A watery #565 was painted around him as the sky, and used to add a few extra shadows where necessary.

My card base was made with some Simple Stories paper that I zigzag stitched with my sewing machine using some pale lime green thread.  The snowman was die cut with the 5064 Circle Double Stitched Dies, and the sentiment from 5935 - Sparkle & Cheer Set was die cut with the 5063 - Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies.  Both were mounted with 3D foam dots and a few green sprigs were tucked underneath.

Pumpkin Basket

 I've got a fall scene to share this week for Art Impressions Watercolour Weekend, and I created my own watercolor frame to go with it:

 Using my Tombow Dual Brush Marker #969 Chocolate, I coloured the basket from 4605 - Spring Basket, and stamped it onto my Canson XL Watercolor paper.  I masked it off, and used the 2 pumpkins from 5059 - WC Harvest Set, stamping them in very light versions of #969, masking them as I went so that they appear behind each other.  I scribbled #312 Holly Green, #228 Gray Green and #946 Gold Ochre onto my palette, and painted them in on the various pumpkins - layering the colours to get deeper shades, especially in the crevices.  I used my damp #4 paintbrush to pull the colour out of the lines of the basket, adding more colour to the shadowed areas, and making sure that the basket weave stood out.  I used my Twintone marker in #41 Chocolate to draw in the basket handle (it's not part of the stamp, you have to draw it in yourself!).

 With the double wheat image from 5008 - WC Flower Set 3, I stamped it repeatedly in #991 Light Ochre behind the pumpkins, and added a few in #076 Green Ochre as well.  Using the two leafy stems from the Spring Basket set, I coloured them both in #228 Gray Green, and tucked them in and around the pumpkins, along with some small twigs from 4964 - WC Branches Set in #969.  The large grass from 4051 - WC Foliage Set 1 was stamped in #076 around the base of the basket, and touched with a damp brush.  A faint wash of #565 Deep Blue was painted in as the sky, and shadows.

To create my frame, I painted my warm Tombow shades (#969, 947, 946 & 991) onto a piece of watercolour paper, then I taped two of the 5063 - Rectangle A2 Double Stitched dies together with some washi tape, and ran it through my die cut machine. I adhered the frame over my image with some 3D foam adhesive tape to raise it up a little, then added some brown paint spatters to my card.

Retro Shop for Watercolor Weekend

It's time for Watercolour Weekend with Art Impressions!  I was aiming for a bit of a 'retro' feel with today's project - using a softer, muted palette for my scene:

I stamped my Cafe image from 5260 - WC Large Shops Set in Tombow Dual Brush marker #969 Chocolate on my Canson XL watercolor paper.  I used my damp #4 paintbrush to soften the lines, and primarily pulled the colour out and away from the image, which gave a soft brownish halo to the shop - like a 'sepia-toned vintage photo' appearance.  I almost left it that way, but this is when I decided to use a very muted, pale colour palette.  I chose #076 Green Ochre (despite the name, it's a golden yellow shade) and painted a soft wash of it as the shop colour, and stamped it with the tiny dotted flower image from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set to fill my flower boxes.  A stronger shade of it was used to paint in the door.

I chose #772 Blush to paint in the sign, and add the stripes to the awning.  A very watered-down version of #526 True blue was used for the window boxes and painted in as the sky.  The flowers needed to stand out a little more, so using the finer tip of my #312 Holly Green - I added the tiny little bits of foliage directly on my paper.  I painted it in as a suggestion of the grass, and some shrubbery, then used the marker to draw in a few blades of grass.  With #992 Sand, I painted in the walkway, and added a little colour to the roof.  I picked up a very watered down version of #565 Deep Blue from my palette, and used it to paint shadows on the chimney, under the eaves, stairs and planter boxes - and also painted shadows into the windows.  I made sure to leave plenty of white space on the windows to imitate the reflections in the glass.    

Lastly, I stamped the Cafe sign using #969, then used Memento Rich Cocoa ink to stamp in the sentiment from 5136 - WC Sentiment Set 2.  The scene was diecut with the 5063 - Rectangle Double Stitched Dies, mounted on a soft kraft cardstock and added to the background I'd chosen of some muted/retro papers.  I am always drawn to strong, bright colours - so this was very out of my comfort zone!  I recommend trying something new whenever you can (it's a great way to get yourself out of a rut, and off in a new direction!).  

Be sure to check out the Art Impressions blog this Saturday, to see what Dot & Tricia have to share.