Fishin' Watercolour Card

This is pretty much a CASE of a Watercolour Wednesday scene, but I wanted to try doing some Art Impressions watercolours, using a limited palette.  So with brown, a little grey and shades of African Violet markers, here's what I came up with:

 I'm quite happy with how this turned out!  I'm just getting started with the Little Boys & Girls sets, so I'm learning what colours/methods work best. 

Lots more watercolours to come this week!  Oh, and if you're in the Greater Toronto area, and want to take an Ai watercolour painting class... I'm teaching at The Crafter's Workshop next week - there are still some Tuesday spots available!
Stamp sets used are: WC Little Boys set; WC Dogs set; WC Boat set; Marvy & Tombow markers; Paper and cardstock is Close To My Heart.

Little Girl Painted Scene

I have another sweet card to share as a result of my painting frenzy last weekend.  I had a great time using the Little Girls and Little Boys sets from the Art Impressions Watercolor line.  I'll keep posting them as I get them made up into cards, but today I have the Little Girl set:

 She's a little more vibrant than she appears in the photo!  I used my Marvy and Tombow markers and a damp paintbrush to colour my scene

Stamp sets used are WC Little Girls Set; WC Boat Set; WC Sitting Places Set; WC Fall Set.  Markers are Marvy & Tombow; Cardstock and paper is Close To My Heart.

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.

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #300!

I was so happy that Michelle asked me to be a guest designer for the 300th challenge (wow!) for the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge blog this week.  There are a whole bunch of guests joining the team this week, so I hope you'll join us and play along.  Here's what I've come up with:

Now, if you scroll down and take a peek at our sketch... you'll see that it has quite a lot going on.  My normal go-to is a bunch of coordinating patterned paper, but for some reason I decided to make it a mostly one-layer card, and I represented all of the shapes with stamps.  Once I picked which stamps I wanted to use, I decided to make it a rainbow effect.

I started by blending four colours of Distress Oxide inks lightly into the top and bottom corners, and then stamped over them with the polka dots in dye based inks.  I added the sketchy circles to represent the circles on the sketch, and sprinkled on a rainbow of sequins in lieu of the flowers.  I stamped the Hello sentiment inside the red circles, then matted it with black and adhered it to the base with pop dots.  I have a small arrow die, and almost adhered a little black one onto the card, but decided that with my rainbow colours, it was busy enough!

Stamp sets used: Better Together by Verve; Hello and Doodled Designs by Close To My Heart; Inks are Black Oxide by Versafine; Pear, Creme Brulee, Sunset, Tulip, Gypsy & Sapphire by Close To My Heart; Mowed Lawn, Honey, Wilted Violet & Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide inks by Ranger.  Black and White Daisy cardstock by Close To My Heart.

Sketchy Saturday Christmas cards

It took me a couple of days to complete these... but I am happy to say that I got four Christmas cards done this week using Laurel Seabrook's current Sketchy Saturday sketch.  It's a great sketch for using busier papers, so that's what I did.  I used some CTMH papers from a few years ago called City Sidewalks, that are really pretty.  Here's what I came up with:

 I'm going to dig out some tiny red gems that I have in my stash - and will add them as the dot in the i!  I add some red zigzag stitching and attached part of the sentiment with my stapler.

Patterned papers are City Sidewalks, CTMH; Cardstock is White Daisy, Cranberry and Peacock, CTMH; Dies are Stitched Alpine Snowflakes by Poppy Stamps, and the word die is Verve; Stamp set is Baking Penguins by Inky Antics.

A Sketchy Saturday Valentine

I am using Laurel's Sketchy Saturday sketch for a valentine card today.  I just bought this 1canoe2 plaid paper at The Crafter's Workshop... and I'm a little obsessed with it.  I wasn't thrilled with the card I made with it yesterday - but this one I really like.

 For the little strip down the middle... I was searching through my stash, trying to locate my vellum, and came across this 12x12 sheet of rust coloured mesh?  I only vaguely remember getting it, and had never cut into it!  It fit perfectly with the vibe that I wanted for this.  I used my Cricut to cut a heart from the metallic rose gold paper, and die cut the word from some older paper.  I used my stapler to attach the mesh strip .

 I'm trying to get better at staging my photos this year... improving the lighting, and trying a few new angles.  Here's my attempt at a flat lay shot, too:

Laurel will have a new sketch up again tomorrow, I'm sure, but for now, I'm happy to have my first valentine ready to go.

Mojo Monday & Inspired By

Finally getting around to posting in 2019!  I am happy to play along with both the sketch from Mojo Monday #506... and the snowman inspiration on the Inspired By blog.  I have been using my Art Impressions Watercolour stamps a lot recently, and don't think that I've ever posted a card using this sweet snowman?  First Christmas card for 2019 is added to my stash:

Patterned papers are Merry & Bright by Carta Bella; Alpine Stitched Snowflakes by Poppy Stamps; Snowman is Art Impressions Watercolour stamp; Tombow & Marvy markers.