Ethereal Slimline Card

  I've painted another slimline card for Art Impressions Watercolour Weekend, this time done horizontally, with an ethereal feel:

I am all about bright colours, so to paint something light and pastel toned, was a real change for me!  I began with the tree image from 5056 - WC Fairy Doors Set, coloured in Tombow #969 Chocolate before stamping it twice onto my Bristol Smooth Cardstock.  I used two of the doors from the stamp set, to add a fairy door to each one.  I sketched in the rest of my scene with a pencil.  With a damp #1 paintbrush, I pulled out the colour from the lines of the trees, leaving a few light, highlight areas, and concentrating the colour in the shaded areas.  I used the greenery image from 4867 - WC Foliage Set 2 and #126 Light Olive to add in the leaves, and after going over them with a damp brush to soften them, I went in a second time to add more leaves with some definition.

I thought a rainbow/sunset sky would work well, so using a lot of water as a wash - the sky was faded from # 565 Deep Blue, down to #725 Rhodamine Red, and finally #991 Light Ochre.  The mountains were painted in shades of #565, keeping the closer hills a bit darker, and the farther hills a little paler.  The hillside was done in a wash of #126, and the stream and lake are in #493 Reflex Blue - where I kept the colour a little stronger at the edges.  I used #126 on the tiny grass image from 4051 - WC Foliage Set 1, which I stamped around the tree roots, and I added flowers with the tiny dot image from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set using #725 and #623 Purple Sage.  The doors were painted in #493 Reflex Blue and #761 Carnation with #623 on the overhang.  The doors each have a couple of stones in front of them, so I used my paintbrush to add in several more, to create more of a pathway.  To finish my scene off, I picked up #565 from my palette, and added shadows to the tree limbs, around the doors and to the stones.  

I die cut my panel with a pierced edge slimline die, and mounted it with 3D foam tape to my green cardstock base.  I also added Wink of Stella to highlight the greenery and water, so it's got a lovely shimmer across it!

Fall Scene for Watercolor Weekend

 I loved putting another fall scene together this week's Watercolor Weekend post on the Art Impressions blog, using a few sets that have been around a while:

I coloured up my puppy from 4959 - WC Dogs Set with my Tombow Dual Brush Marker in #969 Chocolate, and stamped him onto a large piece of Canson XL Watercolor Paper.  After masking him, I coloured up the 2 pumpkins from 5059 - WC Harvest Set with #565 Deep Blue, stamped it off on scrap paper, then coloured overtop with #969 before stamping them onto my scene.  With masks still in place, I inked up the milk can from 4701 - Clay Pot in 565/969 and stamped it with the help of my stamp positioner.  Using a damp #4 paintbrush, I pulled the colour out of the images, and softened the lines.  I used many layers of #969 to add colour to the pup, concentrating it where the darker shadows would be, and used the same technique on my pumpkins with #228 Gray Green, and #991 Light Ochre.

To create my bouquet, I used the Leaves image from Flower Set - 4052 in #991 stamping it repeatedly to give me the yellow flower base, then with the Salvia image in #992 Sand, I added in the tallest blooms, and tucked a few behind my orange pumpkin.  With the Mini Foxglove, coloured in #533 Peacock Blue, I stamped it in lines to create the trailing blue flowers.  I used my #228 marker to draw in the grass, and coloured it onto one of the flowers from 4963 - WC Fall Set as the green flowers.  My last addition was the large twig image from 4701 - Clay Pot, coloured and stamped in #969.

I painted in #565 as the sky colour, and added touches of 228/565/969 to the can, and added some 991 directly to the pumpkin as I wanted it to have some darker orange tones on the underside of it - then added a little to the puppy's coat as well.  I used all of my colours to paint a multi-coloured edge to my scene, and then die cut it with two different rectangle dies which served to create a frame.  I adhered the center piece with 3D adhesive to have it stand out a little from my slate blue cardstock base.

New Fall/Winter Art Impressions Watercolors

 Hello Ai Watercolor fans!

We are celebrating the new Watercolor release over on the Art Impressions blog!  I have a wintry scene for you today, using a few different stamp sets, and a very limited colour palette.  

I coloured the church image from 5058 -WC Churches Set in my Tombow Dual Brush Marker #565 Deep Blue, stamped it off on scrap paper, then reinked it in #969 Chocolate before stamping it onto my Canson XL Watercolor Paper.  I did the same with the bridge from 5122 - WC Bridge Set, positioning it in the foreground with my stamp positioner.  I masked the church, coloured my mountain from 5198 - WC Mountain Set in #565, stamped it off, and stamped it on either side of the church to form the background.  I used the two wintry trees from 5060 - WC Snowman Set, masking them, and stamping them in #565 to add my four trees to the scene.  With a pencil, I sketched in the hillside, the pathway and the stream - and my scene was complete.

With my damp #4 paintbrush, I softened all of the stamped lines, pulling the colour out of the mountains and trees, and concentrated it where the shadows appear, and adding extra of the Deep Blue from my palette where needed to deepen the colour.  I added extra blue to the sky and behind the church so that it contrasted with the snowy mountains, which made the hillside stand out also.  I picked up #969 from my palette to paint in the bridge, the church door, and the path.  With my Twintone marker in #41 Navy, I coloured it directly on the windows to darken them, and used it to help define the path, the stream, and to define the trees where needed.  I used a decorative rectangle die to cut out my scene, and added touches of glitter to add some sparkle to the snow.

Baby It's Cold Outside

 I was inspired once again to make some wintery cards with the Simple Stories Winter Farmhouse collection.  A little patterned paper, a few die cuts - done.  Four more in my stash!

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.

Farmhouse Christmas

 These Simple Stories Farmhouse Christmas papers get me all inspired to get busy making Christmas cards, so I did... and got 4 of these put together.

Lots of die cuts!  And a little stitching with my sewing machine.  Happy with how they turned out :o)

Slimline Covered Bridge card

It's Watercolour Weekend time!

 Another slimline card for you - this time featuring 5129 - He Leads Me Set:

I began by diecutting my Canson XL Watercolor paper with my scalloped slimline die, and then planned out my scene on some scrap paper first!  After colouring the covered bridge in first my #565 Deep Blue Tombow Dual Brush marker, stamping it off, and then colouring overtop with #969 Chocolate - I stamped it in the upper third of my rectangle.  Using a pencil, I drew a couple of light guidelines, extending the roadway down and towards the lower right edge of the panel.  With that in place, I knew where to position my little fox from 5016 - WC Mini Critter Set - which I coloured in #947 Burnt Sienna.  With the fox masked, I used my stamp positioner to place the fence just behind him, after colouring it in #565/969.  The tree in the set was stamped on either side of the bridge in the same blue/brown combo - and my scene was set.

I used a damp brush to pull the colour out of all the images, painting #565 onto the bridge, keeping shadowed areas darkest, and used it for the river running underneath.  Tones of #969 and #992 Sand were painted on the trees and fenceposts, keeping them streaky to suggest woodgrain.  Both browns were used to paint in the roadway as well.  A wash of #126 Light Olive was painted as the grass, and used to stamp the tiny foliage from 5073 - Bible Foliage as the tree leaves.  I also used #177 Dark Jade and #249 Hunter Green to add more colour to the trees.  A few sprigs were stamped as bushes, in #177, and the tiny grass from the set was stamped edging the road, and the larger grass was stamped in the foreground around the fence.  With the largest stamp from 4051 - WC Foliage Set, I stamped it several times in #177 behind the fence, and added the tiny dotted flowers from 5074 - Bible Flower Set in #905 Red.  They were stamped around the grass in #993 Chome Orange to add some extra colour to my scene.

To finish off, #493 Reflex Blue was painted in the sky, and a few shadows were added with #565 Deep Blue everywhere.  The roadway provided the perfect spot for my sentiment from the Exclusive Daisy Set available from Scrapbook.com