Inspired By #60

I pulled out an old pack of Teresa Collins patterned paper (Summer Stories) to use for this week's Inspired By challenge, as it seemed to fit the theme:

I made a patterned frame and stitched it down with my sewing machine, then lined up the bits & pieces as though they were hanging on a string, and sewed them down as well.  I tied tiny bows with my thread and glued them to the edges.  I love the little bit of subtle shimmer that these matte silver sequins add:

 I used the sketch from the Inspired By facebook group:

Whimsical Ai Watercolours

I really love the direction that Bonnie Krebs is going with her Watercolour Stamp line for Art Impressions.  When she first introduced the Fairy Doors and Hobbit Door sets, it really sparked something in me creative-wise, and her newest WC Elves Set is no exception:

 I was going to try doing these just using Sepia, for a monochromatic effect, but a few weeks ago I tried a scene using mostly Sepia & African Violet... and really loved the look.  In addition to Sepia, there is a brown tone here, but you get the idea.  The limited palette was wonderful to work with.

 On this card, I drew in my own version of the Fairy Doors (mainly so that I didn't have to mask!), and added in the stepping stones from the Cobblestone Set.  I worked really hard on my shadows in this one, and trying to achieve more of a depth of colour.  Stay tuned, as I hope to do a few more scenes around this theme.

If you are in Canada, you can order the Art Impressions Watercolour stamp line from The Crafter's Workshop... AND if you're in the Greater Toronto Area, you can join us this Saturday, March 2nd at The Crafter's Workshop for an "Open Studio" day - come and bring your own projects and supplies, whether it's watercolours or Copics to colour, I will be there working on my own creations, but will be happy to demo or help anyone who wants it.  Sheri & Alexis will be on hand for colouring tips and inspiration as well - sign up is here to reserve your table space.  Hope to see you there!

Quick & Simple Thank-You's

I needed a bunch of quick Thank-you cards that would work for both males & females, so I pulled out an older CTMH stamp set (A Little Everything) and got six of these made up:

 I used my Misti to stamp the three different coloured 'Thanks' on all the white panels, and used my sewing machine to stitch them down to some grey cardstock.

 For a couple of them, I just had bits and pieces of plaid leftovers, so I cut them in strips, and zigzagged over the seams.  The sentiments are attached with pop dots for a bit of dimension.

Plaid papers are Lawn Fawn; Inks are Pear, Creme Brulee and Lagoon - all CTMH.

Mini Bunny/Easter cards

I don't generally create Easter cards, but I was playing around with some quick scenes using my Art Impressions Watercolor stamps, and came up with these little bunny cards.  Perfect for a quick note, but would also work well as little Easter cards:

Each card is just 3x3".  Stamp sets used are WC Bunny Set; Flower Set and Foliage set.  Markers are Marvy & Tombow.  Patterned paper is Close To My Heart; *If you are in Canada, you can purchase Art Impressions Watercolor stamps & Tombow markers at The Crafter's Workshop - check out their new online store!

Mugs and Kisses

Today I'm sharing the valentine that I made for my daughter, who is coming home tonight for her reading week!  The Mugs and Kisses stamp set is intended as a wintry/holiday set... but with us expecting over a foot of snow this week, I thought that it would work perfectly as a wintry valentine, especially with the cute sentiment.  I've used the sketch from the current Mix It Up challenge on the Sugar Pea Designs blog:

 My sewing machine was acting up... so don't look too closely at the stitching!  But I love the little bit of texture that the sewing adds.  I popped the mug up with pop dots, and added some gumdrops & a few diecut hearts.

Stamp set is Mugs and Kisses by Sugar Pea Designs; Patterned paper is Down on the Farm by Doodlebug Designs; Versafine Onyx Black ink; Copic Markers; Black matte dumdrops are Your Next Stamp; Heart die is Verve.

Art Impressions Tag Watercolour

I have some brand new Art Impressions products to share today - and can I just say how much I love this new stitched tag die?!  It's a great size to paint a scene like I did, or to stamp a great image.  The set includes a bunch of different sized tags and a variety of little accent dies - like the little punched circle that I cut out of pink cardstock.

I've used several Art Impressions stamp sets from their Watercolour line: WC Little Girls Set; WC Boat Set; WC Sitting Places Set and Living Water Set.  The sentiment is brand new also - from Ai's WC Sentiment Set 2.  *If you're in Canada, you can get Art Impressions stamps at The Crafter's Workshop (they've just launched their online store!  Check it out.)

Sugar Pea Designs Mix It Up Challenge - Feb.

I am happy to say that I've finished up my family valentines ahead of time.  No scrambling at the last minute... yay!  I used Laurel's Sketchy Saturday sketch, along with the colours & theme from the February Mix It Up Challenge on the Sugar Pea Designs blog.  Here's what I'm giving my husband:

 Those are actually shiny silver stripes... you can see them a bit better in this photo:

I'm feeling a little rusty with my colouring, so it was great to pull out my Copics and get down to business.  Here was our inspiration:

Stamp set is Better Together by Sugar Pea Designs; Patterned paper is Head Over Heels Collection by Bo Bunny; Copic Markers; Silver Adhesive tape, Close To My Heart.

Diecut Watercolour Card

If you scroll down to yesterday's post, you'll see the LOVE card that I made using Art Impressions Watercolour stamps and their Block Letter Dies... which of course, left me with the diecut letters themselves.  So another card just had to be made!  Here's what I came up with:

Pretty busy compared to yesterday's CAS version, but I purposefully wanted to show how different two cards from the same source can look.  I even had all of these greenery die cuts sitting in my stash, and found some old flowers/brads that happened to match, so it came together pretty quickly.  This is about max for me as far as embellishments go!

Stamp sets are WC Foliage Set 2 and WC Flower Set 2 both are Art Impressions (you can find them here at the Crafter's Workshop!)

Ai Watercolour LOVE card

This is the third card that we are making at my Ai Watercolour Beginner class this week... and it's perfect for a valentine, wedding card, mother's day card or for anyone you love.

I used my Art Impressions Block Letters Die Set to spell out the word "LOVE" and placed them upside down on some Washi tape to secure them, and using a ruler to keep them even.

Our class is using WC Foliage Set 2 and WC Flower Set 2, so using a selection of stamps from each, I stamped them in clusters, starting with the flowers, and filling in around them with greenery, until I got the effect I was looking for.  I placed my alphabet dies on top of the floral background, securing them in place with the Washi tape, and ran it through my die cutting machine.

                            

Here are all three of the cards that we'll be making in the class, and if you visit my blog again tomorrow, I'll show you what I did with the leftover "LOVE" pieces.  You can find all of the Art Impressions products used in my projects at the Crafter's Workhop - they have a wonderful new online store that's up and running this week!

Ai Watercolour Class Cards

I am teaching my first of two beginner classes tomorrow, using the Art Impressions Watercolour stamps, so I thought I'd share two of the cards we're making.  The class is focusing on using WC Foliage Set 2 and WC Flower Set 2, so we are doing two different floral pots:

 Both cards are using pots from the WC Ornate Container Set.  I've used a selection of markers from both Tombow & Marvy

 There are still spots left in my Tuesday evening class - click here if you're in the GTA and are interested in having a crafty evening!  *And... did you know that the Crafter's Workshop has an online store open for business?  Check them out!

Happy stamping!

Ai Little Boy Watercolour cards

Two more cards using the sweet Art Impressions "WC Little Boys Set" watercolour stamps.  I posted one a week ago, which was my very first effort using the Little Boys... and I wanted to do a simplified version of the same scene:

 Even though painting the scene was fun, I love this version.  With painted cards, I usually keep the card itself pretty simple.

 Here's another attempt at the scene from last week.  No kite, a few more trees, and I tried for a bit more depth of colour everywhere.

 I'll be back with another post tomorrow, sharing some of the cards from my weekend class.

Stamp sets used: WC Little Boys Set; WC Sitting Places Set; WC Tree Set 1; WC Dogs Set; WC Flowers Set 2; Foliage Set - all from Art Impressions.  Tombo and Marvy markers.

Ai Decorative Jar

Here's my second card using the new WC Decorative Jar Set from Art Impressions, along with the new WC Foliage Set 4.  With watercolour cards, I keep the background pretty low key, and the design of the card very simple, as I want the focus to be on the painted image.  I tied an organdy ribbon around the matted image, and adhered it with pop dots to the base:

The card comes across looking a little harsh in the photo!  It's quite soft and lovely with that pale aqua background.  Cardstock and patterned paper are Close To My Heart.

New Art Impressions Watercolours

Art Impressions continues to add the most wonderful stamp sets to their watercolour collection.  Today I'm sharing a card made with their newest foliage set WC Foliage Set 4, and the new container set that features coffee & teapots, and some delicate designs to decorate them with: WC Decorative Jar set.

The new foliage set is lovely, with some interesting new sprigs that are perfect in the Decorative Jars... and you can see the little design that comes with the set, which allows you to decorate your teapot.  I used my Marvy & Tombow markers to colour the stamps, and then used a damp paintbrush to pull out the colours.  The sentiment is also from a new Ai stamp set: WC Sentiment Set 2.

Cardstock and patterned papers are Close To My Heart.

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.