Spring Wheelbarrow

Time for the first April Watercolour Weekend - this will be up on the Art Impressions blog this Saturday.  I made a spring scene featuring one of the sets from Bonnie's fall release (they work for any season!):

I stamped the wheelbarrow from 5597 - Harvest Wheelbarrow Set in Tombow #969/565 onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper, then masked the edge to stamp my puppy from 4959 - WC Dogs Set, and my three pots from 4869 - WC Small Container set, masking and stacking them as I went.  I softened all the lines with a damp brush, and then created my florals.  For the striped pot, I began with the trailing vines from 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4 in #158, and added the daisy bunch from 4052 - Flower Set in #991.  The taller flowers are from 5475 - WC Flower Set 6 stamped in #177/533, and then I used the tulips from the same set to fill the other pot - creating a two-tone effect with #991/856 on each bloom, and 158 on the leaves.

I used #947 to create the terracotta pot, and painted layers of #969 on the puppy, keeping some areas white, and building up layers of colour where I wanted him darker (he reminds me of Sharon Caudle's new puppy!).  For the wheelbarrow, I painted layers of #526 for the blue, and used layers of #N65 to be the metal parts, keeping some areas white where they would be shiny.  I used the grass from Foliage Set - 4051 in #177, and then used #565 to paint in the sky, the stripes on the pot, and shadows where needed.  The image was die cut with the 5061 - Square Stitched Dies, matted, and adhered to my base with 3D foam adhesive.

Be sure to check out the Ai Blog this Saturday to see what Tricia & Diane have to share!

Greetery Bouquets

 When I stamp images like these florals, I often stamp multiples so that they're ready to go for another time.  Today I picked up bits and pieces from 6 different stamp sets from The Greetery, and a few stand alone dies from them as well (love these wood slices!).  Happy to have a couple of generic cards ready to go in my stash.

I used my Beam paints to spatter a little silver and gold paint on my backgrounds, and used some 3D foam adhesive to give them a little dimension.

Miss You

 I knew I would be using this stamp set frequently, and so I am!  This is the Folk Floral Stem stamped twice and cut apart.  I just used tones of blue and green along with the matching stencil to colour up the images, then cut them out with the coordinating die.  My background uses the Horizontal Stripes stencil with 3 tones each of blue and green in gradiated stripes, and I adhered the Slim Stitched Scalloped Rectangle die cut out and inked it in blue.  A few gems and one of the Perfect Sentiments finished it off.

All supplies are Pinkfresh Studio, and I am entering this into their March Challenge which is Layers!

Congrats card

 I needed a Congratulations card for a coworker, so I pulled out the Folk Floral Stem set to make a card for the staff to sign.  I used a very different colour combo for me!  I rarely stamp on anything but white or cream, but this time I tried it on a peachy/pink colour, and stencilled over it with darker shades.  I used the same colour for the card base, then layered the Stitched Scalloped Rectangle dies twice in a darker pink, and did the same with the floral, layered it twice for a little more stability before adhering it with 3D foam adhesive.  I used the Perfect Sentiments stamp and die set - again on the pink cardstock, and finished off the card by adding a little Wink of Stella to the blooms for some glimmer.  All supplies are Pinkfresh Studio.

I am entering this into the March Pinkfresh Studio Challenge which is layers!

Birdhouse Village

I'm sharing several of the newly released stamp sets from Art Impressions to create a little spring scene that will be on the Ai blog this Saturday for the Watercolour Weekend post. 

Using Tombow Dual Brush markers #565/969, I stamped the 5739 - Birdhouse Village Set on my Canson XL Watercolour Paper, then added my bunny from 5737 Bunny & Chicks Set, a little lower so that he's looking up at the bird.  I made sure to leave plenty of room for flowers, and started with the little circle of heart flowers from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 using #993 and #725 to create the floral bunches, then used #933/158 to stamp the long stemmed flowers from the same set.  Using the small sprig from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set and #158, I tucked in foliage around and behind the flowers.  After touching everything with a damp brush, I used my markers directly on the paper to add some darker shades to the flowers, and then added the small grass stamp from 4051 - WC Foliage Set in #173.

The birdhouses were painted in #565/933/173/407/725, in layers to build up the colours.  The wood bases were painted in #969, and it was used along with #992 to paint the bunny, keeping the top of his head, ears and haunches lighter, and deeper tones were used on the parts that are further from the sun.  The bird had a touch of #993 and 565 as his feathers, and finally a wash of #407 was painted as the sky.  All areas that needed shadows were painted with #565.  The scene was diecut with 5061 - Square Double Stitched dies, and the sentiment from 5734 Friends Sentiment Set was stamped in Versamark ink and diecut with 5132 Tag Stitched Dies.

Be sure to check out the Ai blog this Saturday to see what Tricia and Diane have to share.

Bookmarks

 It's Spring Break in my neck of the woods, so the library that I work at will be hopping all week.  I brought out my new-to-me Dream Big stamp and die set from Lawn Fawn to make a bunch of bookmarks that staff can give out to some of the kids that come in to visit.  I made a bunch that I coloured with Copic Markers, and then realized how great these would be to leave plain so that kids could colour them themselves, so I made even more :-)  We'll see how long they last!

Floral Invites

 I had some bits and pieces of stamped images leftover from previous projects, and decided to colour them up this afternoon.  These are two of the most under-used Art Impressions stamp sets, in my opinion!  The images (Floral Invites) and sentiments (Greenery Invites) are gorgeous.  I picked a soft palette to colour them up with my Copic markers, and using some older Lawn Fawn papers, I diecut a frame with the Stitched Square dies, and the rectangle with the A2 Stitched Rectangle dies.

With Sympathy

 I've somehow gotten 8 Sympathy cards made in the last month?  But I find when you come up with a card that works, it's best to make multiples, as they're something that you need to have on hand.  So here are this week's efforts - I was able to make four of these, using the pretty One Canoe Two papers, Verve die and sentiment, Spellbinders edge die and leafy die from Pinkfresh Studio.

Easter Basket

Easter will be here before we know it, so I have pulled out several of the newly released sets to create a little scene for this Saturday's Watercolour Weekend post on the Art Impressions blog.

All of my main elements are coloured in Tombow #969/565, and stamped onto Canson XL Watercolour Paper.  I began with the single chick from 5737 - Bunnies and Chicks, masked her up, and stamped the basket from 5738 Easter Basket just behind.  Again masking the basket, I added the egg images inside and around the basket, and finally I used just the bird from 5739 - Birdhouse Village Set, to sit on top.  My stamp positioner was invaluable to get everything placed just right!  

After pulling out the colour with a damp brush, I picked a fun, bright palette of colours and painted the eggs in: #173/725/990/933/493/565, starting with a light wash, and layering colour to create darker tones towards the lower part of each egg.  For the chick, I began with #990, then added #933 and #947 to create warmer, darker tones as shadows.  #493/565 were painted on the bird, and #725 was used for the bow.  With #173 and the small grass from Foliage Set - 4051, I added grass around the eggs, and then chose two sprigs of greenery from 5476 - WC Foliage Set 5 which filled in behind my scene, coloured in both #312/346.  A wash of #533 was painted in as the sky.  My scene was cut out with 5061 - Square Double Stitched Dies, and adhered to my square card base with 3D foam adhesive.

Be sure to check out the Ai blog on Saturday to see what Tricia and Diane will be sharing!