Arched Pierce and Press Die

 I have a mix of old and new products on today's card, all from Spellbinders.  This is the new Arched Pierce and Press die, paired with the older Floral Stems dies from Simon Hurley.

I die cut the flowers from watercolour paper, and used a combo of inks/paints to add some colour.  I adhered them on top of one of the three arches that come in the set, splattered on some gold paint, and then added a hot foiled sentiment from the It's Your Day Sentitment set.

Tropical Scene for Watercolour Weekend

Even though we don't have many palm trees in Canada... the warmer summer weather has me feeling a little more beachy, so I have a tropical scene for you today:

 This little shed from the 5121 WC Garden Shed Set looks like a beach hut to me, so I stamped it using my Tombow marker #969 Chocolate.  With #676 Royal Purple and #703 Pink Rose, I stamped the tiny dot cluster from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set in and around the hut, to suggest tropical flowers, and added the tiny foliage stamp with #158 Dark Olive for greenery.  From the 5120 - WC Palm Tree Set, I used the two trunk images with #969 to add the trees behind the hut, then with #126 Light Olive and #158, I added in the different palm fronds.  Using my #4 paintbrush, I pulled out the brown of the trees and the shed, and only lightly touched all of the flowers and foliage to liven the colours.

 I painted the hut with #991 Light Ochre, and a bit of #969 to suggest painted wood, and added #515 Light Blue to the door and painted it to suggest the ocean in the background.  I used #N65 Cool Grey 5 and the stepping stone image from the 5018 - WC Cobblestone Set in front of the hut, and then painted a wash with #126 to indicate the grass.  I added #565 Deep Blue to my palette, then painted in the mountains, a soft sky, and added it around all of the images to indicate shadows.

I stamped the sentiment from 5136 - WC Sentiment Set 2 using Versafine Onyx Black ink, then mounted my image onto the base using pop dots.  I layered some paper flowers and a wooden button to the bottom corner of my card, along with a few loops of May Arts twine.  The paper flowers and the flowers on the image were all touched with a Wink of Stella pen, so they're quite shimmery in person!  And you can't really tell in the photo, but that background paper has tone-on-tone sunglasses all over it.  Be sure to check out the Ai blog on Saturday to see what Tricia & Dot have come up with.

Cottages - Watercolour Weekend

I really love painting scenes with Art Impressions Watercolor stamps... and I especially love all the cottages and cabins that Bonnie brought out last year.  I've paired up one of them from 4958 - WC Cottages Set (this is SO typical of historic cottages in my area), with the footbridge from the just released 5122 - WC Bridge Set, inking them both with Tombow #969 Chocolate:

Using the smaller tree from 5010 WC Tree Set 1, I stamped it several times on each side of the cottage with my #969, then softened all the lines with a damp #4 paintbrush, pulling out the colour on the tree trunks, and on the footbridge. I coloured my #177 Dark Jade marker onto the tiny foliage sprig in the 5009 WC Mini Flower Set, stamping it repeatedly to get 2nd & 3rd generation foliage in the trees, and creating shrubs around the house.  Also from the Mini Flower Set - I used my #533 Peacock Blue to colour the tiny floral cluster (it looks like dots!) stamping it around the shrubs to suggest purpley/blue flowers.  Dabbing at them with my damp brush softened the images, and intensified the colours.

I initially drew the tufts of grass directly with my #076 Green Ochre marker, but since it is quite a yellow/green, my scene had a bit of a fall feel to it, and I was aiming for spring!  So I picked up the #177 green off of my palette, and painted a wash of green grass, darkening up the grasses directly with the marker as well.  I painted the pathway with #992 Sand, and added #491 Glacier Blue onto the roof & door.  I painted a touch of #856 Chinese Red onto the chimney, then went in with the fine point of it to sketch in the bricks.  I picked up #565 Deep Blue with my brush to paint in the stream, and then added the shadows to the windows, pathway, around the house & trees, and finally painted in the sky.

With my scene complete, I always walk away for a few hours (days?) and come back with a fresh eye.  I wanted to darken things up a little, so I went back in with both my 177 and 565 markers, adding grasses and flowers in the deeper tones.

Farmer's Market Watercolour

 I'm combining a bit of old & new today.  Last fall I painted up several images using WC Series 3 Set #1 (Sku #4056) and WC Series 3 Set # 2(Sku #4057) by Art Impressions.  I had always thought of these as "harvest/fall" stamps... until I saw this watercolor tutorial by Kendra Krebs - and she used it as a spring/farmer's market theme.    Here is one of the images that I painted, that I made up into a springlike card, along with the brand new WC Sentiments Set (Sku #4903):

 I used some smooth watercolour paper along with my Tombow & Marvy markers, then softened the lines and pulled out the colour with a damp paintbrush.  I added a little bit of sky, and stamped the sentiment once everything was dry.  After matting, I used pop dots to mount it, and tied some Maya Road twine underneath.

The grass is from Foliage Set (Sku #4051).  You can find a wide range of Marvy Markers on the Art Impressions website here.  Happy painting!

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