#874 – Just a Note

Hello! Its again been some time since I created a non-DT card. Being totally out of it is slowly becoming a norm and I wanted to break it desperately. Thankfully, this idea that appeared in my mind clicked!

I started with making watercolor panels of blue and brown using Brusho powders. I first used water mixed with perfect pearls and then used plain water to mist the panels, and dried them using my heat gun. With this I had 2 panels of brown, one a shade darker and 1 of blue. I then die cut the lighter of the brown panels and the blue panel using Altenew Doodled Lace die. I also cut out the flower and leaf pieces from the die cuts.

To make the background framed panel, I die cut the darker brown piece with my Memory Box Rectangle Basics, creating two pieces – the frame and the panel inside. I cut a few more pieces to adhere them only behind the frame, to raise it a little. I then positioned this on my card base, stamped the sentiment, from Altenew Beautiful Lady stamp set in Versamark ink and heat embossed it in copper.

I then adhered the frame-panel over the cream, rustic card base. I also adhered the flower and leaf pieces that I had cut out earlier – some raised with foam tape and some directly adhered. Finally, for embellishing, I used a few brown colored clear gemstones. To add a bit more sparkle, I went through the flowers and the frame with a glitter brush pen.

With this card, I am also joining the following challenges –

The Flower challenge #45: Navy + One Other

Happy Little Stampers June Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Altenew June Inspiration challenge

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#872 – Inspiration Station #11

Hello and welcome! We have a new post of Inspiration Station challenge today! Can’t believe we’ve stuck around for more than 10 challenges.. and still loving it!! 😀

The challenge this time was chosen by me. Its this awesome room decor I found in Pinterest –

source

There are plenty of elements for inspiration, but what stuck me the most was that wallpaper in the background! I really loved the florals and foliage, colors in hues of magenta and blue. Although I initially thought of covering my card using that as the focus, I thought there are too many other things that I didn’t want to miss either. So I improvised to include a couple more things – the poppies and a bit of the wood from the wooden chair.

And this is what I finally created –

And, what’s more, I am happy that everything on this card, except for the sentiment is without using stamps! 😀

Coming to how I made the card. First I made the background. Like I mentioned, my focus then was on the wallpaper. I took a page from a drawing pad I had bought ages ago, and using my Zig brush marker pens, tried to draw some sunflower like florals. I didn’t cover the entire paper, instead left a bit of space on the right blank.

I then painted those poppies. And wow, I had such a hard time trying to get the red opacity, while still keeping a transparency/fading away effect.. guess it was impossible for me! So, I made do with what I could make! 😀 The leaves were easier, comparatively! Once they had all dried, I fussy cut all the pieces.

For lying these pieces on, I wanted a pillar…a strip of something. I initially made a strip of plaid, using light navy blue, like the carpet, but that was getting completely hidden behind the flowers, and I couldn’t even make out it was there, so I instead replaced it with this wood like piece. .

I cut out a strip of cardstock, inked it completely by running Paper Trey Ink Classic Kraft ink through it. Then, when it was still wet, I used a few darker shades of brown Zig brush marker pens to draw the layers of bark and let it dry completely. I even tried to add in the shine of the brass from the picture by embossing using We R Memory Keepers Weave embossing folder and adding a bit of metallic wax on the raised areas…which ended up not showing either!! Well, I made do with what could show! 😉

I then arranged all the pieces on the card base. For the sentiment, I used Altenew Tall Alpha in two shades of brown to get an ombre effect to stamp ‘Loved’. The ‘you are so’ is from Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Flowers stamp set. I trimmed the panel and foam mounted it on the card.

And that, finally, finished my card! I am so happy with this one, even after the repeated ‘not working’ factors! In fact, I feel that I am happy with every project I made for the Inspiration Station challenge! Probably because we take so much time, easing into what we want to make and take our time to make it. I end up happy with the end product too! Which is the purpose of this challenge, so that’s great!! 😀

Check out what my sister has made here. This time, she’s made an incredibly charming flower garden mixed media piece, which gets visited by friendly butterflies! I totally loved it!!

I am also joining the following challenges with this card –

Timeout challenge #163: Proust Quote

Virginia’s June’s Show and Share

CrafTangles June Challenge: Use Watercolors

Happy Little Stampers June Watercolor Challenge: Anything Goes + optional Layers

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#866 – Watercolored Wreath

PE: TGIF challenge winner!!

Winner at Watercooler Wednesday challenge!

Hello and welcome! If you’ve known me, you know that I absolutely love watercoloring. I mostly love coloring florals, but I’m also working on improving my critter coloring…and then some. But, until now, it was mostly stamp and color. Lately, I’ve been interested in some free hand watercoloring, and was pretty happy with my very first attempt at it, when I watercolored some eucalyptus leaves. Since then, I continued my experiments, mostly learning by watching YouTube videos by Shada Campbell, and this time I’ve tried my hand at free hand watercoloring florals – a simple wreath for now:

I used Gansai Tambi watercolors, along with watercolor paper from Hndmd/CrafTangles. I just drew a simple circle, watercolored. For watercoloring, I used primarily a shade of purple, and along with it, I mixed a couple more colors, mixing brown for the leaves and wine red for the roses. This keeps the monochrome look, while bringing in plenty of shades. Finally, I let everything dry and then trimmed the paper. I also added a few splatters.

To bring the card together, I stamped the sentiment from WPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I foam mounted the watercolroed panel onto black card stock, tucking a strip of dotted washi tape in similar colors on the bottom of one side.

I am so very happy with my trials! I’ll keep working on more of these free hand watercolors from now on..

Linking my card with these challenges –

Watercooler Wednesday challenge #271: All About Occasions

TGIF Challenge #264: Technique challenge: Watercolor

The Flower Challenge #44: Monochrome

Happy Little Stampers May Watercolor challenge: Anything Goes + optional Emboss

CrafTangles May challenge: Anything Goes

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

#865 – Inspiration Station challenge #10

Hello and welcome! My sister and I are up with a new creative challenge for our Inspiration Station challenge – the 10th challenge between us sisters to create something from a prompt that one of us has come up with!

It was my sister’s turn this time and she picked this photo, that she had clicked. It features a sheet of aluminium foil that I had used alcohol inks on. I don’t remember how I used it or if I used it at all!

Here’s what I chose from this snap –
The alcohol inks, in shades of blue and green
The beautiful shine of the aluminium foil
The wood base

And here’s what I made –

I first made that bright blue-green background. I took a piece of white cardstock panel, painted it with Unicorn paint from Prima. Its got a beautiful shimmery sparkle with a mix of gold and silver..mostly like platinum. And I totally love it!

So anyway, this was the base for me to apply my alcohol inks. Due to the paint, the surface becomes non-porous and good to apply alcohol inks. I picked a couple of inks in shades of blue and a single shade of green, used the felt applier with the Alcohol Blending solution and applied it on the painted panel in an ‘S’ shape.

This dried very quickly too. I then used one of the Woven embossing folder from We R Memory Keepers on the panel and set it aside.

Next I started making the paper for the woody portions. I chose a few shades of brown and yellow, dabbed it on a clear plastic surface, misted it with water and used my fingers to dab the colors on a watercolor paper panel. Once the entire panel was covered, I let it air dry. I then used a flat brush with a little bit of water to slide across the panel and spread the colors a bit. I again let it air dry. Thanks to the really hot weather, it dried very quickly! 😀

I used this panel to cut out the beautiful bird, from Spellbinders Nordic Floral die set and also the sentiment, from My Favorite Things Simply Thanks die. I also die cut a few more pieces of the sentiment from kraft cardstock and adhered them together.

To assemble the card, I first trimmed the alcohol ink panel a bit, and foam mounted it on the kraft card base. I then adhered the sentiment and then foam mounted the bird on top. I believe there wasn’t any need to add any more embellishing, since the card was pretty flashy as it is! 😀

And here’s what my sister has made – a pair of beautiful, shimmery charming earrings! Love that rainbow shimmer on them…so very beautiful!!

I am joining the following challenges with my card –

Fusion Card challenge: Thank You

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Use Dies and/or Punches

Happy Little Stampers May Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Thank you for stopping by!

#863 – Birthday Wishes!

PE: Designer’s choice at Tic-Tac-Toe challenge!

Hello and welcome! My sister’s birthday came around a month ago and I had made this card for her –

Since I usually make some florals, I thought of going for critters this time. And with a window too (since I wasn’t completely happy with my last attempt of having a window card with critters in it).

So the first thing I did was stamp all the critters and watercolor them.
I used stamps from:
My Favorite Things Friendly Foxes
My Favorite Things Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes
My Favorite Things Piggy Pebbles
My Favorite Things Scene Builder
Simon Says Stamp Birthday Bits
I used watercolor paper from CrafTangles. After doing some no-line water-coloring using colors from Zig Brush markers, I added some accents to a few potions, like the cake and the party accessories and the balloons using sparkly colored gel pens or clear sparkle pen. Finally, I fussy cut all the images out.

Next to the card base. I first masked off a portion for the ground and then blended in the blue lightly and then used the Mudra Brick brick stencil on top to add more color. I used some makeup brushes, which I newly bought – and oh, wow, do I love them! I’ve never achieved such lovely blending! For the ground, I blended in the grey and then added some lines using a grey marker to indicate wooden flooring.

I used a single die from Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles to die cut the three windows.

The inside of the card is more water-coloring, for which I used a separate watercolor panel. This time, I used distress inks. Also, the wooden porch where the darling piggy is standing is brown shaded and another piece. Both the water-colored background and the porch are adhered directly on top of the inside of the card.

Finally, I heat embossed the sentiments, from Winnie & Walter Sentimental: Birthday, both inside and outside the card, using white ep. Finally, I adhered all he fussy cut critters on top, along with the cake and decorations.

And that’s my card for my sister!

I am joining the following challenges with this card –

Addicted to Stamps challenge #387: Make Your Mark

Watercooler Wednesday challenge #269: Anything Goes

Hndmd/CrafTangles May challenge: Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers May Watercolor challenge: Anything Goes + optional Emboss

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

Tic-Tac-Toe challenge #62 (bottom row, clouds-animals-layers)

Thanks for stopping by! 🙂