#974 – Gardening Bear

Hello and welcome! Its time for a new challenge up at Seize the Birthday, and this will be the last challenge for this year. We will, of course be back the next year with another challenge – after celebrating Christmas and New Year’s to our heart’s content! 🙂

The topping for this time is chosen by our wonderful team mate Lindsey, and she has chosen ‘Hobbies and Pastimes‘. Of course, as always, ‘Anything Goes‘ theme also applies, so you can join with any birthday project!

And this is what I created –

My hobbies are pretty varied – card-making (of course!!), sewing, cooking, watercoloring, mixed media, reading, gardening – I love a bit of everything that helps me stay at home, but still occupied! 😀 Of all of these, since I had just the right stamps for it, I chose gardening.

I used stamps from Waffle Flower called ‘Bear and Bird’ and ‘Happy Day’, stamped them in VersaFine Onyx Black ink on Hndmd watercolor paper. I stamped the bear partially, so the bird isn’t stamped, and drew a gardening hat for the bear – how handsome he looks!! 😀 I then did a messy watercoloring using Distress Inks. I also added dots here and there using the same Uniball black fineliner pen I used to draw the bear’s hat.

For the background, I used CrafTangles Argyle stencil. I shifted the stencil to when applying each of my three colors – blue, green and yellow. It came out pretty lovely – pity I had to cover most of it. So anyway, it didn’t look quite right to just add the trimmed watercolored on top, so I matted it with some plain white cardstock and foam mounted it on the card base.

Finally for the sentiment, I used one from the Waffle Flower ‘Bear and Bird’ stamp set. Before stamping, I covered the scrap white cardstock with a blue Distress Oxide ink and then stamped it. I then trimmed it and them foam mounted on the card.

And that’s my card! I’ll also be joining these challenges –

AAA Birthday challenge #31: Animals

Timeout challenge #201: Da Vinci quote

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

Checkout the Seize the Birthday challenge blog for more inspiration on Hobbies and Pastimes, given by our talented team and our Surprise Party Guest, Carol McFarland! And don’t forget to join the last birthday party of this year! 🙂

Thank you very much for stopping by!

#972 – Happy Diwali

Hello and welcome! So close to the end of the year, and we also have a major Indian festival just around the corner – Diwali! But before that, its the start of the new Happy Little Stampers Watercolor challenge!

And here’s what I made-

I made a simple diya giving off light aginst a colorful background. The watercolor paper is from CrafTangles and I used Gansai Tambi watercolors to color it. I did draw the diya myself too. Since I was using so many colors , I first added an underpainting in soft yellow, then painted the diya in layers of colors, finally adding the brown-black part of the diya itself. Once things were partially dry, I added gold splatters from Gansai Tambi Starry Nights. I also colored the flame of the diya and its reflection in the oil with a little of the same gold.

Once dry, I trimmed the piece and glued it on top of a beige colored cardstock. For the sentiment, I die cut gold glittered cardstock using Tim Holtz Alphanumeric Tiny Type Lower Thinlits Die Set and a few extras from spare black cardstock, stacked them together and adhered them on the card. For some extra glitter, I added some gold stickels on the flame and its reflection as well.

And that finished my card! It goes to a dear friend of mine. But before that, I am also submitting this card to a couple of challenges –

Inkspirational challenge #251: Word Prompt: Cheer (Spreading the Diwali cheer)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

CrafTangles challenge Monthly challenge: Glitter or Ethnic

Checkout more inspiration from the rest of our team at the Happy Little Stampers Watercolor challenge blog.

Thank you for stopping by!

#971 – A Sunset Scenery

Hello and welcome! Its time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and this time, Colleen has given us the topping ‘Make a Sunset Scene‘. Of course, the topping is optional and you can choose to go without it and just make any birthday project to join the challenge.

And here’s what I made –

I chose the Concord & 9th City Stacks to make a simple scene. Stamping it so that the upper portion is mostly empty, I then watercolored it using distress inks. I also watercolored the staircase, which was not already present in the scene Once dry, I added white splatters for the stars using Hero Arts Unicorn White pigment ink, mixing it with perfect pearls for some extra ‘starry’ shine. I did have to go over some the lines that hadn’t stamped properly using a fine liner marker. I also added some grass and leaves-lines on the trees, along with adding the long staircase.

I then trimmed the watercolor panel to size, trimming a bit more on the top and the bottom than a regular card size. I then used foam tape to mount this on a black card base. Finally, I used sentiments from My Favorite Things Well, Hello stamp set to white heat emboss the sentiment on black cardstock, trimmed them and foam mounted them on the card.

And that’s it! A really easy card to make, since the stamps provided so much of the scenery! 🙂

I’m joining the following challenges with my card –

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

Timeout challenge #199: Down to Earth

Tic Tac Toe challenge #137: I’ve chosen Sparkle – Green/Blue – Tree

Hop over to the Seize the Birthday challenge blog to checkout more inspiration from the rest of our innovative design team and our Surprise Party Guest, Carol McFarland!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#969 – A Watercolored Floral Frame

PE: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge Winner!!

Hello and welcome! The start of a new month means the start of Happy Little Stampers Watercolor challenge! As always, this is an Anything Goes challenge, and you can join us with any kind of project as long as watercoloring is used on your project.

And this is what I made –

I used flowers from Altenew Garden Treasure and leaves from Beautiful Day and Peony Bouquet. Using masks and MISTI, I stamped them using VersaMark Black Onyx pigment ink on watercolor paper, and watercolored them using distress inks. Originally, I wanted to color them in 3 shades, but I was able to do so only on the yellow flower. To balance things out, once the panel dried, I used my fineliner marker pen to draw some additional shading on the images. Finally, I fussy cut the inside of the flowery frame. I also added little dots scattered all around the frame for something extra.

For the sentiment, I initially thought of stamping some sentiment, but after searching through my stash, I thought of using these die cuts instead. I used Penny Black Many Thanks die, cutting a few pieces from kraft cardstock and stacking them for dimension. I then foam mounted the flowery frame, then adhered the sentiment within.

And that’s my card! I’ll be joining the following challenges –

Color Throwdown challenge #662

Timeout challenge #197: Inspired by Words

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

Checkout more inspiration at the Happy Little Stampers Watercolor challenge, and don’t forget to join us with your own watercolored projects!

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

#968 – A Vintage Cake Recipe

Hello and welcome! We have a new challenge again up at the Seize the Birthday challenge, and this time, the topping, suggested by our teammate Shirley, is ‘Cakes‘. Every Challenge is always Anything Goes and the Topping is included for extra fun. It’s not required to include the topping on your birthday project.

And here’s what I made –

As usual, my plans didn’t come to fruition, but I love how it turned out nevertheless!! 😀

I had thought of making a nice bright cake, but this one started looking vintage on completion. And what’s more, the cherries were so dark, they were almost black. Thank god they are watercolors, I could add water and use a tissue to pick up the extra color. And look, I forgot to add a tray under the cake!! Well, I did put a nice table cloth, so that should be fine, right? 😀

So, anyway, after watercoloring the cake and the table cloth, I used a newspaper stamp to stamp the background, then watercolored it some more to spread the colors. I thought of adding splatters, but decided against it. Once the water all dried, I die cut the panel using My Favorite Things Elegant Rectangle. I then stamped the sentiment, from Penny Black Sentimental stamp set in black. For the card base, I stamped the gingham using Impression Obsession Gingham stamp, using my MISTI to stamp it once using a medium teal ink, then offsetting it by a couple of millimeters before stamping it for a second time using a kraft ink. I then foam mounted the watercolor panel on top.

And that’s my card! I’m also joining the following challenges –

Inkspirational challenge #248: Word Prompt

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

Checkout some delicious cake filled inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and our Surprise Party Guest Jenny Martin at the Seize the Birthday challenge blog.

Thank you so much for stopping by!