It's National Dessert Day!!

This week at Crazy 4 Challenges, we are celebrating DESSERTS!! Yummy! We Canadians have had our fill of food after celebrating our Thanksgiving, but really can you ever have enough sweets?! ...and its National Dessert Day!!!

I used one of Suzy Plantamura's Birthday Notes watercolour sheets from Simon Says Stamp for my dessert!  I watercoloured the image using Zig Real Brush watercolour markers - one of my favourite ways to watercolour.

After die-cutting my main image using Mama Elephant All Prettied Up, I adhered it to my background patterned paper from Lawn Farm Perfectly Plaid 6 x 6 paper pad.

A perfect Dessert for National Dessert Day!!

Link up to Crazy 4 Challenges won't you!

Hello Spring! Time Out Challenge

Thank goodness Spring is on it's way - I can feel it in the air YAY! I love birds and birdhouses so I was giddy to see the Time Out Challenge this week to case this card!

I've created a "Welcome Back" card for all the birds that have been conglomerating around our home and our feeders.

I used the new Crafter's Companion Essentials Nature Dies - a set of 19 dies full of birds, flowers, butterflies, leaves, clouds ETC.

I began by making a background wash using Spectrum Aqua water-based markers on Crafter's Companion white watercolour cardstock.  I love it. It's white - not cream or off-white - just beautiful white watercolour cardstock yummy!

Using my Gemini Die Cutting and Embossing machine, I embossed my background with one of the embossing folders included with the Gemini.

Focusing on the birdhouses, I diecut them in different colours and popped them up to hang from the adhered diecut branches. Then I diecut three of the sweet little birds and coloured them with my Spectrum Noir markers and adhered them to the bird houses.

Finally I added a ribbon, some twine and some sparkly clear sequins to finish!  Take some Time Out to join the challenge and then fly on over to Crafter's Companion to see all their product I have mentioned!

Being Kind is Never Wasted

I was able to get my hot little hands  on some of the new Concord & 9th stamps - specifically the new Kindhearted Bundle which includes the Kind die and Kindhearted stamp set - SCORE!

I was not aware that Concord & 9th had a challenge blog until yesterday - so I am just in time - even cutting it close hah! - to submitting my creation.

This month it is all about Sparkle and Shine so I stamped up Hello Lovely and set myself up to watercolour.

These sweet flowers remind me of Vinca flowers, so I watercolored them with a bit of purples and greys and blues.

I wasn't really sure of my finished product - but after adding some Wink of Stella, Diamond Dust Stickles AND some sequins I was sold!

I diecut the Kind die with Royal Velvet cardstock three times, adhered them together and then glued it to the bottom third of the watercolour panel.  I stamped the rest of the sentiment and added some sequins and DONE.

Pop on over to Concord & 9th to enter this challenge - but I think it ends today - so hurry!!!

Enjoy Your Watercolour Day!

Good Morning- we are certainly settled in to our winter home and LOVING it!  Punta Gorda is just beautiful and the surrounding area is full of antiques and unique stores.

I'm late for the latest Curtain Call Challenge (a natural thing that I do lol) but since I had just finished organizing my crafty space - and my Zig Markers were handy - I decided to use the photo as inspiration regardless.

Using one of Suzy Plantemura's Birthday Notes watercolour sheets exclusively from Simon Says Stamp - and my Zig watercolour markers - I had some fun!

These sheets are 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" - so after watercoloring, I trimmed down the panel and popped it up onto MFT Natural cardstock base, wrapping some MFT hemp cord around the panel before adhering. This twine is so popular that is is always out of stock - GAH!

Thank you for coming around - I hope to blog more often this winter now that I am situated again whew!

August Inspiration with Altenew in Pink!

Good day!

Every month Altenew has an inspirational challenge, with adjoining colours that you can choose to use - or not - and I decided to join in the fun.

This month it is all about the pinks and grays... lovely!

Using Versafine Black Onyx ink, I stamped the Sketchy Rose onto watercolour cardstock, followed by the stem and the sweet rosebud. Using my Gansai Tambi Watercolours, - I bought my paint set on Amazon - I painted up this beautiful rose.

I added a bit of gray watercolouring around the rose and tucked in the sentiment alongside the rose.

After it dried (completely) I added some Sparkling Clear Pretty Pink Posh sequins for a beautiful effect!.

I adhered a pink strip of cardstock to the edge of the watercolour and popped it up onto Softstone patterned paper - and then onto my Soft Stone card base.

This challenge ends on August 31st so you still have lots of time to enter!

Call Me!

I'm continuing along with being the Guest Designer this month over at Your Next Stamp and we have another fun sketch/colour combo for you!  The idea is to use either the sketch OR the colour combination OR just go for it - and use both.

I love doing this sketch/colour challenge - I don't need to be the guest to play in it - for sure!

I decided to use the sketch this time and I pulled out my new set - Little Darling Mermaid! She is such a happy little mermaid just chatting away on her Shell-Phone - haha - so cute!

I stamped her twice onto two separate pieces of watercolour cardstock and painted away using my Gansai watercolours.  I painted the waves, sand and sky on one piece and then I painted the mermaid on the other.

I fussy cut the mermaid and adhered her ontop of the first painted image - popping up the tail end of her hair.  I also stamped, painted and fussy cut the shell, adding it to her hand for her shell-phone!

I added a little pearl to her phone because it had to be done :)  I stamped the sentiment with Versafine Black ink - so nice and clear!

Won't you join us for this fun challenge?!  Just head to Your Next Stamp to add your pinky links....and join me tomorrow when sneak peeks will be starting for August Release at Your Next Stamp wahoo!!

Pssst.....the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges are up and running over at Splitcoaststampers and this is for Lori's challenge!  I can't tell you the details - you have to be a Fan Club Member - but there are a ton of challenges along with prizes galore to be won!  Skip on over and check out how you can become a Fan Club Member and join in the fun!

CAS-ual Fridays Florals Challenge!

Hey there everyone - CAS-ual Friday's Challenges are back - and I am creating and watercoloring!

This week our challenge is Florals - and I know y'all have some flowers in your stash --so enter those cards.

CAS-ual Fridays stamps are not needed and there is a $25 gift certificate to the winner BUT if you use CAS-ual Fridays stamps - the prize is doubled!! A $50 gift certificate to the store - woohoo!!

Go and check it out and in the meantime I have some sugar to show you!

I am such a fan - dare I say stalker - of Debby Hughes blog/techniques/watercoloring and when I saw this creation of Debby's I tucked it away to CASE it - so I basically did everything that Debby did - only using CAS-ual Friday's stamps.

I masked and stamped the flowers from Wonderful Words in Versamark Ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  I also used the leaves from Pretty Posies in the same manner.

Using my Zig Markers, I watercolored the flowers and leaves, bring in some blues and greens to the leaves.

I stamped and embossed the sentiment in the same manner and then popped it up onto the flowers (ackkk - I have so much trouble covering up part of an image) with a bit of vellum behind.

I trimmed out the image panel and popped it up onto Soft Stone cardstock - just like Debby (I'm shameless).  A few sequins were added for effect!

Why don't you join in at the Florals CAS-ual Fridays challenge??!!

Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop

Yep - it's that time again for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop and I am getting PTI creative whoop whoop!

This beautiful pastel-ly inspiration photo was right up my watercolour alley - so that is where I went this month.

I started by painting a little freehand watercolouring background onto Ranger watercolour cardstock.  

And then-- gah!!!--- I hated the blotchy, "out there", waaaay too colourful thing. 

However Betsy had a post about watercolour woes vs. watercolour wonders and loving your cards - use them differently blah blah blah - so I took the advice and just cut it up hah...  Thank. you. Betsy!

Using the Bitty Butterflies Coverplate,  I just diecut my little heart out and am quite pleased with the result -yay!  

I cut two of the cover plates -  one from the hateful watercolour sheet and one from white cardstock.  

I adhered the die cut watercolored butterflies onto the negative space of the white cardstock for my card front and stamped my sentiment which is from the Brushed Blooms stamp set with Smokey Shadow ink.

I splattered Smokey Shadow ink onto the front,  hoping it wouldn't make a HUGE mess :) and to mimic the splatters in the inspiration piece.

I tied a bit of ribbon and twine at the top and added a sweet pearl.  The butterflies were folded here and there for a bit more interest.

I hope you are enjoying the hop and keep on going - thank you for stopping by!

The Challenge is Colour!

This week's challenge at The Challenge (hehe) is full of colour!  Greens and blues and yellows oh my!

I decided to get out my watercolour paints and one of Suzy's Watercolor Doodles ready-to-watercolour images and PLAY! - I find it very relaxing to putter about with paints - I am no good freehand - nope......but give me an image and I'm all over it!

I used my Gansai Tambi Watercolor set - I love the brilliant colour and yet you can tone them down so easily to make a background wash....

After adding the colour to this fabulous image, I went back over again with a darker shade and added some highlights (lowlights?) to make them pop.

Then I decided to throw in some sweet little YNS gumdrops - they have all sorts of fabulous colours - yay!

Take a boo over at The Challenge and link up with these gorgeous colours!!

Do What Makes Your Heart Happy!

Good Morning - and it's time for coffee (waaay past time!)  - and hearts!

This week's inspiration at The Challenge has a Rainbow Heart theme !!- and I just happen to love rainbows - doesn't everyone?

Since the Gansai Tambi water-colour paints are so brilliant and beautiful, I painted up an easy rainbow on water-colour paper.

Using Cas-ual Friday's Heart Board Fri-Dies, I die cut the hearts from my rainbow paper, being careful to keep them altogether - I love them apart and I love them together!  I just used a piece of tape on the back of the hearts so I could move them around until I had finished with my fiddle diddling.

I needed to add something else - and I really, really, really wanted to add twine - it's a daily struggle I tell ya. I finally settled on some semi-messy gold thread looped around a red button.  I mean - GOLD at the end of the rainbow!!!

Perfect. I'm just brilliant.

I used the remaining water colouring for the base, layering white cardstock overtop.

I stamped the sentiment from Cas-ual Fridays Big Treble on my white cardstock and popped up the water coloured heart dies!

So pretty and so very trendy!  Take a peek over at The Challenge and link up those rainbow creations!

Hello My Neon Friend!

Well -it is pretty dang difficult to use neon colours with a semi-elegant creation - wowzers! The Curtain Call Challenge should actually think of that when offering up their challenges right??! haha

Well guess what? - that is why it is a challenge - so let's move forward.

My sketch is from this week's The Challenge - a weekly challenge that offers up a different theme each week - this week is the sketch week.

I chose to stamp up my Reverse Confetti Rose Garden stamp set, stamping in Raspberry Fizz ink and watercoloring the leaves.  They were die cut with the matching Confetti Cuts.

The green panel was water coloured with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi water-colour paints and then die cut with a Nestabilities rectangle die.

I layered the roses onto the water coloured panel and stamped my sentiment from Reverse Confetti's "A Friend Like You" in Versafine Onyx Black ink.

I adhered the panel onto a piece of trimmed down Papertrey Ink Black and White All Over patterned paper and then mounted it onto my Spring Moss card base.

…..and a detailed shot of those gorgeous roses!

Find Joy

Good sunny morning!  The Color Throwdown has some gorgeous colours this week - my favourite green (actually lime) and aqua - woohoo!

Surprise….. I decided to watercolour!  I painted an aqua and yellow background which slowly turned into lime - good stuff.

I white embossed one of the many encouraging sentiments from Casual Fri-days Breathe stamp set, added a few sequins and voila!  a pretty card!

I had a ribbon around the top of this card - and then I removed it - and then I put it back on and then I removed it - geesh….I have a time with embellishments Lol!

Thanks for coming around to visit….come on back soon!

You Float My Boat!

Good day and holy cow - where have I been??

We are back from Florida and finally getting settled/unpacked/hairbrushed etc. so I am back to card making yay!

…..and…..I had no glue. at all.  So I took a flying trip to Scrapping Great Deals where I bought some glue and maybe a few other things…..hehe - P.S. there was a 20% off indoor sale also……

Anyway - back to the craft at hand!  The Challenge has a masculine theme this week and here is the Inspiration Photo

A nautical theme it is - and I don't even like boats or boating or fishing or stuff remotely connected, but look at me go!

I used one of the many water-colour panels that I have from Simon Says Stamp - Suzy's Watercolor Love Notes and I water coloured it up with my Zig Real Brush Markers.

I trimmed it out and backed it onto some different patterned papers and I even googled how to make a Reef knot!

Thanks for coming around and checking out my blog! Head on over to The Challenge and check out this fabulous masculine theme.

Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!

Good Morning and it's a Coffee Morning - yay!  It's time for the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop  and I just love it!!

There are so many fabulous sponsors that you just have to enter your creation for a chance at these lovely prizes!

……and there is coffee - I mean come on…..

I used several Reverse Confetti stamp sets for my creation - choosing to create my own background paper with stamps and ink, and then die cutting for my coffee cups.

I inked up Rose Garden first in several different colours and stamped the large and small roses in lines.  I filled in the empty spaces with other various parts of that stamp set, along with the smaller butterflies from Butterfly Dreams.

I didn't worry about overlapping the stamps since I was die-cutting anyway.

Using Caffeinated Cups, I stamped and die cut the coffee cups from my patterned paper and adhered them to a water coloured background.

The sentiment from A Friend Like You, was stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink - sort of a testimonial…haha.

I finished it up with a few Pretty Pink Posh sequins and Papertrey Ink twine.

The Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop is going on until March 22 - so you have lots of time to create, create, CREATE!!

Wishing You a Beautiful Day!

Good morning!  The Curtain Call Challenge is up and running - this week it is all about rainbows!

I decided to change it up a bit and not make a traditional rainbow, so I water coloured a few roses in rainbow-y colours using the no line technique.  Holy man - it is not the easiest thing to do, but I am going to post the results regardless.  It's all about sharing right?

I began by stamping the roses from Reverse Confetti Rose Garden in a rainbow palette and then water coloured them with my new Kuretake watercolors - These are the brightest and most gorgeous colours ever!

I die cut my water-colour panel with the Confetti Cut Edgers  and then layered it up onto a navy blue and white striped patterned paper and then adhered it to a Raspberry Fizz card base.

I added some Pretty Pink Posh sequins and twine to finish it off - perhaps the no line technique will get easier for me - but so far - ugh - not happening Lol!

You Are My Sunshine…..

I have always loved that little song…..I remember singing it to each of my children - not as a "holier than thou" song, but just humming it now and then. A natural ditty.

Which is why - when I saw this particular water-colour doodle from Simon Says Stamp I had to buy the whole bunch! (For some reason I can't see any photos on the Simon Says Stamp website, so I am just linking to the page)

I thought I would watercolour it for this week's Color Throwdown…..the perfect colours for spring and water colouring both….heh heh.

I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to water-colour the image and did a light wash in the background.

I trimmed it down so I would be able to pop it up onto my patterned paper and card base.

I added a little scallop at the bottom - just for fun!

Giving thanks for your kindness...

It sounds like my sentiment is all about Thanksgiving and I suppose it is….but you know that giving thanks is not just a season - it is year round -giving thanks for life, love and family, to name a few.

Color Throwdown's challenge this week is just up my ever thankful alley!  Pinks and blues - or more aptly Hot Pink and Teal - woohoo!

I was ready to water-colour again and so I brought out my Zig Real Brush markers and Papertrey Ink's Bold Blossoms water-colour sheets.

I wet my paper and dipped in my brushes, letting the colour dry in between additions.  Such an easy way to get a fabulous result!

With the Wink of Stella clear pen, I added some shimmer - of course so much better in real life.  This pen is water based, so having a light hand is a must or your watercolour paints will move around - not what you want yikes!

My sentiment is from the Scripted Sentiment stamps and dies - it fit in the centre of those blossoms perfectly!!

Head on over to Color Throwdown and lay down YOUR colour!!