More Watercolor Fun

I always seem to turn my watercolor pieces into 'girl cards' and I guess it's because of the colors that I choose - brights - pinks and oranges and yellows, or moody - soft blues and greens. So I was determined to make a more masculine card using my watercolors.I chose blue, brown, yellow and a touch of black. I did a salt water wash over the watercolor paper first, then added the colors. Since I had masked the smaller square that I watercolored, I was able to stamp my grassy images onto the watercolor paper around my colored block. I stamped in black versafine then clear embossed to make the images stand out. I stamped and embossed my sentiment as well. I added a few sequins to finish off my card.  Have a wonderful weekend!

I entered this card in the following challenges:

Watercooler Wednesday     birthday
Simon Monday Challenge      birthday
Little Miss Muffet                 anything goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends     anything goes
Stamping Sensations            stamping and anything goes

CAS Watercolor

Yay!! It's almost the weekend. It's funny...when you're retired like my hubby and I are, there's not a lot of difference between the weekdays and the weekend (except Sunday of course) yet I still look forward to the weekend. I guess because there are not meetings, volunteering, appointments, etc. on the weekend. So to my non-retired friends...Hang In There...the weekend is coming!

And that brings me to the card I made today. I was playing around with different watercolor techniques including sprinkling salt on my piece. I didn't quite get the results that others in the tutorials seemed to get, so I'll keep playing around with it. But I did like the way this piece turned out. I used kosher salt on this watercolor piece done in pink. I put the color on the paper then pulled it down so that the color faded out to a much lighter pink. While it was still wet, I sprinkled some Kosher salt on it and let it dry. 
I got this new Downton Abbey chandelier die that I wanted to use, so it seemed the perfect match for CAS Watercolor Challenge for August using Salt! I cut the die out of black and added some Diamond Stickles to the crystals and the candle tips. My sentiment came from a Stamps of Life set. I used a border punch then adhered the watercolor piece to my card. Done! Sweet and simple. I'm sure I'll find a 'friend in need' to send this card to.

I entered this card in CAS Watercolor August challenge.

 

Boy Meets World

I have several young friends expecting a baby...must be in the water!! One is expecting twins, one a girl and the third a boy. I knew that I needed to get busy making baby cards for the upcoming showers. The first that I made is a boy card using Limited Runs Stamps Progressive Challenge 6 digital stamp. It's a cute owl that could be used in a lot of different ways. So I decided to use him on the baby boy card. I printed two images and colored them with Copics. I cut the eyes and feet from one image and used mounting squares to attach them to the other, creating dimension. I used glossy accents on the eyes.  I attached the image to a tag and used bias tape to tie at the top of the tag. I layered a couple of designer papers to the card base and attached the tag. I used a couple of 'baby boy' stickers and stamped 'Congratulations' at the bottom. I embossed it with clear embossing powder to help it to stand out. I finished off the card by adding 3 buttons, tied with coordinating floss.

I've entered this card in these challenges:
Limited Runs Progressive Challenge 6          use required image
Word Art Wednesday                                     anything goes
Little Miss Muffet                                          anything goes
Crafty Sentiments Designs                            anything goes


And now for the other baby cards that I made...

Smile!!

Pain comes in several different forms...physical, emotional, relational, spiritual. I've suffered three of the four in the last year. Needless to say, it has been a hard year. And I am still in the midst of 2 of them. But I serve a very big God...the Lord Jesus Christ...who promises to walk with me through whatever I may have to endure. And it's because of Him that I can find joy in all circumstances. So the smile I wear on my face is not because I enjoy what I am experiencing, but because I know that Jesus is right there with me, and that "I can do all things through Him who who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13
This thought inspired the card that I decided to make using the image provided by Limited Runs Stamps for their current challenge. I printed the image and colored it with Copic markers. I used white Wink of Stella on the teeth and glossy accents on the eyes. I used dies to cut the splat and 'smile'. I computer generated the remainder of the sentiment, cut it as a banner and mounted it. I mounted my image (popped up with mounting squares), sentiment and splat on patterned paper then onto the kraft card base. I finished off the card with dots of dark blue stickles. Because I decided to send the card to a friend recovering from colon surgery, I added the red to the eyes...I figure he's not getting a lot of sleep right now!

This was a fun image to use and the card is entered into the following challenges...

Limited Runs Challenge #5      Use designated image
Word Art Wednesday               Anything Goes
Polka Doodles Challenge        Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments Designs      Anything Goes
Mustard Seed Faith Challenge    Anything Goes

Happy Birthday

I needed a birthday card so I decided to use these cute chicks from Limited Runs Digital Stamps Chicken Set. They are ready to celebrate! I printed extra images so that I could pop up the wings and beaks to add dimension. I used Distress inks to create the background as well as to color the images. The background is matted on blue cardstock then mounted on the white cardbase. The balloon and the hat diecuts are from the Tim Holtz Crazy Bird Accessories. The word bubble is from the Heidi Swapp Speech Bubbles set. "WooHoo" was created from Lawn Fawn Milo's ABC set and stamped in the speech bubble. "Time to Celebrate" is from Fiskars Hexagon Sentiments, stamped in black Versafine and embossed with clear embossing powder. A black and white dotted ribbon with a star mounted on it and a touch of stickles finishes off this card.
These cute chicks put me in the mood to celebrate too!

Challenges entered:
Your Scrapbook Place        Anything Goes
Whoopsi Daisy      3 in a Row - digi, sentiment, embossing
All Sorts Challenge Blog        Happy Birthday
Simply Create Too               Digi image
Crafty Catz                      Anything Goes with twist of more than 2 layers
Come and Get It                  Emboss It