CAS Watercolour September Challenge

Hi everyone.  Today is the start of the CAS Watercolour September Challenge.  This month is hosted by me and I chose ...

Perfect for this time of year, except I didn't go with an autumn tree as I had originally planned.  Instead I did a little experimenting with some green and brown Brushos.   I spritzed my image with water, sprinkled with a little of the Brushos and then stamped onto the watercolour paper.  I used paper towel right away to mop up excess ink.  I'm happy with how this turned out, but am afraid it was beginner's luck.  Not sure if I'll get as good an image next time but will definitely try. :)

I used my waterbrush to move the ink around on the trunk, but left the leaves alone.  I added some grass at the bottom and stamped the sentiment.  The image was a little low on my card front, so I rounded the top right corner to balance it better.

Here's a close-up ...

We are excited to have Ros (Mikey's Mom) joining us at Guest Designer.  Please check out the challenge blog to see the inspirational cards by our Designers and wonderful Guest Designer, Ros.  Then come play along.  Hope to see you in the gallery!

Stamps:  Birch Tree Painting - retired (ISC); Gratitude (Penny Black)
Paper:  Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. Hot Press)
Ink:  Brushos
Accessories & Tools:  water mister, water brush, corner rounder

Challenges:
CAS Watercolour September Challenge - Tree

Happy Birthday Wishes

Hi everyone.  It's already more than half way through April.  That means it's time for a reminder post for the CAS Watercolour challenge.

This month Bonnie wants us to add a bird (or birds) to our CAS Watercoloured cards.  I combined two older stamps to create a little water scene with bull rushes and a bird. :)  The stamps were inked with Stampin' Up! markers, spritzed with a little water and then stamped onto mixed media paper.  I used my water brush to move just a little bit of the colour around.  I took one of the markers, scribbled some on my palette, added a little water and then did the wash at the bottom.  The sentiment was stamped in dark brown ink ... same ink used for outlining the bird and bull rushes.  To finish, I rounded the top right corner.  The images were a bit low, so by adding the corner rounding, it makes the card look more balanced.

Here's a close-up ...

Check out the reminder post on the challenge blog to see more inspiring bird cards from our Guest Designer, Stef, our talented Designers, and our fantastic challenge participants.  Then come join us!

Stamps:  Simply Sketched (Stampin' Up!); Be Thankful (Innovative Stamp Creations);
Paper:  Mixed Media paper (Strathmore 140 lb. 400 Series)
Ink:  Markers:  Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Baked Brown Sugar, Lost Lagoon (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories & Tools:  water mister, water brush, corner rounder (We R Memory Keepers)

Challenges:
CAS Watercolour April Challenge - Bird

New Design Teams Announced at HLS

I'm so excited today!!  Happy Little Stampers is HAPPY to announce our new Design Teams!  Yay!! :)  Click on the link to head over and check it out.  Welcome to all my new teammies!!

I wanted to make a card to celebrate this exciting day.

and I wanted to use the techniques for June's CAS Challenge - Sprays - Mists.

I was inspired by my friend Bonnie's card HERE.  Isn't it gorgeous.  Just love the colours she's used with the white accents.  I also wanted to experiment with my Brushos as well.  I wanted to keep the colours as separate as possible (when spraying with water, control is difficult), but it worked out pretty well.  The blue and yellow did not mix to green, although the blue and red did mix a little so there's some purple ... but I like it! :)

This is a little different for me.  I'm basically letting go to a point, as I'm ALL about control, :)  I love the artsy feel of this card.  Thanks for the inspiration Bonnie!!

Here's how I did it.  I heat embossed my tree image in white onto watercolour paper. Then I sprinkled a little of the turquoise brushos in a couple of places and spritzed with just a little water.  Let it soak in a few seconds, and then lightly blotted with a paper towel,  I repeated that with the red and then the yellow.  Then went back a second time and did it again.  By blotting, the paper is still damp, but not wet, so I didn't have too much water running all over the place.  I'm usually pretty heavy-handed with the water mister :) ... but took my time and kept my spraying to a minimum.

I hope you'll check out the challenge and come play along.  Ink sprays, glimmer sprays, water mister ... anything that comes out of a spray bottle will work for this challenge.  Just remember to keep your cards CAS. :)

And again, I'm thrilled about our new teams at HLS and can't wait to get started working with them in July!! :)

Stamps:  Birch Tree Paintings (Innovative Stamp Creations); Field Flowers - sentiment (SU!)

Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Watercolour Paper (Tim Holtz)
Ink:  Versamark; Brushos (Turquoise, Yellow, Scarlet)
Accessories & Tools:  White embossing powder (Hero Arts), heat tool, water mister

Challenges:

HLS June CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists

Bulrushes

First of all, I forgot to wish everyone a Happy Canada Day, yesterday!!  There were so many things happening yesterday, that it completely slipped my mind.  But, it's never to late ... hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

I had a fantastic day.  First, exciting news with being picked Featured Stamper on SCS this week.  In the afternoon, Gord and I met up with friends we hadn't seen for quite a while and enjoyed a leisurely latte at the local Esquires.  Then, dinner with the family and later, out to a local high school in North Delta to watch fireworks.  It was our first time attending the Canada Day fireworks in Delta and we were amazed at how wonderful it was!  Years ago we used to go down to Vancouver ... the fireworks there is so spectacular.  But, not really up for fighting the crowds and the long commute any more, so stayed near home instead.  The great thing about it being in a field of one of the schools, is that the spectators get to be very close to the action.  We could smell the gunpowder from where we were sitting!  :)

On to the card for today ... I made another card for this week's CAS Challenge (CAS177 - navy, old olive and white) --- just love this color combination!  This card is very CAS.   Two simple stamps, a little sponging and that's it.  I'm really loving the white-on-white layered cards, so did that again with this card.  Hope you like.

"Bulrushes"

Stamps:  Be Thankful (ISC); Vintage Labels (SU!)
Paper:  White (C.C. Designs)
Ink:  Old Olive, Night of Navy (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  post-it note for masking, sponge dauber, and dimensionals

Easy and quick card.  Just colored the image with Stampin' Write markers, stamped onto card front, masked water line and sponged more Night of Navy ink below post-it note.  Added sentiment and mounted the card front onto cardbase, popping it up with dimensionals to add depth.

Easy, peasy!!

Birthday Bulrushes

Today is the "Ways To Use It" challenge at SCS (WT373 - Don't stress, Distress!).  I haven't made a distressed card for ages - it was fun!  I used a stamp that I've had for a while, but not inked yet ... there are several of those in my art studio :)  This is a beautiful stamp from Innovative Samp Creations which features bulrushes growing up out of the water.  I decided to watercolor the image using the watercolor spritz technique.  I'm really happy with how it turned out and have decided this will make a perfect birthday card for Jeremy ... I know he'll appreciate the watercolor which is one of his favorite mediums to work with.  Hope you like.

"Birthday Bulrushes"

Stamps:  Be Thankful (ISC); Wonderfully Worn, Happy Moments (SU!)
Paper:  Early Espresso, Confetti Cream, Well Worn DP, watercolor paper (SU!)
Ink:  Early Espresso, River Rock; Stampin' Write markers Old Olive, Early Espresso, Certainly Celery; Re-inkers Baja Breeze, So Saffron (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Large brush, mini mister, sponges, Making Memories distressing tool, small oval punch, medium oval punch, adhesives, sticky strips, and dimensionals

I started by making the main panel.  I added water to Baja Breeze re-inker and did a wash (using the large brush) on the bottom and very top of my watercolor paper.  I added water to So Saffron re-inker and did a wash in the middle.

Once the wash was dry, I inked the stamp with Stampin' Write markers, Early Espresso, Old Olive, and used Certainly Celery for the "reflection" as I wanted it to be lighter.  I lightly misted my stamp with water and then stamped onto the watercolor paper, lining up the horizon line of the stamp and wash.  Once my image was dry, I want back with a little watered down Baja Breeze re-inker and added more color just over top of the reflection.  Once everything was dry, I sponged Early Espresso ink around the edges to give the image an "aged" look.  I mounted the panel onto a frame of Early Espresso cardstock.

I used Confetti Cream cardstock for the background and stamped the Wonderfully Worn stamp in River Rock ink.  I used a sponge and River Rock ink to add more "aging" to the edges.  I mounted the background to a card base of Early Espresso.

I took two strips of the Well Worn DP and distressed the edges using the Making Memories distressing tool.  The roughed edges where white and I thought too stark, so I sponged all the distressed edges of the two pieces with Early Espresso ink.  I mounted the two strips on top of the background paper, one horizontally, one vertically.

I stamped the sentiment from Happy Moments Stamp Set onto a small scrap of Confetti Cream paper and punched out a small oval.  I then sponged River Rock ink around the edges and mounted the oval onto a medium oval of Early Espresso cardstock.

I placed the main panel in the center of my card, popping it up with dimensionals to add depth.  I mounted the framed sentiment at the bottom corner of the main panel.

For the inside, I stamped the Wonderfully Worn stamp in River Rock ink onto Confetti Cream cardstock and then sponged more River Rock ink around the edges (just like the front background panel).  I added one distressed and sponged strip of the same Well Worn DP to the left side of the inside panel and then mounted it to the inside of the card base.

Misting Morning at the Lake

I haven't been feeling well lately and realized that I'm going through withdrawal --- brayering withdrawal, that is!!  :)
 
I've been doing lots of the on-line challenges rather than making cards with ideas I have whirling around in my head.  Today I decided it was time to get back to more of just making whatever comes to me.  Here are the results ...    Hope you like.
 

"Misty Morning at the Lake"

 

 

Stamps:  Sketch of Nature (trees), Birch Tree Paintings (grass) - Innovative Stamp Creations (ISC); Vintage Labels (sentiment) - SU!

Paper:  Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, Whisper White

Ink:  Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, Basic Gray; Stampin' Write Marker Early Espresso

Accessories & Tools:  Speedball Rubber Brayer, post-it notes and scrap paper for masking, sponges, adhesives

 

* * * * *

 
This is a very simple brayered card, done as follows:  I masked the horizon line with a post-it note, covering the sky area with the mask.  I brayered Baja Breeze from the bottom up to the mask.  I removed the mask and brayered Baja Breeze from the top down about 1/3 of the way, leaving a white space in-between the sky and the water.

I placed the post-it note mask back on the horizon line, this time covering the water and then randomly ripped a scrap piece of paper to create the mountains in the distance (low range).  I placed the ripped mask covering the sky and used the brayer to add Early Espresso ink for the mountain range, re-inking the brayer and going over it several times to make it as dark as possible.  I removed all the masks.

I stamped the tree in Early Espresso ink on the left hand side, about 1/2" or so below the horizon line.  I used the Stampin' Write marker to fill in the trunks of the trees and make them dark.  I used a small eye-makeup sponge to add ink to the "leaves" of the trees.  And, I sponged ink around the base of the trees and down the left side and most of the way along the bottom to create the bank of land along the lake.

I sponged Basic Gray lightly along the tops of the mountain range and also underneath the range in the water.

I stamped the grass several times along the bottom of the card in Early Espresso ink and stamped the sentiment on the right hand side.

Sketch of Nature

Ever have one of those days when you think everything is going great ... you've created a wonderful card and you're just at the point of mounting it onto a card base to finish ... and then things unravel??  This happened to me today.  I made this lovely scene with a beautiful blue sky, clouds, mountain off in the distance and pine trees at the bottom of the mountain.  I was happy and proud of myself.  Then in a rush to finish, I cut off too much of the picture - uggghhhh!  Into the garbage it went.  I was soooo mad at myself!! ... of course, hubby was nearby to take the brunt of my wrath ... :)

So I wasn't about to start the same scene again ... and I couldn't leave the art studio empty handed - that just wouldn't do!  So I created a quick ... let's call it "15 minute card".  Clean and Simple might be a better title.  It's all about the main image - no ribbon, no brads, no embellishments whatsoever.  Hope you like.

"Sketch of Nature"

 

 

Stamps:  Sketch of Nature (Innovative Stamp Creations); Vintage Labels (SU!)

Paper:  Soft Suede, Whisper White (SU!)

Ink:  Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Soft Suede, Barely Banana; Stampin' Write markers:  Old Olive, Early Espresso, Sahara Sand

Accessories & Tools:  Sponges, small paint brush, medium oval punch, small oval punch, adhesives, dimensionals

* * * * *

I inked the stamp using Stampin' Write markers: Early Espresso for the trunks and branches and Old Olive for the leaves.  I stamped onto the Whisper White cardstock and then colored in the trunks using Sahara Sand Stampin' Write marker.  I swiped a small, stiff paint brush across the Old Olive ink pad and added color to the leaves, repeating until they were mostly filled in.  I then swiped the paint brush across Always Artichoke ink pad and added some dark green to the base of the leaves.

I sponged Barely Banana in the background all around the tree (and in amongst the branches), but leaving a little white space to add interest.  I also sponged the Whisper White scrap with Barley Banana before stamping the sentiment in Soft Suede ink.  I mounted the stamped sentiment on a frame of Soft Suede cardstock.

I sponged Old Olive ink at the bottom of the trees to create grass and added Always Artichoke near the top.  I sponged some Soft Suede ink right along the base of the trees.

I mounted the image on the card base and added the sentiment, popping it up with dimensionals.