SCS Card Sketch Challenge #552 Thanks Tim Holtz Crazy Birds Card

I'm still having tons of fun with my Tim Holtz Crazy Birds and Kuretake Gansai watercolors. This time, I decided to stamp a few of the birds and color them in advance so I could take out my Crazy Birds dies for a whirl.

They cut like a dream and these are pretty easy to align.  I can tell I have a little too much white border on the bottom right design of my stamped bird image, so hopefully next time, I'll get it perfectly right.

I was inspired by the current weekly Card Sketch #552 over at SplitCoastStampers, but made a few minor tweaks with placement.

Made this card as a very belated thank you to my fellow blog team member and friend Lynn to thank her for her incredibly generous support of a Card Donation Call I'm hostessing at SCS to benefit cancer patients at the Ronald McDonald House locations.

I'm hostessing the month of Jan 2016, and in addition for my call for cards which will be donated to the Pasadena, CA location, I'm also committed to donating a minimum of 10 cards each month to each of the monthly hostesses so that a different RMH location throughout the US can be highlighted.

Lynn sent me a whopping 162 cards WITH envelopes for the Pasadena location. 

Here's a sample of her GORGEOUS cards that she sent.  (I apologize for the low lighting; I couldn't find my DSLR at the time and had to rely on my iphone camera.)

I haven't yet made my way to the center yet to drop off by have set up an appointment with the Center Director to meet with her in a few weeks to drop off. I'll be sure to post pictures so Lynn can see how her generosity has impacted others.

Thank you so very very very much Lynn! 






"Thanks" Crazy Birds Card
Paper: Canson Watercolor Paper; Misc PP; Vellum
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Bird Crazy 
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Kuretake Gansai Watercolors 
Embellishments: Oval SB Dies;QK Nesting Cookie Cutter Basic Phrase Dies
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" rectangular 

Hippity Hoppity trio of Violet Layered Poppies

Just so in love with my new set of Kuretake Gansai watercolors, but I know now that I really need to spring for a full set of the Color Burst pigment powders I got to try at the rubber stamping convention I attended last month.

These Gansai colors are rather opaque and a huge improvement over my cheapy set of Canson Watercolors, but they still lack in color vividness. See the Rubber Necker card sample here using the Color Burst pigment powders.

I made this card for my blogging group team leader and friend Cindy over at  Designing Duo's to send her some hippity hoppity cheer using my new Rubber Necker set!  (Cindy, this is your fault I bought this!)

Cindy and her family has had to weather through some trials in life lately. She also was so kind and generous in gifting me this lovely RAK of yummy patterned papers and handmade card out of the blue recently! 

These days, we're all on a budget so I'm truly grateful and touched she shared her crafting bounty with me. Thank you Cindy!  

These women in the crafting community are something else, eh? :) 

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It just dawned on me that "hippity hoppity" is probably more appropriate for Easter related themes? I just loved how happy, cheerful and springy it sounded. 

Hmm, I have no idea if poppies really come in this color combo? 

Oh well for my temporary lapse in judgement. 

Nevertheless, it was definitely an ordeal to do VERY little and force myself to just WALK AWAY several times while waiting for each color to dry, lol. 

I couldn't resist and had to resort to one of my old fav attaching methods - the stapler, to attach my sentiment. 

Thanks for visiting!

"Hippity Hoppity" Card
Paper: Canson Watercolor Paper
Stamps: RubberNecker Layered Poppy Set; Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Crazy Talk "hippity hoppity" 
Ink: Versafine Black; Kuretake Gansai Watercolors 
Embellishments: Darice Sequins; Staples; SU Watercolor Wonder Designer (gold dotted) washi tape
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" rectangular

Define Normal with Tim Holtz' Crazy Birds and Kuretake Gansai Watercolors Cards for SCS Baker's Dozen Swap - Week #4

Work is whopping my BEE-hind so I'm playing mad catch up with my swap cards to my weekly partner Dawn.  I've been having a blast texting with her somewhat regularly in between.  It seems she's having computer issues and I'm weathering long hours and long commutes, so I thought the sentiment of this card, "define normal?" seemed appropriate.

Finally got to play with my newly acquired Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamps I just got at the recent rubber stamp convention last month.  I also happened to pop into a Hobby Lobby when I read somewhere on SCS of ladies finding the Kuretake Gansai watercolor set there. Ohhh, hello 40% off coupon?

Just like Jennifer Mcguire said her video tutorial, these Kuretake Gansai watercolors are very rich, creamy and buttery feeling when handling them.  I decided to make a color swatch before I started just to really see the true colors of cake pan.

Here's my first try using both the bird stamps and the Kuretake Gansai watercolors.  Hmm, I was impatient and didn't wait for the Momento ink to dry or did I heat emboss it to set it, so there's a bit of smearing.

I was hoping for my birdie to be a bit more happy primary color orange-y as that's Dawn's favorite color, but it came out a bit more distressed than I was intending.  Oh well, it definitely looks very Tim Holtz-y distressed.

Yes, I just made up a word.

Dawn seems to be the washi tape queen so she's inspiring me to use more washi tape in my designs and to decorate my envelopes.  Problem is, I only have one set that I ordered from SU earlier this year.  I'll have to make some time to browse the aisles at Michael's and pick up a few fun bright colors.  I remember seeing some super fun ones from Heidi Swapp.  For now, this will have to do but I think it should be brighter to anchor my very heavily colored crazy bird.

I had fun experimenting with new products and new mediums.

Entering this card in CASology's Week 158: Precious White Space Challenge.

Thanks for visiting!





"Define  Normal" Card
Paper: Canson Watercolor Paper 
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Bird Crazy & Crazy Talk 
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Kuretake Gansai Watercolors 
Embellishments: SU Watercolor Wonder Designer (gold dotted) washi tape
Size: 5.5" x 4.25" rectangular