SCS March 2016 Virtual Stamp Night Event "Round and Round" Challenge MAR16VSNH #StampinUp #FifthAvenueFlorals

It's that time again for another 2 day Virtual Stamp Night Event at SCS this past weekend. There are a whopping total of 14 challenges with the ongoing theme of "Here Comes The Sun." Hmm, the hostesses and event planners must not live in So Cal?  It's been sunny and actually hot this past week. This one is for Hostess Melody's (lacyquilter) "Round and Round" Challenge.

I pulled out the already completed circle cut and matted Basic Grey Sultry pp card base from years ago when I was working on this DT project in 2008.  Yes, I'm a hoarder and save everything since I might need it or could use it one day, right?  I had tossed it to the side because my hand cut scallops along the outside circle border didn't neatly match up at the end with the beginning.  So I salvaged the base, because I still so love Basic Grey, by adhering various watercolored blooms from the SU Fifth Avenue Florals set to hide my oopsie.

I so enjoy SCS's VSN events because it really forces me to dig into my stash and crack up supplies that have never seen the light of day.  This Fifth Avenue Florals just screams so New York and Kate Spade to me, and it was one that I had coveted for so long, so I was so happy to finally own it even after it was long retired.  This is one of those sets I'm going to resolve to use at least 5 times because I've had it for like a year already!  So, four more projects to come.

2 Challenges out of 14 Done!



 


"You Only Live Once" Card
Paper: Canson 140lb Watercolor Paper; Basic Grey Sultry
Stamps: SU Fifth Avenue Florals
Ink: Canson Angora Water Colors; Stampendous White Opaque EP; Clearsnap Vivid Sienna 
Embellishments: Michaels $1 Bin Heart Shaped Color Dot; Niji Water Barrel Brush; Martha Stewart Circle Cutter; Scalloped Decorative Scissors
Size: 6" x 6" Round 

SCS Mystery Image Swap - March 2016 MFT Birdie Brown "You are Super"

Super Girl says You're a Super Friend! I've always loved this Super Girl image from My Favorite Things.  It's been on my wish list forever.

This month in March, Joanna (Queenbee Jo) over at SCS sent us all this darling stamped girl, accessories and sentiments from the "You are Super" set to play with.  She even sent along two different cityscape skyline dies for us to use.

So here's my Super Girl card with shiny don't hate her because she's beautiful hair, super girl shield and word bubble sentiment! Had to throw in some red glitter a la easy glitter tape.

I'm not really sure why I went with the patriotic theme in my background patterned paper selection. Maybe I was thinking of Captain America when I was coloring in that shield?

I've been watching new coloring tutorials and applied some of what I could remember.  I've never used a hint of Copics B00 before and I love the way her hair came out.  With this close up, you can see I messed up with color bleeding outside the lines on the bottom right dress area.  Now you see why she ended up with a shield? tee hee!

Here are the Copics I used for her hair and skin color.  I busted out Y17 for once for all the yellow you see. 

But I really don't have any primary blues or reds. So I ended up reaching for my SU Watercolor Pencils set to finish her Super Girl costume. I also added a pop of white sharpie marker pen work on her boots. 

Because the sentiment Joanna sent along was stamped with plenty of space in between each of the words, I decided to carefully die cut the phrase "Super Friend" as you can see below.  Usually, this type of precision aligning would require a lot of praying for it to work out because I'm too cheap to waste my non existent washi tape stash by using a few pieces to tape the metal die in place.

I remembered to pack my new magnetic platform I just received from Joann's during their most recent online 50% off sale. Oh my gosh, this was so worth the splurge!! It worked like a charm with success on the first try! Saving so much time since additional attempts with limited supplies were not necessary.

I forgot how much joy new crafting toys can bring.  Thank you Joanna for the opportunity to play with this adorable little Super Girl.  And I hope Kelly likes it as this is on it's way to her on Monday as part of our rotating mail out schedule for the Mystery Image Swap.

SCS is hosting their "Here Comes the Sun" themed Virtual Stamp Night this weekend, so I'm submitting this one for Hostess Carla's (Covington Crafter) "Give Me A Head With Hair" Challenge MAR16VSNK since I made it a point to try a different hair coloring approach this time.

Challenge #1 of 14 - done!


Thanks for visiting!

"Super Friend" You are Super Card
Paper: Cryogen White #89; ? PP
Stamps: MFT Birdie Brown "You are Super"
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black; Copics (Hair) B00, N1, C5. C7, C9; (Skin) E00, E51, YR21, R 20; Super Girl Outfit - SU Watercolor Pencisl & Wink of Stella Gold 
Tools: SU Word Bubbles Framelit Die; Memory Box Cityscape Silhouette Border Die; Creative Memories Star Punch
Embellishments: American Crafts Best Creations Red Glitter Tape
Size: 5.75" x 5" rectangular 

Julie Nutting Watercolor Pencils Technique Duo Tag "Andara" & "Camille"

I was excited to be able to squeeze into a Julie Nutting technique class at the last minute taught by THE Julie Nutting herself.  Obviously, I've been bitten by the bug and just adore these doll stamps.  I love the ethereal artsy fartsy look of her coloring style, so wanted to get out of my box to learn something new.

Here's sweet Andara as we were just getting started. I learned that:

1. I had to let the watercolor pencils dry before going at it with the white sharpie pen to add the light highlighting details else the white shapie paint would muddle and get diluted by the dampness. 
2. I learned my preference to blend / add color by putting color down outside of my doll parts area (on the patterned paper) and picking up the color with my water barrel pen to apply a new color layer.
3. I learned my preference in controlling how wet the tip of my water barrel pen brush to affect color blending. 
4. I learned the difference of coloring paper directly with pencil strokes before and after applying water to blend. 
5. I learned to layer watercolor pencil applications while blending.   

Here's sweet Andara all dressed up with the lovely Belle Vie patterned papers, Prima flowers and exquisite Tonic umbrella die.   

And here's her companion Camille adorned with a Tonic butterfly die. Julie had some tiny pink sequins that were just the perfect accent to her full skirt.  

I couldn't help squealing in class "THIS IS SOO SOO PRETTY!!" every 5 seconds that I was working on these tags.  Both of the girls were edged with ink for dimension before they were pop dotted onto the embellished tags.  The only item that was paper pieced was their bonnet hats that came from the "Gina" doll set. 

This was my first time accenting with White Sharpie pen so my strokes are visibly tentative and sloppy. I'm eager to get better with practice. 

I think I'm hooked on these Julie Nutting dolls.  I bought a set of skin color watercolor pencils today to join my other 2-3 sets of watercoloring pencils I already have from SU and other manufacturers I don't remember.  If my lss had the other sets, I probably would have bought them too. I held off on purchasing new dolls....for now....because I already have 2 of the dolls in my stamp collection. 

I had so much fun today! 

  


"Camille & Andara"  Doll Tags
Paper: Julie Nutting Belle vie; Bazzil Black 
Stamps: Prima Julie Nutting "Andara," "Camille" & " Gina" Doll Stamps
Ink: Unknown Black Pigment Ink; Sakura Souffle Black Pen; Sharpie White Fine Tip Marker; Prima Chalk Edgers Dark Rust
Embellishments: Julie Nutting Hair & Skin Watercolor Pencils, Julie Nutting The Basics Watercolor Pencils; Tonic Butterfly and Umbrella Dies;  Prima flowers
Designed & Kitted By: Julie Nutting 

Think Happy Thoughts Watercolor Splatter

I've noticed this splattered paint/watercolor trend in many of the card galleries out there and finally got a chance to try it out.  I'm still finding my confidence in allowing the water to spread, mix and dilute the colors.  Can I tell you how hard it is to just leave it alone?!?!?!  

TIP:  When using watercolors, it's important to use an ink and/or heat emboss it so it doesn't smear.  I made the mistake of using Momento Tuxedo Black in my previous Crazy Birds card because it's been awhile since I've been crafting.  I love that Momento pad because the black is rather crisp.  But it's just a dye based ink pad.  Grr! I completely forgot I had been using Versafine Black which is an archival instant dry pigment ink pad.  Voila! No wait time, I could apply gobs of water or watercolor right away. 

Decided to play along with the current Muse Challenge #127 this week while trying out this splatter technique with my Kuretake Gansai set.

Here's this week's Muse inspiration card by Joan Bardee:

I loved the tons of fresh clean white space which I replicated on my card.  Also loved her circular / oval gathering of elements that framed her sentiment which I created with my color splattering and golden bronze-y sequins.

This was a fun card and challenge.  Thanks for visiting!





"Think Happy Thoughts" Card
Paper: Canson Watercolor Paper
Stamps: Reverse Confetti Color Me Happy 
Ink: Versafine Black; Kuretake Gansai Watercolors 
Embellishments: Darice Sequins
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 

SplitCoast Stampers June 2015 Virtual Stamp Night Event "You Are My Happy" Challenge JUN15VSNC

I'm so excited to be able to play along the 2 day Virtual Stamp Event going on at SCS this weekend. There are 10 challenges and the ongoing theme is Happy.

Hostess Sue (gregzgurl) is calling for cards to show a special someone how "You Are My Happy." The rule for all the challenges is to complete the card in 1 hour or less - eek! That in itself is stressful enough since I'm a slow poke!

Here's my entry for this JUN15VSNC "You Are My Happy" Challenge:

Thanks to the other day's attempt with heat embossing my Etch-A-Sketch cards, I decided to try heat embossing this flower stamp in order to use watercolor to color. It's a style trend I've seen a lot on the web.

The heat embossing and water coloring was actually quite fast. I think it helped that I made a color swatch of my Canson Water Color set because it made it so much easier to know which colors to use.

Once I watered down the embossed areas, I merely dabbed on the lighter of the green and blue violet colors on first before touching up with the darker versions.  While the water colors were drying, I then adhered the sequins.

Funnily enough, what took most of the time within the hour was
1) Choosing color/shape of sequins
2) Choosing location and number of sequins to adhere!

Whew! 1 down, 9 more challenges to go!

What's more, I was able to tackle another one of my 2015 Let the Year End with Beauty:

16.  Watercolor medium for coloring in flowers/roses. 

The color choices were inspired by this week's current Muse Challenge #121.

I've never been a green person, but this inspiration card featured a lot of green, so I decided to emphasize a fresh green on my card by attaching the SU Gable Green cardstock.  I took a liberal interpretation of their navy and sage green and made my versions of the color more springy for my card's purposes due to the Iris stamp image.

Thanks for visiting!






"You Bring Out the Happy in Me" Card
Paper: Canson 140lb Watercolor Paper; SU Gable Green
Stamps: PSX K-3192 Iris ; MFT All Smiles (Sentiment)
Ink: Canson Angora Water Colors; Stampendous White Opaque EP; SU Brocade Blue; Memento Black 
Embellishments: SU 2013-2015 In Color Sequins
Size: 4.25" x 6.5" rectangular 

Trio of Raffia Butterflies

Finally resolved to use up these hand made raffia butterflies that's also a swap return (created by Sheryl H from Colorado from the SBA forum) due to this week's inspiration at the Muse Challenge & Addicted to CAS Challenge sites.

I paired a sentiment from Verve with yet another of my water coloring attempts while spreading out the trio of butterflies.

It has a dated look due to the style and material of the butterflies, but they're still very well hand crafted.

I stamped the sentiment on top so that the butterflies could "hover" over the springy green water colored background.  And it's lighter and airier on the top?

Here's the Muse Inspiration of the week for Muse Challenge #120.

And here is the prompt over at the Addicted to CAS Challenge site for their Butterfly Challenge #65:

Thanks for visiting!





Trio of Raffia Butterflies Card
Paper: Canson Watercolor Paper
Stamps: Verve Nicest Thoughts  ("You are one of my nicest thoughts. - Georgia O'Keefe")
Ink: Versacolor Black; Canson Angora Water Colors
Embellishments: MM Buttons; Wire; Wire Tools; Glue Dots; Raffia
Size: 4.25" x 6.5" rectangular 

Thanks Hero Arts Shadow Stamping Watercolor Card

Playing around with watercoloring backgrounds again. While I'm getting better pigmentation, I'm still working on technique. Not a fan of these long watercolored "legs" but decided to put it to use by pairing it with an old shadow ink stamped border using Hero Arts stamps that I found in my partially completed class kit materials. 

I like how the bottom portion turned out on the watercolor background.

The top, not so much.

A few more left over SU cardstock pre cut panels used up from home demo class kits used up for this card.  Then added a "thanks" die cut using scraps in both white and gold glittered cardstock for the current SCS Clean and Simple CAS327 Challenge for 6-1-15.

Thanks to Pretty Pink Posh for hosting the Watercolor Blog Hop too to which I've also submitted my card!

Thanks for visiting!






"Thanks" Card
Paper: White CS; SU Gable Green and Misc CS
Stamps: Hero Arts 
Ink: Canson Angora Water Colors; Hero Arts Shadow Inks
Embellishments: QK Nesting Cookie Cutter Basic Phrase Dies; Eyelets
Size: 4.25" x 6.5" rectangular 

"Hello" #RadiantPearls #Shimmering #Poppies

I've noticed the watercolor flower trend since my return from my crafting hiatus and have been dying to give it try, except I didn't want to rush out and buy lots of new supplies like I would have back in the day.

I wasn't too thrilled with my background watercoloring attempts last weekend with my Canson watercolor paints because the colors weren't as bright as the current watercolor paint dujour Gansai's appear to be in the many samples & videos I've come across.

Thus my motivation to dig out my Radiant Pearl pots, an old favorite of mine from over a decade ago.  And the RP's do not disappoint in color vividness!

When funds become available, I'm sure I'll grab some Gansai's at some point, but until then, nothing wrong with using what I've got to learn/perfect a technique which apparently I've done lots of in the past once I got going with my Radiant Pearl's!

Seriously so sad I can't buy anymore as I recently discovered that these were discontinued and no longer on the market after being acquired by Luminart, so I'm torn between going to town and yet being mindful to use my paints sparingly.

Unfortunately, the gorgeous shimmering effects didn't photograph well in the above picture, so here's a another shot at it from the side which hopefully shows it off a bit better.  Sorry, my lighting is off on this shot.

I applied paint sparingly directly onto the red rubber stamp since a little goes a long way and it stays wet for some time. Then once all the colors were applied, I then took a hold of the stamp and impressed it onto my Neena Solar White 110 lb weight cardstock.

It was like running into an old beloved friend...hello Radiant Pearls!

CHALLENGES SUBMITTED:

• SCS' CAS362 to use Wildflowers for 5/25/15.  Hmm, I'm not sure what kind of flowers these are, but the dandelion like leaves of these tall stems scream poppies to me, so a type of wildflower? (I'm guessing this is a Hero Arts stamp because I only have the unmounted rubber stamp due to my very early attempts to ditch all my wood mounted stamps.)

• Muse Challenge #119 based on this card inspiration.  I'm a sucker for gold foil dotty designs.  I went with gold dotty washi tape for mine. 

• The Pink Elephant TPE#300 Anything Goes Challenge.

• Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge for 5/27/15.

Thanks for visiting!



  


"Hello" Shimmering Poppies Card
Paper: Neena Solar White 110# CS
Stamps: Hero Arts Poppies (?)
Ink: Radiant Pearls
Embellishments: Reverse Confetti "hello" die; SU 2013-2015 In Color Sequins; SU Watercolor Wonder Designer (gold dotted) washi tape
Tools:  Paint Brushes
Size: 4.25" x 6.5" rectangular 

HaHa!! #Stamping #Alignment #Fail Shoulda Pulled Out the #Stamp-a-ma-jig Sooner #CardsforACause #RonaldMcDonaldHouse #Charity #Donation

It's been over 5 years since I've packed for a crop, so while I did pretty good packing for my 4 day extended weekend, my crafty brain is obviously a little rusty in not thinking of EVERYTHING I would have needed when drafting up my packing list.

These are cards I eyeballed stamping the text.  The Garden Green Lattice Window cards are pretty obvious as the text should have been a bit lower. The Lavendar Lace tag flower cards are blurry because I overstamped each twice using the Stamp-a-ma-jig twice.  Talk about shaky hands! I should have practiced a few more times.

Ah well.   The Garden Green Lattice Window cards were my first projects when unpacking because I had JUST relocated my Big Shot plates and wanted to christen my new to me SU Bigz Lattice and SU Window Frames Framelit Dies. These were always on my wishlist, so glad there were ladies on SCS who were willing to sell to me without charging ebay prices!

The pale yellow vellum was from my scraps pile - whoohoo! A sheet at a time, I WILL whittle the pile down!

The next two cards were salvaged using a set of identical hand drawn lilac flower tags using Zig brush pens waaaaay back when Zig brush techniques were the rage at the turn of the century.  Yup, these two tags were swap returns. Goes to show you how accurate the claims of acid free paper and ink are, eh, that they still look fresh and crisp nearly 15 years later?

I just added the Verve "knock your socks off" sentiment once I got home.  They turned out fuzzy because I should have practiced a few times with my Stamp-a-ma-jig once I finally admitted to myself that I did indeed needed the help. Else my alignment without this tool was a hot mess all weekend!

I obviously need more practice with my watercoloring techniques.  Lol, I was pretty happy to finally crack up my brand new set of Cansan watercolors that I purchased, probably 10 years ago, from my local stamp store.

These four cards will be going in my monthly donation to the ongoing Ronald McDonald House Cards for Cause effort that I'm both participating in and hostessing over at SCS.  I'd love it if you'd like to donate some of your cards to this cause.  

RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE MISSION: To provide a community where children and their families embrace life and healing (from cancer) with a sense of hope, enthusiasm, courage and joy. 

Pasadena Ronald McDonald House 

763 South Pasadena Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

I have chosen to adopt the location in Pasadena to donate cards that I create and collect from friends throughout the rest of this 2015.  

SEEKING THESE CARD THEMES:  Anything other than religious, make them uplifting, thinking of you, children themes, etc.  Cards with no sentiments are perfectly acceptable too. Examples of themes: Welcome Baby Card / Wedding / Sympathy Card / Birthday / Thinking of You/ Thank you / Missing you. 

WANT TO DONATE:  Please leave a comment here with your email, and I'll reply to you with my home address.  

By forwarding to me or any of our other monthly hostesses throughout the US, you'll allow our group of ladies over at the SCS community to tally the number of cards donated and lives impacted.  Check out our Call for Cards here. 

 DETAILS:
1. Cards need to use good quality cardstock- HEAVY WEIGHT--- (so the card can stand alone) and include a minimum of two layers and one embellishment.  

2. IF you use colorful / dark cardstock—please line the inside of the card with either white or vanilla paper so the guests can write in them using black/blue pen.

3. If you place a sentiment inside—repeat the sentiment and place on copy paper so that it can be added inside the back of the sleeve-so the individual can see if there is a “saying” on the inside or it is “blank” 

4. If you would like to include envelopes and sleeves it would be greatly appreciated - sleeve IS NOT necessary.  What's a sleeve?  Click here for example. 

Nevertheless, I'll be preparing each card by inserting them and a matching envelopes inside individual clear A2 sized sealable envelopes in to keep the card clean and in pristine shape to allow the RMH recipients to handle and make their selection. 

I definitely had a super fun creative weekend using just recently purchased and finally opening long ago purchased crafty items to play.  I'm pretty happy that I got to use swap returns and scraps as well to pay it forward towards such a great cause. 

  

"Just Wanted You to Know How Special You Are" Garden Green Lattice Window Card
Paper: SU Garden Green CS; Vellum 
Stamps: SU Versatile Verses ("Just Wanted You to Know How Special You Are")
Ink: SU Garden Green 
Embellishments: SU Bigz Lattice Die; SU Window Frames Framelits
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular 

"Hope Today Knocks Your Socks Off" Tag Cards
Paper: Canson Water Coloring Paper; SU Lovely Lilac CS, SU Tempting Turquoise CS  
Stamps: SU Mosaic Madness; Verve All About You ("Hope Today Knocks Your Socks Off")
Ink: SU Lavendar Lace; SU Tempting Turquoise; Versacolor Black; Canson Watercolors
Embellishments: SU Modern Mosaics EF; SU Mosaic Punch; SU Sizzix Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die; White Sheer Ribbon Scraps
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular