WOODLAND BROWSING BABY BUNNIES WATERCOLOR

My little bunnies are enjoying the scent of spring and I am exploring a version of a watercolor rubber stamping technique that Bonnie Krebs teaches for her Watercolor stamp line.  I must say, I have worked for so long to learn how to put details into my stamping scenes that it seems counter-intuitive to me to try to watercolor with a "semblance" of the image.  Blurry is a challenge for me.  I want to go back over it and put the details back.  #tryingtolearn

The technical goods are as follows:  Art Impressions watercolor technique used with Hackney and Company/Craft Consortium "English Garden" stamp set and Stampscapes. Spellbinders dies. The Spellbinders are actually two different sets made to go with each other. Gold Labels Four and Card Companions with "Elegant Labels".  All mounted on deckled edge card stock from Hollo's.

My Polka Dot Chair

I created a card with the Sizzix Base Card that accomodates the Pop 'N Cuts inserts.  The outside is cut without the chair or any other insert, just the plain base card die.   This snapshot is of the outside of the card which I designed to look like the outside of a house with a trellis and vining flowers.  The bricks are created with a Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folder.   The flowers are a combination of die cuts and punches layered.  The trellis is from Cheery Lynn Designs.  The picket fence is a Martha Stewart edge punch.  The bricks and flowers were colored with Copic markers using both airbrushing and coloring.

This is the inside of the card.  The base of the card was cut with the diecut base including the chair insert.  The walls are were then cut with the base cut die and chair insert using paper  from Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Paper Pad 6 x 6 from American Crafts paper .  I'm uncertain of the name of the floor paper but it came from Hobby Lobby.  The polka dot chair paper is also from American Crafts from the paper pad below.

This is the base die (the larger black piece in the picture).  The smaller black piece is the circle insert which is taken out to cut the base of this card .

Paper used for wallpaper and chair.

Pop 'n Cuts chair insert this piece is placedn the magnetic portion of the die where the circle insert was before it was taken out.

Texture Fades bricks and wood grain.

Cheery Lynn Designs dies Ivy and trellis

Poppy Stamps die for flowers

Martha Stewart picket fence punch

Flowers are colored with Copic markers and layered.  I used the 3/16" Glue dots for the trellis and flowers.  I do wish that they made these in a smaller size.  Sometimes I cut them in half.  The QuicKutz quicker poker picker upper is a great tool for lifting the glue dots off the paper and rolling it to put on the backs of the flowers and trellis.

The sofa table, lamp, picture and throw rug are from this Sizzix embossing folder called "Foyer".  After embossing them, I fussy cut them  out and did some accent coloring and shading with Copic markers.

The girl on the horse is a stamp from Stampscapes colored with Copic Markers.

This sentiment from Cloud 9 Simple Thoughts Baby says it all.  It is airbrushed with Copic markers.

This little one gets photographed every month in her polka dot chair.  The photo was printed on cardstock and fussy cut.  The yellow scissors in the picture below are KAI.  They have the finest point that I have ever seen on a pair of scissors.  I would call them surgical quality....and have stabbed myself more than once.  However, I can cut things with these scissors that I never though possible.  I made the pillow with pop dots and the wallpaper paper.  

 Kia scisscors, Fiskar scissos, Spellbinders label and QuicKutz Quicker-Poker-Picker-Upper which is great for rolling the glue dots to fit on the back of small places..

Cloud 9 Simple Thoughts Baby

Would love to see these glue dots in a smaller size, at least half of this size.

Stampscapes stamp.

A Stampscape Inchie Birthday Card.
Inchies are cards with one inch vignettes.  This is a masculine birthday card made with a layout of 4 inchies using small parts of Stampscape stamps.

Green Pastures

 This latest card is called Green Pastures.  It is a tri-fold shutter card created with a Sizzix die.  The die both cuts and scores the cardstock.  It is a Bigz XL die.  The rubber stamps are from Stampscapes.  The sheep stamp is from an unknown company. The die was used twice.  Once with the brown background and a second time with a patterned paper.   The scene was stamped on the pattern paper, and then the panels were cut apart, trimmed down and attached with adhesive.  Cutting the scene paper from the die saved time and made this scene go much faster.  I keep trying to decide if this card is finished or if I should add some words.  There are several nice areas where I could add  sentiments.  What do you think?  The inks are Distress inks and Copic markers with air brushing.  I used the paper towel technique for the sky.  I plan to do some more cards with this Sizzix Die, it is a lot of fun to work with and it is a good die to show off coordinating paper.  The card doesn't fold up too tidy (below).  That is due to the type of card stock that I chose to use, not the die.  The cardstock is actually a chipboard and kind of bulky to fold, but I like the way that it makes  the card stand up which is how I would display it.

BLUE BIRD BLESSINGS!

Today was a beautiful day full of sunshine and perfect for rubber stamping.  I chose a Heartfelt Creations stamp of a bluebird for the centerpiece of this card.

I stamped the card in Ranger Archival Ink and colored it with Copic Sketch Markers, airbrushing a blue mist around the edges.  Then I finished off the scene with Stampscape Reeds and edges of the Oak Branch stamp using Distress Ink Pine Needles.

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Next I stamped and heat embossed three flowers with white embossing powder on vellum.

I cut out the flowers with Heartfelt Creations Rose Creations Dies.
Then inked the flowers ever so lightly with Distress ink Spun Sugar using a dauber.

Again using vellum I stamped, heat embossed and then cut out the Heartfelt Creations  frame shown in the picture.

After assembling the card, I stamped the Stampin Up Blessings stamp across the bottom of the card.

Starry Starry Night and Air Brushing

Today the Stampin Chix met for our monthly gathering.  We had a good time stamping and scrapping with each other. The theme for Lisa Somerville's blog challenge this week is STARS.  She left it open for interpretation, hollywood stars, or stars above, I suppose even starfish could qualify.  I chose the kind you see at night.  Starry, Starry Night was created with Stampscapes, Copic markers.  I did some airbrushing on this one too.  The ease of air brushing is one of the greatest things about Copic markers.  I enjoy that it is not messy or smelly and you can get that "just right" look that you are by blending the colors with the airbrush.  It is also fast and easy to change from color to color in the air brush gun.  Air brushing is especially great for skies and grass.

Wide Eyed Fireworks Back to School Challenge

WIDE EYED FIREWORKS

Back to School Challenge

When I was a little girl, school always started the day after Labor Day.  The community that I lived in had a small lake in the center of town with a Gazebo and a little beach and grassy hill with a sidewalk all the way around it.  You could walk around the whole lake in about a half hour if you walked slow.  There were beautiful cherry trees all around the lake.  The lake was very deep, in fact they said that they had never found the bottom of it.  The night before the Labor Day holiday the city would put on a grand fireworks display.  My mother would dress us up in our pajamas, pack a picnic quilt and off we would go to sit on the grassy hill.  We would anxiously wait for darkness to arrive and the first ear piercing star of color would slowly rise to the highest heavens and then burst into a shower of colors.  We watched with wide-eyed excitement as the fireworks burst agains the night sky for the next 45 minutes.  The colors were spectacular. At the end they would show a ground display of fireworks on the other side of the lake.  It looked like civil war cannons were shooting at each other.
I can remember walking to the car afterwords and being sooo tired I just couldn't walk another step and my dad would pick me up in his strong arms and carry me the rest of the way.  The next day, school would start.  I was always ready for school to start, we had played all the board games and worn ourselves out playing kickball in the scorching sun.  The fall weather felt cool and good, I loved the colors of the leaves, seeing old friends and challenges for my brain that had grown lazy over the summer.

Todays card depicts those fond memories.   The stamps are Stampscapes, Rubber Stamp Tapestries, Stampabilities, Cloud 9 Fiskars clear stamps. Color is from Pan Pastels, ink is Memento.  I had a great time remembering those good old days. 

This blog was created for the Back to School Bloggers Challenge.  If you would like to post a link
Back to School Challenge Blog Hop  Follow the link.
Thanks for stopping by!

Chasing Dreams

The Pan Pastels blend like a dream.  I've used Memento Inks for the rubber stamping.  One of the really nice effects that you can achieve are the mist of the clouds.  We are always discussing how to accomplish the misting in the Stampscapes groups, I think Pan Pastels are a viable option.

Ready, Set, Fire!

Today's card was created with stamps from Stampscapes and Gray Wolf Graphics.  Dyes are Distress Ink Pads used with Stipple Brushes and Copic Markers.  Distressing with Memory Makers tools. The Stamps are a perfect 4th of July scene, but the secret is that this card was created to celebrate my son's graduation from college.