Watercolored Geraniums

This week for the Creative Confetti Challenge over at Power Poppy Julie wants us to try coloring in new ways, ways that we may normally not try coloring in. This challenge made me cringe because I am not artistic at all, I can barely manage with copics LOL However I decided to bite the bullet and try something out of my comfort zone.

I bought these Zig Clean Color Real Brushes a few years ago and I think I've used them once or twice. Watercoloring scares me and even though everyone says watercoloring is so forgiving I feel like I manage to screw it up every time, so I avoid doing it. I grabbed the markers from my drawer, gave myself a pep talk and dove in!

I used the Geraniums Take Two clear set for my coloring. I love to do potted plants on my front deck and geraniums always do great, they are one of my favorite plants to work with. I love the bright red geraniums, I think they are so pretty! With the image I started with the leaves first, working in different layers of 2 colors of green. I then went to work on the flowers, only using a red marker and a water brush to help spread the color. Overall I like how the leaves came out but I think the color on the flowers could have been deeper. I gave it a try though, so thanks to Julie for pushing me out of my comfort zone!

Watercolor Silhouette for Friday Mashup

This week Heidi is our hostess at The Friday Mashup and she would like to see a background filled with color (watercolor, sponging, braying, etc) and also a silhouette image. A bit out of my comfort zone but I went for it.

My friend (and Friday Mashup creator) Holly knows I don't care much for watercolor. It's just something I'm not good at. She told me about some watercolor powders from Ken Oliver and how easy they were to use. I decided to give them a try and bought the Earth Tones assortment when my local stamp store got a few in. Holly was right, they are very easy to use!

For my card I squeezed some powder onto the watercolor paper.....mind you the powder tends to go all over if you squeeze too hard and you do not need a lot to create, so be gentle and if you want more color just add as you go. After adding the powder I began to spray the paper with water and just let the colors combine and do their thing. I added more powder to areas I thought needed it, sprayed with water again and then set the piece aside to dry.

While the panel was drying I took one of the sentiments from Thankful Forest Friends and colored the stamp with markers. I then stamped it on watercolor paper and used an aquapainter across the words and image to carry on the watercolor theme.

After the panel was dry I took an image from Serene Silhouettes and stamped that in StazOn Black right on the watercolored panel. I took the sentiment piece, cut it out and then popped it up to the right of the silhouette image.

Head on over to The Friday Mashup to see what the rest of the DT did and then play along with us!

• Create a project with a Silhouette image.
• Create a project with a Background filled with Color (watercolor, Sponging, Etc.)
• or Mash it Up! and create a project with a color filled background and a silhouette. 

Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Thankful Forest Friends

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Watercolor Paper

Ink: Black StazOn, Various SU Markers

Accessories: Ken Oliver Earth Tones Assortment, Big Shot, Chalk Talk Framelits, dimensionals

PPP Watercolor Blog Hop

This weekend I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried something I almost never do....watercolor. Pretty Pink Posh is hosting a watercolor blog hop and friends that were taking part in it encouraged me to also join in the fun.

I see so many lovely creations made with watercoloring and I'd love to achieve that look but I'm keeping it real here, this weekend has helped me discover that watercoloring is not something I'm good at LOL . It took me to 2 days to get this card done and my trash pile? You don't even want to know how many panels of watercolor paper got thrown in the trash. My friends Holly and Rita were very patient with me and listened to me whine, encouraged me and just let the creative process flow....thank goodness I have such great crafty friends!!

This card started out as a card for my husbands nephew, who graduated from high school in CA this weekend. His school colors are burgundy and gold. The red isn't as dark as I wanted but I think I'm still going to call it good and send it to him, even though it's a tad girly looking in my opinion....but maybe he won't think so!

I pulled out Faber-Castell Gelatos to use for my watercoloring. I had won them from a blog about 2 yrs ago and have never used them. Holly reminded me that I had the gelatos stashed away and that they would be good for watercoloring. Dang, I hate it when she is right ;) I used the Gold Champagne and Red Cherry Gelatos with a paintbrush and then pulled out an aquapainter to create my splatter. To finish it off I added 3 gold sequins I pulled put from the Pretty Pink Posh Classic Christmas Mix.

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure you head over to Pretty Pink Posh and check out all the wonderful projects submitted!

Stamps: Congratulations (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper: Cherry Cobbler (SU), Very Vanilla (SU, inside of card), 140lb Watercolor Paper

Ink: Versamark

Accessories: Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Aquapainter, Faber-Castell Gelatos, Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, paintbrush

Watercolor Poppies for Friday Mashup

It's finally the end of the week! I don't know about you but that makes me so happy for many reasons. However, I am not excited about the weather forecast for my neck of the woods...we're supposed to see temps in the low 80's this weekend. Um, no thank you! I live in southcentral Alaska for a reason, and it's not to melt in the heat LOL I just may hide in the house and stamp all weekend if the temps do pan out like the forecasters say they will.

This week at The Friday Mashup Holly is our hostess and she has a nice simple sketch for us plus she'd like to see watercoloring on our project. I used the Pleasant Poppies stamp, this is always one of my favorite images to watercolor. I used my Aquapainters and Real Red and Old Olive ink to color in the flowers. I decided to give the card a bit of a softer look by rounding the top corners and then I stamped the sentiment on a strip of watercolor paper, watercolored over it with Old Olive and then cut it into a banner and popped it up over the poppies. It's hard to see in the photos but I used a red Wink of Stella pen along the lines of the flowers for a little extra pop.

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup to see what the rest of the DT came up with and then play along with us!

• Create a project with the "sketch"
• Create a project using "Watercoloring"
• Or Mash it Up and create a watercolor project that uses the sketch

Stamps: Pleasant Poppies,

Paper: Real Red, Watercolor Paper

Ink: Black StazOn, Real Red, Old Olive

Accessories: Aquapainters, Wink of Stella Red Glitter Pen

Simple Watercolor for Friday Mashup

Happy 4th of July to everyone in the US! I hope you have a great holiday weekend and that you are safe out there!

To kick off our Independence weekend Heidi is our hostess at The Friday Mashup and she wants us to use the watercolor wash technique and to create a CAS project, or one with very minimal layers.

Watercolor wash seems to be pretty popular right now doesn't it? Stampin' Up! has several sets that would be great to use with this technique or you can do what I did and just grab the aquapainter, ink and be totally random and abstract about it!

I took some watercolor paper and used the colors Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana and Crisp Cantaloupe to create my watercolor wash background. I then took a stamp from Serene Silhouettes and stamped that in Coastal Cabana across the top of the other colors. The sentiment is from the hostess set Hello Love and I stamped that in Lost Lagoon. I also did some ink splatter on the panel using Lost Lagoon. To finish it off I grabbed the paper piercer and just randomly went around the edge making holes. I didn't want to the lines to be perfect so yes, they are crooked and random :) If the general layout looks familiar to those with keen eyes I was inspired by the card on page 108 in the Stampin' Up! catalog.

We hope you'll stop by The Friday Mashup blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with and then play along with us, we love to see your projects!

Create a Project with a "Watercolor Wash".

Create a "CAS project or one with Minimal Layers".

or Mash it Up! and create a "CAS project with a Watercolor Wash".

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Hello Love

Paper: Strawberry Slush, Watercolor Paper

Ink: Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, Lost Lagoon

Accessories: Aquapainter, Paper Piercer

Flowers for Friday Mashup

Oooops, I totally spaced getting my post up last night for today's Friday Mashup! Another sign that I need to spend this weekend sleeping and getting rid of the last of my jet lag!

Sara is our hostess this week and she wants use to the colors Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi and Perfect Plum. She'd also like us to watercolor or use our blender pen.

I grabbed the set Pleasant Poppies and used all 3 colors on the stamp, which was stamped on watercolor paper. I then used a blender pen and aquapainter on the lines to soften them and get the water colored look. The 'love' was cut out in Perfect Plum and adhered to the watercolor paper.

The pic doesn't do it justice, in person its really pretty!

Make sure you head over to The Friday Mashup to play along and to see what the rest of the DT came up with.

1. Create a project using the colors "Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi & Perfect Plum".
2. Create a project using "an Aqua Painter or a Blender Pen to create a Watercolor Effect".
3. Or mash it up and create a project with the "Colors above & a Watercolor Effect".

Woodland and Green

I posted how a friend ordered a set of cards from me and I posted 2 of the cards the other day, here and here. This post shows 2 of the other cards I made.

My friend lives here in Alaska also, a few hours north of me in Interior Alaska and like most Alaskans she is very much into the outdoors. She is a photographer and gets some of the most amazing shots of Alaska you'll ever see! That was the inspiration for these 2 cards.

Polka Dots and Trees

Today's card combines 2 challenges...The Paper Players and Freshly Made Sketches. Unfortunately weather and poor lighting conditions created a picture that doesn't really do this card justice...it really is quite pretty in person. *The sun peeked out today(Fri) and so I snapped a better pic and replaced it***yikes, so I just viewed the photo on my desktop and I dont know why its so dark! Not my week for photos I guess! Sorry!**

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Lovely As a Tree

Paper: More Mustard, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard DSP, Garden Green DSP

Ink: Garden Green, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: 1 3/8" square punch, 1 1/4" square punch, sponge, dimensionals

Grillin' for Fathers Day

I needed a Fathers Day card for a fundraiser I've been having for my daughters soccer team and so I pulled out the King of the Grill set. It was a bit hard for me...the last time I used this set was in 2010, when I made my dad a Fathers Day card with it. It was the last Fathers Day card I got to make for him, as he passed in Oct.2010. I guess subconsciously I kind of pushed this set to the back and ignored it, even though its one of my favorites. However today I dusted it off, shed some tears and then got to work. I think my dad would like this card :)

Supplies(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: King of the Grill

Paper: Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Naturals White, Well Worn DSP

Ink: Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Silver Metallic, Going Gray

Accessories: Cajun Craze Brads, Modern Label Punch, Aquapainter, various SU Watercolor Pencils, sponge, dimensionals

Tried Something a Little Different

I spent yesterday and today working on a specific project. Here in Alaska the Aurora Borealis, aka Northern Lights, have been amazing this winter and as one of my hobbies I love to "chase" the lights and photograph them. One of my friends from the aurora shooters group asked if I could create a card for her with an aurora theme to give to one of her friends, who is also an aurora photographer. I said I couldn't promise anything but I would do my best!

Now, I cant draw my way out of a paper bag. Seriously. I have no artistic ability at all. That's one of the reasons I love stamping. I can color and arrange the images however I want, but someone else has done the hard part of coming up with the image in the first place.

For the first card I went with a watercolor image that focused on the dancing green bands of light that my area tends to see. The area by our homes is heavily wooded so the friend who asked for the card frequently takes photos of the aurora as seen through the trees around her place.

The 2nd card went darker and brought in purple, as the girl who will be receiving loves the color purple and further north of us the Fairbanks area often gets wonderful bands of green filled with purple and red.

I like both cards for different reasons and this definitely challenged me, that's for sure. Both cards were a hit with the gal who asked for them so I breathed a huge sigh of relief for that!

And the inspiration for the photos:

March 19, 2012

The Northern Lights dancing above my daughters high school on March 13, 2012:

Friday Mashup Sketchy Watercoloring

Thanks for joining us for another Friday Mashup challenge. It's Dec.23rd, Christmas Eve Eve :), so I'd like to take a moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope your day is filled with lots of love and laughter!



Because so many people are busy with the holidays right now I wanted to keep this challenge pretty simple, so I think I have an easy challenge for everyone. I dont know about you but I always like a nice simple sketch to give me a starting point, and I also like to watercolor my images. I thought it would be great to combine 2 of my favorite things for a challenge that people wouldn't have to think too hard about, because goodness knows this time a year our minds are already getting quite a work out!


I hope you'll join us and I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with! Make sure to check out all the great inspiration from the design team! This challenge will also be open until JAN.4TH! Like I said, we all know what a crazy time of year this is so we figured we'd extend the end of the year challenges, so maybe you can sneak away from the hustle and bustle for a bit for some stamping :)

All of my Christmas cards have been done and mailed for a few weeks now but what does that mean? That I need MORE Christmas cards for next year of course :0)  I grabbed the tree from the Christmas Lodge stamp set to make this card. I love this tree! I watercolored it with Garden Green and Always Artichoke, and added in some Early Espresso for an outline of a tree trunk. For a little extra sparkle I added ornaments with Stickles in red, green and gold(and boy, did that turn into a big discussion in my house...the hubby and daughter didnt want me to put it on, but I wanted too, and well, its my card so they were overruled HA!). I added in some Crumb Cake ribbon, some layers of Frostwood Lodge DSP and called it good.

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :


-Make a project using the "Sketch".
-Or Make a project using "Watercoloring".
-Or "Mash it Up" and create a project using the "Sketch & Watercoloring" .

Supplies used(all supplies SU unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Christmas Lodge, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Flannel Plaid

Paper:  Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, Watercolor Paper, Frostwood Lodge DSP

Ink: Garden Green, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Not Quite Navy, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Top Note Die, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Crumb Cake ribbon, Oval Punch, Stickles--Candy Cane, Gold and Green, sponge, Aquapainter