Wednesday, October 31, 2018

WWC194 - Anything Goes Challenge

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Here we are with another Anything Goes Challenge. That means you can pick your theme, occasion, type of project. It's wide open!

Ever since I became obsessed with making mono prints on a gelatine plate, I've been exploring different ways to incorporate my Stampin' Up supplies into my gelli prints. For this challenge, I've used framelits, a stamp set and shimmer paint along with a gelli plate.
I used various acrylic paint colours to do a dark blue-green background. Then I used the Detailed Dragonfly thinlits to cut three masks from a window sheet. I placed the masks on the gelli plate and brayered a light green layer of paint over everything. The masks were removed and I placed the background I had already made over the plate. That produced the light green layer with the dark blue-green dragonfly silhouettes.

Next, I sponged Frost White Shimmer paint on the stamp from Dragonfly Dreams and stamped in the space left by the masks. The vine shapes are done with a stencil. Using a white Posca paint pen, I drew random circles and a border. The sentiment is from a Tim Holtz collection.
Want to see how the other Watercooler Artists interpret the Anything Goes Challenge? Just visit Watercooler Wednesday to check it out.

 

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

WWC193 - Tristan's All About Holidays Challenge

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There are holidays all through the year that are card-giving opportunities. This week, Tristan hosts our All About Holidays Challenge.

With December just around the corner, I have created a Christmas card.
As do most of my projects, this one also evolved from my original idea of using DSP with just a sentiment. When I was trying to pick one of the patterns from the Dashing Along DSP, my eye kept going to the green, star-shaped snowflakes. I was just itching to cut them out! So, I did.

To give them some sparkle, I applied some Copper Shimmer Paint to the edges with a sponge. Because I had poured some of the paint onto my craft sheet and still had some left, I didn't want to waste it. My eye fell on a piece of the Chicken Wire Elements.

Aha! I got the inspiration to turn the Chicken Wire Element fragment to copper. And, again, because I didn't want to waste the shimmer paint, I grabbed the Cherry Cobbler pattern from the DSP and sponged on top of that for a "two-fer". I'll use it on another project.
I loved the effect of the Copper Shimmer Paint on the DSP - so, onto my card it had to go! A little sponging around the edges with Cherry Cobbler ink helps to define it on the Crumb Cake card base.

For the top part of the card, I stamped the snowflakes from the Colourful Seasons stamp set randomly with Whisper White Craft Ink. I also sponged the edges with Whisper White.

Still not done with the copper theme, I embossed the sentiment from Timeless Tidings with copper embossing powder. It seemed to blend into all the other copper, so I used the fine tip journaling pen and just did a partial outline of each letter.

As a finishing touch, I used some retired star-shaped sequins in the center of each snowflake, and topped that off with a black rhinestone.

And - ta da! - another Christmas card done.

Now just visit Watercooler Wednesday for more ideas for your holiday card.
 

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

WWC192 - Marsha's Masculine Anything Goes Challenge

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Time to add to your stash of masculine-themed cards this week, as Marsha brings us the Masculine Anything Goes Challenge.

I took this opportunity to again see how many stamp sets I can use on one card. The total was only four, but I managed to use eight ink colours!
Here are the stamp sets used: Waterfront, Winter Trees, High Tide, and Carols of Christmas.

And the ink colours are: Balmy Blue, Crumb Cake, Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede, Lovely Lipstick, Mango Melody, Gray Granite and Shaded Spruce.

My scene is stamped on Whisper White cardstock and the card base is Early Espresso. The log 'frame' is Wood Textures DSP. Looking at it on screen, it occurs to me that the logs are just sort of suspended in mid-air. In hindsight, I should have continued them across the top. Hmmmmm......

What's the highest number of stamp sets or ink colours you have ever used on a card?

Check out Watercooler Wednesday for more great examples of masculine-themed cards.
 

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

WWC191 - Charlotte's All About Occasions Challenge

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For Charlotte's All About Occasions Challenge this week, I have a really simple card. I came across a piece of watercolour paper on which I had done a smoosh technique.

What is the smoosh technique you ask? To do it, spread ink directly onto an acrylic stamping block, spritz with water then lay a piece of watercolour paper  over it. This is a really easy and fun way to create a background. Then, it's just a matter of adding an image and a sentiment. Like this:
Colours I used for the background are Lemon Lime Twist and Tranquil Tide. After it dried, I randomly sprinkled drops of water then blotted with a paper towel to create the lighter spots.

The tree is from Rooted in Nature and I love the wonky look of it. I stamped the tree with Shaded Spruce and Soft Suede. The sentiment from Wetlands is also stamped in Soft Suede.

I mounted the panel on a piece of Basic Black cardstock so it has just a tiny black border all the way around.

The card base is Thick Whisper White. To give it some interest, I used the leaf embossing dies from Nature's Roots Thinlits set. Hopefully, it will show in this close up:
Now it's your turn to show us your occasions card. Check out Watercooler Wednesday for more inspiration.
 

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

WWC190 - Gail's Feminine Anything Goes Challenge

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We come again to a Feminine Anything Goes Challenge. The feminine part is self-explanatory, but do you know what the 'anything goes' part means? That means you can do things other than a card, such as a journal page, a 3-D item, etc.

As I've mentioned before, I've been really fascinated by gelli printing. So that's what I started with for this week's project - a piece of printer paper that I had created a background on using autumn colours of acrylic paint.

And then I just built on that!
Because I was going for a fall theme, I thought about using the leaf dies from Seasonal Layers Thinlits. I cut them from Mossy Meadow, Crushed Curry, Merry Merlot and Copper Foil.

To add detail to the background, I stenciled some script in random places using Paynes Gray paint.

Then I got the idea of a wall made from fall-coloured bricks. First I used embossing paste and the brick wall stencil. Once that was dry, I coloured the bricks with various colours of Stampin' Blends.

To do the sentiment, rather than trying to stamp it over the bricks, I stamped it on tissue paper with Early Espresso ink, then tore it out and adhered it with some matte medium. Tearing the tissue paper avoids having a straight line show where the tissue paper ends. The matte medium makes the tissue paper disappear and all that is visible is the sentiment, which is from Colourful Seasons.

Here's a closeup of the bricks and leaves. I used some retired embellishments on the leaves.
I matted the image panel with Merry Merlot, and the card base is Crumb Cake. This card is 5x7, and part of a collection of 4 that I made for a fund raiser for the local Arts Council. They had called for 5x7 art cards and did not want a sentiment inside. I did decorate the inside, as well as the envelope.

So, let your imagination go! You might be surprised where it will take you. Check out Watercooler Wednesday for projects from the rest of the team.

WWC211 - Kath's Feminine Anything Goes Challenge

https://watercoolerchallenges.blogspot.com/ It's a feminine theme this week from Kath. A perfect opportunity to play with my new butte...