Still playing with watercolour!

I think I got a little carried away with this one! While I love this stamp from the Peace Within set on its own, I was picturing it with a mountain scene behind it. And of course, I couldn't resist adding some water. Since I was using watercolour paper, I thought I would try using my Aquapainter and some Basic Grey ink to draw some mountains. Now, I have to say in my defense that I have never called myself an artist! Think I need a little more practice.

I love embossing folders!

I love flower stamps and I love embossing folders. So when I saw the Flower Garden embossing folder in the Summer Mini, it was at the top of my wish list. It's fun to colour the embossed image by just rubbing colour on with a sponge dauber.

Here's what I used:

Stamps: Four Frames, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Confetti White

Ink: Pear Pizzaz, Peach Parfait, Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, Pacific Point

Other: Flower Garden embossing folder, Decorative Label punch

You can still order from the Summer Mini until August 31. Just click on the picture of the mini on the right!

Stuck on Nautical

I'm loving all the nautically-themed products in the Summer Mini! It could be because I now live so close to the ocean. But, even when I lived in the land-locked prairies, I was drawn to anything to do with water, whether it was lakes or oceans. I attribute this affinity to my paternal grandmother who was Norwegian.

The stamp set The Open Sea, pairs well with the Nautical Expedition Designer Series Paper to make manly-themed cards. Add a bit of Baker's Twine and the possibilities are endless!

Here is my first attempt with all these products:

This is what I used:

Stamps: The Open Sea, French Foliage (for the splatters), Teeny Tiny Wishes (for the sentiment)

Paper: Not Quite Navy, Confetti Cream (crumpled and crimped until it split into layers), Nautical Expedition DSP

Ink: Not Quite Navy

Accessories: Modern Label punch, sponge, crimper, White Baker's Twine (rolled over the Not Quite Navy stamp pad to pick up some colour), Cutter Kit (has a tool that easily roughs up the edges, which is what I did on the main image panel)

All these nautically-themed products from the Summer Mini Catalogue are available until August 31, 2011. To check them out just click on the image of the Mini on the right hand side.

Strength & Hope

One of Stampin' Up's mandates is "Making a Difference". In this year's Summer Mini-Catalogue, $2 from the sale of each Strength & Hope stamp set is being donated to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. I used the butterfly image from this set to make a birthday card for a co-worker. She likes colour so I used Concord Crush, Old Olive and Regal Rose.

Three stamp sets went into the making of this card: Strength & Hope, Swirls & Curls Verses (Level 1 Hostess Set from the Summer Mini) and Vintage Vogue for the vine and flower images.

Cardstock: Old Olive, Concord Crush, Whisper White

Ink: Concord Crush, Old Olive, Regal Rose, Basic Black and tiny bit of Daffodil Delight

Accessories: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, marker, Dimensionals

To see more about this stamp set and the Making a Difference promotion, just click on the image of the Summer Mini Catalogue to the right.

More Watercolour!

When I first saw this stamp in the Summer Mini I immediately pictured a watercolour background for it. My Aquapainter is always on my work table, filled and ready for use. It's fast becoming my most used tool! And the Framed Tulips embossing folder makes the perfect frame for any work of art.

The first step was to stamp the sailboat image on Watercolour paper using Stazon black ink. I use Stazon because it is water proof and won't run when I use the Aquapainter. Next I started building the background by just picking up the ink with the Aquapainter and creating shapes for the grassy hills. I add more ink and darker shades of ink wherever I want shadows or just more visual interest.

And this is what I ended up with!

This is what I used:

Stamps: Sail Away

Ink: Stazon black, Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Soft Suede

Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Watercolour paper

Accessories: Aquapainter, markers, Big Shot, Framed Tulips embossing folder, sponge dauber

It's very easy to create a watercolour background using the Aquapainter. Hope you will give it a try!

Failed Faux Mother of Pearl

Today's project ended up totally different from what I had originally planned. I was trying to do the Faux Mother of Pearl technique, following a tutorial posted by a very creative fellow demo, France Martin. Must have missed the part where she said to use glossy white paper. I used Whisper White. Had the image all stamped and coloured before I realized my mistake. 

So I decided to tear and smear and curl corners and rough up edges instead to make this.

Here's what I used:

Stamps: Bella Toile background stamp, Elements of Style, Four Frames

Paper: Whisper White, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake

Ink: Stazon Black (to stamp the Bella Toile); markers to colour image: Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Marina Mist, Pear Pizzaz; edges and image are sponged with Soft Suede.

Other: Crochet Trim, Decorative Label punch, Stamp-a-ma-Jig (to place sentiment).

Creativity is always a journey - at least for me it is! Sometimes a project takes a detour and I end up in a totally different place from where I thought I was going. But that's what makes it fun!

Time to tidy up!

Every once in a while I just have to spend some time tidying up my work space. Whenever I do this I always unearth some "treasures". These treasures are bits and pieces left over from other projects. Or, they could be from projects I started and then for one reason or another, never finished. It's not always easy getting the vision in my head to translate to the cardstock, ink and stamps.

I don't even remember what vision I had when I stamped these images from the Inspired by Nature set. I think I was trying to create a watercolour effect. That effect is created by inking the stamp first - I used markers (Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Soft Suede) because I wanted the different colours - then spritizing with a little bit of water from a spray bottle, and stamping on watercolour paper. When I first looked at these, they didn't look very watercolour-y! So I took my Aqua Painter and smudged things around a bit. I love my Aqua Painter!!!

It still looked a little blah. So I did a watercolour wash to create some sky and grassy areas. This is a very, very easy technique. I took a Marina Mist marker and, using the brush end, scribbled it onto the lid of a stamp set. This leaves behind a pool of ink that I can then dip my Aqua Painter into, and then just wash it across the paper. The beauty of this technique is that you don't want it to be an even coat of colour. I love creating darker and lighter areas. It creates more interest in the overall picture, I think. To do the grassy area, I used the same technique with a Pear Pizzaz marker. It was a bit tricky doing this in the small spaces between the long blades of grass that I had originally stamped. But, again, with watercolouring, all you need is a hint of the colour and texture.

Once I had my masterpieces done, they needed to be framed! And it just so happens that there were some perfect frames in the pile on my worktable. I had used the Top Note die and the Big Shot to cut out the centres for another project. The cardstock had first been embossed with the Square Lattice embossing folder. I always save the "frames" that are left over. (Hate throwing away something that can be put to use!) Since these were in Old Olive, they were a perfect fit to frame my watercolours! The framed images were then mounted onto a Soft Suede base.

For the sentiment, I used a sneak-peek stamp set, called Four Frames, a hostess set called Occasional Quotes and the Decorative Label punch with Very Vanilla cardstock. I used a Soft Suede marker to colour around the edge to make it look like it was layered.

OK, after all that, do you finally want to see the completed projects? Here they are:

 
Hope I've inspired you to take a look at all the bits and pieces laying on your workspace!