Skeletons in the closet

 It's been quite awhile since I have posted. Life has just been too busy. I am sure you can all relate. I had a few days with nothing going on so I got into my studio to play. I haven't spent aday experimenting and getting inky in years. I had an idea in mind from a card that I saw on Pinterest that I forgot to pin (of course). Anyway it was with using an acrylic block to stamp a watercolor background with.

I started out by using distress inks, but the colors were just not vibrant enough. I then decided to sprinkle some color burst powders on the block and heavily spritz the block. Sure enough, I got just the vibrancy I was looking for. Messy but well worth it.

It just so happened that Just Us Girls was having a challenge using acrylic blocks to stamp with.
Naturally, I had to enter.

I haven't done this kind of artsy fartsy stamping  forever. I tend to be CAS these days. But who knew- you can be artsy and CAS, don't you think?

 I would like to say, you will hear from me again soon, but don't hold your breath. School, work, families and holidays are all conspiring to steal my time.

So until another time, happy creating!!

Chomp, chomp, chomp

Ahhhhh another day to enjoy before my weekend camping at work. I am always a day behind on the online card classes.  I have watched a number of videos on the no-line stamping but the videos by Kristina Werner were especially good. She said to start out simple and that critters were  a good way to begin. 

I just discovered an AWESOME new company- Reverse Confetti. Hey Jennifer, Kristina.... hey Simon Says Stamp, Ellen Hutson.... come on you guys ya gotta  promote and carry these awesome stamps and dies!!

The set I used my my first real foray into no-line stamping was "later alligator". How fun is this whimsical critter! I used my new Zig Kuretake Gansai watercolors. I got my set from Amazon and with Prime, I received them the day I ordered them!! Talk about instant gratification!!  

I will admit, my shading isn't perfect, but that is the great thing about using critters to start- they are forgiving.

Shopping Our Stash is having a very cute challenge this week- "show us your smile" Oh come on I couldn't not show off my grinning alligator, and well while this stamp set isn't the oldest in my stash, it has been lonely for the last week waiting for me to ink it up!

I am going out on a limb and enter a second card at Inkspirational. They want green and orange cards.

Pleeeeeeeeeease check out Reverse Confetti. You won't be disappointed!

The same but different

Hi everyone. Does this card seem like deja vu? Does it seem the same but slightly different? If you answer yes, then you must have seen last week's challenge card for Just Us Girls. 

I used the same technique on today's color challenge card that I used for the watercolor challenge last week. I really like the look of the watercolor through the stencil. I kept the card simple and let the background be the star.

Pink was always my mom's favorite color. She just loved it, so much so that when she died we buried her in a pink coffin and the family all wore pink to the funeral. I know my mom was looking down and smiling.

My mom would have loved this card. Please join us for this great color challenge at Just Us Girls!

Design Team call at Just Us Girls!!

This has been an absolutely crazy week. I have been busy working between two departments at work and staying late most nights and school is in full swing. ( I have just started grad school for my Masters in  nursing) Today was my day off and I ended up going into work to help out. The gist of this rant is that I have been behind in everything I had to do this week.

Luckily, this week's challenge card has been made for weeks. Remember my crafting weekend? I worked way ahead on many of my challenges because I knew September was going to be trying.

 This week at Just Us Girls, we have some exciting news- we are looking for a new DT member. Here are the details:

If you are interested, just play in this week's challenge and when uploading your card, put a DT after your name.  The Team will then discuss and vote for the chosen new JUGHEAD.  We will announce the new member on Saturday, September 20th.  The new member will officially start in the October 4th challenge.  Good Luck!

This weeks tend challenge by Vicki is right on point- water coloring! Most of you know I have been all over this especially since I took the online water coloring class with Jennifer Maguire and Kristina Werner.  My card today is a technique I learned from the class using stencils. 

The quick version is that you make a very wet watercolor wash and then press your stencil into the wash and let it sit till it dries and then pull the stencil off.

I think the saying is perfect for the challenge because- "Yes you all can do anything!!" 

I hope many of you will considering applying as a DT member. I am the newbie at JUGS. I have been with them for a year this month and not only are the challenges fun, but the DT are wonderfully creative and supportive women! 

I hope to see your watercolor creations this week at Just Us Girls!

Duo of Butterflies

Ahhhhhh, Sue V. is hosting a great color challenge at Just Us Girls this week. Well if you know me, you know that I think green is the most beautiful color in the world (sorry Margarita- it isn't pink!) and pair it with blue- well what can ya say- I am in heaven!!

I had made another card, when I wasn't sure I was going to have time to create this week. It was kinda crappy and a cop out. I came across this video from Dawn at Wplus9 and knew I had to try this technique. I didn't have the butterfly from Wplus9, but I did make do with this stamp from Hero Arts- an oldie but goodie that has always survived my purges.

There is something so zen about watercoloring especially when its dawn and the house is quiet and some soft music is playing in the background. I couldn't screw it up with all those peaceful and creative vibes going on around me. Check out Dawn's video, she really makes these butterflies look easy and they are.

While I was surfing the net before I started on my project, I remembered today is the August release day at Papertrey Ink. I came across this card by Nicole Heady and loved the look of copics on the kraft paper. I pulled out another oldie but goodie from Hero Arts.  I stamped and embossed with white and just colored the image in with the required colors. Easy- peasy.

If you ever watch any of those cooking competitions, many of the cockier chefs will try to make a duo of something and it often turns around to bite them in the butt. I hope that this isn't the case with my duo.

I hope to see your creations this week at Just Us Girls!

Cool flora

This week's challenge by Vicki is a cool and refreshing color challenge. Just perfect for inspiring cool thoughts on a hot day!  We are looking for creations using turquoise, green and lime. 

The BIG news though is this is the 250th challenge from Just Us Girls!!!  Can you believe that!! 250!!! WOW!! In honor of this event the Chic of the Week will win their choice of stamp set $14.99 or less from Dare 2B Artzy.

I loved these cool colors so much, mainly because I think green is the most beautiful color in the whole world!! (Sorry, Marguerita, I know you think the best color is pink.) I had to make two cards I liked this challenge so much. Both, are floral in nature. Are there green flowers out there? I am sure there are but if not- there should be!

I could not decide which card to post to Just Us Girls, so I had do a "meeny, meeny minny, moe" to pick which one to use. Which card do you like?

Be sure to join us at Just Us Girls for our 250th challenge and play along and you might win an awesome prize!!

Stamps used- Paper Smooches,  Bold Blooms, Reflections
                      Simon Says Stamp, Flower Friend

Technique time at Just Us Girls!

Hi everyone! We have had a week of rain. I am so ready for some sunshine. This weeks JUGS card makes me feel sunny! Sue V. is hosting a great technique challenge this week at Just Us Girls. She is asking us to do watercolor stamping. 

 I wanted to try something a bit different then distress ink on my stamps and spritzing it. I remembered Shari Carroll demonstrated a distress stamping technique on the Hero Arts website that was cool. I have included the video on how she does it.

 The first card I stamped the flowers on a separate panel and popped it up. The card below is one layer. I used bristol board for the card base. I discovered this card stock from taking the online watercolor class. I love how well watercolors work on it. They blend an mix with little warping. Kinda reminds me of working on tags.

Join us with your watercolor stamping creations over at Just Us Girls!

Tweet-tweet

Can I tell you how much I am loving the watercolor class with Jennifer Maguire and Kristina Werner. I have become obsessed with watercolors. This particular  card is my favorite so far. I used distress markers on this adorable bird stamp from Impression Obsession that my best buddy Pat gave me. After I colored the stamp with the markers, I heavily spritzed it and stamped it and just blended the color out with a waterbrush. I thought about a sentiment on the front of the card, but I just loved the bird by itself.

I made this card for the color challenge at House of Cards for the CAS category. I mighta cheated with the gray tones, hopefully my fearless leader Mynn won't notice! :)

I hope you will join us this week at House of Cards and show us what you can do with the color challenge this week for either CAS or classic/elegant cards

Find beauty

 This week at Just Us Girls, Lisa  is hosting a color challenge that is waaaaaaaay outside my comfort zone. Orchid, kraft and white.

Since I am still on my water color kick, I did an orchid watercolor background with an acrylic block. I stamped elegant weeds from Hero arts with frayed burlap distress ink.I accented the blossoms with an orchid marker and added texture with  white liquid pearls from Ranger. I finished the card with a touch of a script stamp and some watercolor splotches. I like this card but ir wasn't my first attempt. 

My first attempt was much lighter and it just didn't read orchid, so I redid it. 

 Both are cool in their own way. I hope you will join us this week at Just Us Girls for Lisa's color challenge!

Watercolor class homework- direct to stamp

I hope many of you have been able to take advantage of the online card class Watercolor for Cardmakers.  Over the past 6 days there have been fabulous techniques demonstrated by masters in card making such as Jennifer Maguire, Kristina Werner, Jennifer Rzasa, Shari Carroll and Sanketi among others.

On day 4, Shari Carroll showed us how to use gelatos on our stamps for an awesome watercolor look. As you know, not one to keep up on trends I have no gelatos, but I do have watercolor crayons and I used them directly on to the tulip stamp from Rubbernecker and spritzed the stamp heavily with water and I stamped onto watercolor paper.

This card is the second generation stamping that I accented with an extra-fine sharpie to make it look like and outline stamp.

This is the same stamp done with reds. They almost look like poppies don't they? Can't wait to see what else is in store for us!

Hope you enjoyed my take on Shari's technique!

Dude- you rock!

Hey everyone! This week at Just us Girls, Sue V. is hosting a technique challenge. It is an oldie but goodie. The "kissing" technique. If you aren't familiar with the technique, check out this tutorial from Split Coast Stampers.  

I played quite a bit with this technique and finally came up up with this card that I liked. The guitar dude displays the kissing technique. the watercolor background is from the watercolor color class going on now with Jennifer Maguire and Kristina Werner.

I hope you will take time this week to join us at Just Us Girls!

Homework

Do you know the saying- "saving the best for last"? That's how I feel right now. My last class before I graduate was a one credit art class. The class was two days and involved a lecture on the Wyeth family and watercolor techniques, with hands on instruction. The next day we went to the Brandywine River Museum.

I have never taken any "formal" art classes and while this class was geared to the completely inexperienced person, the class was full of useful information on watercolor technique. By the end of the first class we were asked to choose a painting from either N.C., Andrew or Jamie Wyeth to replicate. This was rather daunting since none of us were really artists. I know my limitations so I chose Long Limb by Andrew Wyeth painted in 1998.

We were given a rather large sheet of watercolor paper to work from. The first thing I wanted to do was cut it down to card size! I didn't, but there was no way I was going to fill that 12x9 sheet of paper, so I just worked in the middle. I think I missed the yellow aspects of the original, but I think I at least achieved the same tonal qualities on my representation.

The next day we toured the Brandywine River Museum. I am fortunate to live in the back yard of the Wyeth's and to have a museum dedicated to the Brandywine School of Art within driving distance. Our teacher took us on a tour of the museum and talked about the various works of art and how to look at each of them. I thought I knew about art, but I learned how to really look at a painting from the movement to the use of color and perspective.

Half of our homework was to create another painting from a Wyeth painting. As usual I bend the rules. I decided to stick with "Long Limb" but to recreate it in the four seasons. I really wanted to pull out my branch stamps and leaves etc etc, but I stuck to my own art work. I used ink and watercolor  and brought it into my world by making a card set.

Here is a picture of the start of the process. The well loved and used watercolor set in the lower right corner I have had since I was a kid. I will be bereft when it is used up.

I began with creating the four season backgrounds.

Next, I laid in the branches for each season. I wasn't completely happy with how they looked, so I  pulled out my copic liner 0.1 and accented the work with ink. It just seemed to add the definition that the work lacked. 

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

I am pleased with all of them but summer. Summer just seems to lack the verdancy one sees in summer and the patch of flowers seems rather blob like. I have to remember I am new to all this and practice makes perfect. Winter I added splotches of paint by flicking paint onto the work to mimic snow. You can really see it in the photo, but I also added some Mr. Huey's white spray ink.

I hope you all enjoyed my watercolor explorations and might be tempted to try them yourselves.

Now off to write yet another paper!!