Farewell Field Flowers

I'm sad to say that the Field Flowers set is being retired.

I like them in blue.

And in yellow.

in Strawberry Slush, 

Regal Rose and Primrose Petals,

more blue.

This set is still available in wood.

But just until June 4th.

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Happy Watercolor Poppy

This is the last week this wonderful set is available from Stampin' Up!

I have really enjoyed this set.

Especially the poppy.

For the first card I stamped with StazOn on a Watercolor Splotch background.

This time I stamped the flower head with Real Red on watercolor paper

I colored in the flower with a Tangerine Tango marker. 

and added highlights with Real Red.

After stamping the stem on the card,

 I fussy cut the bloom and popped it 

over the stem with dimensionals.

The background is really easy with the stamps from this set.

I got a soft color background by inking and stamping off

before stamping on the design piece.

Addicted to Stamps

is having

MAKE YOUR MARK week.

They have a new sponsor this week.

Do go check it out.

Inkspirational

has a word prompt this time

The MUSE this week

is Cornelia.

Here's her card.

Simon Says Monday Challenge

says to do Artsy Cards this week.

It might be a background, a hand-drawn image, a sketchy texture stamp, or a special saying. We challenge you this week to get out your artsy stamps and play! Or – get any stamps our and join us in some artsy stamping fun!

I'm hoping the watercolor background is artsy enough.

The Design Team creations are way more artsy than mine!

Do go take a look.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge

says ANYTHING GOES

All these challenges have so much inspiration

both from their Designers and the Gallery.

If you're ever stuck for an idea, go visit.

I'm so glad you could stop by today.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Happy  Watercolor

Ink: Jet Black StazOn

Paper: 110# (Neena), Tangerine Tango, Shimmery White

Other:  Re-inkers, Aqua Painter, Basic Pearls (colored with Sharpie)

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Happy Watercolor

Ink: Real Red, Soft Sky Pistachio Pudding, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso,  SU Markers (Tangerine Tango, Real Red, Early Espresso)

Paper:  110# (Neena), Basic Black, Whisper White, Watercolor (Strathmore)

Merry Monday Sweets

It's Merry Monday time again.

What a beautiful gallery of Christmas flowers you brought last week.

This week the amazing Debbie chose our challenge.


I consider candy canes Christmas food.

And I had this stamp from the dollar bin at Michaels
that had been languishing on the Christmas shelf.

I don't think I'd used this sentiment before either.

2 NBUS in one card!

Here's another card....

so I can join in Sarn's Rudolph Challenge.

She requires 2 Christmas cards.

And snow was a favorite Christmas food when I was a kid.

Snow you  may ask?

My brother and I would go out on Christmas Eve and collect fresh, clean snow.

My Mom would boil maple syrup (the real stuff) to soft ball stage.

We would spoon the hot syrup over the snow.

 The syrup would thicken and become chewy

and so sweet.

Mmmm! That was such a treat!

And since both of these have texture with the embossing, I'll go to

Addicted to CAS

Where the code word is

And since I used snippets on both cards, I'm off to

Pixies Snippet Playground

where it's always fun to play.

I hope you'll come join us at 

Merry Monday.

It's fun to play there too.

Can't wait to see all the wonderful Christmas food you bring.

The Merry Makers have a buffet of delights so do check them out.

Thanks for the visit.

If you're in the US, I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day.

Give thanks for those who've served to make this world a better place.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Candy Canes (Michaels), All Holidays (retired)

Ink:  Real Red, Garden Green

Paper:  White 110# (Neena), Whisper White, Origami Paper (gift)

Other:  Kars Snowfall EF (retired Cuttlebug), Simple Scored, Sequin

I stamped the image in red 3 times and green twice on the origami paper and cut everything out.  I stacked 3 candy canes atop each other and added 2 layers of the bow.

I did the split embossing by placing painters tape on the embossing folder and running just to the tape. Turned it around and did the bottom the same way.  I used the Simply Scored to score a line at the edge of the embossing.

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Fanciful Christmas and Scripted Greetings (Amy R.)

Ink:  Island Indigo

Paper:  Whisper White, Island Indigo, Silver Glimmer

Other:  Kars Snowfall EF (retired Cuttlebug), Snowflake Dies (Impression Obsession) and Snow Flurry Bigz Die (retired), Large Rhinestone

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Lattice Work

The Lattice Die is retiring from the Stampin' Up! catalog.

It'll be staying on my shelf.

Here's a couple of cards I've made with it.

and

You can find a video with instructions for the window card here.

Thank you Dawn.

Here's another card using this die.  I did a couple of years ago.

The cross was cut from the lattice.

I'm so sad to say that our dear friend who had the heart transplant passed away.
He was doing so well and we had high hopes that he would be with us for a long time.
The Lord needed him more.
Please pray for his wife and family.
He will be dearly missed.

Thanks for stopping by.

Live is short.
Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe (card 1)

Paper: Soft Sky, Vellum, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer

Other:  Window Frame Framelit, Lattice Die, Bird Builder Punch, Square Lattice EF, Owl Builder Punch (heart), Organdy ribbon (Joann Fabric)

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamp: Papillon Potpourri

Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento), SU Marker Daffodil Delight), VersaMark

Paper:  Neena 110#, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Vellum Paper

Other: Window Frame Framelit, Lattice Die, Lorelei Leaf die (Memory Box), Elegant Butterfly Punch, Shapeabilities (Spellbinders), Basic Pearls

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted.

Peaceful Petals Watercolor

Here's one more card for the Online Watercolor Class

I stamped the flowers with Marina Mist ink and watercolored

with my Aqua Painter and Re-inkers.

We'll be doing a card like this Saturday during a Stamp Stack,

but we'll be using markers to color the flowers and sponging for the background.

They're very similar, but I love the extra movement of the water.

Addicted to Stamps and More

has ANYTHING GOES challenge this week.

CAS-ology

is doing flowers this week.

so I can play along with them.

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy!

More Watercolor

I have a few more watercolored cards to share.

Both of these were inspired by

Swarup Murthy (Sanketi).

I've been copying inspired by Sanketi's work for some months now

and she was a teacher at the Online Watercolor Class for Day 5.

I was also inspired to use these flowers and layout from a video by

Darlene Devries

I stamped the flowers with Distress inks, 

blended the colors with an Aqua Painter,

drew the leaves with a Distress Marker

and stamped the leaves using masking and a Stamp-a-majig.

For the background I used Stampin' Up! re-inkers.

I still haven't broken out my watercolor paints.

That's on the agenda for next week.

If  you have any questions, shoot me an email.

Glad you could stop by.

Enjoy!

Elegant Bird in Watercolor

This isn't totally my creation.  But my co-artist doesn't mind my sharing.

I thought that maybe if I let Jack use the Crayola watercolor paints 

and some watercolor paper that I didn't like,

that I could paint side by side with him.

It didn't work out that way.  He's much too fast and demanding an artist.

I kept having to get clean water,

more paper,

more paper towels.

The only watercolor I got to do was wiping up the splatters off the table

and the floor

and our clothes.

But....

When he was finished, and I cut away some from the edges,

he had some really pretty colors.

A lesson in don't throw it away!

I cut some of one piece with my Elegant Bird die

and made an anniversary card for Jack's Mommy and Daddy.

I'm hoping that one day I can paint

and he'll clean up after me!

Do you think they'll kick this out of

Online Watercolor Class?

It was made from a background.

A BIG background!

We'll try.

I'm so glad you could stop by.

Enjoy,

and Jack

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Loving Thoughts, Take it to Heart (retired)

Ink:  Encore Silver, Crayola Watercolors

Paper:  Neena 110# white, Whisper White, Watercolor (Strathmore), Pear Pizzazz

Other:  Elegant Bird Die (SU clearance rack), Labels Collection Framelits, Lacy Brocade EF, Silver EP, Lorelei Leaf (Memory Box)

I made this into a 5" x 7" card so Mommy could keep it in a frame if she'd like.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted.

Merry Monday Flower

Hello friends. It's Merry Monday Time again.

This week it's my turn to choose the challenge.

Can you guess what I chose?

Here's what I chose.

I signed up for the Online Watercolor Class

I've finally watched had time to watch some videos and play a bit.

This technique is from day 7.
Joni Nina Andaya showed how to create her beautiful style with rich colors
and Dawn Woleslagle offered some really good tips for watercoloring stamped images.

I stamped the poinsettia with Real Red ink then used an Aqua Painter and some ink to color in the petals.  I used some Cherry Cobbler reinker to add some darker highlights.

I was painting on dry paper and used very little water.

I should have started with a different color.

I'll keep trying.

After coloring the poinsettia and letting it dry, 

I masked it and stamped the leaves and pine sprigs.

I used the Aqua Painter to  diffuse the ink a bit.

I tried to  use the Aqua Painter on the sentiment.

Wish I hadn't done that!

This is also for Addicted to CAS

I hope you'll put a flower on a Christmas card and join us at

Merry Monday.

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy!

    ***********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Joyful Christmas, Greetings of the Season, Magical Season, Pine Branch (Inkadinkado)

Ink:  Real Red, Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper:  140 lb. cold press (Strathmore)

Other:  Aqua Painter, Basic Pearls

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Watercolored Embossing

I'm finally catching up a bit on the 

Online Watercolor Class

On day 8, Lauren Bassen showed how to paint using a stencil.

I used an embossing folder as a guide instead of a stencil.

I dry embossed onto watercolor paper and colored with re-inker and my Aqua Brush.

I really need to try this with watercolor paint.

I know my ink colors so I automatically go to them.

The little dragonfly is stamped on vellum to give the wings a transparent look.

Now I really want to watercolor and nothing else.

But I need to cut sets for a class coming up this week.

Then I'm going to play!

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps: Organic Grace (retired)

Ink: Basic Gray, Re-inker (Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede)

Paper:  140 lb. Cold Press Watercolor (Strathmore), Pear Pizzazz, Vellum

Other:  Embossing Folder (Darice), Aqua Painter

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Merry Monday Seeing Stars

I don't know where last week went.  It seems like we were just at 
Merry Monday!

This week's challenge is brought to us by the amazing and talented Lori.



I had only used this stamp once before and thought it would be fun to pull it out again.

I've colored it with Copics and die cut some tiny stars. Then I added some sparkly stickers.

It's very sparkly IRL.

I used some really small snippets of Silver Glimmer Paper 
and some of Whisper White too,
so I'm off to
Pixie's Snippet Playground

I hope you'll see some stars and join us for 
Merry Monday this week.

And even if you don't have time to join us, be sure to check out the 
wonderful cards that the Design Team has come up with.
They are amazing!

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Vixen (Hampton Art), Bright Hopes

Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento), Copic Sketch Markers (E13, E23, E25, Y13, G14, YG67, R35, R37 $39)

Paper:   100# Neena, Whisper White, Basic Black, Silver Glimmer

Other:  Star Die (Verve), Silver/Gold Stickers (stash)

Merry Monday Sketchy Snowman

We've whoosed back around to Merry Monday.

This week, Katie has brought us a sketch.

I saw a snowman in that sketch.

I think he may need a hat though.

What do you think?

The Merry Makers on the Design Team have outdone themselves

so be sure to go take a look.

I used some more snippets including a tiny orange and black piece so I'm off to

Pixie's Snippet Playground.

Di has done the cutest paper pieced Christmas bird.

I hope you'll add a Christmas card to your stash and join us at

Merry Monday

this week.

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps: Bright Hopes, Wishing You Cheer (both retired) 

Ink:  Whisper White

Paper:  Whisper White, Smokey Slate, Snippets of  Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Silver Glimmer

Other:  Embossing Folders (Cuttlebug), Stitched Mats Rectangles, White Embossing Powder, Snippet of Ribbon (retired), Snowflake dies (Impression Obsession), Dazzling Details

Pie for a Friend

We have a dear friend who's recently had a heart transplant.

His old heart was as big as all outdoors.

His new one is too and it's giving him a chance to continue to live, laugh and love abundantly.

We pray it will be for many, many more  years.

When I saw the Make it Monday challenge,

I thought of a sun.

That made me think of Bill.

A card was born.

I don't have a lot of Papertrey Ink products.

That's a problem I've been trying to rectify!

This sentiment is in the Meadow Greens set.

I thought it was a perfect sentiment for this occasion.

I hope it will bring some sunshine your way today too.

I can't resist taking this to 
Pixie's Snippet Playground
as this is a wonderful way to use some of those snippets.
Thanks for the shout out on my tulips, Di!

I'm so glad you could stop by today!

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps: Meadow Greens (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Island Indigo

Paper: White 110# (Neena, Daffodil Delight, DP

Other:  Stitched Mats Rectangles (Lil Inker), 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Circle Nesties (Spellbinders)

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted