WWC325 - Heidi's Challenge: All Things Masculine

 Oh my!  It's a masculine challenge and I'm the host!  Do I ever have a cool card for you to enjoy! 

If you know me, then you know I love cats.  Cats of all kinds.  And even though Tim Holtz stretches his images  of cats to the limits, I love most of them.  They really do reflect what cats appear to be saying in their inimitable way.

I had fun with this card.  I cut out the image with a cute squarish stitched die, leaving little room around it so that the background white cardstock could get some love.  I decided to just use my embossing folder across two corner of the paper.  Then I splattered some Broken China Distress Oxide ink across the paper.  Once that had dried, I used my Silver UniBall pen to fill in the embossed stars.  A quick stamp of the sentiment in black ink, a Smoky Slate matte and the image mounted using foam adhesive strips, and the card was done.  Well, sort of.  After I added some black metallic thread and a black sequin star, it was definitely done.

But I couldn't just leave the inside blank.  It screamed for another one of the Tim Holtz cats and I knew precisely which one I would be using.   It was perfect with the Tim Holtz sentiment, don't you agree?  I added some Broken China Distress Oxide ink to the perimeter and now, truly, the card was done.

Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, October 4th, 2021.

I've also entered my card at the following challenges:

Crafting Happiness Challenges:  Ch#114

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge: C# 166

WWC324 - Kath's Challenge: All About Occasions

 Sometimes you just look at an image and know you have to get it.  I'm sure it's happened to others than just myself.  Well, this odd looking little pooch, having what looks like one too many cups of coffee, appealed to my sense of whimsy.  

After stamping the images on a piece of watercolour paper, I proceeded to choose the colours and then looked for my Aqua Painter.  I could not find it to save my life.  I suspect that my tortie, Khali Kho decided it made a very satisfactory noise when being winged across the floor and wound up leaving it under something when she got bored.  I'll find it someday but not this day.  I own seven Aqua Painters in all but this was my favourite.  I had to "limp along" using another one to finish the card.  *sigh*

I used a matte of Cajun Craze cardstock and a base of the Heavy Whisper White.  To give the card a bit of birthday sparkle, I added some copper sequins and, of course, added a touch of silver ink to the collar around the pup's neck.

Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, September 20th, 2021.

I've also entered my card at the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #154 - Anything Goes

Simon Monday Challenge Blog - Simon Says Stamp It

WWC322 - Marsha's Challenge: All About Occasions

I love so many of the images brought out by Penny Black, don't you?  I just got this sweet little acrylic stamp set called ...so tweet.  It could be used  for many different occasions, but I decided to use the sweet image for a thank-you card.

I used the Heavy Whisper White for my base and a piece of Mixed Media paper for my stamping.  I kept it simple, stamping the image with Versafine Onyx Black, adding a couple of blooms from an old set, and then stamping my sentiment using the Versafine Onyx Black as well.  For a change I didn't use my watercolour pencils but, instead, used my Daler-Rowney Aquafine watercolour paints.   I love the softer finish this gave to my images, don't you?

Instead of using a matte which was just slightly larger than the  Mixed Media paper, I chose to cut an eight-sided matte which allowed just portions of the colour to peek out.  It was fun and I like it for this particular card.  It's fun to try something new at times, isn't it?

Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, August 23rd, 2021.

I've also entered my card at the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #152 - Anything Goes

Unicorn Challenge #68 - Anything Goes

WWC307 - Heidi's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Feminine Twist

 After getting an amazing sentiment stamp made by Stampendous, I began checking my (way too many) stamps to see what image would fit.  Sometimes oldies are the best.  I combined two of my favourite Stampin' Up! sets and did some free-style drawing to wind up with a card that I love.  I hope you love it, too.  

I love this image from the Beautiful You set.  It is definitely my favourite, although I love the other images, too.  In order to make the image fit the sentiment, I added a puddle at her feet and then sketched two boots to fit her feet.  Since this is a very stylish girl, I had to ensure that her hat matched those boots, right?  And then I sketched in a little jacket since the rain is seldom warm.  All the colours I used to watercolour my image are from Stampin' Up!  We have Daffodil Delight for her hat, crinoline and boots, then her jacket is a combination of Basic Black and Smoky Slate.   That pretty dress is the lovely, bright Poppy Parade, the puddle and raindrops are Balmy Blue and then the sentiment is Pacific Point.

I'm not sure if you can tell from this angle that I covered the puddle with some Shimmering Crystal Effects.  After all, puddles are shiny, aren't they, even in the rain.  The raindrops are from the Weather Together stamp set.

For the inside, I cut a broad stitched frame from a piece of Balmy Blue cardstock and then stamped the remainder of the sentiment inside.  Then I went on a hunt for a boot stamp.  Believe me, with all the stamps I've accumulated, I knew I had a stamp which would be perfect.  And I was right.  This image is from the Craft Consortium Farm Meadow.  I love the style and went wild with the colours, of course adding polka dots to make them perfect. 

Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, February 8th, 2021.

I've also entered my card in the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #138 - Anything Goes

Addicted to CAS Challenge #190 - Pattern

WWC297 - Helen's Challenge: All About Occasions

 Oh those Gnomes!  They're everywhere this year.  But I love them and was thrilled to get this stamp set by Stampendous with  the little birthday Gnomes.  Who wouldn't love a card like that?

I decided to keep this card clean and simple.  I began with a base of Whisper White, added a thin matte of Bermuda Bay cardstock and then added my piece with the stamped image and sentiment.  

I used a piece of Mixed Media paper for my image and sentiments.  Once I had stamped that little Gnome, colouring him was a real pleasure.  The image is very simply drawn, but it's easy to add some dimension by shading the colours.  For that I did watercolouring with my Derwent watercolour pencils.  I just love how much control there is and how easy it is to mix colours as well.  To ground my little character, I added some ground and then just topped it off with a bit of happy background.  

For a bit of birthday sparkle, I used my Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen to add some lovely sparkle and shimmer to that balloon.  You can really see it in this close-up.  And that's it.  Just clean and simple.  I think it's a perfect birthday card and should give someone a great big smile, don't you?

Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, November 16th.

I've also entered my card in the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #132 - Anything Goes

Seize the Birthday Challenge #203 - Anything Goes

WWC292 - Dawn's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Feminine Twist

Who doesn't like hedgehogs?  They're so adorably innocent looking, aren't they?  They look more like a "Gund" than an actual animal.  Well, this week I'm using a sweet image from the Craft Consortium Little Fawn and friends stamp set as well as the sentiment from the Stampendous Peeking Friends set.

For a change I used a base of Blushing Bride.  It compliments the colours in my images as well as adds a bit of a feminine flair, doesn't it?  

For my stamping, I used a piece of Mixed Media paper.  After using my stamping platform to get all the images set up and stamped in black, I  used my Derwent Watercolour pencils and Aqua Painter to colour the images and also to anchor them with some grass.  After distressing the perimeter of the paper, I adhered it to the base.  I don't often use embellishments, but the scene just seemed to call for some pink heart sequins.  They finish it off nicely, don't they?

Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, October 12th.   

I've also entered my card in the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #130 - Anything Goes

The Paper Players Challenge PP511 - A Theme from Claire, Fall Critters

WWC287 - Helen's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Feminine Twist

Oh my!  I just bought a gorgeous stamp set from the Craft Consortium and had to use it.  The set is called The Riverbank and the images are simply beautiful.

I decided to use the retired but absolutely lovely Perennial Essence Designer Series paper as my background.  The look of the artist's brushstrokes and the bold mix of colours compliments the swan image which I've used as well as the water lilies in the foreground.

My base is the Heavy Whisper White and then I've used a matte of the Gorgeous Grape to accent the colours in the patterned paper.  I fussy cut the swan as well as the water lilies since, alas, there are no matching dies in this set.  For the swan I used a light watercolour wash of Smoky Slate to add form to the body and neck.  For the water lilies, I began with watercolouring the blossoms, using the pretty Powder Pink.  Layering the colour in places, adds form to the blossoms, too.  The leaves, however, were coloured using my Stampin' Blends.  I used both the dark and the light Call Me Clover to give them form as well as carry the colour from the background.

While I adhered the swan directly to the background, I used dimensionals to pop up the water lilies and thus add dimension to the card.  A quick heat embossing of the sentiment using white embossing powder, and the card was done.  I love the way it turned out, don't you? 

Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, September 7th.

I've also entered my card in the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #127 - Anything Goes

Crafty Hazelnut's September 2020 Patterned Paper Challenge

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #262 - Things With Wings

Simon Says Stamp it in STAMPtember

WWC267 - Karen's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Masculine Twist

Something I am hearing about almost every day since the snow is shrinking back and the temperatures are getting milder is fly fishing.  Yes, my hubby is nuts about tying flies and going fishing.  So when I was trying to decide what I should do for our new Masculine Challenge, it was a no-brainer that I would haul out Stampin' Up!'s Best Catch stamp set as well as an old, retired favourite, In the Meadow.

I decided to keep it clean and simple.  My base is the Heavy Whisper White cardstock and then a matte of Gray Granite.  On another piece of Whisper White I stamped the mountain range from the In the Meadow set in the top third and then stamped the fisherman from the Best Catch set in the lower area.  To the right of the fisherman, I stamped the sentiment which is from a lovely fishing stamp set by Inky Antics.

I used watercolours for this card.  Several greens and then the Gray Granite ink colour the mountains and then a light wash of Balmy Blue defines the sky.  I also added a light wash of Coastal Cabana for the lake.

It's simple but I know that the fisherman in my life will love it and I hope you do, too.    Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on April 20th.

I've also entered my card in the following challenges:

Always Fun Challenges #158 - Clean and simple

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #117 - Anything Goes

WWC264 - Helen's Challenge: All About Occasions

While I was still with Stampin' Up! at the beginning of this year, I fell in love and bought the Beautiful Moments stamp set.  The image of the mother and daughter walking along, holding hands, made me think of days gone by with my own sweet treasure and so a card was born.

I wanted to keep it simple and let the images do the "talking".  My base is the Heavy Whisper White.  I used a matte of Gorgeous Grape since that was the colour I had earmarked for the mother's dress.  I kept the stamping simple, with the mother and daughter centred and birds flying above.  Those image are all from the Beautiful Moments set.  I added some texture to the ground by using the "open dot" image from the Artisan Textures stamp set.  Finally, on a scrap of white, I stamped the adorable little cat from the Grace's Garden stamp set.

Using the inks from my ink pads, I coloured the little girl's dress with the Coastal Cabana, the mother's dress with the Gorgeous Grape, their skin with the Petal Pink, and their hair with a combination of So Saffron and Cajun Craze.  I used a wash of Pear Pizzaz and Grey Granite for the ground and then a light wash of the Balmy Blue for the sky.  The cat is a combination of Smoky Slate, So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie.

Once I finished adhering all the layers together, I added the fussy-cut cat on foam dimensionals, slightly below the mother and daughter to give the illusion of it being a few feet behind them.

I hope you'll enjoy my card as much as I enjoyed making it.  Have fun with our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #116 - Anything Goes

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #363 - Sketch

Dragonfly Dreams March Challenge: Make it Feminine

Addicted to Stamps and More #382 - Make Your Mark

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes

WWC260 - Karen's Challenge: All About Occasions

I have some awesome Art Impressions stamps created by Bonnie Krebs which are perfect for a get well card.  Even more perfect, this stamp set has the most adorable cat images.  Why is that perfect, you ask.  Well, this card is for my darling daughter who is having more problems with a  chronic ear infection.  I couldn't resist .

I began with a base of  Heavy Whisper White  and then added a matte of Blushing Bride.  Then I took a piece of  Smoky Slate and embossed it with a Darice embossing folder.  Love, love, love those paw prints, don't you?   I think it's really striking that some prints are embossed and some are debossed. Such a great effect!

I had such fun watercolouring the image.  I used my Derwent watercolour pencils and then went over the colours with my Aquapainter to blend them.  Once it was dry, I used my stitched oval die to cut it out and then used Dimensionals to attach it to the card.

I hope you enjoy my card as much as I enjoyed creating it.  Have fun with our challenge!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #114 - Anything Goes

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #251 - Embossing

Creative Moments Challenge #185 - Anything Goes

WWC233 - Karen's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

Oh my goodness, we're having a Feminine challenge this week and I've decided to finally introduce ink to my Beautiful Day stamp set.  Am I ever lucky that it hasn't retired since I bought it!  Strange how one can buy something and then keep passing it by instead of using it.  Has that ever happened to you?

I've used a base of Heavy Very Vanilla.  I had thought to use the Heavy Whisper White but the Watercolour Paper onto which I stamped the butterfly image had too much cream in it.  The Very Vanilla compliments it far better.  There was quite a "journey" for this butterfly image.  First, after cutting my piece of Watercolour Paper, I heat embossed a generic piece of music onto it using my Clear embossing powder.  I didn't want it to appear on the paper except where the watercolours were repelled by the embossing.

After having heat embossed the music, I stamped the butterfly image from the Beautiful Day set using my black StazOn.  I don't often use the StazOn because of the smell, but for this image, I wanted the black to stay on the heat embossed notes rather than be repelled by them.  After that dried, I spritzed the paper with water.  Then I took my four new In-Color re-inkers and, one by one put a drop of ink onto the wings, helped it spread with my AquaPainter, and, by the fourth colour, had my finished image.  Beginning at the top of the right wing and moving clockwise, I used the following inks:  Pretty Peacock, Seaside Spray, Terracotta Tile, and Rococo Rose.

I used a matte of Basic Black and then attached it askew onto the base using my Foam Adhesive Strips.  Finally, I stamped the sentiment in black ink and the card was done.  I love the watercolour effect and the whimsy of the musical notes, don't you?

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've entered my card into the following challenges:

The CAS Watercolour Card Challenge - August 2019 Butterflies

Seize the Birthday Challenge #171 - Anything Goes with optional twist of flowers

MOO-MANIA #197 - Butterflies

Addicted to Stamps & More #315 - Photo Inspiration

What I love about photo inspirations is that there are so many possibilities.  You can look at the photos in the Inspiration Collage and some of the images may inspire you and that's the way you go.  Or you can do as I did, which was to take the colours in those images for inspiration and create a card based on that.

Several colours in the collage "spoke" to me.  I love the repetition of light greys as well as the lovely yellows.  Several other colours insisted on being noticed as well.  The pretty pink, the bluish green and the spot or two of orange were impossible to ignore once they caught my attention.  And so I used those colours to create my card.  The soft Smoky Slate of the card base is also the colour on which I stamped the image.  I watercoloured the image using Daffodil Delight, Pineapple Punch, Pumpkin Pie, Mango Melody, Rich Razzleberry, Mint Macaron, Pear Pizzazz and Smoky Slate.  A lot of colours, to be sure, but then there are a lot of colours in the photo inspiration.

I used the Tailored Tag punch for my sentiment, layering Basic Black, Pineapple Punch and Smoky Slate.  The flowers shimmer in real life because I've touched them with Wink of Stella here and there.  If only such things showed up as well in photos as in real life.

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the Design Team and link up your card HERE.