Winter Woods ~ A Stampin' Up! Card

Today's card is one that I created last spring shortly after I joined SU! again.  

Dandelion Wishes

Today's card is inspired by Try Stampin' on Tuesday's sketch challenge #400!

Fresh Forest ~ A Fun Stampers Journey Card

I made today's card for my nephew's birthday and I featured two stamps sets that are on the Fun Stampers Journey Retirement Party list.

World Map ~ A Fun Stampers Journey Card

Today I'm celebrating 27 years with my sweet hubby!
Each year I try to make him a unique and special card.

Stay Wild ~ A Fun Stampers Journey Card

I have another masculine card to share with you today and it was also one of my August stamp a stack cards.  

Greetings Bouquet ~ A Fun Stampers Journey Card

Today's card was inspired by sketch #327 for Try Stampin' or Not on Tuesday.  They have great sketches over there if you need a little help to get creative every now and then!  After I looked at the sketch I noticed that I had a couple of "scrap" pieces of pierced watercolor paper sitting on my desk and figured they went with the sketch so I might as well put them to good use!  

I stamped the flowers with FSJ Clear Pigment Ink and embossed it with white.  Next I used a couple of Journey Splashes to do a watercolor wash in the background.  Usually when I do the emboss resist technique I'm sponging ink onto my card stock, but this time I did a watercolor wash.

Make sure you head over to Try Stampin's blog HERE to see what all the other designers created.  We'd love to see what you create with this sketch if you get a chance to play along. :)

Whip Cream

Cool Pool

Lemon Grass

Green Olive

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your Journey Coach! If you are thinking about joining 
Fun Stampers Journey and would like to be a Journey Coach click 
"Join My Team". 
I'd love to have you join me on my journey!  

If you like what you see and want to order just click on the 
"Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. 

 If you have questions feel free to contact me. 
Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . 

Supplies used on this card:

Awesomely Artistic Birthday

This morning I've been staying toasty warm in my basement by the wood stove after the snow storm that decided to hit Michigan.  I thought I'd wake up to it still snowing like crazy, but so far just dark and gloomy clouds off to the south.  We'll see if we get more or not.  Since it's just above freezing and is only supposed to warm up it won't last for long, but it's sure going to leave a mess behind!  That mess always makes way to spring...eventually!  And that's what this card reminds me of.  Not of the mess, but spring! Not sure why I chose just blue and green for this card, but that's what popped into my mind while I was creating it.  I hope my friend didn't mind the colors. :)  

I started by embossing the bundle of flowers in white, then filling them in with color.  I stamped the green fern piece in three spots, then stamped over them with VersaMark and embossed them in white.  I stamped the sentiment, then did a watercolor wash over the card, most of it in blue.  Wherever you see the green I managed to pull it out of the leaves a little since I needed to put some color in between the flowers and leaves too.

Oh, I forgot to add that I used liquid frisket on the top of my card before I did the watercolor wash.  When I rubbed it all off, it left a few splotches of white here and there.  I thought I had put more on than that, but I think it turned out fine.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Water Colored Vintage Leaves

Today's card is inspired by the colors over at the Color Throwdown challenge #362.  As soon as I saw the rich earthy colors I new I need to make some sort of card using them.  Since my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's anniversary is coming up I though I'd make an anniversary card using them...and I just had to pull out the 2014-2016 In Colors from Stampin' Up!  I love this group of colors!

I created the leaves by stamping the images on watercolor paper using VersaMark and embossing them in gold.  Then I used my Leaflets Framelits to to cut them out.  Once I had them cut out I worked on one leaf at a time.  I wet the whole leaf using an aquapainter, then started adding color from my ink pad lits onto the leaf.  I used Hello Honey and Mossy Meadow on the smallest leaf, Blackberry Bliss and Hello Honey on the oak leaf, and Tangelo Twist, Blackberry Bliss and Hello Honey on the maple leaf.  I know some of the colors on the leaves are not nearly as dark as the ink pads.  That's because I played around with them a little bit by adding water if I thought the color was too dark and also by mixing the colors together.  I never would have thought I'd get the red I did on the maple leaf, but taking the time to play around with the colors and mixing them can really be worth the effort! :)  The background of the card is watercolor paper also and I did a basic watercolor wash on it using Hello Honey and Mossy Meadow again.  I also used a stamp from the set Gorgeous Grunge on the background piece.  I stamped it with Mossy Meadow, but made sure I stamped off the watercolor paper onto scrap paper two times, then spritzed it with some water before I stamped it onto the watercolor paper.  I added a touch of lined thread here and there and the Happy Anniversary to finish it off. 

I also stamped leaves on the inside that were light enough to write over.  Yup I totally forgot to take a picture before I wrote all over it. lol  That's ok since I usually put that off until the last thing.  I just do NOT have a way with words, especially in cards so if I have something on my mind I write it before I forget it! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Watermelon Wonder Watercolor Wings

Today's card is doing double duty for me.  It was inspired by this week's Try Stampin' or not on Tuesday's sketch challenge #228 and I made it for my niece's birthday. :)  

I used the set Watercolor Wings and stamped the butterfly image on wet watercolor paper, then cut it out using the Butterfly Thinlits Die.  I did the same thing with Basic Black, then pieced them back together.  I now have the outside of the water colored butterfly left to use on another card some other time. :)

I also used the new embossing folder Fluttering to give the back of my card just a little more something to it.  I used the photopolymer set Endless Birthday Wishes to finish it off.

Make sure you head over to Try Stampin' or not on Tuesday to check out the other fun cards using this great and simple sketch.  We'd love to see what you create!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Calla Lily Birthday

I made a quick card last week for my stamping friend's birthday, but waited to post it until tonight since I didn't want her to see it on my blog or any of my galleries before she got it. ;)  Hugs and Happy Birthday, Friend!  You know who you are. :) 

I used the new Stampin' Up! set Remarkable You for her card.  I stamped the calla lilies with VersaMark, embossed them in white and cut them out.  I sponged the color on them using So Saffron, Pink Pirouette and Wild Wasabi.  I used watercolor paper for the background and did a watercolor wash using So Saffron and Pink Pirouette also.  When it was dry I ran it through my Big Shot using the Stylish Stripes embossing folder.  I sponged around the edges of the "Happy Birthday" and the edges of the card stock with the flowers on it once again using So Saffron and Pink Pirouette.  I popped up the lilies and Happy Birthday with dimensionals and finished the card off with a few Pearls.

I can't forget to add that this card was inspired by Sketch and Stamp #111 HERE and this is the sketch I worked with.  Have I ever mentioned I love sketch challenges? ;)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Simply Sketched in Watercolor

As you can tell I've been into water coloring lately!  It was my mom's birthday and I wanted to make a nice card for her so I worked ahead (for once!) and used Try Stampin' on Tuesday's sketch #220.  I tried to use a set that's retiring, Blooming with Kindness, but just didn't like how anything turned out so I pulled out the retired set Simply Sketched.

This is the sketch I used.  As you can tell I left mine pretty clean and simple.  I water colored the circles on the three pieces that stick out too.  Nothing else looked right because whatever I used just wasn't soft enough to match the painted panel.

Make sure you head over to Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE to check out the other great cards made by the team.  They are quite lovely!  If you get a chance give it a try too.  We'd love to see what you create. :)

I used Coastal Cabana and Wild Wasabi Stampin' Write markers to stamp the image, then blended the colors using the small aqua painter tip.  Once the flower was dry I added the wash using Pool Party and Wild Wasabi ink pads.  I made sure I worked on a wet area, but not a overly wet area so the color wouldn't wash out too much or run everywhere.  Then as I moved to the next area I made sure it was wet too so I didn't have streaky areas that had already dried.  Not sure if that makes any sense, but that's how I got it to blend and flow and mix the colors the way I did.  I did go back and add more green to the stems after everything was dry (and, yes, I get impatient and use my heat tool to dry things fast! lol).  As you can see it looks like I used a little So Saffron (yellow), but I didn't.  You never know how Stampin' Up! inks are going to blend and bleed when adding water.  Since it's all I have that's what I use and I think it's working out pretty good so far. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Retired Stampin' Up! set Simply Sketched  
Masking tape to mask the watercolor paper

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Pretty Painted Petals for Mother's Day

Since I didn't show you the cards I made for my mom and mom-in-law earlier this week for Mother's Day I figured I'd quickly post them now.  I was in the mood for a little water coloring again, so that's what I did. :)  I always make their cards similar, but never the same.  I try to use colors that reflect who they are (if that makes any sense!) and what they like too.  I love how they both turned out and I'm not sure which one I like better.  

I really like the light blue on this card because it makes the flowers stand out...

but I really like the bright background on this one because it accentuates the flowers. :)

Here's a couple more pics of each card.  I hope you enjoy looking at these cards as much as I loved creating them. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on these cards:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Watercolor Wash World of Dreams

Wowser did I have a time and half with this week's sketch at Try Stampin' on Tuesday! lol  I wasn't sure what to do because I kept pulling out different sets with different ideas.  I finally settled on the set World of Dreams and made two cards...one a birthday and one a thank you. :)  I used my stampin' write markers to color in each of my stamps and stamped them onto damp watercolor paper.  I also did a bit of watercolor wash...at least that's what I think it's called.  I don't have a lot of DSP because it's not my favorite thing, but wanted something other than plain watercolor paper.

Make sure you check out the sketch HERE at Try Stampin' on Tuesday and play along too.  I can't see what the rest of you create with this sketch.  The designers' cards are all so different and I love that!

Just a couple more pics for you to enjoy.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Happy Black Berry Bliss Watercolor

Ahh...it's Friday and a day to celebrate too.  Happy 4th of July!  

Today's card from Heidi over at the Friday Mashup was a fun one!  Here is the challenge that she has for us...

Create a Project with a "Watercolor Wash".

Create a "CAS project or one with Minimal Layers".

or Mash it Up! and create a "CAS project with a Watercolor Wash".

I haven't done watercolor wash before and it's a little hard without a paintbrush so I used one of my aqua painters instead.  I tried a few different "strokes" and decided I liked this one the best.  I also did a wash around the edge of my top piece because I didn't want to add another layer to my card.  I kind of like how it turned out. :)

Head over to the Friday Mashup HERE to see the other great projects using watercolor wash.  Make sure to give it a try yourself and show us what you've created.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Stamp Sets:  Happy Watercolor, Gorgeous Grunge & Teeny Tiny Wishes
Card Stock:  Naturals White
Classic Stampin' Pads:  Black Berry Bliss & Mossy Meadow
StazOn:  Black
Smooch Spritz:  Vanilla Shimmer