Watercolor Inspiration

Do you ever look at other peoples' cards and just get inspired?  I'm sure most of us have and that's what today's post is all about for me.  I  needed both a birthday and an anniversary card and  had just happened to be looking at a bunch of cards by Birgit.  The first card in her post HERE definitely inspired me.  Fascinating colors to be using together.  I grabbed a few of my ink pads, watercolor paper, aqua painters and went to work.  Two cards, same colors, totally different looks.  That's what so fun with watercoloring...you never know what you're going to get.  Her cards are just wonderful, especially if you're looking for a watercolored look.  Plus they are so clean and simple.  She sure makes water coloring look easy doesn't she?  

The first card I made into a birthday card.  I taped off the edges on this card and after I stamped and embossed the trees I did add more color on.  I didn't want the trees to look like they were floating around on the paper. lol

The anniversary card was a little more flexible as you can see! lol  It just did not want to stay straight, but flop all over when I was taking picutres.  It's hard to see here, but the water colored piece is actually framed and popped up with dimensionals.  I definitely added more color after I embossed these trees because they really looked like they were floating! lol  I guess that's the fun with water coloring.  You can change things up a little if you're careful. :)

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:

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Sharing in Your Sorrow

Today over at Try Stampin' or Not on Tuesday we have another great sketch for you.   As I was checking the sketch out to make my card I knew I needed to make a few sympathy cards.  These are always the hardest for me to make because I want them to be special and touch each person I send them to.  I have such a hard time writing what's in my heart.  Some people are so blessed with that gift and can just write away...not me!  That's one reason I like making cards...my feeling are expressed in what I create instead of what I say.  With that being said I created the same card, just used different base colors. I used the triple layer technique and just went with the tree scene on the outside.  I did sponge on one of the cards a bit just to see what it was like...and to cover up the fact that there was just a bit of empty space where the tree image didn't stamp as close as I had hoped. lol

Here is the sketch we used.  Make sure you head over to Try Stampin' or Not on Tuesday HERE to see all the other cards the ladies created using this sketch.  Play along with us too.  We'd love to see what you create. :)

My card base color on this card is Early Espresso and I used retired cardstock Naturals White.  

My card base color on this card is Soft Suede and I used retired card stock Naturals Ivory.

The card base color on my last card is Chocolate Chip and I used retired card stock Naturals White on this one too.

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!

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It's Been a Great Journey with You

Today is our 25th Anniversary so I had to create something kind of special for my hubby right?  I went with the ship from the stamp set Traveler and one of the things I wrote inside the card is the title of today's post...It's Been a Great Journey with You.  It seems like just yesterday that we were married, but when I take the time to think back through so many memories I guess it has been that long. :)  It has been a great journey and God has blessed me with a wonderful man.  

We celebrated by going to The Smokies in Tennessee with my cousin and her hubby who were married a week and a day after us.  What a fun trip!  Here are just a few of the pics of our time there...

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!

Silent Sleigh Ride

It's Thursday so that means I have another Christmas card for you.  How are you all doing on your Christmas card stash?  I'm not doing as well as I should be since I'm only making one card each time I post instead of four!  I need to get busy or my Christmas list is going to shrink drastically this year! 

Anywhoo...today's card is inspired by 'Tis the Season's color challenge of vanilla, coral, blue and razzleberry.  Wow was this a hard combo for me!  I'm not a big fan of orange and blue together at all (sorry Tigers' Fans!).  I paired up a couple of different blues and oranges and picked Calypso Coral and Marina Mist.  As you can tell I did NOT mix them, but used just a touch of the coral to outline my blue and razzleberry sky that I brayered.  I used vanilla cardstock to finish out my fourth color and am very pleased with the result. :)  Oh, I can't forget to add that I used liquid frisket to get the starry/snowy look in the sky.  I love using this stuff for that effect, but wow does it stink! lol  

Head over to 'Tis the Season HERE to be inspired by our design teams' Christmas cards.  So many different ideas using these colors.  Love seeing what everyone comes up with each time.  We'd love to see how you use these colors too so play along and build that Christmas card stash! :)

I have to admit I think the card looks prettier in person.  In the picture the sky almost looks dark blue or purple.  I guess the top is purple, but here it looks more like eggplant when it's really a razzleberry.  Does that make any sense? 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 use on this card:

Liquid Frisket

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BOO!

Oops!!  So I totally forgot to post my card before I left on vacation to the Smoky Mountains!  Here I thought I was all set to go and I totally was NOT!  Today's card is inspired by the sketch at Try Stampin' or Not on Tuesday challenge #242.  It also has the theme of "Boo or Eek!".  I decided to do both since I don't mind making one or two Halloween cards each year. 

Boy did I have fun making this card.  I decided to make a huge moon on my card and use the banner for the sentiment, and of course put "Boo" in the bottom corner.  I used my brayer to get the colors on, then added the trees and extended the trunks so they weren't all the same size.  Next I did a little sponging on the moon so it wasn't quite so bright.  I stamped on the bats with black ink, but embossed the ghosts with white so they stood out. Make sure you check out the challenge from Try Stampin' or Not on Tuesday HERE to see all the other great cards!  Not everyone did the theme since that is optional. :)  Show us how this week's sketch inspires you...we'd love to see it!

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 Holiday Home, Retired Thinlits Little Letters

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Train Traveler

Today's card, which was inspired by Michelle Zindorf, is for my dad's birthday.  He's an avid sailor and I usually make him a card with the stamp set The Open Sea. I figured it was time for a change though and went with a "hobby" of his...trains.  I'm not sure how much he works on them in the basement anymore, but I know he's spent a lot of time with all of his grandsons throughout the years working on them.  So here's to you dad...Happy Birthday!

Have you ever had your card almost done, only to ruin it at the last minute?  That's what happened to me...two times!  The first time I attempted to darken the train and apparently my stamp-a-ma-jig moved and I didn't know it...hello double, not to mention very blurry train.  It wasn't even close! lol  The second attempt did not have the additional scenery at first. I turned the stamped piece over to put 2-way tape on it. No big deal until I turn it back over and there was a big blob of black in my beautiful blue sky.  A piece of my sponge had broken off and decided to stick to my sky....aarrgh! It was late and I was NOT happy! lol  That's where the trees, hills and extra sponging came in. I'm happy with how

 it turned out, just not happy with how long it took! That's my stamping drama for the day.  I'm sure no one else ever has these problems, right? ;)

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 birthday sentiment

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JOY

I never thought I'd use the ink color Sahara Sand for a Christmas card, but his week over at 'Tis the Season Christmas card challenge we have an inspiration challenge.  Of course I don't have a barn, fence or ice skates stamp so I was inspired more by the hazy, snowy look and came up with my card idea based on that.  I guess I used the color from the the barn and skates for my snow instead of the hazy, snowy color...does that even make sense? lol  I like how it turned out though since it's so different than the normal Christmas card. :)

Head over to 'Tis the Season HERE to see what this picture inspired the rest of the team to create.  Show us how you're inspired too.  We'd love to see what you create!

Have you had a chance to pull out this new set Happy Scenes from Stampin' Up's! Holiday Catalog.  This is the first time for me!  It's good for most seasons and a couple of holidays. :)  It also goes with the Hearth & Home framelit.  Plus it's a set for fall, Halloween, Christmas, winter and spring...you can't beat that! :)  

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:

"joy" retired from Snowflake Card Thinlits Die

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