Watercoloring with Tombows

Three more cards made by watercoloring with Tombow markers. These three stamps are from a set by Sunshine Designs now owned by the Stamp Barn in Ottawa. I think these fun Christmas-y images would be fun to use as thank you note cards.

The mitten card was the first one I attempted and it is pretty messy. I used too much water. That is one of the techniques with watercoloring that takes a lot of time and practice to learn: how much water to use. It takes a lot more than some other techniques, yet you don't want a flood.

Godspeed

I've got a goodie box to send to my son in Iraq and I couldn't seal it up without enclosing a card and note.

I love to stamp and color but I have the hardest time coming up with new layouts so I really am happy that there are so many great layout challenges on other people's blogs.

JACQUELINE posted her Theme Thursday challenge to use script on your card. One of the things I really like about this soldier stamp is the script in the background so I thought it perfect for Jacqueline's challenge.

For the layout I used "Mojo Monday Week #10 Sketch" created by Julee T and posted on her WONDERFUL and Inspiring blog, "Poetic Artistry".


The image and sentiment are from Stampin' Up! set called "GODSPEED." I watercolored the image with Tombow markers on watercolor paper. I added the grosgrain ribbon with a Fastenater staple. I've never been too crazy about seeing staple on cards but this gold one had a nice design so I decided to give it a try. The card is a square, 6" X 6" card.

Time to get Matt's box taped up and mailed with this card.

Watercoloring with Tombow markers

Yesterday I spent the entire day at Heather's Stamping Haven taking classes from Krista in watercoloring with Tombow markers. This card is actually an ornament that is two sided and layered so quite three dimensional and I'm not sure a scan shows that very well.


This adorable little penguin is one of Krista's images from Sunshine Designs. Again, using Tombow markers we watercolored the image and used lots of stickles for embellishment.

A total of nine different cards were completed! Whew...that was a lot of work but more importantly I learned a lot about technique, blending and PATIENCE! I'll post more of our projects throughout the week. Some real beauties to come!

The afternoon nap after an autumn walk in the woods

After the walk in the woods and raking one of the garden beds, it was just too much for two pooped pups who layed down in the cool, moist earth and zonked out asleep...side by side.

Autumn walk in the woods

We couldn't have had a more perfect sunny, crisp winter is a coming morning so we scraped the frost off the windows of the van, loaded 'Bella and Gabe in and headed to the woods.

This particular park is about 45 minutes away from our house but well worth the drive for Gabe and 'Bella to be able to roam off leash in the woods and trails.

This was a particularly good exercise for Gabe to show what he has learned in obedience classes about coming when called. He is such a class clown and loves to socialize with the other dogs and sometimes seems to say, "...uhhh yes, in a minute I'll come" but today at the park he came running back each time I called. Hurray for Gabe!

No walk is complete without finding a prize stick to carry around and of course showing it to all of the other dogs at the park. Gabe lets 'Bella find the stick and then he takes it and carries it for her. 'Bella wishes he'd just find his own. SIGH...little brothers!

What else can I say but, "Aren't I cute?!"

Bella was on a mission to find a bigger stick!

Gabe and 'Bella really are the best of friends. Never too far from one another's side.



Hurry up you guys! This is fun!

All too soon, we had to go home. Until next weekend.... Woofs and slobbers from 'Bella and Gabe.

Welcome Fall

Just one more autumn themed card from the Stampin' Up! "Basket Full of Fun" set. It isn't too different from the ones yesterday but I am having a lot of fun with this set. I'm eager to use the balls of yarn and knitting needles in the basket as well as the Christmas tree ornaments too.

Basket full of fun

Another card I made using the "Basket full of fun" set from Stampin' UP! This time I filled the basket with leaves and had them spilling over.

For the layout I used "Mojo Monday Week #9 Sketch" created by Julee T and posted on her WONDERFUL and Inspiring blog, "Poetic Artistry".

I colored the basket and leaves with prismacolor pencils and then I added a feather stitch to this layout and some punched leaves as they too spill from the basket. The inside sentiment reads, "at this time of counting blessings, you always come to mind" which is also a sentiment stamp from the Basket full of Fun set.

Thankful thoughts

I was tickled pink to have the opportunity to purchase this Stampin' Up! Hostess set called "Basket full of fun" at an online garage sale! WOO HOOO!!! SCORE! I've always loved this set but never had the opportunity to purchase it so when I saw it listed I grabbed it.

The set has 13 stamps in it and various things to fill the basket (and also a bucket)depending on what the occasion may be.

For this card I used the apples for a simple Thanksgiving card.

Image is colored with prismacolor pencils. Background paper is Anna Griffin. I added some machine stitching and ribbons. Simple!

Fun Mail

My friend, Lesa, sent this "Girls just want to have fun" card in the mail. HOW FUN! Lesa is such a doll and a brave and courageous woman and yet she took time out to think of me even after she endured her first Chemo treatment. Well, Lesa my friend...I'm thinking of you too! And I just love this card and have to show it off on my blog! MANY THANKS!

You can read more about Lesa's battle against breast cancer on her blog: One Voice, One Life One Breast Cancer.

Silent Night

One last challenge card for today. This card was made for the Two Peas in a Bucket challenge to make a "what Christmas means to you" card.

The stamp is by Paper Inspirations and is titled Silent Night Impressions. I've stamped it with Navy dye ink on glossy white card stock and matted it on glossy metalic blue and silver card stock. The "Silent Night" script is a stamp by Hero Arts and I stamped it with Versamark and embossed with Silver Detail embossing powder on metallic blue cardstock.

Let Heaven and Nature Sing

When I got this adorable stamp I hadn't thought about using it for Christmas or as a music themed card but the sentiment and the animal stamp fit perfectly for challenges on Two Peas in a Bucket for a music themed card using sheet music and the little wild animals for the animal challenge on DARING CARDMAKERS.

The baby animals stamp is by All Night Media. The musical note background stamp is from the Anna Griffin collection of All Night Media. The sentiment stamp came to me unmounted and I do not know who makes it.

I colored the image with prismacolor pencils.

FACES - Magickdiva's Thursday Challenge

The Thursday challenge this week at MAGICKDIVA'S THURSDAY CHALLENGE site is Faces. Out of all of my thousands of rubber stamps, this stamp (by Stamp Francisco rubber stamps) is the most powerful image I own. When I stamp this image I can't help but be drawn into her eyes and wonder what she is thinking, doing, feeling.

I just added a little chalk for color and beads and wire for her necklace. I don't know who makes the straw background paper but I sure love it for certain cards.

This is a very simple and fast card to make because it is one of those stamps that speaks for itself. Little additional embellishment is necessary.

Thanks for looking!

Daring Cardmakers and Stamptoberfest Sketch Challenge

This month there are lots and lots of card challenges being posted everywhere. This card is my entry for DARING CARDMAKERS wild animal site challenge and also for the Stamptoberfest Sketch Challenge (SOF #1) at Two Peas in a Bucket. The sketch requirement/layout is on the left. Here is my take on the sketch.

The stamp is brand new and a gift from Jan (Far North) and you can view Jan's blog HERE. It is made by Nature Images (a small family run business.) Jan also sent me a zebra stamp as well. Both are just magnificent images and I'm going to enjoy using them. I just received the stamps yesterday and Jan sent me a challenge to use the stamps NOW on this 2 peas challenge. Whew...I had a lot of thinkin' to do to design this card using the layout provided.

OK, Jan! I want to see your challenge card!

Cheers!

Hope for Hooters

I made this card titled "Hope for Hooters" in recognition of October being designated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is also the theme/prompt this week for SATURDAY STAMPERS.

My sweet friend, LESA, who is fighting breast cancer, sent me a pin/button that says Hope for Hooters and was the inspiration for this card. You can read about Lesa's journey with her battle with the vile disease on her blog by clicking HERE.

The owl stamp is a new stamp from HEATHER'S STAMPING HAVEN in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of Heather's original design stamps.

I water colored the image with twinkling H2O's and added some crystals to the owl for sparkle. The sentiment (Hope for Hooters) is computer generated.

This card is also my submission for this week's SATURDAY STAMPERS challenge to use pink ribbon on your card for breast cancer awareness month.

Ok...now go get your HOOTERS examined!!

Getting Spooky

Halloween just wouldn't be complete for me if I didn't ink up this House Mouse stamp each year. The title of this House Mouse stamp is "getting spooky" and I think I like it so much for all of the activity that is going on in the scene. I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils, added a touch of gold stickles to the fire in the apple. The patterned paper is from K & Company. The printed ribbons are from Martha Stewart's Halloween ribbon collection. I added a little zig zag machine stitching and there you have it.

As I look at the completed card I'm thinking maybe it isn't quite finished in the coloring. Hmmmm...I'm not sure. I may (or may not) play with it some more before I send it off in the mail.

What was kitty thinking? Don't ask me...

This week's theme for FLUFFY FATBOTTOMS TWISTED TUESDAY CHALLENGE is "Where was my head?" We can interpret this theme any way we choose as in losing one's head or "what was I thinking?"

If you own a cat or even know about cats' behavior you'll see the corrilation to the "where was my head" theme in this card with the cat and bird.

The cat in birdcage stamp is by Maryse Carrier. I colored the image with SU watercolor wonder crayons. Patterned paper is from Reminisce. The sentiment stamp is by Sugarloaf.

A fish out of water

A fun new challenge site I've discovered is called FLUFFY FATBOTTOM'S TWISTED TUESDAY CHALLENGE and each week a wacky challenge will be proposed. This week's theme (the first week for this challenge site) is prompting participants to make a piece of artwork (any media) relating to a fish out of water or doing something not usually associated with a fish.

The size requirement for the piece must be either 3 1/2" X 5 1/2" or 4" X 6" (postcard sizes).

This was a lot of fun. I hope the scan will show all of the glitter and sparkle my mermaid out of water has. Click on the image and it will enlarge on your screen and you'll be able to see all of the glitz, sparkle and shine!

Since this was not my usual style or a type of challenge I've participated in before I also strayed from my usual color medium that I normally use and instead I colored the entire piece with gel pens. Yes you CAN layer colors and blend gel pens! Fun discover.

I'm not sure who makes this stamp. It might be Stamp Camp but it came unmounted and I'm not sure.

So here is my first Fluffy Fatbottom Twisted Tuesday challenge! Hope it will be ok.

Bluebird of Happiness

This week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge site's theme is birds. I love this theme for the challenge. I don't use my bird stamps often enough.

This card uses one of the Martha Stewart stamps. I'm really not sure what type of bird it is but I decided to color it as a blue bird of happiness. I used prismacolor pencils to color the bird.

WEEEEEeeeeeee!

I really like the look of paper piercing and have fun playing with my Ornare piercing template. I thought this design, while quite subtle, gives the sense of motion, swirling air and the "weeeeeeee" feeling on a rollercoaster.

The little girl in the rollercoaster car stamp is a HEATHER'S STAMPING HAVEN (Ottawa, ON) original design stamp. I colored it with prismacolor pencils. Added gold stickles to give a bit of sparkle. The ribbons were in Michael's 3 rolls for a $1 bin.

Too much of a good thing!

Where has this week sped off to? I can't believe I haven't made a single card since Sunday. I've been busy with the dogs a lot these days. Gabe is in his third week of obedience classes and he's a sweet little guy but his attention span and the fact that he just loves to socialize with people and other animals keeps his concentration at low levels sometimes. Ahhhh...but ya gotta love the little guy.

Anyway, This is one of my favorite House Mouse stamps and since there are 3 October birthdays in my family I pulled out this stamp again. I just think it is one of the cutest House Mouse stamps!

I colored the image with prismacolor pencils, added liquid snow for the cupcake frosting and sprinkled it with microbeads and then mounted the image on three different coordinating Wild Asparagus designer paper. I've been wanting to add paper piercing to my cards so this is my first attempt at a pierced "doodle" in the corners. Last I added three brads at the bottom to carry out the polka dot themed paper and a little stickles on the candle flame for glitter.

Thanks for stopping by.