"Watercolor?"

Don't you just love watercolors?

They give handmade cards such a free and airy look.

But you don't always have to dig out your watercolor pencils.

This monochrome card was easy to create, using Memento Rich Cocoa from Imagine.

I stamped this girl on a leftover scrap of watercolor paper and blended along the outlines with a waterbrush.  For a few of the deeper areas, I stamped color directly only an acrylic block and picked it up to create shadows. 

You can't see it in this photo.....but I must confess I'd forgotten to clean my brush after painting with some Delicata Golden Glitz, so some of that showed up in my first strokes on the umbrella.

I liked the look, so I sponged it along the edges of the textured brown cardstock used for layering.

Gives the whole card just a little shine.

Supplies

5 x 6 1/2-inch pre-folded ivory card

textured brown cardstock scrap, cut to a rectangle as shown

"Beautiful You" stamp set--Stampin' Up

Memento Rich Cocoa dye ink, Delicata Golden Glitz--Imagine/Tsukineko

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Thanks for stopping by.

November Days

The smallest things

fill our hearts with the greatest joy.

It's a beautiful, cloudy, misty day in northeast Kansas.

Trees are scattering their leaves.  For the past couple of weeks I could look out our windows to the south and see this deep scarlet tree nearly a block away grow brighter each day.  Then suddenly one morning, after a frost, the tree was nearly bare, and the ground all around it was deep scarlet.  

These kind of days put me in the mood to do things.

The tree is up...and almost all decorated.

A few presents are wrapped.

I'm eager to cut out a little dress that I'll smock for my aunt Nancy's first granddaughter.

And I've been making more cards.

I'm still playing with ways to use this new die cut flower I purchased from Penny Black.

First I die cut and embossed a 2 5/8 x 4 5/8-inch rectangle.  I sponged this with Electric Coral and Electric Yellow, being sure not to cover too much of the rectangle.  Leave lots of breathing space!

I die cut the flower from this rectangle.

 I sprayed the cut flower with a few applications of Sheer Shimmer Mist...

...and stamped a brush stroke (now discontinued from Hero Arts, but you can find others out there) with Golden Glitz Delicata along the right and bottom edges.  This gives it an elegant look like gold leaf, but without the mess!  I then "brushed" inside the die cut areas with the same Golden Glitz, using a Fantastix.

Next, I took a pre-folded 5 x 7 ivory card and masked a long rectangle along the left side with two pieces of masking tape.  (I get the tape not-too-sticky by pressing it along the inside of my elbow first!  One of these days someone will catch me walking around with strips of masking tape hanging off me.......)

Anyway, I sponged this rectangle with Electric Coral, Electric Yellow and Electric Orange, making the colors good and deep.

Then, for a bokeh effect, I sponged circles of Moonlight White through a stencil...and sometimes just using the sponge dauber on its own to make a small circle.  Keep the circles random, sometimes overlapping.

I removed the mask, adhered the rectangle and then the die cut flower as shown.  

I stamped the "Thanks" with more Golden Glitz.

Let me know how you like it.

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Supplies

        Radiant Neon 4 set – Warm,    Brilliance Moonlight White, 

           Delicata Golden Glitz,  Sheer Shimmer Mist,    

           Sponge daubers and  Fantastix     (Imagine/Tsukineko)

        Heavyweight ivory cardstock (The Paper Studio)

        Matting Basics B Rectangles die set (Spellbinders)

        Beautiful You stamp set (Stampin’ Up)

        My Notebook stamp set (Hero Arts)

Peonies stamp and die set (Avery Elle)

        Circles stencil (Fiskars)

        2-way Glue (Kuretake)

         Big Shot die cutting machine (Sizzix)

        Acrylic block

        

Cool Snap

 Autumn is here, dabbing hillsides, fields and trees with her paintbrush.  

Last week we took a drive north of town on Buck Creek Road, looking for bittersweet to stuff in the windowbox.  This scene below caught my eye.

This perfect weather puts me in the mood to add the stash of Christmas cards for my mother.  This one below I created by masking and sponging with Denim Kaleidacolor from Imagine Crafts for the background.  A few spritzes of sheer Shimmer Spray give it just the right amount of holiday sparkle.  I stamped my Kaleidacolor pad on an empty acrylic block and used this ink with a Fantastix to add a bit of "snow shadow." 

I used...

Denim Kaleidacolor inkpad

Cantaloupe Memonto Dew Drop ink pad

Mini Ink Blending Foam and handles

Fantastix, bullet tip

Sheer Shimmer Spray

(all from Imaginecrafts/Tsukineko)

white cardstock

Watercolor Splash patterned paper pad (Momenta)

Trees stamp set (Inkadinkado)

Holiday Sentiments stamp set (My Sentiments Exactly)

Card Creator 5 x 7 Matting Basics B dies (Spellbinders)

2-Way Glue (EKSuccess)

acrylic block