Watercolored Valentine Cards

Today I want to share two Valentine Cards I made using Distress Watercoloring. I created these for Jude's kindergarten teacher and teacher's aide.

  The background was created using an older Hero Arts cling background stamp embossed in white onto Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock. I then ink blended Spice Marmalade and Barn Door Distress Ink over the embossed image. To add depth, I then used the same Distress Ink colors to watercolor all the hearts on the background. I die cut a heart out of the center of the background to create a shaker window. The window is covered with acetate and the shaker well was created by die cutting the same heart into red fun foam sandwiched between the background and a white piece of cardstock. The sequins in the shaker are Lucy's Cards Tropical Paradise Sequin Shaker Mix. The "Sending" Die was die cut from red glitter cardstock and adhered to the top of the acetate. The black sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Sending and Wishing stamp set. More sequins from Lucy's Cards and gems from my stash were added to complete the card. 

I absolutely love how these turned out! I can't wait for Jude to share them with his teachers on Thursday.

30 Day Coloring Challenge

I am participating in The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge, check out how it works here.

Before I committed to the challenge this time (I've tried before, but didn't get the full 30 days in), I laid out some ground rules for myself:

1. To use materials I already had on hand

2. To fix mistakes & live with the results vs. starting over if I didn't like it

3. To try new techniques or to relearn things I've done before

4. To complete projects with my daily coloring. 

After 10 days, I am still going strong! So today I want to share some of my completed cards and a general statement of how I created them. 

I used the Simon Says Stamp Elizabeth background stamp embossed in white on Tim Holtz watercolor paper. The color was added using Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and Distress Ink in Spun Sugar. The sentiment is from Tim Holtz Snarky Small Talk Stickers. I finished this card using cardstock and gems from my stash. The sequins are from Lucy's Cards Tropical Paradise. 

This card started with an older woodblock background stamp from Hero Arts embossed in white on Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock. The light blue is Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and the darker blue is Mermaid Lagoon. The leaf die is Tim Holtz Sizzix Garden Greens Bigz and it is dipped in Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint Distress Ink mixed with Perfect Pearl Mist. The love die and sentiment are from Simon Says Stamp Kristina's Love stamp and die set. The small heart dies are from an older die set & the sequins are from my stash.

This card background was created by ink smooshing Distress Ink in Spun Sugar and Abandoned Coral. The stamps are from the Simon Says Stamp Kristina Love stamp set. The thick lines of "Love" are watercolored with Abandoned Coral and then covered with Glossy Accents. The heart dies are from an older die set and the sequins are from Lucy's Cards Tropical Paradise.

This background was created by ink blending Spun Sugar and Barn Door Distress Ink, then splattering Perfect Pearl Mist onto the inked background. The sentiment from Kristina's Love stamp set was embossed in white and colored with Barn Door Distress ink. The sequins are Lucy's Cards Ice Crystal sequin mix.

This card was created using an older woodblock Hydrangea stamp from Hero Arts and the sentiment is from an older set by them as well. Both are embossed in gold embossing powder along with the edges of the card. The flower image is watercolored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and Tumbled Glass Distress Marker. The completed piece is mounted on cardstock from my stash and then added to a white card base. 

I'll be back in a week or so with more completed projects using my 30 Day Coloring Challenge pieces. 

Color Throwdown #529

Color Throwdown #529 has a nice, warm feel. Which is a nice change from the whites & blues of winter and the reds & pinks of Valentine's.

I used a piece of Strathmore Briston Smooth Cold Press watercolor paper for my base and Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mustard Seed to ink smoosh the background. The butterfly stamp is from the Tim Holtz  Distress Watercolor  Kit. The butterfly is stamped in Archival Black ink and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I watercolored the butterfly using Distress Ink in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, and Barn Door. The butterfly trail stamp is from an older Cocoa Daisy stamp set, and the sentiment is from the You stamp set and is from Simon Says Stamp. The piece is finished with Simon Says Stamp Summer Gold sequins and red gemstones that I picked at Michaels. The whole thing is matted on a piece of red cardstock and then placed on a white card base.

This card was quick to make and perfect for an upcoming friends birthday.

Color Throwdown #528

This week's Color Throwdown took me a while to figure out.

This is not a color combination that I usually create with, so I didn't decide till today what I was going to create.

Once I decided on sunflowers, creating got a lot easier. I knew I had a small stamp set that came with a Tim Holtz kit I picked up at Michael's a while back and the sunflower image was one I really liked, so that is it what I went with. 

Starting with a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock, I used an older The Crafter's Workshop stencil with embossing paste in the center of the cardstock. I embossed a glittery gold embossing powder over the embossing paste, then using an ink blender added TH Fossilized Amber Distress Ink & TH Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink to the center. I blended TH Tumbled Glass Distress Ink over the remainder of the background and then used TH Broken China Distress Ink and the TH Flourish Layering Stencil to add flourishes across the background. I stamped the sunflower and stem images from the Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Kit three times on TH watercolor cardstock and used Fossilized Amber, Squeezed Lemonade, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks to watercolor them. Once dry and cut out, I popped the sunflowers & leaves up with foam tape and slid the rest of the stems under the label and adhered them. The message on the label is from Tim Holtz's Way With Words stamp set. I splattered the entire piece with Perfect Pearls in Gold and then scattered sequins from my stash to finish the piece. 

I love this finished piece. I usually make cards, but this will be added to my creative wall in my scrap room as a reminder to try new things and to use what I already have available on hand.