Watercolor on Black

Hello friends!  I hope this finds you all happy and relaxed after Christmas.  I'm basking in the peace and calm that comes this last week of the year.  We had a minor wind storm that left the yard a mess of debris but this can be dealt with in due time.  We didn't even lose power.  As we watch the weather catastrophes on the news we're feeling very fortunate indeed.

I've been enjoying some time in my stamp room and am thinking I'd better get a card posted while I have a chance.  Today you can see I've been at my black watercolor paper again.  My new flower stamp from Woodware is called Floral Wonder, and it is wonder-full with all that open space in the flowers and leaves which make it so nice for watercoloring.  There are limits to what you can do with the blending of metallic inks, but I'm trying out some possibilities.

Working with metallics on black is an interesting experience.  I've used a higher concentration of paint for good coverage, and in this case I started at the petal and leaf tips and brushed inward, leaving black showing at the base.  At the tips of the petals I added a hint of darker purple, the effect of which is much more apparent as you move the card in your hand.  Just learning and playing.  My paints are the old-timey Twinkling H2O's.  There are some very pretty and fine quality pearlescent paints on the market which I may try someday.

The gold embossing is my usual Ranger Princess Gold, but even that looks different on the black watercolor paper.  Is it just me?  When heat set it does not raise up all smooth and sleek as you would expect.  Rather, it lays more flush with a grainy texture.  It's not a bad thing.  Just a whole other look.  Note that I'm using black watercolor 140 lb cold press as opposed to mixed media cardstock.  I'm sure each paper enables a different result.

I added gold splatters and didn't even make much of a mess this time.  I've made a note to self to leave the fan brush alone when it comes to splatters. 🙄

So there you have it, my second experiment with metallic watercolors on black.  It intrigues me and I will try again.  Have a fantastic day!

Stamps:  Woodware Floral Wonder  Paper:  Stonehenge 140 lb cold press black watercolor, gold satin metallic, pink glitter cardstock  Ink:  Versamark  Coloring:  Watercolor with Twinkling H2O's  Other:  Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder, Cottage Cutz Hello Phrase

The Night Before Cluckmas

Hello, friends!  Are you super busy or are you finally at the point where you can relax for a bit?  I'm going to keep this quick because I'm thinking none of us have a lot of spare time right now.

After I finished and mailed the last of this year's Christmas cards I felt like celebrating, so I did that in the form of making a card that's all fun and lots of play.  I couldn't help myself.

When I was shopping for something else altogether I came upon an Impression Obsession set called Chicken Christmas Sentiments.  It made me laugh and I thought that was a good thing.  So I set off on a mission to find an Impression Obsession stamp set or die to go with it, and this mother hen is what I came up with.  She is simply called Chicken and she comes with the little chick.

The babies are nestled all snug in their bed and Mom is telling them the classic Christmas bedtime story.  Mom and two of the chicks are wearing glittery antlers just for fun.  I drew and hand cut the speech bubble.

A whole host of dies and papers, mostly retired, went into this card.  Your eyes would glaze over reading all of it so I'll not write it all down.  I just wanted to share some fun and wish you a happy Cluckmas... er... Christmas.

I'm going to give myself a whole week with as little housework as possible and maybe have some time to play in my room after Christmas.  Ho ho ho!  Take care and enjoy yourselves!

Double D Challenge: Candy Cane

 

A big holiday hello to all my friends!  Are you ready for another Double D challenge?  I know it's busy times and crafting might not be on the agenda, but this challenge will run into the early days of the new year.  The quiet week after Christmas is one of my favorite times for crafting!

Our challenge is all about the candy cane colors of red and white.  I'm pretty sure you can do something with this even if it's not a Christmas card.  I just love the cocoa pot and the striped cookie jar in the inspiration board:

I just happened to have a candy cane stamp that I love and have used many times.  My clear set is sold out and probably retired from Power Poppy, but it's available as a digi stamp here.  I colored with Tombow markers and blender, then dressed up the card with designer paper cut to look like peppermint sticks.  Fun!

You know how it goes:  The team votes on creative winners, plus there's a cool prize that goes to a random winner.  This time it's a cute candy cane stencil:

The team has some fun and festive cards to share on the Double D blog.  Check them out and say "hello"!  Happy candy cane holidays!

Stamps:  Power Poppy Berry Sweet Holiday (retired)  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb watercolor, Neenah 110 lb white, scraps designer paper  Ink:  Palette Noir  Other:  Memory Box Stitched Layered Circles, Sakura Gelly Roll clear sparkle pen

Snowy Scene

Hi there!  Busy times as we wind up toward Christmas, right?  I enjoy all the activities in the winding up period, but I love the winding down after just as much.  We'll get there soon enough.

Between now and Christmas I will have another card or two.  This one was made and mailed a week ago.  It's more than I would ordinarily do on a Christmas card, but it was the last one to go in the mail and it was local.  Yay!

I'm happy the sun was shining as it cast a lot of shadow on the card which really shows the dimension and texture.  I layered some Memory Box dies with an older Poppystamps Boddington Cottage.  The top layer was backed with just a peek of black and popped up on foam tape.  The middle layer has some blue ink shading.

I splattered everything with white acrylic paint for snow.  Even though I used a splatter shield, the paint went all over everything in a large area of my stamp room -- floor, walls, everything on my table, my glasses, face, clothes... you get the picture.  I must be a very vigorous splatterer!

I hope it arrived okay.  I put a little padding in the center and gave it extra postage.  It was a pretty tight fit in the envelope.

I'm going to share today at the Four Seasons Challenge -- Anything Goes Winter.  Their inspiration board is so beautiful!

The Memory Box dies are Evergreen Sky Collage and Tall Fir Collage.

I really appreciate that you took time to stop by.  You're an important part of my happy holidays!

Double D Challenge: Christmas Stockings

Hello friends!  We're kicking off another Double D challenge today.  This time around Diane is asking us to show our Christmas stockings.  That sounds like fun, doesn't it?  Here's a cute board for inspiration:

I'm back to my Power Poppy stamps for this one.  Gee, look at that sunshine in the photo.  As of this writing it's been rain rain rain for several days.

The brick is supposed to represent the edge of a fireplace.  The boughs and bow are decorating the mantel.  I think it was kind of a good idea, but I definitely see things I'd do differently.  A lot of my Christmas cards this year could stand a do-over, sigh.  It's a cute stocking, though, isn't it?

Speaking of cute stockings, check out the prize for a random winner.  How fun!

The team votes on creative winners -- not an easy task, I tell you.  We always have the most awesome entries and it's a treat to look through the players gallery.  I hope you can join us.

In the meantime, enjoy all the team's samples on the Double D blog and say hello while you're there.  Happy holidays!

Stamps:  Power Poppy Fully Stocked clear stamp set (retired)  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor for stocking, Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth solar white 110 lb card base, SU  gray sand-able cardstock (retired), scraps red & green cardstock, scrap wood grain designer paper  Ink:  Palette Noir, SU Poppy Parade  Coloring:  Tombow markers and blender  Other:  Anthology Blizzard (white) dimensional crystal, glitter, Wink of Stella, enamel dots, Sizzix Brick Wall embossing folder, Impression Obsession Pine Pair, Poppystamps Prim and Proper Bow, foam mounting tape

Mintay Makes the Christmas Cards

Hi again and welcome to December -- yikes!  I'm surprised to have a second post this week, but Mintay made me do it.  I have a passion for designer paper as one peek inside my paper cupboard will reveal .  I try not to play favorites when it comes to the paper, but there's quite a lot of Mintay inside that cupboard.  Sometimes you just have to let the art of the paper shine.

I used one 6x6 sheet plus scraps to make two mini-slimline cards.  The first card shows a slice off the bottom of one sheet, stitched with a border from a scrap piece.  I added a Cottage Cutz banner with sentiment.  The deer/snowflake banner is one layer, the sentiment is two layers for dimension.  I sponged the sentiment with SU's Close to Cocoa ink.

The next card shows the top 3 1/2" of the same sheet of Mintay paper.  It has a sentiment banner printed on the paper so I didn't need to add my own.  However, I did add a hand cut ephemera piece backed by a die cut doily and patterned circle.

The first card is definitely my favorite.  I made two of each design, trying to use up this Mintay pad which I've loved well over quite a few years.

I hope we can visit again soon.  Take good care of yourselves so you can stay well and enjoy the holiday season.

Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White (80 lb for card base, 110 lb for dies), Mintay Christmas Stories designer paper  Ink:  SU Close to Cocoa to sponge sentiment die cut on first card  Dies:  Cottage Cutz Seasons Greetings w/Banner, Cheery Lynn French Pastry Doily, Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers