Zen and the Art of Watercolor

Happy Paper Players Sunday, friends!  I'm so excited to share my card with you today!  But first, let me tell you about this week's challenge with Jaydee as our hostess:

Truth be told, I used to be afraid of watercoloring but I've been practicing and practicing...and...you get the picture...now I think I can say that I actually like watercoloring!  So, I busted out some watercolor paper, my ink pads and an Aqua Painter to make this birthday card for a dear friend:

I needed a masculine card so the clean-and-simple approach was perfect.  The demure little bonsai in the Plant Hope set is ideal for my friend who likes Asian themes.  I think the key to watercoloring, for me, is to layer the color by starting with the lightest shade.  With several light applications, you end up with a shade that has more dimension than an image colored with a single color.  Use the darker color to add shading allowing some of the light color to peek through. 

   

For the pot, I started with several light coats of Calypso Coral only adding Poppy Parade on the edges.  For the tree, I started with  Pear Pizzazz and added a punch of color with Lucky Limeade while the tree trunk and branches was a blend of Crumb Cake and Soft Suede. This method does take some patience as the water needs to dry between each coat otherwise it will run.  Of course, I wouldn't know anything about that....no, not me, not at all!  LOL.  To finish it off I added two score lines with my Simply Scored board and tucked a piece of Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon underneath.  You can't really tell in the photo but that's a piece of Brushed Gold cardstock under the ribbon--it adds just the right touch of glam.  Coz, even guys like a little sparkle!

I hope you liked today's card--I would love to know what you think!  Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team for their fabulous take on this challenge.  I hope you'll join us in The Paper Players gallery--the challenge will close on Friday, April 20th at Noon (PST).

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy
Jenn Picard
Heidi Boos

Shirley Pumpkin (April GD)

 

Supplies 

Stamps: Plant Hope; Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake & Soft Suede classic ink; Timber Brown Stazon

Paper: Basic Black, Brushed Gold CS; Watercolor paper

Xtras: Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon; Simply Scored board; Aqua Painter

Love & Irises {CCMC197}

Happy Thursday, friends, and welcome to another week at Create with Connie & Mary! It's a color challenge this week and the colors are gorgeous together...take a look:

I combined the colors with this fantastic sketch from the gals over at Card Patterns--love their sketches! 

 

Blues and greens are probably two of my favorite colors but I rarely use purple and Concord Crush even less, lol!  It's a very intense color so for my card, I lightened it up a bit:

The set Love & Sympathy is so pretty with two heartfelt sentiments and this gorgeous, grassy flower.  To me it looks a bit like an iris so Concord Crush was a perfect color choice.  I inked the flower with a Concord Crush marker and after stamping off once, inked the grass with a Certainly Celery marker and stamped the whole image onto some Very Vanilla cardstock cut with the Labels Framelit die.  I repeated another flower, for a field effect, and added the lovely sentiment in Maria Mist. To the background I stamped the grass from Inspired by Nature in Certainly Celery to compliment the grass of the flower.

So, are you wondering where the Concord Crush DSP came from?  Curious?  Well, you can probably guess...that's right...My Digital Studio!  I realized that I didn't have any Concord Crush DSP and I actually didn't have one in MDS that I liked either...shocking, I know!   So...I made my own.  I used a digital stamp called Fancy Fan (it matches a letterpress plate by the same name) and colored the "stamp" in Concord Crush.  Because I wanted it a little lighter, I used the "opacity" command in MDS to reduce the intensity of the color.  So not only did I make my own DSP, I also made my own color, lol!  Concord Crush "lite"!

I mentioned that this set has two pretty sentiments--you saw the first one already and the second one is perfect for the inside.  Stamped here in full strength Concord Crush and this time with a Marina Mist flower.  I hope you've enjoyed today's card and feel inspired to play along with these gorgeous colors.  Be sure to check out the rest of the amazing design team over at Create with Connie & Mary.  If you decide to play along, you have until Wednesday, April 18th at Noon (EST).  I hope you'll join us!

Supplies 

Stamps: Love & Sympathy; Inspired by Nature

Paper: Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla CS; MDS hybrid designer paper

Ink: Certainly Celery, Concord Crush, Marina Mist classic ink

Xtras: Marina Mist 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon; Linen Thread; Labels Framelits; Basic Pearls; Stampin' Write Markers (Certainly Celery, Concord Crush, Marina Mist)

Sweet Floral {PP90}

Happy Sunday, friends.  If you celebrate Easter--happy egg hunting!  If you're hunting up a lovely color challenge, look no further than LeAnne's gorgeous choices for this week's color challenge at The Paper Players:

Blues and greens are always a favorite and so easy to mix together.  I recently acquired a large background stamp called Sweet Floral and decided to use that as the focal point for today's card:

Pretty dramatic, eh?!  Stamping the darker color, Not Quite Navy, onto the lighter Pool Party is an easy way to incorporate two of the challenge colors.  For a little pop, I stamped the floral image again and fussy-cut a few of the flowers:

Now, to incorporate Certainly Celery, I layered striped grosgrain ribbon, a label stamped with a Four Frames image and an itty bit of Pool Party ruffled ribbon:

I made my sentiment from the mix-and-match set, Fabulous Phrases in Not Quite Navy with a little background stamping in Pool Party.  I had so much fun playing with these colors and I know that you will too!  Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team for their amazing inspiration.  I hope you will join in the fun over at The Paper Players.  Remember, this challenge will close on Friday, April 13th at Noon (PST).  Hope to see you there!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy
Jenn Picard
Heidi Boos

Shirley Pumpkin (April GD)

Supplies 

Stamps: Sweet Floral, Fabulous Phrases, Fresh Vintage (retired) 

Ink: Not Quite Navy, Pool Party, Certainly Celery 

Paper: Not Quite Navy, Pool Party, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla CS 

Extras: Decorative Label punch, Large Oval punch; Certainly Celery 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon; Pool Party ruffled ribbon.

Mojo Escargot {CCMC196}

Hey there everyone! Welcome to another week at Create with Connie & Mary!  It's a sketch week at CCMC and the gals have drawn up a good one for you:

I have been feeling void of any mojo the last few days so my card is a very literal interpretation of the sketch even right down to the wavy ric-rack!

I took all my color choices from the Just Add Cake designer paper coloring the cute little snail with a Blender Pen and Baja Breeze, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron and Peach Parfait ink pads.  Are you wondering how I got the narrow ric-rack?  After I cut the Baja Breeze cardstock with the Tasteful Trims die, I just slid the newly cut piece up a little on the die and ran it through again.  It cut off just enough to give me a narrow piece that I layered on top of the Peach Parfait ric-rack.  Just for fun, I added a trail of Dazzling Diamonds to make a sparkling snail trail.  Tee, hee.  The 2 1/2" circle was trimmed with a long piece of Wild Wasabi cardstock that was punched with the Scallop Ribbon Border punch, run through a paper crimper and adhered to the back with sticky strip.   Finally, I just threaded the Baker's Twine through the tiny holes in the border and tied a bow.  Had to finish off the inside too:

The designer paper is doing double duty both decorative and functional.  It's hiding the sentiment that is right under the stamped snail!

I'm going to keep this short and sweet, my friends.  I hope you'll check out the rest of the Connie & Mary Challenge team and consider playing along with us.  The challenge ends on Wednesday, April 11th at Noon (EST).  Hope you have a great day!

 

Supplies 

Stamps: Easy Events; On Your Birthday

Ink: Baja Breeze, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Peach Parfait classic inks; Jet Black Stazon

Paper: Baja Breeze, Wild Wasabi, Peach Parfait, Whisper White CS; Just Add Cake DSP

Xtras: Dazzling Diamonds; Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine; Tasteful Trims XL die; Scallop Ribbon Border punch; Paper Crimper; Blender Pen; 2 1/2" Circle punch; Basic Rhinestones

Lunchbox Punny Love {PP89}

Woohoo, it's Sunday! I love Sundays because I get to play with my gal pals at The Paper Players! Our friend Anne Marie has a challenge as big as the state of Texas for us this week:

Yes, you read that right..."Tickle your Funnybone!"  If you're a follower of my blog, you know that I don't do humorous cards very often...so this one was definitely a challenge for me.  I decided to go the "punny" route and make a set of "Lunchbox Love" cards to brighten my daughter's day at school:

Aren't they cute?!  I printed a sheet of images in MDS from the Under the Big Top set and colored each one with ink pads and blender pens to coordinate with the new Summer Smooches DSP which is available beginning today!  The coordinating sentiments are so "punny", I just know that they will come in handy when my daughter needs a school-day smile!  I thought you might want to see each one up close...

Isn't this muscle man the cutest?!  His Tempting Turquoise unitard just makes me giggle and that big 'stache makes him look a little bit like the guy from the Village People don't you think?  LOL!

Who can resist a Tangerine Tango lion?  Not me!  And finally...

The smarty pants of them all...isn't he too cool for school with his Converse sneakers?  You may have noticed the size is a little bit different...these are all 4 1/4" square...a nice size for a lunchbox note but a little more "canvas" to work with than bitty notecards.  I won't bore you with the details...supply list is below.  Be sure to check out the inspiration from my fabulous teammates:

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy
Jenn Picard
Heidi Boos

Shirley Pumpkin (April GD)

I would also like to extend a big Paper Players welcome to our April Guest Designer Shirley Pumpkin!  Welcome aboard, Shirley, we're delighted to work along side of you this month.  And, we would be delighted to see your card or project in the gallery this week...so get bizzy in your craft space!  You've got until Friday, April 6th at Noon (PST).  Thanks for stopping by!
 
 

Supplies 

Card #1: Strongman

Stamps: Under the Big Top (MDS); Mixed Bunch

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Real Red classic inks

Paper: Lucky Limeade,Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White CS; Summer Smooches DSP; Real Red glimmer paper.

Xtras: 2 1/2" circle punch; Scallop Ribbon Border punch;  Adoring Accents embossing folder & Edgelits; Decorative label punch; Itty Bitty punch pack (circle); Blender Pen; Real Red polka dot grosgrain ribbon (retired); Blush Blossom Stampin' Write marker

Card #2: No Lion

Stamps: Under the Big Top (MDS); Mixed Bunch

Ink: Tangerine Tango,Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, classic inks

Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White CS; Summer Smooches DSP

Xtras: 2 1/2" circle punch; Scallop Ribbon Border punch;  Adoring Accents embossing folder & Edgelits; Decorative label punch; Blender Pen; Tangerine Tango striped grosgrain ribbon (retired)

Card #3:  Smarty Pants

Stamps: Under the Big Top (MDS); Mixed Bunch

Ink: Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, classic inks

Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Whisper White CS; Summer Smooches DSP

Xtras: 2 1/2" circle punch; Scallop Ribbon Border punch;  Adoring Accents embossing folder & Edgelits; Decorative label punch; Blender Pen; Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon; Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon; Blush Blossom Stampin' Write marker