Splashes of Watercolor

FTTC221 - Butterfly Thoughts

~

~

Hey there!  It's Tuesday!  And you know that means it's time for the latest Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge!  I just loved all the beautiful blue & green creations last week!  You guys really know how to impress!

This week Jenny  is our hostess, and the challenge is to use butterflies.  How simple and how fun!

 ~

~

I decided to combine a few sets on my sympathy card this week.  My main focal point is the Echinacea image from With Gratitude, and I used the butterfly from the new Old Tea Rose set as well as one of the sentiments from the Winter Blossoms set.

~

~

Both the flowers and the butterflies were cut using my Silhouette and the Flourishes cut files; the flowers from Flourishes classic white cardstock and the butterflies from patterned paper.  Both were colored using these Copic collections:

~

~

The larger piece of patterned paper was inked around the edges with Distress ink and an ink blending tool.  The vellum oval was cut using a Floral Ovals die .  I also used layers from the Pistachio paper collection.  My colored images were stamped in Memento tuxedo black ink and the sentiment was stamped in Versafine onyx black ink.

My layout is from this week's retrosketches #64 sketch and I'm also playing along in the CAS(ual) Friday #101 challenge to stamp on DP:

~

~

Now don't you want to join in the Timeless Tuesday challenge too?  What a fun challenge it is!  Please be sure to visit with the other TT team members and leave them some comment love!

~

Allison Cope Israels

Broni Holcombe - you are here!

Deborah Anton

Denise Marzec

Jenny Gropp

Judy Rozema 

Katie Sims 

Iulia Pasca, our May Guest Designer

~

Thank you so much for stopping by to visit!  I love it when you do!

Water Baby Nap journal page

~

~

Today's creation is doing double duty!  This is the newest release from A Day For Daisies - Water Babies.  Such a sweet mermaid mom cuddling her little baby.  This image is called Water Baby Nap.

I decided to color her up with my Copic markers and cut her out to use on my journal page that I made for this months eclectic Paperie eTeam Picks Challenge - Gel Medium. 

~

~

And here's the page:

~

~

I used my Studio Gel Medium mixed with a tiny bit of Studio gesso and some Studio yellow pastel paint to create a glaze for the base color of my journal page.  Then I spritzed the page lightly with Dylusions Fresh Lime, Vibrant Turquoise and White Linen ink spray.  Next I used an Adirondack acrylic paint dabber in gold to dab here and there and also to line around the edges.

~

    
~

I mixed some Studio 490 embossing paste with a little of the Fresh Lime ink spray and spread it onto the page using the my Mini Confetti stencil.

~

    
~

Finally I highlighted and shaded using a Micron pen and a watercolor marker.  I also used a Silhouette die cut LOVE flag and my Dylusions Letter Jumble Stencil with the marker to create the YOU.

Here are a couple of closeups:

~

~

I used this week's retrosketches #63 for my layout:

~

~

That's it!  Please take a moment to visit with the other A Day For Daisies designers to see their awesome creations!  And you can check out all the latest release images at the A Day For Daisies shop or on the ADFD blog.

~

Arielle
Broni
Danielle
Kadie
Mila
Sherry

~

Also, I hope you'll play along in the eP eTeam Picks challenge - Gel Medium with us!  I think Julie M. picked a great challenge subject this time.  What fun!  And if you play along you have a chance of winning a prize.  Check out the details HERE!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful & happy weekend!

FTTC219 - Black Accents & a SNEAK PEEK!!

~

~

Hello Flourishes Fans!  We have a special treat for you today because we are kicking off the festivities for Day 1 of our Flourishes‘ Sneak Peeks for May and we have teamed up with the Flourishes Finest Design Team to play along with the Timeless Tuesday Challenge this week. Want a little peek at the set we’ll be showcasing today?

~

~

Our Glamour Girls stamp collection, illustrated by Lauren Pope, is a fabulous collection of lovely ladies and some classic "girl talk" sentiments perfect for all those charming gals in your life.  This classy stamp set arrives just in time for Mother's Day!  What more can you ask for?

Now on to our challenge… Denise Marzec is our Timeless Tuesday Challenge hostess this week and for her challenge this week, we want to see you use some "BLACK ACCENTS" (FTTC219) on your card or project.  Let's see you use some black matting, black die-cut images, black ribbon, or try the ever popular "chalkboard" technique that's popping up all over the blogging world.

Today we have both our Flourishes Finest Design Team AND our Friends of Flourishes Team sharing their "Black Accents" inspirations with you!  Take a moment and leave some love on all of our designers' blogs.

• Allison Cope
• Amanda Havon
• Broni Holcombe
• Christine Okken
• Cindy Haffner
• Danielle Kennedy
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Heather Jensen
• Julie Koerber
• Makiko  Jones
• Silke Ledlow
• Stacy Morgan
• Iulia Pasca, our May guest designer

Come and hop along and visit with all of our super talented Flourishes designers and join us in our challenge this week for a chance at winning our ENTIRE new May release!!  Yup... that's right... you could win our entire new release just by playing along. Check out the Flourishes Blog  for further challenge details. Good luck everyone!

******************************************

For my card today, I chose to use the sweet  image that's shown in the sneak peek graphic.  I just love it!  I die cut a piece of Flourishes Classic White cardstock using the Perfectly Pierced Victorian Oval then stamped her in Tuxedo Black Memento ink.

~

~

I colored her using these Copic collections:

~

~

The card base is Classic kraft and the patterned papers are matted on Classic black cardstock.  She's popped up on foam tape and framed using a Want 2 Scrap Nestabling Lacey Oval of black rhinestones.

I'm playing along in this week's Dynamic Duos #51 (to celebrate my friend Janet making the team!) and I'm also entering this card into the CAS-ual Fridays #100 challenge (polka dots, kraft, punches or dies):

~

    
~

Now be sure to hop along the Flourishes blog hop trail!  Christine Okken should be your next stop!  Good luck on winning the ENTIRE Flourishes May release!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Wild Nymphs!

~

~

It's the first Friday of the month and that means it's time for a brand new A Day For Daisies Club Kit!  They're always amazing and this month is no different!  What could possibly be wrong with Wild Nymphs!!

~

~

I chose to play with the beautiful Wild Rose Nymph.  She's just precious.  At first the eyes scared me a little - they're so big!  But once I colored them up, I fell in love with her all over again!  You can see her and all the Wild Nymphs at the A Day For Daisies shop.

~

~ 

There's also a new challenge starting at the ADFD blog.  Add something LACEY!!

I added a paper doily and a lacey circle die cut.  The little tag behind the image is a #5 manila tag that I added color to using Distress inks and stains.  I really didn't want to cover up the pretty colors, so I stamped the sentiment (from Unity) on a strip of vellum.

I used this week's Color Throwdown colors and the MOJO291 sketch:

~

~

Now I hope you'll take a moment to visit the other ADFD designers and see their amazing designs:

~

Arielle
Broni
Danielle
Kadie
Mila
Sherry

~

Please play along in the challenge with us too!  You can check out all the details on the ADFD blog.

Thanks so much for dropping in.  Have a fabulous weekend!

FTTC#218 - It's All in the Date!

~

~

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Allison Cope Israels is our Timeless Tuesday challenge hostess this week and she's come up with an awesome and fun challenge!

Basically, you just create a card or project using the 2 elements listed beside your birth month.  You can use any other additional elements you wish, but your creation must include your 2 items listed...

~

~

What fun!  When you've finished your creation, please link it up at the Flourishes blog on today's post.

My birthday is in July, so my challenge was to create using "a banner element and some brads or buttons".  And here's what I came up with:

~

~

I've wanted to use this gorgeous Bees & Blooms stamp set since it was released, so I pulled it out and used a challenge sketch which had a banner element to it.

I stamped the image in Memento Gray Flannel ink and colored it up using these Copic collections:

~

~

I also stamped the sentiment in Gray Flannel ink then began layering all the beautiful papers, which include some from the Color Made Easy Sunflower paper collection.  I made my banners with the same papers then layered a button tied with Kraft Jute on top of a White wrinkled ribbon bow.

The sketch I used is from the Sunday Stamps challenge #SSC46:

~

~

That's it for me!  Please take a moment to visit with each of the Timeless Tuesday design team members to see their fantastic creations!

~

• Allison Cope Israels
• Broni Holcombe - you are here!
• Cindy Haffner
• Deborah Anton
• Debbie Marcinkiewicz, our April Guest Designer

~

Thanks so much for dropping by today!  Enjoy your week!!

Aloha Petals!

~

~

TGIF!!!! 

I am SO GLAD it's Friday!  What a long week I've had!  At least it's almost over!

Here's one of the best things about Friday…a new release from A Day For Daisies!  This one is right up my alley.  It involves the beach….or at least some cool beach babes and Aloha Flowers!

~

~

I chose to color the Aloha Petals image.  She looks just like me.  (Yeah, right!  I know!  Stop yelling NO at the screen already!!)

~

~

Isn't she beautiful?  And how about those flowers!  Love them!  I used some Beach Babe papers from Fancy Pants - I think it's perfect!  And my layout is from the I Heart Card Sketches #015:

~

~

My colors are from this week's ColourQ challenge #186:

~

~

Now be sure to check out what the other talented design team members have created:

~

Arielle
Broni
Danielle
Kadie
Mila
Sherry

~

Thanks so much for stopping in!  Have a wonderful weekend, y'all!!

Taylored Expressions April Studio Challenge

~

~

~

~

Hello, everyone!

It's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge.  This is a monthly opportunity for the Taylored Expressions team to share what makes our stamping studios hum.  Each month we  have a fun, crafty question so we can share our favorites, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more.  And since I'm the guest designer for this month, I get to join in on the fun! 

The theme for April is:

Mix & Match!  TE stamp sets are designed with plenty of images and sentiments so they are "self-contained" for lots of creativity, but sometimes it's fun to mix and match several different sets for even more possibilities.

Your challenge is to create a project using three or more TE stamp sets.

I wanted to make a birthday card for a little kid who is dear to my heart and who is also VERY fond of sweets!  So these are the stamp sets that I chose to use based on those components:

Little kid = Adventure Land (of course!)  This is definitely a fun set and just right for a little kid. I used some of the cute sentiments from this set to create a horizontal panel behind my ribbon.

Dear to my heart = Kid at Heart This set is full of sweet little images, sentiments and a heart frame.  I used the heart frame and one of the sentiments.

Loves sweets = Sprinkled With Love   What yummy goodness these images bring to mind.  I used the ice cream sundae from this set.  He's sure to love that!

And here's my card:

~

~

I think you can see in this next close up that I clear embossed the heart frame and also added Ranger Glossy Accents to the cherry, chocolate sauce, and glass dish for extra shine! (You can click on the photo to see it full size.)

~

~

I also finished off the inside of the card with a 4th stamp set, Graphic Greetings Birthday.  This stamp is just perfect for inside or for the front of a card!

~

~

The layout for the front of my card was taken from the current Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge 182:

~

Wasn't that fun?  Look around your stamp room and see what sets you can combine to create with!

Want to see more?  Head on over to the Baker's Dozen design team to check out their April Studio Challenge creations:

~

• Broni Holcombe (that's me)
• Carole Burrage
• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Kerri Michaud
• Lynnette Kauffman
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Tammie Edgerton
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

~

Thanks so much for stopping by!  And a huge thanks to Taylor and the entire Baker's Dozen team for allowing me to join in the fun!  Enjoy the rest of your week!

FTTC217 - Wedding Wishes

~

~

Hi, all!  Are you ready for the latest edition of the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge?  Today, Deborah is our super-talented hostess and she's asking us to make a Wedding card or project.  It's definitely a great time of the year for that!

~

~

I decided to go with a classic wedding bouquet type of image from the Roses Are Red stamp set.  What a gorgeous image it is!  I stamped it on a thin journal page in Versafine Onyx black ink and colored it with Copic markers.  Then I cut it out with my Floral Oval die set. 

~

~

My background layer, as well as my card base, is made from Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock.  I stamped the background layer with the love sentiment block from the Just My Type stamp set, using Versamark ink.  Then I clear embossed it.  You can just catch glimpses of all the special little love phrases around the edges of the oval.

I added an eggshell seam binding bow and tied my sentiment from the Orchids stamp set to the bow with a piece of ivory jute.  The sentiment was cut out using a leaf from the Foliage Spellbinders die set.

I wanted just a touch of shimmer so I added a very thin line of glitter glue around the edge of the oval.

Here are the Copic collections that I used:

~

~

My layout today came from this week's Pals Paper Arts sketch PPA157:

~

~

I hope you'll play along in this challenge with us!  You can check out all the details at the Flourishes blog.  Also please take a moment to visit with each of our designers to see what they've created as their Wedding project.

~

• Allison Cope Israels
• Broni Holcombe - you are here!
• Cindy Haffner
• Deborah Anton
• Debbie Marcinkiewicz - April Guest Designer

~

Thank you so much for stopping in today!  I hope you're having a great week!

E-Team Picks Challenge - Experiment for Spring

~

~

Hello, everyone!  As hard as I tried I just couldn't have a project ready for this past Thursday's e-Team Picks Challenge.  I finally had some time this weekend and I'd like to show you what I came up with.

Sherry is our hostess and she asked us to use FLOWERS. 

~

~

The first thing that came to my mind is the fact that Spring has finally sprung here, and we have flowers everywhere now.   I also just received some goodies from eclectic Paperie, so I decided to experiment with some of the new goodies as well as some older favorites and some flowers, of course!

I pulled out my art journal and coated a page with some new Spun Sugar Distress Paint.  How yummy this pretty pink is!  Then I just started adding paints, inks, stains, sprays and so many other fun elements!  Here's what I finally ended up with:

~

~

I used stencils and Distress ink with blending tools, some Christy Tomlinson Text Coffee Filter paper with Matte Multi-Medium, a crimper with white cardstock and Distress Stains,  a Donna Downey flower foam stamp with black ink, and Ranger Glossy Accents for dew drops on the paper flowers.

~

~

I also used some Wendy Vecchi embossing paste here and there and then spritzed everything with some White Linen Dylusions ink spray.  Love that stuff!

This was certainly fun, but I may have "overloaded" it with all my experimentation!

We'd love it if you play along in the e-Team Flower challenge!  Let's see what you come up with!

Thanks so much for dropping in today!

April 2013 Club Kit from A Day For Daisies

~

~

Yippee!  It's that time again!  Time for a new Club Kit from A Day For Daisies.  This one is just all sweetness and fun at the same time.

April Club Kit 2013 is a collection of  images based off of the beloved classic Peter Pan, a set of lovely Spring fairies, and sentiments that are a perfect compliment. This set includes six digital stamps and four digital stamp sentiments for you to enjoy!

~

~

You can also buy these images separately if you choose.  How awesome is that?  AND if you leave a comment on THIS ADFD BLOG POST you have a chance to win the April Club Kit 2013 for yourself!!

Did you know that you can also buy the fabulous ADFD images in clear polymer as well as digital?  This is a new option and will work so well for those artists who don't use digi images!

For my creation today, I chose to color the Blessing the Flowers Fairy.  She's so beautiful on her own that I didn't want to add any embellishments.  I chose a simple layout which was created with only Copic markers and a couple of Spica glitter pens.  I added the super sweet sentiment and now I'll just have to decide which of my gardening friends will get this!

~

~

The great layout is this week's I Heart Sketches #013:

~

~

Now please be sure to visit with the other ADFD designers to see their amazing creations:

~

Arielle
Broni
Danielle
Kadie
Mila
Sherry

~

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit.  I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

~