Splashes of Watercolor

A Day For Daisies Oval Bird Cage

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Happy Friday!  The start of the weekend is definitely a reason to celebrate!  But so is a new release from A Day For Daisies!

It's Spring now, right?  So why not bring on the birds!  This new release is such a great tribute to our fine feathered friends.  You can check out all the new images at the ADFD blog or at the ADFD Etsy Shop. 

I've chosen to play with the Oval Bird Cage image.  How sweet is this?!!

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I printed it, colored it with my Copic markers and cut it out.  The layer directly beneath it (the "window") is white cardstock which I swiped a few times with my Ranger Distress Stain in Tumbled Glass.  It matches the Copic B00 and B01 combo perfectly!

I've done a little stitching on the card and tied up some of the layers with some seam binding and 3 different colors of twine from the Twinery: Blossom, Honeydew, and Caribbean.

I've used the MOJO233 sketch for my layout this week.  Here it is:

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I hope you all are going to have a lovely weekend.  I'd love to say I'm going to the premiere of The Hunger Games tonight, but alas I'm currently at Myrtle Beach.  So sad, huh?   I'll definitely be seeing the movie next weekend though with a crowd of friends/tributes!  So don't tell me how wonderful it is until I've seen it too!  Promise?  Thanks!

 

Happy Birdie with an Orange Balloon!

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Hi, y'all!  It's Friday and time to give you a peek at one of the new A Day For Daisies "Blue Birdie" images.  I love this sweet little fellow pulling his pretty orange balloon!

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We also have a new challenge starting today at the ADFD blog …."Shades of Blue".  I used a couple of different shades on my card, and I also used this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge 154.

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My little guy was colored with Copic markers then I sprinkled some Ranger Star Dust Stickles around him and his balloon.  (Click on the picture to see it larger.)

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Check out the new images at the ADFD blog.  They're also available at the A Day For Daisies main site and the ADFD Etsy shop.

And we'd love it if you'd play along in the "Shades of Blue" challenge with us!

Thanks so much for dropping in on your busy Friday.  I hope you have a fabulous weekend!  It's gonna be warm (in the 80's) and sunny here.  I can't wait!

 

One Balloon - Color Throwdown #182

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Who's ready for a new Color Throwdown challenge?  Sweet Tammy is our hostess this week and she's chosen some rich and beautiful colors!  Just look at her beautiful inspiration pin cushion!

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That is just too cool!

And since it's the beginning of a new month, we're welcoming a brand new guest designer.  Ta da!……please join us in welcoming the one and only Bev Gerard, also known as Tex or Texas Grammy on SCS.  She's a MOST talented crafter and SUPER sweet lady, and I'm also VERY proud to call her my friend!  Thank you so much for agreeing to play along with us this month, Bev!

Now on to my card….I pulled out my cardstock in those colors and was immediately……blank.  I had no idea how I would combine those colors onto my card.  But then I thought that the combo looked a little masculine.  That's when I had an "Ah ha!" moment.  How perfect would these colors be for a little boy holding an orange balloon!  Pretty darn perfect, if you ask me!

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I used the new One Balloon image from the A Day For Daisies March Club Kit and colored him up with my Copic markers.  I thought it would be kinda cool to use my Deckled Rectangles Nestabilites to frame him, but instead of using them to die cut, I laid one of them out on the image and traced, then cut, around it.  I like how it turned out!  I also did a "copycat" of the beautiful Copic stippling that my ADFD teammates, Lori Boyd and Arielle Gordon are so well known for!

Speaking of Arielle, she's started a new sketch blog called retro sketches and the very first sketch is the one I used today for my card.  Here it is:

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Pretty neat, huh?

Please travel on over to the rest of the CTD team member's blogs and check out their awesome creations:

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And we certainly hope you'll join us in the challenge as well.   You can get all the details at the Color Throwdown blog. 

Thanks for taking the time to drop in today!  I'm so grateful that you do!

 

Walking in the Rain

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Hi, all!

I'm still coloring away!  Today I wanted to show you a brand new image from A Day For Daisies.  It's the Walking in the Rain image from the March Club Kit.

The image looked perfect to use for a vintage-type card, and then I found this beautiful color combo at the Play Date Café:

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I also found this great sketch at the Freshly Made Sketches blog:

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I put them all together and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! 

All the layers on my card are inked with Ranger Distress Antique Linen ink and the lace that's peeking out from behind the image layer is some of my Grandma's hand crocheted lace, making this a very special card indeed!

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What do you think?  Isn't she the sweetest little girl and don't you just love the kitten in a raincoat??

Thanks so much for stopping in for a visit today!  See you again soon, I hope!

 

Blessing a Flower

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I'm so excited to show you my card today!  This week's beautiful new release from A Day For Daisies is called Fairy Work Fairy Play  and all the images are so incredibly beautiful and sweet! 

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I was so inspired by the images that the first thing I did when I got home from my Intermediate Copic Certification class in Virginia was to sit down and practice on this Blessing a Flower image.  I'm really, really pleased with the results too!

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What do you think? 

I also used the CPS253 sketch which was a perfect match for this image!

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You can see all the images on the ADFD blog and also see samples from all the design team members.  And, believe me, they are absolutely gorgeous!!  All the images are available at the ADFD shop!

There's also a color challenge going on right now and we'd just love it if you played along.  Check it out!

Thanks so much for stopping in for a visit today.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

 

Hanging the Sleeping Basket

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Good Friday morning to you!!  It's time for a new A Day For Daisies release!!  This one is just as wonderful as the last !  You're going to love all the beautiful new images.  You can see them all today on the ADFD blog or at the ADFD shop.

I chose to use Hanging the Sleeping Basket today.  I've always loved fairies and tales of "the wood".   This one is especially sweet!

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The image is watercolored using Ranger Distress inks in Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Tumbled Glass, Scattered Straw and Pumice Stone.   There's a second layer of the fairy wings and one of the cherry blossoms popped up on foam mounting tape.  And the wings, baby basket, and the flower centers are all sparkling with Star Dust Stickles (my favorite bling)!

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I died the seam binding with some Distress Tumbled Glass ink using Sherry's tutorial.

Thanks so much for stopping by!   I hope you enjoyed your visit!

2 Hillies and 1 Love Bunny

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Hello, everyone!

I've been busy trying to get Valentine cards ready for all of our grandchildren!  My granddaughter, Molly, is almost 3 and George's granddaughter, Annabelle, is 3 1/2, so I knew they'd both love Hillie from the Bug & Roo collection of By Lori Designs.  Lori was SO SWEET to send me several images and I just couldn't wait to use them!

I colored a little blonde Hillie for Annabelle, who's blonde, and a brunette for Molly.  I gave them each a paper-pieced dress, a hair bow, and a hand-crocheted heart to match. 

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The color combination came from the polka dotted dress paper and the yarn of the heart, and I tied the 2 colors together by airbrushing a die cut and it's negative using several different shades of the colors.

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Now, for Molly's 5 year old brother, Miles, I used the Happy Love Day  bunny from the  A Day For Daisies February Club Kit!  LOVE it!

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I colored him with my Copic markers and then used a rag (old washcloth) and some Various Ink Colorless Blender to create a textured look to his fur.  The balloons were also colored then covered with Ranger Glossy Accents. He and the balloons are popped up with foam mounting tape.

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That's it for today.  I'll post more as soon as I get them made!!  I'd better get on that, huh??!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

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Through the Window - a new ADFD release!

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Hey, you guys!  It's time for a new A Day For Daisies release.  I find myself getting more excited with each new release.  These images are so perfect!!

The image I chose to use today is called Bulb Window.   I love these "out of the box" images, don't you?

I wasn't sure what kind of flower this was, so I perused the internet and came up with this photo of Nemophila, a wildflower more commonly known as California Blue Bells.  It looked like a good match to me so I went with it!

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I decided I wanted a very simple layout, simple color palette, and minimal embellishments in order to show off this gorgeous image.  The layout is loosely based on this week's Merry Monday challenge #6 at the Always Playing with Paper blog.

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And here's what I came up with:

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I used a negative cut out of the image box to be able to sponge just inside the box line with an ink blending tool and some Ranger Distress ink in Tumbled Glass.  Again using minimal color.

So what do you think?  Isn't this a beautiful image?  It's available now at the A Day For Daisies shop and there's a challenge going on at the A Day For Daisies blog right now too!  Check them out!  There's even a freebie digi image for you to use in the challenge!

Thanks so much for dropping in today!  Have a wonderful weekend!!

My Heart...

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Well, from the title of my post, you would think I'm posting a Valentine's card, right?

Not so.

Actually this is the card I made for George for his birthday, using the new Every Heartbeat stamp set from Our Craft Lounge.  Why wouldn't you use love as the theme of a birthday card for someone special in your life?

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This was super simple and quick, and it still rocks!!  (Even if I do say so myself!)

Thanks for stopping by to check it out!

Keep Calm and Sail On!

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Today the Our Craft Lounge DT is joining forces with the Lily Pad Cards Dream Team for a double challenge! 

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What fun!  I love the color combo and immediately thought of making something cool and icy.  Then I said to myself…"Wait! Why not use these colors for a silvery-moon-on-the-water-at-night card?"  So that's what I did using the new Smooth Sailing stamp set from Our Craft Lounge.  (Brace yourself.  I think you're going to be seeing a lot of cards using this super fun stamp set!  There's a lighthouse too!)

I also wanted to use the really cool MOJO222 sketch for this week:

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So here's my card.  I'm showing 2 views so you can see the silvery paper moon and the glossy background.

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I created the background using glossy white paper and Ranger Distress inks.  I simply pounced the colors on with my ink blending tools. 

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Don't you want to play along with us?  You can knock out both challenges with just one card and have a chance at winning some fabulous Our Craft Lounge stamps!!  Check out the OCL blog and the Lily Pad Cards blog for the challenge details.  We'd love to see your creations! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!   I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!