Splashes of Watercolor

Breeze in Spring - Color Throwdown #189

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Hello, everyone!  It's time for another edition of the Color Throwdown and Kristin's back!  YAY!  We've certainly missed her!

She's the hostess this week and has chosen an awesome color combo:

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Remember, you don't have to use the exact colors or even all of the colors in the combo if you decide to play along with us!

I chose to combine the CTD challenge with this week's CPS sketch CPS262. 

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The image I'm using today is Breeze in Spring from the April 2012 Club Kit from A Day for Daisies.  There are so many perfectly sweet images that it was hard for me to choose which one to use!  I colored her up with my Copic markers and added a little bit of Star Dust stickles around the image.

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We love for you to play along!  Please check out all the details on the Color Throwdown blog and be sure to check out all the inspiration from the design team:

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Thanks so much for stopping by!  I've got a second post today….a new blog hop from the E-Team!  You won't want to miss it!!

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!

 

Hello, Spring! - Color Throwdown #184

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It's so hard to believe that it's been in the 80's here.  For over a week.  In March.  But I truly love it!  All the flowers are in bloom; the bees are buzzing; the lawn mowers are roaring (or puttering); and I'm just waiting for the hummingbirds to show up!

So I decided to celebrate Spring using my Spring Sketches stamp set from Our Craft Lounge and this week's Color Throwdown combo, as chosen by our sweet and super-talented friend, Barbara.

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The tulip on my card is 3 layers and the leaf is 2; both popped up on foam tape.  I colored around the border of the Lacey Oval die cut with a Copic markers to make it look like it's got several layers.  I just love the deep purple of this tulip!

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I hope you'll decide to play along with us!  Your colors don't have to be a perfect match, but try to keep them close.  You can find all the details on the CTD blog.

Now how about checking out the beautiful creations of the other DT members:

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Thanks so much for stopping in today!  I hope to see you back on Friday for another new release from A Day For Daisies!

 

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!

 

Dandelion Wishes - Color Throwdown #183

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Hi, everyone!  Welcome! 

Today is the start of a new Color Throwdown challenge and day 2 for me of using my Our Craft Lounge  stamps along with beautiful May Arts ribbon.

Here's this week's CTD challenge colors, as chosen by the oh-so-talented Wanda:

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Beautiful colors that pulled me right outdoors to find even more inspiration!  It feels like Spring time already here in South Carolina.  Everything's in bloom and the weather is nice and warm.  I've been on the lookout for butterflies and hummingbirds! 

Speaking of Spring time creatures, I've always LOVED the Butterfly Kisses stamp set from Our Craft Lounge.  So I paired it up with gorgeous May Arts ribbon and a piece of Brenda Walton Flora & Fauna paper from K & Company.

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Be sure to play along in the Color Throwdown challenge with us!  Here's some great inspiration from my CTD sisters:

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Also be sure to leave a comment here on my post to be entered to win some gorgeous May Arts ribbon for yourself from Our Craft Lounge.  There are more ways to enter.  Check them out on the OCL blog.

Thank you for visiting today.  I love it when you do!

 

Violets in My Hair - a new release from A Day For Daisies

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Oh my!  This new release from A Day For Daisies is so awesome!  You won't believe the gorgeous images that Tammy Siemers Thompson has created for you this week!  Awesome, I tell you!

I also have to say I was a little intimidated to color the beautiful Violets in My Hair image that I chose.  Long hair AND a beautiful face to color?  Oh my!  So I practiced on a few images and finally finished one that I really liked.  (I've labeled which Copic markers I've used for her hair, face, etc. on the photo at the bottom of the post.  Click on it to see it larger.)

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When I first saw this image uncolored, I thought she looked like Kate Hudson.  But as I colored her, she began to look more and more like Julie Chan!  Go figure!

I also used the Card Patterns sketch #155 for this week.  It's great!

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You can check out this new image and all the others of the new release at the ADFD blog and the main A Day For Daisies website.  You can also purchase them at the ADFD Etsy shop!

Thanks for visiting with me on your busy Friday!  I'm boy-sitting with my 2 older grandsons ALL weekend!  This should be exciting!

Have a great weekend!

Lambs Playing - a new A Day For Daisies release!

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Well, it's almost spring!  And doesn't that mean there will be new babies in the barnyards?  There are certainly some precious new baby animals at the A Day For Daisies shop!  And they're all so adorable!

You can see all the new releases - On the Farm - at the ADFD blog and at the ADFD Etsy shop.

There's also a new challenge starting today… "Dress It Up With Gingham".  Quite fitting for the release, don't you think?

I chose to work with "Lambs Playing" and I have to confess that I wasn't sure just how to color them.  So I googled lambs and found this perfect photo of 2:

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How cute is that?  Well, you can see how stippled their wool looks, so that's how I tried to color my lambs.

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I didn't have any flowers that were just the right color, so I used my R81 and R83 Copic markers to color one up!  I used some narrow pink gingham ribbon for the centers and then scrunched some wider gingham across the bottom of the card.

I also used the square version of this week's MOJO230 sketch:

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Have you checked out the creations of the awesomely talented design team?  You can see them on the ADFD blog.  You will NOT be disappointed!!

We'd love it if you played along in the "Dress It Up With Gingham" challenge with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by on your way to the weekend!  I am SO READY, how about you?!!

A Marbled Easter Egg - A new E-Team blog hop!

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Hello again!  I usually don't have 2 posts in one day, but today is special because we've got a new E-Team blog hop for you!

We decided to celebrate this leap year with a technique hop!  Today we're showing you how we create faux marble.  Our fearless leader, Daisy, gave us no specific instructions, so it should be really interesting to see what each E-Team member comes up with!

Let's do the business details first:

• Leave comments on each E-Team member's blog post.  You have from today, February 29th, through Friday, March 2nd.
• 2 winners will be chosen to receive $25 eclectic Paperie gift certificates, and will be announced on the eP blog on Saturday, March 3rd.

Now that wasn't so bad, was it?  Short and sweet!

On to the project!

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I decided to use a tried and true method to create my Faux Marble, using alcohol inks on glossy cardstock.  I love this look and usually I'll do it with deep, rich colors, but today I decided to go soft and spring-like with the colors.  I chose Adirondack Alcohol inks in Shell Pink, Willow and Cloudy Blue.  Here are the supplies I started with:

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I used a felt applicator to apply the inks to the paper, dabbing over the entire piece several times until I got the effect I liked.  I did this on 2 separate pieces of cardstock and then on one of them, I applied some pearl metallic mixative to see what the colors would look like in softer shades.

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Since I had wanted a fresh spring color palette I decided to use the piece that had the brighter colors to create a marbled Easter egg.  (I'll save the pearlized one for another project.)

I brought out my Fancy Fringe stamp set from Our Craft Lounge and my Adirondack acrylic paint dabber in snow cap and used them to stamp a border "around" my Easter egg.

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I printed an egg template from the internet, cut it out, traced around it onto my marbled paper with a pencil, and then cut my egg out.

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I sponged around the egg with some Ranger Distress ink in frayed burlap and added some beautiful May Arts lacy trim and some rhinestone stickers to the egg.

My card base is white; then there's another die cut layer of white topped with a piece of patterned paper.  I backed my egg with a paper doily, tied a piece of dyed seam binding around the card front, then added the egg using foam mounting tape.

My felt rose was die cut using the MFT Rolled Rose Die-namics die, and the leaves were cut using the Spellbinders Foliage die set.

And FINALLY, here is my Marbled Easter Egg:

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I'm seriously thinking of doing this marbled look on my REAL Easter eggs this year!  I love the way these colors look together!

Well, it's time to move on to the other E-Team members' blogs to see what they came up with using a Faux Marble technique.  I can't wait!!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to drop in (again) today.  I hope you liked my project and I hope you'll try this Faux Marble technique too!  I'd love to see it if you do!

Happy crafting!

Easter Chicks - Color Throwdown #180

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Hi, guys!!  Today's the day for a new Color Throwdown challenge!  The fabulous Lori is our hostess this week.  The colors she chose threw me a little to begin with, but as soon as I saw my new Nature Babies 1 chicks from Angels Landing I knew what I was going to do!  (Thanks so much, Judi!)

Here are Lori's colors:

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I paired the MOJO229 sketch with our color combo.  What a great combination this was!

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Now here's my sweet little Easter Chicks card:

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Isn't that just the sweetest image?  The sentiment is from another Angel's Landing digital stamp set Nature Bunny & Violets 1.  (It's the set with the REAL Easter bunny!!)

I hope you'll play along with us this week.  As always, if you don't have the exact colors, a close substitute will work just fine.  Link your creation at the Color Throwdown blog, and we'll stop by your blog to take a look! 

Now how about some beautiful inspiration for you from our fabulous team?

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Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I'd like to leave you with a couple of photos from this past weekend.  I was in Richmond, VA, with several of my CTD sisters for an Intermediate Copic Certification class, taught by the fabulous Debbie Olson!  It was a blast and we all learned so much! 

I LOVED meeting Wanda, Teresa, Danielle, Kristin and Michele in person for the very first time, even though I felt like I'd already known them forever!  And it was fabulous to get to spend some more time with Lori, Barbara and Debbie!  A couple of these shots were lifted from Wanda Cullen's blog and a couple are from Danielle Kennedy.  Thanks, ladies, for sharing!

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Lori Tecler, Barbara Anders, me, Teresa Kline, Wanda Cullen

Michele Boyer (who assisted Debbie) and Debbie Olson

Kristin Eberline, Lori Tecler, me, Danielle Kennedy, Barbara Anders

Lori, me, Barbara, Debbie, Danielle

Kristin and Danielle (are they too cute?)

I had a great time and can't wait until we all can get together again (but with the rest of the crew next time, right, Tammy?)!!

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Spring Sketches - Color Throwdown #179

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Yay!  It's springtime! 

Ok.  Not really.  But it is here on my blog today!  I'm popping out the springtime flowers for my Color Throwdown card this week!

Kristin is our super sweet and talented host, and here are the colors she chose:

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Since I'm REALLY burned out on making Valentine cards, I decided to go with a spring theme.

I pulled out Spring Sketches from Our Craft Lounge and Kristin's beautiful Candy Kisses patterned paper (I TOLD you she's super talented!).

My sketched tulip was stamped on the Krafty paper and then again on white cardstock.  I used my Copics to color up the tulip twice and popped it up on foam tape.

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The background layers were cut with the Grand Scalloped Square Nestabilities.  The Krafty and Blushing papers were sanded around the edges to let the white cardstock that they were printed on show through.

How about heading over to see what my  CTD sisters have come up with for you?  I can guarantee you'll be inspired!

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I hope you'll join us in this week's challenge!  You can check out all the details at the Color Throwdown blog. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Don't forget Friday brings another new release of those precious A Day For Daisies digital images!  I can't wait for you to see what I got to color up this week!