Splashes of Watercolor

Butterfly Sparkles - Color Throwdown #195

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Hello, everyone!   I'm hosting this week's Color Throwdown challenge!

Sadly we had to say goodbye to the incredibly talented Kittie Caracciolo as our May Guest Designer.  But with the new month comes a new designer, and I'm so thrilled to announce that this month we're welcoming Anna Wight as our Guestie!  I first encountered Anna's brilliant watercoloring and illustrations (and photography) on Splitcoaststampers.  She was one of my very first stamping idols!  Please join us in making her feel welcome!

When I first saw this beautiful image on Pinterest, I really loved the combination of soft colors.  Given the fact that there are flowers too, I couldn't resist using it for our inspiration photo this week.

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I'm also playing along in these challenges this week:

• Crazy 4 Challenges C4C139 - use butterflies
• CAS-ual Fridays challenge CFC55 - Put a bling on it
• and retrosketches #14:

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Finally, here's my card:

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As always, please feel free to use any colors that are close to the Color Throwdown challenge colors.  We'd love to see your paper-crafted creation, so please directly link it to today's CTD blog post.

And please be sure to stop by and leave some love for our design team and June Guestie:

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Thanks for stopping by!

eP meets Starbucks - an E-Team blog hop

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Hello, everyone!  Are you ready to embark on another E-Team adventure/challenge?

This is the mission that our fearless leader, Daisy put before us this time:

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Your challenge is to only use what was in your eP box.  You have to incorporate these 3 items in your creation:  Seasonal Distress Inks, Maya Road Bottle Caps, and anything Starbucks.  You can be inspired by Starbucks drinks, décor, the company itself.  Your can use the gift card, sleeve holder, or anything you can find at Starbucks.  They have a cool logo too.  So go and get a drink at Starbucks and get inspired for this fun eclectic Challenge.

Oh my!  So are you read for some fun?  Here are the blog hop details:

• 3 winners will be selected randomly from all the blog participants comments, and they will win $20 eP gift certificates. You have until Sunday, October 30, to leave your comments.
• This is a challenge for you too!  Check out the details on the eP blog to have a chance to win a $10 Starbucks card which will be included in a box of eP goodies!

Now on to my project…….

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Those are the items I started with.  And here's the 8 x 10 artists canvas wall hanging that I came up with:

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Huh?  Well, yeah, my mind works in mysterious ways sometimes!!  When I laid out my Maya Road bottle caps in a row, I immediately saw a snowman!  You mean you wouldn't??

I used some white felt and quilt batting, along with my sewing machine to create the snowman sections which were adhered into each of the bottle caps.

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I cut up my Starbuck's coffee sleeve to create the snowman's arms, nose and hat.  Each of these was painted with watered down ink from one of the Ranger Seasonal Distress Inks. 

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I used Want2Scrap adhesive pearls for the snowman's eyes and colored a random part of a smaller pearl flourish with a Copic 100 marker to make the mouth. 

Then I spritzed the 8 x 10 artists canvas using a Tattered Angels Glimmer Screen and Sea Glass Glimmer Mist.

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I let it dry thoroughly before I adhered my glitter paper/tissue paper hills, the bottle cap snowman, and the multi-layered popped up snowflake. 

Oh yes!  I did knit the scarf myself!

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I was very undecided on what to use as a sentiment/phrase on the canvas.  I finally chose a phrase that reminded me of Frosty the Snowman and just printed it out on some printer paper.  Then I tore each word out, and adhered them each to the canvas using Claudine Hellmuth Matte Multi-Medium.   I also sprinkled some DecoArt Glamour Dust over it while it was still wet.

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That's it for my "eP meets Starbucks" challenge!!

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Now it's time for you to move on to visit the other E-Team blogs.  Here are the links for you:

 

 

I don't think Sherry or Linda Duke will be participating this time, but please visit them and leave them some love anyway!!

Thank you SO much for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed your visit!!

Miscellaneous: white felt, sewing machine, quilt batting, buttons, cotton thread, needle, size 6 knitting needles, yarn, tissue paper, glitter paper (K & Company), brown felt, foam brush, paintbrush, water brush, rhinestone brad, DecoArt Glamour Dust, snowflake charm, computer, printer

 

Plum Thankful - Color Throwdown #156

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Well, are you ready for this week's color challenge at the Color Throwdown?  I was a little stumped by the combo at first, but ended up really liking Laura's choices.

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I've made my card to also go along with the Our Craft Lounge - May Arts blog swap week.  Today I've used the Thankful Flourishes along with some beautiful May Arts lace trim for the flower center and card trim.  So this also qualifies my card for this week's OCL blog  challenge OCL79 to use lace!!  Whoop!!

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The flower was stamped 3 times onto perfect plum cardstock, cut out, spritzed with bronze Glimmer Mist and then shaped by hand.  I twisted and twirled the lace to form the center.

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We'd love for you to play along in the Color Throwdown challenge this week.  Check out the details and link up your creation at the CTD blog.  Please join us at the OCL blog  as well for our weekly challenges.  They're posted every Friday!  And be sure to check out all the creations for this week's swap week with May Arts!!

Here are the CTD girls that are participating this week:

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Barbara * Kristin * Laura * Tammy

and Guest Designer Lori Tecler

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Thanks so much for stopping by!!

• Stamps: Thankful Flourishes (Our Craft Lounge) 
• Paper: perfect plum, kraft, so saffron 
• Ink: Memento - tuxedo black, Versafine - onyx black, Ranger Distress - peeled paint, frayed burlap
• Tools used on every card: Fiskars 9" trimmer, Scor-Buddy, Tim Holtz scissors, Ranger non-stick craft sheet, Rock-a-blocks
• Other: May Arts lace, Glimmer Mist - bronze (Tattered Angels), Labels Ten Nestabilities, Scor-Tape, foam mounting tape  

It's Better with Color - Part 5: Distress Stains

So it's time for another E-Team blog hop!  Are you ready??

Daisy has challenged the team to show you how we use Ranger Distress Stains this time! 

Now, I have to confess I'd never used this product until I pulled out my 2 bottles to play around and decide what I would do for this challenge.  We'll talk more about that in a minute!  First let's take care of the blog hop business:

• Visit each blog and leave a comment for a chance to win 1 of 4 prizes.
• 3 winners will be randomly selected from the E-Team blogs to each win a $20 eclectic Paperie Gift Voucher.
• 1 winner will be selected from the eP blog to win a small assortment  of Distress Stains and some more surprises!
• Comments will be taken Friday, July 29, to Sunday, July 31. 1 comment per blog, please.  Winners will be posted Monday, August 1, on the eP blog.
• All Distress Stains at eclectic Paperie are 10% off!!

Ok, so let's see what I came up with.

First I followed the instructions to shake the bottle and then I swiped the color onto some white and some kraft cardstock scraps.  Wow!  I LOVE the smoothness of the application and the beautiful saturation of the color.

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At the bottom of the white cardstock, you can see where I swiped the Peeled Paint ink pad over the paper for comparison.  See the difference?

I immediately thought it would be great to swipe over some patterned paper or other inked applications and use as a base for a sentiment. 

Well, I had planned on making a framed layout for my friend Karen's birthday, so I decided it would be a great project to try out the Distressed Stains on.  I started with a 12 x 12 piece of pale aqua cardstock.  I spritzed it with Timberline and Bronze Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists.  I clear embossed some small butterflies, stenciled a larger butterfly with dimensional paint and spritzed it all with a couple of colors of Ranger Distress reinkers mixed with water.  I stamped a few other butterflies, words, and backgrounds too.  Then I decided that I wanted the larger effortless beauty sentiment to be highlighted and used to "anchor" the layout.  That's where I used the Peeled Paint Distress Stain to swipe a couple of times across the bottom left corner.

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I really love how the stain pops against all the softer glimmery colors, while still allowing some of the glimmer to show through.  (Click on the photo to see it larger.)  And it provides a smooth, even base over those colors for the sentiment.

Next I started my process of building the layers to create my cluster surrounding my photo, literally using several scraps from my stash.   Speaking of which, after I took the first photo below, I couldn't find my photo!!  I almost panicked until I turned the page over.  Ha!  There's my photo!  How did it get stuck there?

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Here's a closeup of my flower arrangement.

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And here's the finished page.  I used the Peeled Paint Distress Stain to color the grungeboard alpha letters too.

I did want to point out that I wanted to highlight that effortless beauty sentiment even more, so I stamped it again on a piece of the white cardstock swiped with Peeled Paint Distress Stain and popped it up over the original stamped sentiment.

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I did frame the layout and gave it to Karen last night.  She loved it!  Oh!  I found that if I used a 12 x 12 deep frame made to hold a t-shirt (from Michael's), it's a perfect fit and protects the dimension of the page as well.

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So then I wanted to give the Weathered Wood Distress Stain equal time!  I also wanted to see how well the stain worked over embossing.  I stamped and clear embossed this ferris wheel image on a piece of vintage looking text patterned paper, then swiped the Distress Stain over it.  After it dried, I swiped it a few more times to intensify the color.  Pretty cool!

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If I was going to make a vintage looking card I needed my seam binding to look vintage as well.  I laid the seam binding on my craft sheet and swiped the Distress Stain across it.  Great saturation and a beautiful complimentary shade of the blue!

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Here's my simple vintage inspired card using the Weathered Wood Distress Stain to highlight the image and to dye the seam binding.

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I have one more little tip. You may already be aware of this little trick but I thought I'd show you anyway!  When you have a sentiment that is too long to fit on a particular die cut like on the Sentiment Flag (from Lil' Inker Designs) above, you can mask off part of the sentiment using any kind of tape.  Cover the part you DON'T want to stamp with tape, ink your sentiment, REMOVE the piece of tape, and stamp!   That's what I did to make the one long sentiment fit on the flag above.  With tape, inked:

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I also played a little more with the embossing and Distress Stains.  I also stamped the ferris wheel after inking it with the Peeled Paint Distress Stain.  I see all kinds of projects using these Distress Stains in the future for me!!

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Now it's time for you to move along and see the beautiful and inspiring projects the rest of the E-Team have created for you!  Here's a list of those participating members:

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E-TEAM

Linda Ledbetter

Micki Harper

Sherry Cheever

Daisy Sparks (eP blog)

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Don't forget to leave one comment on each blog!  And thank you all for taking the time to stop by today!  See you next time!

BUTTERFLY LAYOUT

• Stamps: Vintage Butterflies, Large Polka Dot Backgrounder (CHF) 
• Paper: 12 x 12 pale aqua, old olive, kraft, Mariposa Stack (DCWV), Fine & Dandy True Blue (My Mind's Eye) 
• Ink: Ranger Distress reinkers - Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint; Ranger Distress ink pads - Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint, Antique Linen; Versamark; Versafine - onyx black; Timberline & Bronze Glimmer Mists (Tattered Angels)
  
• Tools used on every card: Fiskars 9" trimmer, Scor-Buddy, Tim Holtz scissors, Ranger non-stick craft sheet, Rock-a-blocks
• Other: Ranger mini-misters, ink blending tools, butterfly stencil, Texture Magic Dimensional Paint (Delta), Ranger clear embossing powder, Heat-It Craft Tool, leaf mask (Heidi Swapp), oval punch, Grand On The Vine border die (Spellbinders), Prima flowers, Damask Die (QuicKutz), ribbon, butterfly punch & iron gate border punch (Martha Stewart), label stickers (7 Gypsies), dry wall mesh tape, corner rounder punch, Zva Creative crystals, plain mixed minis grungeboard (Tim Holtz Idea-ology), ribbon for flower center, Scor-Tape, foam mounting tape, Glue Dots, Quickie Glue Pen, glitter  

FERRIS WHEEL CARD

• Stamps: ferris wheel (Michael's $1 bin), Pinwheels Stamp Set (Lil' Inker Designs with ag designs)
• Paper: kraft, black, Classic K Margo mat pad (K & Company) 
• Ink: Ranger Distress Stain - Weathered Wood; Versamark, Versafine - onyx black 
• Tools used on every card: Fiskars 9" trimmer, Scor-Buddy, Tim Holtz scissors, Ranger non-stick craft sheet, Rock-a-blocks
• Other: Ranger clear embossing powder, Heat-It Craft Tool, seam binding, vintage button, corner rounder punch, Sentiment Flag die (Lil' Inker Designs with ag designs), foam mounting tape 

I'm a Beachnut (with Sandy Toes)!

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I really am!  LOL!

I was rifling through one of my drawers of paper and came across some paint chips that I had thrown in there from when we repainted the craft room/office.  This Valspar "Beachnut" one caught my eye, of course.  It's the color of sand, right?

So I thought I'd try stamping on it with one of my MANY beach stamp sets!  This one is Sandy Sunsets from Our Craft Lounge. 

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Kinda cool, huh?  I thought so.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'll see you tomorrow for the next E-Team blog hop!

• Stamps: Sandy Sunsets (Our Craft Lounge) 
• Paper: Valspar Signature Colors paint chip (Beachnut), kraft, Espresso, navy, Seaside 8x8 (October Afternoon)  
• Ink: Memento - rich cocoa, Ranger Distress - frayed burlap, vintage cream (PTI)
• Tools used on every card: Fiskars 9" trimmer, Scor-Buddy, Tim Holtz scissors, Ranger non-stick craft sheet, Rock-a-blocks
• Other: Glimmer Glam Glitter Paint - Ocean Spray (Tattered Angels), emory board, paint brush, ink blending tool, Ranger mini- misters, natural twine, Capuccino twine (Twinery), Sunshine die (MFT), seam binding, Dot Matrix Texture Fades (Tim Holtz Alterations), 1 3/8" circle punch, foam mounting tape 

It's Better With Color - part 4 Blog Hop: Tattered Angels

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What fun to be able to play to my heart's content with Tattered Angels products!!  Daisy even has a limited quantity of some of the new products that haven't even been released yet, and they're on sale too - 10% off.  They'll debut at summer CHA, but we were able to play with them already!

Here are the Blog Hop details:

• Visit each blog and leave a comment for a chance to win 1 of 3 prizes
• 2 winners will be randomly selected from the E-Team blogs to each win a $25 eclectic Paperie Gift Voucher.
• 1 winner will be selected from the eP blog to win a new Tattered Angels mist assortment and more goodies
• Comments will be taken Friday, July 15, to Sunday, July 17th. 1 comment per blog, please.  Winners will be posted Monday, July 18, on the eP blog.

Now on to my project for today.

**Everything on my project is so shiny and shimmery IRL.  I hope you can tell somewhat from my photos, but they certainly don't do justice to the shimmer of the products.  Also, as always, you can click on any photo to see it larger.**

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I've had this Maya Road chipboard album for a little while and had been wondering what to do with it.  How perfect it was to try out all the Tattered Angels products!  So I thought I would use it as a little memory album to chronicle all the events taking place in my little world, as well as in the big wide, world this year.

I started by spritzing the cover with the new Fairway Chalkboard Glimmer Mist and Bronze regular Glimmer Mist.  I had started out on my desktop, but then moved it into a box to better control the spray.  (In other words, I was spraying everything!)  I also did the same with the scrap of cardboard I wanted to use.

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Then I took a wide paintbrush and painted strokes of the Ocean Spray Glimmer Glam Glitter Paint.  I used a lot of paint because I wanted it to drip down the cover when I stood the album up for it to dry.  I LOVE the beautiful clear drops it formed on the end of each drip!   Then I stamped the background from the Studio 490 Forever Art stamp set in a hybrid cream ink.  See the shimmer and shine??

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I cut a piece of Claudine Hellmuth Studio Sticky-Back canvas and spritzed it with the Bronze Glimmer Mist.  I applied 2 pieces of Idea-ology Symphony tissue tape, then painted the canvas with the same Glimmer Glam Glitter Paint, and spritzed it with Timberline Glimmer Mist (love, love, love this color!).

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I pulled a piece of scrap acrylic packaging  from my stash to see how the new Glimmer Glaze would work on it.  I stamped one side with the text stamp from the Reflections stamp set from Stampers Anonymous.  This stamp is meant to be stamped on the back side of acrylic when you want to apply color to the other side.  I randomly painted with the Island Spring Glimmer Glaze, and also just flicked some drops onto the acrylic.  Neat-o!!

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I wanted my butterfly to showcase the beautiful color of the Glimmer Glaze without it being absorbed into the chipboard.  So I first coated it with a thin layer of Claudine Hellmuth Studio matte Multi-Medium.  I stamped it just like I did the album cover with the background stamp.  When the ink was completely dry, I brushed a light coat of the Island Spring Glimmer Glaze onto it.  It's such a soft beautiful color!

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So finally, here is my finished project again.

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The sentiment is also from the Studio 490 Forever Art stamp set.  The seam binding was spritzed with Timberline Glimmer Mist.  I have a feeling I'll be using that up very quickly!  It's LOVE, I tell you!

How about some closeups?

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I absolutely love how this turned out and can hardly wait to start inserting memorabilia.  I've already printed a couple of photos from my recent beach trip and I've also saved some newspaper articles (like from William & Kate's U.S. visit). 

So I hope you enjoyed the little trip through my Tattered Angels-adorned memory album creation process.  If you have any questions, please let me know what they are.  I'm always glad to help if I can, or at least point you in the right direction towards someone who can!

Now I know you're anxious to move on to see what my uber-talented fellow E-Team members have in store for you.  I'm sure their projects are just as amazing as always!  Don't forget to leave comments along the way for your chance to win some of these AWESOME Tattered Angels products!

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E-TEAM

Latrice Murphy

Linda Duke

Linda Ledbetter

Micki Harper

Sherry Cheever

Daisy Sparks (eP blog)

Starla Nelson (is having computer issues and may be posting later)

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Thank you all SO MUCH for visiting with me today.  You're the greatest!!

 

• Stamps: Reflections (Stampers Anonymous), background & sentiment from Forever Art (Studio 490)
• Paper: none
• Ink/Paint: Ranger Archival jet black; Ranger Distress - frayed burlap; Vintage Cream (PTI); from Tattered Angels: Glimmer Mist - Bronze & Timberline; Chalkboard Glimmer Mist - Fairway; Glimmer Glam Glitter Paint - Ocean Spray; Glimmer Glaze- Island Spring  
• Tools used on every card: Fiskars 9" trimmer, Scor-Buddy, Tim Holtz scissors, Ranger non-stick craft sheet, Rock-a-blocks
• Other: Maya Road chipboard 5 x 7 Binder Album, Claudine Hellmuth Studio - Sticky-Back Canvas & Matte Multi-Medium, cardboard and acrylic scraps, Idea-ology Tissue Tape - Symphony, chipboard butterfly & flower, seam binding, paintbrushes, ink blending tool, crop-a-dile, jumbo eyelets, flower, Want 2 Scrap Nestabling, Labels Ten Nestabilities, Scor-Tape