Splashes of Watercolor

Enjoy the Journey - Color Throwdown #241

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Howdy there, folks!  It's time for a new Color Throwdown challenge!  Today, Joan is our mega-talented hostess and she's chosen a most beautiful floral image as her inspiration:

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I almost pulled out some floral images but then decided it was time to get inky!  That's always fun, don't ya think??

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I started by smooshing some Distress Bundled Sage onto my craft sheet, spritzing it with water, and then laying my kraft card front down into it.  I dried it with my heat gun, then adhered some Coffee Filter Words tissue paper using Studio Matte Multi-Medium.  When that was dry,I spritzed the card front with some Dylusions White Linen ink spray.

I stamped the dragonfly from the Bo Bunny Serenade collection in elegant eggplant onto the card front, then stamped some of the smaller images in eggplant and mellow moss.

Next I layered on some cardstock strips and washi tape and the Stacked Artful Words die cut.  To finish the card I dipped my finger into some of the White Linen ink spray and ran it all along the card front edges.  Then I tied on some Twinery Lilac twine and I was done!

I hope you'll play along in the Color Throwdown challenge with us!  All the details are on the CTD blog.  Please take a moment to visit with all the CTD gals too:

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Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope to see you back soon!

E-Team Picks Challenge - Experiment for Spring

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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. 

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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:

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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.

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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!

Taylored Expressions April Spotlights: Happy Heart & Shade Tree Cutting Plate

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Hello again, everyone!  For the final day of the Taylored Expressions April release, we're highlighting some of the new products using a Mother's Day theme.

I started out by using the brand new and super cool Shade Tree Cutting Plate.  I love it!  It's actually a framed tree, but I chose to cut mine out of the frame for this first card.  I used Core'dinations cardstock, olive green with a brown coating, which I sanded off the leaves.

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The AWESOME sentiment is from the new Happy Heart stamp set.  This is what my Mom used to say to us (and sing to us) when we were growing up, so it's perfect for my Mother's Day card for her.  I stamped it with Frayed Burlap ink combined with a watercolor marker which was used for the "rays".  The pretty little cloth covered button is from my Mom's sewing basket.

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My next card also uses the Shade Tree Cutting Plate, but this time I die cut some black cardstock and left the tree framed. 

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I cut a piece of sky blue cardstock and used some Ditto Dots washi tape and some black Skinnie Chevron Trendy Tape along the bottom.  I stamped the sentiment from From My Window along the top edge of the tape, then adhered the tree, which has a piece of twine attached to the trunk.  This was all mounted on a melon card base.

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Card #3 was so much fun and so simple to make.

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I already had a heart cut out of a piece of a book page, so I covered it with Scotch Expressions tape to give it a little body and prevent it from being soaked with ink. 

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I just laid my white cardstock in the bottom of a cardboard box, placed the heart on top of it where I wanted it, and then spritzed with 4 different colors of Dylusions ink sprays.  I put the cardstock in the box to keep from getting ink everywhere.  Ask me how I know to do that!

Then I stamped my sentiment (love this one!), tied a bow and adhered it to the heart, and mounted the layer onto a black card base.

Whew!  I hope I didn't wear you out with this long post!  It's time to move on to the Baker's Dozen for some awesome inspiration using all the fabulous new Taylored Expressions products! 

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Broni Holcombe (That's me!)

Carole Burrage

Charmaine Ikach

Jen Shults

Kerri Mchaud

Lynnette Kauffman

Nancy McKinney

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Tammie Edgerton

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

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I'm so grateful to Taylor and to Jami Sibley for having me as the Guest Designer for the past 2 months.  It's been a creative and fun experience to be sure!

Have a fantastic weekend!!

 

 

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Taylored Expressions April Sneak Peek: A Glimpse Inside

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Hello, everyone!  I'm so excited to be back again this month as the Taylored Expressions Guest Designer!

We've got another brilliant collection of fabulous stamp sets and dies to show you!  So let's get started!

Today I have the honor of showing you a sneak peek of the new stamp set A Glimpse Inside.  It coordinates beautifully with last month's From My Window stamp set, and is exceptionally perfect with the new Picture Window Die, which I've also used.

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I wanted to have a brick wall as my backdrop for this beautiful window, but I don't have one of those particular embossing folders, so I just made my own wall.

I scored a piece of 4" x 5.25" white cardstock making each brick 5/16" W x 3/16" H.  I played around with a smaller scored piece of cardstock until I found just the right combination of colors for the bricks - Fired Brick (imagine that!) and Frayed Burlap.  I also dabbed a bit of Black Soot here and there and used a white pencil to go over the grout lines and create a few more lines on the bricks.

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To create the window, I first cut the Picture Window from white cardstock and shaded it a little with my W0 Copic marker.  I stamped my beautiful tulip image onto another piece of white cardstock and laid the window over it, tracing around it with a pencil.  I colored my scene with Copic markers and then cut out the scene just inside the pencil lines.

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I also traced around the window onto a scrap piece of plastic, using a pen this time (pencil won't show up), and cut it out as well.  I pieced all three layers together with sticky tape and 1/16" foam mounting tape.

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My sentiment is also from A Glimpse Inside.  It was stamped on white cardstock, cut out with a Labels Ten die, sponged with Tumbled Glass Distress ink, and mounted on 1/8" foam mounting tape.  I also added some cool washi tape to infuse a little unexpected element.

Here's another look at my project using A Glimpse Inside and the Picture Window Die.

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That's it for me today!  Here is today's blog hop route in order to check out all the AWESOME creations of the Baker's Dozen:

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Broni Holcombe

Carole Burrage

Charmaine Ikach

Jami Sibley

Jen Shults

Kerri Mchaud

Lynnette Kauffman

Nancy McKinney

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Tammie Edgerton

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

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Thank you so much for stopping in!  Have a great week…..be sure to come back.  I'll have several more projects this week featuring new products from the Taylored Expressions April release!

 

 

Ocean's Beauty - a Beautiful Mermaid!

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Hey, y'all!

I've got a beautiful new little mermaid, Ocean's Beauty, to show you today from the March 2013 A Day For Daisies Club Kit.  I've created a journal page of her underwater world, and added some fabric to be able to play along in the eclectic Paperie Get Altered Challenge - Altered Fabric.

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I started with my blank journal page, covering it completely with Studio gesso.   I painted it yellow and the added strokes of green up from the bottom.  That's the seaweed!

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I added some mixed teal/blue/gesso for the water, by stroking down from the top using a wide flat brush.  I also brushed a little up from the bottom of the page.

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I used my Mini Chevron template and watered down gesso to paint on some "motion and reflections" and I used my Mini Peacock Feathers template to create more seaweed and some bubbles!  Then I used some Viva Paint Pens to add more bubbles and motion.

I printed my Thine Own Mermaid sentiment from A Day For Daisies onto some white cardstock, cut it out with a circle die, attached it with foam mounting tape and then painted it into the scene.

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For my little mermaid, I printed her onto white cardstock and colored her with my Copic markers.  I also printed her again onto a piece of copy paper, used paper tape to add a piece of fabric, then printed her again to get her "outfit".

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This is where the fabric came from - some faux silk curtain swatches:

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I added some sequins and popped little miss "beauty" up onto the page, and I was done.  What fun!

The Studio paints that I used are: Dab of Yellow, Landscape Green, Sky Blue, and Classic Teal.

Here's the full page again:

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And some closeups:

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You can click on any of the photos to see them at full size.

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That's it for my eP Get Altered Challenge - Altered Fabric.  Come and play along with us at the eP blog!

Also, please stop by to see all the gorgeous creations from the A Day For Daisies DT using all the gorgeous mer-people from the March 2013 Club Kit!!

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Arielle
Broni
Danielle
Kadie
Sherry

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Thanks so much for dropping in today!  What plans do you have for the weekend?  I have my 2 older grandsons and we're going to see Oz - the Great and Powerful (can't wait!) tomorrow.  Then on Sunday my youngest grandson is singing the national anthem (with his school class) at the Charlotte Checkers hockey game, so we're all going to see that.  It'll be a busy and fun-filled weekend!  I hope you all have a great one!

 

FTTC210 Easter Wishes

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Hello and happy Tuesday to you all!

Are you ready for the latest Timeless Tuesday challenge?  Cindy is our hostess this week and she's challenged us to use dry embossing.

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Now that's always fun!  Instead of embossing some cardstock though, I chose to use some scrap corrugated cardboard to create an Easter basket for my beautiful egg from the new Easter Wishes stamp set.  The "basket" was cut from the cardboard using the smaller die from my Perfectly Pierced Classic Hourglass die set, and some VersaMagic Cloud White ink was rubbed across it.

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The image was stamped on Flourishes Classic White Cardstock and colored with these Copic collections:

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The egg and flowers are all one image so in order to insert the  basket I had to cut along the upper lines of the flowers, starting at the right and leaving only the last little flower in front of the egg on the left attached.  Here's a better view:

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Other supplies used are:  Memento Teal Zeal ink, Pistachio paper collection, Emerald Coast paper collection, Sunflower paper collection, kraft cardstock, My Mind's Eye Collectable "Unforgettable" 6x6 paper pad, and these individual Copics: BG000, BG10, BG53, BG57, BV000, E00, E39.  All the supplies are shown and linked at the end of this post.

My layout is from this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge SSSC#179:

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We hope you'll play along in this challenge with us!  You can get all the details at the Flourishes blog!  Please drop by and see what all of the super-talented FTTC team members have created for your inspiration:

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• Allison Cope Israels
• Broni Holcombe - you are here!
• Cindy Haffner
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Makiko Jones
• Deb Felts - our March 2013 Guest Designer

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Thank you so much for visiting!  Hope to see you very soon!

 

Words Can't Express - Color Throwdown #227

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Hi there, everyone!  Are you ready for the latest and greatest edition of the Color Throwdown?  Lynn is our hostess this week and she's chosen a very beautiful and very versatile combo for us.

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I decided to go a different route this week from the usual Valentine's Day cards to a Valentine/Love inspired altered journal page. 

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The sentiment is stamped in Archival Coffee ink, and I also used Distress Crushed Olive, Frayed Burlap, Spun Sugar, and Worn Lipstick inks.  You can see a complete list of the products (most from eclectic Paperie) at the end of this post.

There are a lot of layers and techniques to this page.  I won't go into all the details today, but I'll be hosting the eclectic Paperie blog this Saturday, February 2nd, so stop by and I'll have some detail shots as well as some instructions at that time.

Be sure to check out all the gorgeousness the Color Throwdown girls have created for you here:

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And we certainly hope you'll be joining us in this fun color challenge!  Check out all the details and link up your creation at the Color Throwdown blog.

Until next time, thanks for dropping by!

 

eP, Sweet 'n Sassy, and Technique Junkies Great Gifts Blog Hop!

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Hello, everyone!

I'm so excited to be joining in the fun for the first ever Great Gifts Blog Hop!  eclectic Paperie, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, and Technique Junkies have collaborated to bring you lots of Great Gift ideas!

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Each of the participants received a package from eP, a stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and a Great Gifts CD from Technique Junkies, and we were challenged to come up with a handmade gift!

Here's the awesome package I received from Kim at eP:

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And this is the stamp set, You clear stamp set,  I chose to use from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps:

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There were tons of awesome ideas on the Great Gifts CD, but considering I'm somewhat of a coffee junkie, it wasn't hard for me to choose the Coffee Mug Holder.  It's just adorable and the instructions were perfect!  I had a blast making this and will most certainly be making more!

Here's my Coffee Mug Holder, along with a coordinating, patterned paper covered coaster:

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I just love the size of this mug!  It was perfect to hold 3 of the rather large, scrumptious coconut macaroon cookies that just happened to be close at hand!

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The paper is Persnickety from Lily Bee Designs.  The antique white felt flower is gorgeous, don't you think?  And the Mango Madness buttons from Buttons Galore are a perfect match!  I also love that the Caribbean and Buttercream twine coordinated so well!

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I'm so glad you could join me today.  Please be sure to check out everyone's gifts in the blog hop.  You don't want to miss anything!

 

An ADFD Mini Halloween-y Hop!

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What fun!  All the A Day For Daisies designers are having a mini-Halloween-y hop today!  You're going to love these spooky (& cute) Halloween images!

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My blog is the first stop on the hop so if you're starting here you're right on track.  If at any time you need to go back to the beginning, you can go to the ADFD blog. 

Here are the details of the hop:

One lucky commenter will win the whole release! There are 3 ways to enter the drawing:

1. Comment on all the designers' blogs & leave a comment on the "ADFD Mini Halloween~y" blog post
2. Become a follower of the ADFD blog 
3. Like ADFD on Facebook

For each of these 3 things, you will get one entry. Leave a separate comment letting us know which of these you did on the "ADFD Mini Halloween~y" blog post

Now on to my Halloween-y creation:

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This little Dragon Cutie is adorable, yet spooky at the same time!  She was colored with Copic markers and cut out.  I also created a second set of wings from vellum and layered them on top.

The manila tag was sponged with Distress inks, then spritzed with water and Dylusions ink sprays.  I stamped over that with a slightly inked Honeycomb stamp then added more interest by stamping again in a couple of places using ink on some bubble wrap.  I also added some printed tape, some textural ribbons and some bling.

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I bet you can't wait to see what the other designers have created, huh?

Your next stop is SHELLY's blog!

Don't forget to leave comments along the way for a chance to win the entire release!

Thanks so much for stopping in.  I hope you have a great weekend!

 

True Friendship

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Happy Wednesday!  Are you ready for the newest Color Throwdown challenge?

Tammy is our hostess this week and I just love the color combo (and inspiration photo) that she's asked us to play with!

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Gorgeous!

I decided to do something a little different this week.  As I was perusing Pinterest I came across a beautiful CARD from one of my stamping heroes, Jessica Witty.  I used it for my inspiration along with the colors of this week's challenge.

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I stamped the floral flourish in Versamark and clear embossed it on a panel of white cardstock.  Then I spritzed it with Adirondack Wild Plum Color Wash and some Bermuda Bay and Pool Party reinkers, each mixed with a little water in my mini-misters.  I also did the same with another smaller piece of cardstock, which is what I stamped the butterfly on .

I stamped the sentiment, applied a rub-on with rhinestones, and cut out and attached the butterfly.  Pretty simple!

Now it's time for you to check out what my Color Throwdown sisters have made for your inspiration:

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We'd love for you to join in the challenge!  Let's see how you decide to use these beautiful colors!

Hugs~