CASED Watercolor background

Sometimes you look at a stamp set and wonder, "what can I do with this?" So you head to Pinterest or Google the images and look through them. Well this morning I wanted something a little different and was impressed with a watercolor background I found HERE. This card uses the Beautiful Bouquet stamp and die set from Stampin Up and the colors are Lemon Lime Twist, Pool Party, and Flirty Flamingo. I had so much fun with this background I decided to experiment with other color combinations which I'll list below. Here's the card:

So, to make the watercolor background, I sponged with the three colors horizontal lines across watercolor paper, and then drew a line across the color with the matching marker, and then to blend the colors together I swiped across the bands with a watercolor brush. You can use an aqua painter for this, but I used a 1" wide brush. I also added the Nuvo Crystal Drops in "Duck Egg Blue" to the center of the flowers.
Below are some other background color combos I did that I am soon turning into cards:

The top one is: Pink Pirouette, Sweet Sugarplum, and Berry Burst
Middle: Certainly Celery, Calypso Coral, and Bermuda Bay
Bottom: Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, and Pumpkin Pie
I also tried to use a ruler to draw the marker lines across but I liked the more "organic" look of the lines when I just dragged the marker across. Try it!!

In The Box??

I've always loved this bear with the garbage can! It's a stamp by Stamps By Judith and I embossed it in black and watercolored it and  affixed it to a piece of Basic Grey paper. Very simple, but fun. Hope you like it. I'm entering it in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

Peony Power

This card is entered into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for this week. I love my peonies when they bloom, but they don't last long... good thing we have peony stamps!! This stamp set is from Stampendous and it is very large (Jumbo Peony) so they are good for larger cards and scrapbooks. I've used these to stamp on walls because of their size. I colored the flower with the three colors of Copic markers shown in the photo and also with Y18, YR27 for the flower center.
I stamped the vine with Stampin' Up's Meadow Moss ink (which is discontinued) after masking off the flower and then sponged a blended background with Distress Oxide inks. Finally, I added the gems and stamped the sentiment (which was in Stampin' Up's Sale-A-Bration set from 2006) in Hero Arts Intense Black ink.
I affixed the image to a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of Soft Sugarplum cardstock from Stampin' Up.
Thanks for looking and I hope you like it!

Shaker Hello

Another last-minute effort at finishing up a card I started for this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge! This card features two stamp sets from Altenew: Floral Sprig (used for the "hello" greeting) and Adore You for the flowers. I cut the flowers out with the matching die set after coloring them with Copic markers.
I used a piece of Soft Suede cardstock and after cutting an oval out, embossed it with the new basket weave dynamic embossing folder from Stampin' Up. I layered 2 layers of fun foam with ovals cut out for the shaker and put a layer of white tulle instead of clear acetate. I added sequens to the shaker and also glued a few on the white cardstock.
I stamped the sentiment on white cardstock in Altenew's "Midnight Violet" Crisp Dye ink so it would show through the shaker.
Hope you like it! Thanks for looking!

An Almost Late Wednesday Challenge!

It's a Monday night and for some reason I've had a difficult time thinking of Easter with all the snow and cold weather in NE Pennsylvania!! But, finally I looked at the calendar and realized I only have this week and only four days of school next week before we get time off so I'd better get going on making Easter cards.
When I think of Easter, of course there's the most important thing: Resurrection Sunday, but we have so many other traditions: coloring eggs, Easter egg hunts, bunnies and chicks, etc.
I have a collection of ceramic eggs with all kinds of different designs on them and so I thought for Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, what better way to get "into" making Easter cards than with a large egg with irises on it. I think of my irises coming up hopefully soon and I tried to make this card so that the egg looked as 3D as possible by only cutting a slightly smaller egg shape from fun foam and adhering it after bending the edges around the foam. I'm not sure I got the effect I wanted!
Also, recently I've been seeing artists coloring with Polychromos colored pencils from Faber-Castel and recently purchased a set of 36. I love my Prismacolor pencils as they are buttery smooth just as advertised, but they do break easily if you're not careful. I found the Polychromos to be a harder "lead" that didn't break easily, but I also think I need more practice at blending. Anyway, I will try to experiment more with them and let you know the results.
For this card, I stamped the irises from Altenew's Enchanted Iris stamp set onto Neenah white cardstock and after coloring them with the pencils, outlined with a black marker and added Wink of Stella to the flower petals. Then I cut them out with an egg die and layered it onto a piece of Old Olive cardstock that I embossed with Stampin' Up's Layered Leaves embossing folder.

SSS Wednesday Challenge

Another Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and just in time a box of new stamps was on the doorstep!  This is a new Sale-A-Bration stamp set called Blosoming Basket and was perfect for this "Girl Power" challenge. I stamped the basket of flowers in Momento black as I was coloring them with Copic markers.The verse also is in this stamp set. I also mounted this on a piece of Melon Mambo cardstock and then used the new dynamic basket weave embossing folder with Crumb Cake paper.