Remarkable You Card - Fab Friday #93

Summer is winding down, but I'm not quite ready for Fall yet. I love the bright green leaves on the trees, and the vibrant colors of the Summer flowers. School has already started for some of the elementary school kids, and it starts in about a week and a half for the older kids, including my youngest son. In fact, he has been going to the high school for a couple of days now, to get some extra training for one of his CTE classes. (CTE stands for Career and Technical Education, I think.) He has been loving it. I think it is because they are feeding him pizza and candy bars, though! Anyway, keep it coming, Summer!

Well, here is my card today. I was checking out some of the challenge blogs that I follow, and I decided to participate in the Fab Friday challenge (http://fabfridaystampinchallenge.blogspot.com). It is a sketch this week, and I love it! Here is my card:

All supplies used are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp sets: Remarkable You, Gorgeous Grunge

Ink: Whisper White Craft, Early Espresso, Cucumber Crush, Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, 

Smoky Slate

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Cucumber Crush, Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay

Accessories: Blender Pens, Aqua Painter, Stamp-a-ma-jig, 1/2" Circle Punch, Metallics Sequin Assortment, Dimensionals

Here is the challenge logo with the sketch:

I stamped the leaf image from Remarkable You in Early Espresso and then colored it in by squeezing my ink pad to get a "puddle" of ink on the lid. I then used my Blender Pen to color in the leaves using Cucumber Crush, Bermuda Bay, and a touch of Daffodil Delight. I wanted the branch to have a bit of a shadow, so I used my Aqua Painter brush and a bit of Smoky Slate along one edge. Using the Aqua Painter gave me a much lighter swash of color, just right for a bit of shadow. The small punched circles along the bottom of the greeting are in reference to the colors I used in the leaves. They also add a nice little pop of color without being too overwhelming.

Well, I hope you like my card today. Leave me a comment, if you did!

Thanks for visiting,
Kathryn

Hello Watercolor Card #tgifc65

I made today's card in response to the challenge blog "TGIF Challenges". The challenge  ( #tgifc65 ) was to cut something out and use it on your project. It could be die cut, fussy cut, or even punched. You just had to CUT something out. My card used die cutting, using my Sizzix Big Shot and two different die sets. I was also inspired by Kristina Werner's blog post from a couple days ago where she watercolored her background. You can see her post here: http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=16235

I used a piece of watercolor paper that was 5 inches wide by 3-3/4 inches high. I sprayed both sides with water to help prevent it from curling up on me while I was painting it. and to also help the ink to blend together and spread.  I squeezed a few drops of Melon Mambo ink refill into the lid of it's corresponding ink pad, and also squeezed a few drops of Calypso Coral ink refill into the lid of it's corresponding ink pad. Then I took one of my aqua painters, loaded up my aqua brush with water and some of the Melon Mambo re-inker and started painting along the top of the wet watercolor paper. I painted about 1-1/4 inches and then I cleaned out my brush. Then, I picked up some of the Calypso Coral with my aqua brush and started to paint underneath the Melon Mambo. I wanted the two colors to blend so I went over the first color close to where I had stopped painting to mix the two colors slightly. (Remember, my paper is pretty wet, so the color was being pulled down by gravity a bit.) I used less and less ink the closer I got to the bottom, so that it would become lighter and lighter. After the paper dried (I helped it out a bit by using my heat tool), I wanted to give it the look of having little water droplets splattered on it. I wasn't sure if I actually dripped water on it, if it would look like I wanted it to, so I decided to use one of the splatter stamps from the "Gorgeous Grunge" stamp set. I used Whisper White craft ink, and I really like how it turned out. I think it looks great, and I love the colors! I also decided to turn the watercolor paper upside down so that the Melon Mambo was on the bottom instead of at the top so that it didn't feel so top-heavy.

 All supplies used are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp set: Gorgeous Grunge

Inks: Melon Mambo Classic Ink Refill, Calypso Coral Classic Ink Refill , Whisper White Craft Pad

Card stock: Whisper White Thick, Daffodil Delight

Accessories: Watercolor Paper, Aqua Painter, Big Shot, Hello You Thinlits Dies, Bloomin' Heart Thinlits Dies, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Dimensionals

Now, like I mentioned earlier, the TGIF challenge was to use something you cut out on your project, so I decided to use the "Hello You" Thinlits Dies, and also the "Bloomin' Heart" Thinlits Dies. I layered the little flower dies to give them some dimension, and on the greeting, I cut out four "hello" dies. I layered all four of them one on top of the other to give it some depth also.

Here is a picture of the challenge post from TGIF Challenges blog:

I hope you like my card today, and that it might inspire you to create something yourself!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kathryn

To Blog, or Not to Blog...

What a scary question! I have thought about starting a blog for a long time, but I was just so unsure about how to start. So I told myself, "Just start!"

I am an avid paper crafter, and I love to make cards and scrapbook, so that is mostly what you will see here. I'm also a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, and I love the relationships I have made because of this. If you are ever interested in what I do, feel free to contact me. I also have a family and a couple of cats, so they might appear in here from time to time as well.

I hope you will enjoy my posts, and that you might be inspired to create something of your own. Thanks for stopping by!

For my first project, I thought I would post a birthday card, since this is basically, the "birth" of my blog.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless specified otherwise.

 Stamps: Label Love, Gorgeous Grunge, Everything Eleanor; Cardstock: Blushing Bride, Coastal Cabana, So Saffron, and Whisper White; Inks: Blushing Bride, Coastal Cabana, VersaMark; Embossing Folder: Alphabet Press; Punch: Artisan Label; Accessories: Big Shot, Circles #2 Originals Die, Coastal Cabana Stretch Ruffle Trim, White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip

Well, thanks for taking a look. I hope to see you again soon!

Kathryn