Happy Little Stampers January Watercolor Challenge

How did it become 2020?  Wow - time flies - can't always say it was fun but we survived. 

Let's start out the new year of 2020 with the January watercolor challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  As always, the challenge is Anything Goes with the option of using Die Cuts.

 I recently spent approximately a month in Florida puppy sitting for some friends.  I was unable to take my studio with me so I narrowed my creative soul to watercolor.  I stamped many images and colored them but I also cruised around Pinterest and found creations I wanted to attempt to try.  This is one of the little art pieces I did.  It is amazing how some black doodles will bring a blob of paint to life.

This is a very odd sized card because who was thinking of making a card when you were playing.  I liked it so well I wanted to make it into a birthday card for my daughter.  I think she will like it and appreciate it.  She was a very good artist when she was in high school.

The die cut is a circle birthday sentiment from My Favorite Things.  The entire circle did not fit on the card any place but if I cut it in half I had a couple spots I could add it without covering up the birds.  I added the black and white stripe paper from My Favorite Things and then since it is a birthday card, I had to add just a little bling - a tiny strip of blue glitter paper.

Here is some close ups of the birds.

I am so glad Pinterest is out there to help us "wanna be" artists have a starting point.

Please come play with the January watercolor challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

I am still making cards for the foster care home. 

I had this wonderful sentiment that I wanted to use on a card so found some patterned paper that worked with it.  Fly - hot air balloons - seemed like a great combination.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas.

Christmas Shaker Ornaments

Here are the Christmas Shaker Ornaments I made this year for four very special young people.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

I continue to make cards for a foster care home and needed some masculine cards.  I had stamped several of this image at my friend's home.  I colored the image with copics and used some patterened paper from a well aged 6 x 6 pad.  The right hand corner needed something so I punched a circle from scrap card stock and added it to the corner.  It brings in some of the green in the background of the patterned paper.

Remember to who some love for your old supplies = they still make great cards.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

I have had these smiley face foam stickers in my supplies for quite awhile (I do wish I had more of the large ones - but I don't) and was making some cards for a foster care home so knew these would make someone smile.

The paper on each cards is from a well aged 6 x 6 pad.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

The image was floating around the studio for awhile.  His eye was in the center of his face and a google eye begged to be glued in that spot.  The paper was out for a different card and I just added a scrap of orange to mat the strip and bring some more orange into the card front.  I know it will bring a smile to the child who receives it.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

I have a friend who is having his second hip replacement this year.  He loves to golf so I thought I would send him a golf themed card to encourage him that his golfing days will be returning.

I found the image floating around my studio and thought the colors worked great with a pack of patterned paper I had.  I love that the colors are somewhat bright.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Happy Little Stampers December Christmas Challenge

OK, Christmas is just around the corner.  You probably really need to do the new December Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers. 

The challenge this month is Anything Goes with the optional twist of  Candy cane.

The had on my bird is kinda candy cane colored - kinda - sorta - maybe. 

This bird is a copy of a piece of original art work that I did with Inkintense pencils.  I was inspired by a bird I saw on Pinterest and a class I took.  The instructor gave me the courage to try and draw a few of my own images. For the original, I started with a piece of book page with gesso added on top.  I drew the bird in pencil and then colored it.  The background is Distress Paint. 

When I copied the picture, the colors did not come out like the originals so I took colored pencils and beefed up the color.  It is a different image for a Christmas card but it is a part of me and my artistic journey.

The pink background is another book page that has gesso on top and I shook on some colored powder (don't remember brand) and mixed with the gesso to get this color.  I found some green in my card stock supply to use as a mat and a bright pink for the die cut sentiment.  The sentiment is from Penny Black.

I added some clear glitter paste through a stencil to add a little extra to the background. 

Please join us at Happy Little Stampers for our December Christmas challenge. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday, time to show some love for your old supplies.

I found this lonely image floating around my design table and decided to use it on a thank you card.  The card base and the paper the die is cut from is very well aged recycled commencement program covers.  That much purple is hard to use up.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies or the treasures you find on your design space.

Happy Little Stampers December Watercolor Challenge

It is December - are you already to mail your Christmas cards or are you frantically still making them.  Here is a challenge to help you get at least one more done. 

The December watercolor Challenge at Happy Little Stampers is Christmas.

This cute snowman stamp belongs to my friend Annie.  When I last visited we were playing one day and I wanted to play with this cute stamp.  I first put a blue wash down on the watercolor paper.  After it had dried, I stamped the image in watercolor proof ink.

I chose to used the colors of lime green and a turquoise/teal to color the hats, scarves and vests with.  I used black for the top hat and derby hat.  Of course, orange was used for the noses.  After the paint dried, I added clear Stickles to the brims and pom poms of the hats.  I used a black gel pen to dot the eyes to give them a little depth.  I also added some white highlights with a gel pen.

I found a green card stock that matched the lime green I had used to paint the snowmen.  I added clear glitter gel through a stencil to add some texture to a very blah piece of card stock.  The teal card stock was embossed with an embossing folder.  The snowmen were matted with a piece of dark grey card stock.  The sentiment was white heat embossed on a piece of teal card stock.

The image and sentiment had fun foam on the back to add some depth.

Please join us at Happy Little Stampers for our December Watercolor challenge. 

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday, time to show some love for your old supplies.

I found this image when I was cleaning up and decided to make it into a thank you card.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies or unused treasures in your supplies.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday, time to show some love for your old supplies.

I recently bought a new card so I will not be going to my local garage for quite awhile and I wanted to thank them for all the things they did for me.  They kept those cars running.

I took them lunch along with this thank you card.  The stamp is an old one from my supplies.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday time to show some love for your old supplies. 

I was attempting to do a sketch challenge but I went rogue on the sketch. 

The stickers on this card are very old but I like the bright colors and they make a bright, happy graphic thank you card.  The background was in the background box - I know it was made with the clean up of a stencil.  The premade card base matched the colors of everything perfectly.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Happy Little Stampers November Christmas Challenge

Christmas is fast approaching and you need to get some more Christmas cards made.  The November Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers will help you get closer to your goal to send handmade Christmas cards. 

The challenge each month is Anything Goes but they do have an added twist if you wish to do that part of the challenge.  The optional twist is Bah Hum Bug.  I guess my take on Bah Hum Bug is dinosaurs on your Christmas card. 

My card is actually a shaker ornament for a four year old boy who loves dinosaurs.  Ellen Hutson has this wonderful Christmas Dinosaur set and it had my name on it.

The ornament die cut is from Honey Bee Stamps and it is good size die.

The ornaments were stamped with Memento Ink and colored with Copics.  I used my trusty Scan N Cut to cut out all the images.  It is just a matter of assembling the ornament.  I just did it in steps and it wasn't too hard to do.

As usual, I put too many shaker things in the ornament.  Oh well.  I used an assortment of many things I had in my supplies.  I had found fine red, green and white confetti at Hobby Lobby so that adds some Christmas color to the shaker element.

I am pretty sure he will love it.

Please come play with our November Christmas challenge at Happy Little Stampers. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

I had three of these tree ATC's hanging out in my studio and I decided to make cards for my three shut ins.  The yellow and green are also scrap pieces of card stock.

Remember your old supplies still make beautiful cards.

November Happy Little Stampers Watercolor Challenge

It is November - time for a new watercolor challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

The challenge this month is "Anything Goes" with the optional twist of animals.

I am trying to still finish the birthday cards I need for the remainder of 2019.  This birthday card is for my son in law who lives in Alaska.  He always gets a birthday card with a moose on it.  I wonder if he realizes this. 

The moose stamps is from Whimsy Stamps. I stamped it in dark brown ink and colored with Distress Oxide Inks.  I think the coloring turned out pretty good.  There are many shades of brown oxide inks in that moose. 

Here is a close up of the moose.  I added a little light blue to the sky.  I kept it very light because I did want the moose to be the star of the birthday card.  I added a simple sentiment.

Please join us at Happy Little Stampers for our November watercolor challenge. 

Pirate Cards

I am in the midst of making some cards for a foster care home in South Carolina and I was short on male themed cards.

I try to keep my cards fairly simple so utilized some pirate stickers I had found at the Dollar Store.  I embossed a light blue card stock for the background and computer generated the sentiment.

I now have two more cards for my box.

How lucky was I that the current challenge at The Male Room is Pirates.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sentiment Says It All

The two week challenge at Mod Squad Challenge is to have your sentiment Say It All.

I am in the midst of making "thank you notes" for several different organizations so my large thank you stamps help make this task easier.

I found this dry embossed folder already colored and all I needed to do was add a thank you sentiment to finish it off.  I did add some pink splatters as the final touch to complete the card front.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thank You Notes

I am trying to make some thank you notes for a foster care home so I have been working out of my supplies that are half started but never made it into a card.

The first card uses a flower I created using alcohol inks.  I then added my own doodles to the bloom.  The background was pulled from my background box (I have been putting all my backgrounds in one box and it makes it so easy to find something to make a card with.)

I was playing with a new Penny Black flower stamp when I first got it and I stamped several of this flower.  I added an embossed background on a prebought card base.  The addition of a thank you across the center of the card finishes the card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

One night I could not sleep so I was just looking in drawers in my studio and came across this container that was full of a paper pad and all these coordinated die cuts and puffies.  There will be more cards coming.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Clean and Simple Birthday Card

I am trying to make some birthday cards for a friend.  She has a friend who is trying to give birthday cards to all the residents in a nursing home.  This is a big task and Shari asked my Facebook card group if we would like to help her friend out.  My goal is to send her 10 cards. 

In our group, we all do cards for different groups and try to help each other out.  Many of us met through Operation Write Home so we are used to donating cards to good causes.

The current challenge at Freshly Made Sketches helped me design this card. 

Last week end I was stamping and coloring this flower and did some extras on small pieces of paper.  The background was first dipped in a distress oxide ink to add some color/depth to white card stock.  The image was stamped and then colored with distress oxide inks.

When I trimmed the piece, I had a small piece of colored card stock that I could stamp the sentiment on.  I embossed the white background which is put on a card base which came in a pack from Michael's.  I am trying to bring out the shades of purple.

The challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More is Clean and Simple. 

The Sisterhood of Crafters has a challenge of Clean and Simple.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Big Sentiments

I cannot lie I like to use big sentiments on my cards.  It makes designing a card so much easier.

This week several of the challenges are CAS - Big Sentiment challenges.

The Paper Players challenge is CAS - Say It Loud. 

The challenge at CAS on Friday is big sentiment or word. 

The challenge at Mod Squad is for the sentiment to take center stage. 

I have been working out of a box where I put all the backgrounds I have made.  I took the background and to add some interest to the background I scored two lines at the top and bottom of the panel.  The sentiment was die cut from purple card stock three times and layered together. 

Easy and fun card to make. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

The ornaments and sentiments are a printed acetate which I found on my table when I was cleaning it.  I had this background in my box of backgrounds (I finally put them all together and now I am using them.)  Of course, I had to add some gold splatters to finish the card.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies. 

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday to show some love for your old supplies. 

These are napkins I have adhered to card stock for over a year.  A friend sent me some embossed card stock and it matched perfectly - three cards made.  I made two birthday cards and one thanks card.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

These cards will go in a box to be sent overseas to some of our soldiers.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Happy Little Stampers October Christmas Challenge

Christmas is fast approaching - do you have all your cards made for the holiday season.  If not, play along with the October Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers. 

The challenge is always "Anything Goes" but you do have a little twist you may wish to participate in.  The extra twist this month is "Twinkle". 

I decided that "twinkle" to me - meant the twinkle in Santa's eye.

This cute Santa stamp is from Whipper Snapper Stamps.  I believe I water colored him and then used colored pencils to add some depth to the color.  I then fussy cut him out. 

Santa is peeking out from behind the window so I decided to make a shaker card.  I die cut the green frame, glued on an acetate sheet and added a double layer of  foam tape to the frame.  I made a red mat for the shaker element to be on.  A light shade of coordinating blue/green paper was added for the background for the frame.  I added different things from my blingy stuff to fill the shaker.  I have bought a couple bags of clear things that make great fillers with the specific things you want in the shaker.  I used a few red sequins.  I don't have a package of red sequins - I had to dig these out of a mix.  I added some snowflake sequins and several sizes of clear sequins.  I then very carefully adhered the shaker element to the red mat.

I used several different patterned papers to cover my card base.  I stamped a small sentiment, fussy cut it and adhered it to the acetate.

Here is a close up of the shaker element.

Please come join us at Happy Little Stampers October Christmas Challenge.