A sketch card.

Starving Artistamps is sponsoring 2 Sketches 4 You this week, so the design team had fun making cards for the challenge!

Here's my challenge card. I had actually had part of it completed for quite some time. It was just sitting, waiting for the right card.

I coloured the octopus at least 2 weeks ago. I had added texture to it with liquid pearls, then set it to dry a safe distance from my desk. There it sat, possibly forgotten about for a bit... But then I saw this sketch and knew it would work quite nicely! I added all sorts of embossed and other circle backgrounds here. I wanted a fun and funky, bubbly theme!

Supplies: Stamps: Urban Sentiment Set #2, DoodleFactory Creatures Paper: Taken with Teal, Green Galore, Barely Banana, White, Cool Caribbean Ink: Tuxedo Black Accessories, etc.: Copics, Texture Plates and Folders

H2O Challenge

It's been a while since I participated in one of the challenges, and when I saw that the theme this month was water and watercolouring, I couldn't resist!

Here are the guidelines:

A dip in the Lake....the waves on the Ocean, that little creek down the ravine, the warm rain gently falling, a cold glass of water on a hot day...nothing says Spring and Summer like water. This month we're all about H2O!

Challenge Focus: Create a project that has something to do with water, it can be in your stamps, paper, or embellishments.

Required Element: Watercolouring! If we're doing a water themed project there needs to be some element of watercolouring on your creation.

Restricted Element: If it's H2O that means the two in the equation restricts you to only two embellishments.

And here's my card:

I really love how the watercoloured roses turn out, so I did that as my watercolouring component. I actually colourwashed the whole thing with watercolour paint, let it dry, then I came back to it. I soaked it with water and added in bits of colour with reinkers. I did the same thing with the leaves. When it was almost dry, I added even more colour to make it really vibrant. Next, I didn't want all that vibrancy to fade, so I coated it with glossy Mod Podge. Once that was dry, I added bits of "dew" with crystal effects. The card ended up being quite large- 7x4.25.

Supplies: Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, It's Your Birthday, Friends 'til the End Ink/Reinkers: Versamark, Black Onyx, Ridinghood Red, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss, Certainly Celery Paper: Ridinghood Red, Watercolour Paper, Confetti White, Ginger Blossom DSP, Pink Pirouette Accessories, etc.: Texture Plate, Satin Ribbon, Nestabilities, White EP, Crystal Effects

And here's a close-up of the "dew".

Be sure to check out all the challenge cards here.

Had to Try

Once I saw this technique, I knew I had to give a try. I made a few samples before deciding on actually making a card.

First I tried the technique with watercolour paper and paints, it was a bit too washed out. Next I tried it, as suggested, the shimmery paper and reinkers. I liked the result, but I don't have much shimmery paper, and what I do have, I keep for very special occasions. I could see myself really liking this technique, so I wanted to find a cheaper option.

What about regular white cardstock? Well guess what, it works just fine! Regular cardstock tends to curl a bit when wet, so I stamped, embossed, sprayed, and then used two smaller acrylic blocks to hold it down while I went in with reinkers. The plain cardstock soaks up the water pretty fast, but the effect is just as striking. It may take longer to dry, I didn't feel like waiting. Since the water doesn't stay pooled on top for very long, I decided to speed things up with the heat gun. I let each image air dry for maybe five minutes, then came back to it with the heat gun.

Supplies:
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Friends 'til the End, Father Knows Best
Ink: Versamark, Kiwi Kiss
Reinkers: Summer Sun, Ridinghood Red,Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss
Paper: Barely Banana, Ridinghood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Haiku
Accessories, etc.: white satin ribbon, white EP, pop dots

WS Trio

I thought it seemed like a good day to share these three Whipper Snapper cards. They all feature the sets released in April.

For my first card, I thought that the handwritten sentiments would make a cute stem. I stamped that first, then added the flower and leaves. I coloured it in with Copics, and put it together in one of my favorite layouts.
This chicken image is definitely one of my favorites. It's so much fun to colour and pair with other food items. I wanted a country kitchen vibe for this one, so I paired the images with this cute checkered paper and some saddle stitched grosgrain.
For this card, I wanted a simple "wow". This card is slightly smaller than usual, the note card 3.5x5. I cut out a scalloped square, then adhered a square of tape to it and glittered it up. Then I attached a Copic coloured cake in the same colours and added the sentiment in white craft ink. Easy, quick, and sparkly :D

Supplies:

Stamps: Chicken's in the Kitchen, What's Cookin', Simply Bloom

Ink: Bamboo Leaves, Rich Cocoa, Tuxedo Black

Paper: Kraft, Berry Sorbet, Ski Slope DP, White, Vanilla, Chocolate, SEI DP, Pixie Pink, Lovely Lilac

Accessories, etc.: Glitter, Copic markers, ribbon, various nestabilities, pop dots

Spring Fling

When I saw that Nichole had posted a challenge, how could I resist? Especially with all those amazing photographs the PTI design team had chosen as inspiration. I loved the photo of the tulip festival that Lisa posted. I took those colours and went about making my own floral scene.

I started by spritzing some watercolour paper. I patted it with a towel so it was only slightly moistened. Then I inked up the stamps with markers. I finished off the scene with a bit of paint splattering and plenty of distressing.
Supplies:
Stamps: Life, Linen
Ink: Regal Rose, Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Dark Chocolate
Paper: Regal Rose, Always Artichoke, Watercolour Paper, Rose Red
Accessories, etc.: ribbon, paper piercer, distressing tool