Peace . . . On Earth

     I have been itching to do some Ai Watercolor painting and I had a card due for the Sketch N Scrap design team. Even though I knew the proportions would be off, I decided to combine the two. 
     The Ai Watercolor Swing Set is my newest stamp set and I completed the project using the YouTube video. Of course my painting hardly even looks like the example. In fact, I did 3 of these and none of them looks the same - that would be impossible.

     I used this sketch by Heather Hall. You can see that the rectangle is now a square and I slanted the banner. 

Sketch #157 by Heather Hall

      When I went looking for patterned paper for this card, I immediately went for something in the old leftovers drawer. I have 4 or 5 old Christmas collections to pick from. This paper is three years old. I remember buying it to make gift card holders for a swap. My daughter and I both entered this swap. She made Silhouette Christmas purses and I did a tri-fold. Anyway ---- plenty of houndstooth and this red (that looks like a solid) to make 3 cards. Sad to say: there is still a healthy bit left including a plaid that is to die for. 

Inside of Card

     For the inside of the card, I had three Christmas Pine squares sitting on the table from cutting out the frame for the painting on the front. I love to use the scraps from the front of the card to design the inside of the card.

Materials List:

     Patterned Paper: Carta Bella - Christmas Delivery

     Cardstock: Gina K - Christmas Pine

                                  Ivory

     Watercolor Paper

     Stamp: Ai Watercolor - Swing Set

                                       Cats Set

                                       Branches Set

                                       Foliage Set

                Gina K - Winter Cheer

     Markers: Marvy - 72 Pine Green

                               86 African Violet

                               28 English Red

                               40 Brownish Grey

                               45 Sepia

     Dies: Sizzix - Holiday Words (Script)

     Punch: Fiskars - Apron

     Embellies: Molotow - Masking Liquid

                     Paper Studio - Gemstones 4mm Pearls

Watercolor Pickup

     I love the old postcard fibe I get from this card. I'm still practicing my watercolor stamping with Tim Holtz Distress Markers. For this card I used Theresa Momber's "Country Roads" that I purchased two years ago. The paper looks torn as I used torn Post-Its to mask the edges. The perfect masculine birthday card.

Inside of Card

 Challenges

Cards in Envy - Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall - #55 - *
Cardz 4 Guyz - Autumn Colours - #7 - *
Make My Monday - No Patterned Paper - #23 - *
Retro Rubber Challenge(RRCB48) - Tie Me Up - #1 - *

Stamp TV - Torn Edges - *

Watercolor Birdhouse

     I decided to try another watercolor card. For this card I primarily used Theresa Momber's "Birds & Blossoms I". The birdhouse is stamped on watercolor paper using watercolor markers (wilted violet). The bird and roof are Sepia.

      I also used some flower and leaf stamps from Theresa Momber's "Branching Out" and Gina K's "Handmade Botanicals". The flowers and greenery are fired brick, wilted violet, and peeled paint. 
      I have a new stamp set -- Gina K's "All About You". It has 5 sentiments that all contain the word "YOU". I thought that this was the perfect inside sentiment for "Happy YOU Day!".

Inside of Card

Dies Used: Little B - Scallops

                  Elizabeth Craft Designs - Jewels I

Challenges

Addicted to Stamps - Leaves - #72 - *
Die Cuttin Divas - Birthday - #6 - *
House of Cards - Birds - #36 - *
Paper Girls Challenge - Nature - #18 - *
Stamp TV - Make a Scene - *

Baby, It's Cold Outside

     BRRRRRR!!! You can feel the cold coming off of this card! A couple of weeks ago, I took a watercolor class - using my watercolor markers to color my stamped images. I threw my first snowman away. This is one is better, but I obviously could still use some more work on this. One thing I like about this technique is that there is lots of stamping. Most cards only require 2 or 3 stamps, but I stamped this snowman at least 7 times. 

     The stamp set I used is "Winter Cheer" by Gina K. I colored the image by coloring my stamp with watercolor markers and moving the color around with a paintbrush. The hat brim and ball are enhanced with clear Wink of Stella. It is distressed with Pumice Stone distress ink.

Inside of Card

Other supplies:
Dies: Darice - Nesting Wavy Squares
         Cheery Lynn - Allison's Ribbons
Embossing Folder: Sizzix - Poinsettias

 Challenges 

Christmas Card Challenge - Holiday - #13 - *

Cut It Up - Die Cut/Watercolor - #16 - *

Stamp TV - Favorite Technique - Watercolor - *

Stamp TV - Snow - *

Use Your Stuff - Watercolor - #3 - *

Winter Wonderland - Cute Character - #33 - *

Weathered Wood Birdhouse

     I got some serious use out of my water pen on this one. I started by painting a horizon, then filling it in. I stamped the images on watercolor paper and painted them. I fussy cut the images and pop-dotted them to the card. I was so excited to finally use my weathered wood marker, that I matted it with a similar color as well as smokey gray. The flowers are abandoned coral.

Inside of Card

Challenges

Cards 4 Galz - Flowers - #12 -*

Country View Challenges - Make Background - #30 -*

Crafts Galore Encore - Use stamps - #46 -*

East Wind Digital Stamps - Friendship - #7 -*

Morgan's Art World - Add Flowers - #2 -*
Stamp TV - Watercolors - *

Through the Purple Haze - Things with Wings - #41 -*