I Can Do All Things

Hi Friends!!

I hope all of you are having a great week so far! I had a chance to create several cards this week and am hoping to be able to post each of them soon :-)

I am still working on organizing my craft room as well as setting up an area in my living room (my craft room is not very large and so full of "inventory" that I feel a bit claustrophobic when creating in the room).  Thankfully my hubby likes to have me in the same room that he is usually in (i.e. the living room) so we thought a corner in the living room would be ideal :-)  

I am enjoying being in the living room and having more "breathing" space, but I have to bring quite a bit of "stuff" (as he calls it) out of the craft room.  I seem to be spending more time rearranging, etc. to try to "perfect" the space- hopefully soon, I will have the area the way I need it :-)  

This card was created using several retired Stampin’ Up! sets- Bloomin’ Beautiful and Botanicals along with the current Stamp Simply stamp set, Words of Encouragement.

In an effort to use up some of my stash, I also used some of my retired designer series paper from the retired Stampin’ Up! Scrappin’ Kit Tickets & Tags (circa 2011) and retired SU! Black ¼” grosgrain ribbon.  Some of the treasures I am finding as I organize :-)

I incorporated the Splitcoaststampers(SCS) SC739 Sketch Challenge for the layout as well as the SCS CC764 "Olive Pool Parties and Parades....Don't You" Color Challenge  in the design and am also linking this card to the Word Art Wednesday #422-#423 “Anything Goes” Challenge.

This card was fairly easy with a bit of heat embossing, masking, watercolor as well as a few quick layers.  The script stamp from Botanicals was used in the background of the focal image panel (love that script image :-)).  

If you have not had a chance to visit the above challenge sites, I hope you will take the time to do so- gorgeous inspiration from all!

Stamp Sets: Bloomin’ Beautiful, Botanicals (retired Stampin’ Up!), Words of Encouragement (Stamp Simply)

Ink/Mediums: Versafine™ Onyx Black, Stampin’ Up! Markers- Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Old Olive; Spectrum Noir™ Clear Glitter Pen, White Gel Pen

Cardstock/Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black; designer series paper from the retired Simply Stampin’ Tickets & Tokens Kit; White Tea Lace Doily

Accessories: Big Shot™, MFT Stitched Rectangle STAX A2 Set 1 & 2, Embossing Buddy®, Clear EP, Heat Tool, ¼” Black Grosgrain Ribbon

Thanks again for taking the time to visit- I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend!

One Layer Simplistic Blossom Card- A Watercolor Experiment :-)

Hi Stampers!!

Ok, I admit, Clean and Simple is so difficult for me!!  I so admire the designers that can lay down a few colors and images that created such gorgeous masterpieces- my hat goes off to you!! 

I keep trying, but trust me, this is not easy for me- lol!!  This card is another one-layer card that I created for the One Layer Simplicity OLS16 Blossom Challenge using the CAS Colours and Sketches #123Challenge and the Splitcoaststampers’ CAS324 Thank You! Challenge (see detailshere and gallery here).

I decided to pull out some of my neglected retired stamp sets and give them some "love" with the no line watercolor technique (which did not turn out as I hoped and I had to "re-draw" the lines) :-)

This is my second try at the first two challenges listed... I had created another card with this color challenge and simplicity challenge in mind, but even though the focal image is only one layer, the rest of the card appeared to be too "detailed" to be simplistic- I will share this one another time :-)  

Again, if you have not already done so, I hope you will find the time to visit the above sites to check out the wonderful Design Team samples as well as their fantastic galleries!

To create this card:

Using Sahara Sand Classic Ink, stamp the flower from the retired set, Bloomin’ Beautiful onto a piece of Naturals White cardstock. 

Spritz the paper with water and use an AquaPainter™ to apply Tangerine Tango and Soft Suede Classic Ink to the image.

Allow to dry a bit and add shadows with the Sahara Sand Stampin’ Write marker.

Here is where I had to add additional definition to the outline using a Faber-Castell® XS Black Pitt Pen marker (maybe I should have inked the image using Stāz-On® Jet Black Ink to start with, huh?).  Plus, I neglected to show the pitiful hand-drawn line that I tried to create around this image - the card is now 3.5" wide x 5" tall since I cut off that line- lol!

I also think that the no-line watercolor technique may have worked better with real watercolors versus our Classic Ink...plus watercolor paper versus Naturals White...oh well, again, art is about having fun and experimenting! 

Stamp the sentiment with Sahara Sand Classic Ink.

Ink the retired background stamp, En Francais with Sahara Sand Classic Ink, lay the image face down onto the background stamp and randomly press your fingers to achieve the background.

Quick, simple and the card is finished!

Stamp Sets:  Bloomin’ Beautiful, En Francais, Short & Sweet

Ink:  Sahara  Sand,  Soft Suede, Tangerine Tango Classic Ink; Stampin’ Write Markers- Sahara  Sand,  Soft Suede, Tangerine Tango ; Faber-Castell® Pitt Pen XS Black Marker

Paper: Naturals White

Accessories: Water Spritzer Bottle, AquaPainter™

Thanks again for stopping by- I hope all of you have a wonderful evening!   Tomorrow morning I will be sharing my design for the Mixed Media category of the new Card Concept Challenge- now, this card will not be Clean and Simple :-)