Tuesday Throwdown Challenge 367 Watercolor

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone in the Midwest stays warm while candy gathering. Today is a challenge for watercolor at Tuesday Throwdown. Doubly special is our sponsor, CraftyGirl Creations who just happens to be a long standing member of the Tuesday Throwdown design team. I am using one of her creations today, Snail.

Normally watercolors give a soft look, however, I rarely do normal 😊. I printed on regular card stock so I had to be careful with the amount of water to prevent paper pilling. I used a brush water pen applied to the tip of my Spectrum Noir AquaBlend pencils to lift color and apply to the image. Since it is such a happy snail, I wanted the colors bolder than normal watercoloring would accomplish so I reapplied in several layers.

The background is watercolor paper, which I saturated with water and used the pencils directly on the paper. Flowers, shrubs and sun were stamped in ink after the paper dried. Snail is mounted to this with 3D Zots. Sentiment right now is just "thankful" as the inside will be decided when I use it and thankful is always a great way to start.

My thanks to CraftyGirl for providing "Snail" for my use; be sure to check out her offerings! Then get your watercolor tools and craft away. As always, don't forget to enter them into Tuesday Throwdown challenge 367.

PIP Challenge 1744 October 30, MHK Designs

Guess what! It's not just time for a new PIP challenge, it's time for a themed one as well. This week the theme is Thankful and our sponsor is MHK Designs. 

I have to admit I am thankful I actually got my card completed! Goofy printer spit the image out using green ink, not the freshly loaded black. Nothing like a challenge 😬.

I am using Fabulously Fall (printed in green ink) and my soft pastels. A bit messy but fun to play with. Since my fixative spray was empty, I protected the finished image with a transparency "pocket" by folding the transparency along the left and right sides of the image and adhering to the back; no tape show through on the front. Below is my image, shortly before transparency application.

Here is my finished card.

See, I'm not kidding when I say I need to work on my photography skills 📷. That said, I am thankful MHK Designs allowed me the opportunity to work with this image.

Thanks for dropping by and I look forward to seeing your entries on the PIP challenge this week.

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge 365 Clean and Simple

Tuesday always follows Monday. That means it's time for a new Tuesday Throwdown challenge. This week my favorite, clean and simple. Our sponsor is Lacey Sunshine, a crafter's candy shoppe. Everyone loves "candy" and I have to say there is some mighty sweet candy in her shop. The design team was provided three digis to pick from for this challenge.

I am using Eleanor Autumn days. Just love those spectacles! As a bit of a personal challenge, I only used three main colors of Copics: V15, G43 and R20.
I wanted to push my shading and texturing skills.

Here is my version of Eleanor Autumn days.

 I have always kept to the belief that clean and simple meant no layers or embellishments but just this once I will go with the general consensus that one layer is okay I mean really, she just looks so darn cute with the colored card stock behind her!

Now it's your turn. Go, check out Lacey Sunshine's shop. Check out the rest of the Design Team creations. Enter your masterpieces in Tuesday Throwdown's clean and simple challenge.

I'm waiting on pins and needles...

PIP Challenge 1742 October 16 Bugaboo

What? It's Monday? That means two things. First, another weekend went too fast. Second, it's time for a new PIP challenge. I like the second far better than the first. Even sweeter is our sponsor, Bugaboo Digi Stamps. Love her tag line because it's true: "go ahead make someone smile.

I used Autumn Critter Stack 01 for my card. Determined to master my poloychromo pencils made them my tools of choice. Kept it clean and simple in style. I will admit to feeling a bit devious when making this. For some reason I was thinking about a certain lady I had the privilege of making cards with. What I loved when stamping with her was the mistakes creative opportunities she worked with. In Marion's memory, I made this with the card opening on the left. I'd like to think she'd approve of my choice of sentiment.

With all that said, please stop and shop at Bugaboo Digi Stamps. Then mosey over to the PIP challenge and enter a creative item or two, it's anything goes.

PIP Challenge 1740 October 2 Newton's Nook

Hello October! What better way to kick off a new month than a new PIP challenge? Challenge 1740 is anything goes and sponsored by Newton's Nook  Just saw some awesome Halloween stamps and dies. Seriously, go look, I'll wait. Done? Okay, okay, you can resume shopping when I'm finished! I want to tell you one of my favorite things about October - weddings. They can be a riot of rich colors or subdued earthy tones because either works with the crisp autumn season.

Soooo, someone we know tied the knot Saturday and I wanted to make a card for the couple. Yes, Terri, this one's for you. My apologies you are seeing it here before you receive in person.

I stayed with a more subdued pallet of peach, ivory and brown. VersaMark ink on brown cardstock, embossed them with peach embossing powder. Followed up by stamping Newton's Antics with timber brown StazOn ink (to penetrate the embossing powder) and die cut/embossed with the coordinating die.
Border punched with MS "Cathedral Lace" on ivory cardstock; threaded brown ribbon through openings. Stamped one of my favorite sentiments using the StazOn ink and mounted snuggling kitties with foam tape.

This might not be a typical wedding card but sometimes you have to think a little out of the box for those special people in your life.

Okay, resume shopping and for Pete's sake, don't forget to enter the challenge; winner receives a very generous $15.00 gift code to use at Newton's Nook.