Magical Bears

It's time for another Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge.  This month it is watercolouring.

I have a set of Gansai Tambi watercolour paints and I love to colour images with them so this was a perfect challenge for me.  I chose a new stamp set I recently bought from Crafters' Companion and made this card:

After watercolouring the image, I laid some paper over the bears and ground area, and splattered with a bit of the gold watercolour paint.

I die cut with a Nesties square as I like the embossed edge it gives to the panel.  I popped it up on fun foam on my card base.

I went over the stars in the image with a glue pen and added very fine gold glitter.  Some of it clung around the stars where I hadn't added glue - I'm sure it will eventually fall off but for now it looks like stardust.

Happy Little Stampers is offering a prize for the best card, so be sure to join in!

You have until the end of the month so get a Christmas card made using watercolour!

Supplies:

Stamps - Crafters Companion

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black

Paper - white cs, watercolour paper

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, gold glitter, Quickie glue pen, Nesties square die, fun foam

Snowflakes and Text

Getting on with Christmas cards as I still need lots!  I find inspiration from all sorts of challenges.  Splitcoaststampers Featured Stamper last week was Bev Polen, aka guneauxdesigns.  I chose this card of hers to CASE in her honour.

I changed her butterflies to snowflakes:

Like Bev's card, I added some subtle text and some small die cuts.  But whereas she used her butterfly die to create a stencil, I used mine as a die cut.

I laid it over a panel of mixed media cs that I'd sprinkled with brushos and spritzed with water and then with homemade silver spray.  The background panel has a nice shimmer in real life.

Thanks for dropping by for a look!

Supplies:

Stamps - SU French Script

Ink - Memento Sky Blue

Paper - white and mixed media cs

Size - 6x4.25"

Accessories - Memory Box snowflake collage die, blue brushos, homemade silver spray, a blue sequin, small snowflake dies

Watercoloured Poinsettias

I am thrilled to be on the Design Team for Loll's and Bonnie's new challenge "CAS Watercolour".  The idea of the challenge is to create a clean and simple card that involves both watercolouring and the monthly theme.

I'm honoured that Loll and Bonnie chose a theme that I suggested for November:

The idea is to use some text on the card that is not the sentiment or is in addition to the sentiment.  It's an element that I've seen used by many cardmakers that I admire.

Here's my card:

As you can see, the script is a subtle background feature that enhances the overall look of the card.  See below for a version without the script for a comparison.

For the watercolouring, I stamped the poinsettia with Distress Vintage Photo ink on watercolour paper and coloured it partly by pulling out the Vintage Photo with a wet brush and partly by adding some black Elegant Writer to the edges of some of the petals and pulling out the colours that separate from it - amazing tones of teal green, pink, and black.

I learned this technique from a video made by the very talented Lydia Fiedler (aka UnderstandBlue).

Heather Telford also did a tutorial on this technique but hers is slightly different as she brings in more colours than just the Vintage Photo and the Elegant Writer.

Once the poinsettia had dried, I trimmed the image down to a square, masked the poinsettia (I stamped it and fussy cut it on masking paper), added some random bits of text in Antique Linen, and sponged around the edges with Antique Linen.  I watered down a bit of Black Soot ink on my craft mat and flicked it lightly over the background, and bordered the panel with black.  I used PTI Vintage Cream cs for the card base - it's the closest colour cs to watercolour paper that I've been able to find.  I embellished with a few black gemstones in the centre of the poinsettia.


Here is a version of the same poinsettia without any text on the background:

For this version, I masked the poinsettia, added a bit of black splattering and a sentiment, and left it at that.  I like this version as well and it's a cleaner look, but the text stamping adds some texture that I feel is lacking in this one, and also enhances the vintage look created by the Elegant Writer.

Let me know which you prefer!

And come and join us at CAS Watercolour with your cards featuring watercolouring and text.  You have until November 24th to link up.

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black poinsettia (both cards), Stampington script and postmark (first card), Tim Holtz sentiment (second card)

Ink - Distress Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, and Black Soot

Paper - watercolour paper, black cs, PTI Vintage Cream cs

Accessories - Elegant Writer pen, black gemstones and pearls

The Joy of the Full Moon

CAS Mix Up is challenging you to use "Masking" as the special technique in your November cards.

I came up with this card for my Design Team contribution:

I used two types of masking - masking paper to die cut a circle mask for the moon and a hilly mask to keep the bottom half of the panel white, and liquid frisket for the snow storm.

After placing my masks and splattering the liquid frisket with a toothbrush for the snow, I sponged with two blue Distress inks, keeping it lighter around the moon.  When dry, I rubbed off the liquid frisket and removed the masks.

I added a reindeer (die cut twice from bronze metallic cs), a stamped and heat embossed "Joy", and two lines of glue and glitter for the snow banks.

I popped the panel up on fun foam on a stitched border, and then popped the whole thing up on the card base.

Please come and join us up until November 24.  We have added two new very talented Design Team members - Julia from Create with Julia and Joanna from Jo-Jo's Spot.  And have a Guest Designer - Linda S. from Lin's Craft Corner.  So there is lots of wonderful inspiration for you!

Your cards need to be clean and simple, and include stamping, masking, and at least one other choice from the list on the right hand side of the CAS Mix Up challenge blog.  My other choices were die cutting, sponging, and heat embossing.

Supplies:

Stamps - Rubber Soul "Joy"

Ink - ColorBox copper, Distress Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire

Paper - white cs, bronze metallic cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Dee's Distinctively reindeer die, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, copper embossing powder, masking paper, masking fluid (liquid frisket), small circle die, fun foam, glue pen, glitter