Merry Monday #288 {NOEL}

Welcome to this week's Merry Monday Christmas Challenge! I'm so happy with my  collection of cards that is growing week by week! 

Deanne has asked us to create cards without stamps! What??? LOL! I thought of making a scrappy card, but in the end, decided to take a more artistic approach and pull out my watercolors that haven't been used in a while.

My design was inspired by my cosmetic bag. It has a Navy background with words spelled out in Red, Fuschia, and Mauve. I just love the bold, graphic quality  and I thought it would be fun to try and translate the idea onto paper. I had to make a few adjustments because of the size of the letters, but I really like how it turned out. I like doing things a little more artistically from time to time and this was the perfect excuse.

To begin, I cut a piece of Strathmore cold-pressed 140 lb. watercolor paper to 4 1/8 by 5 3/8. I used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors to do a wash of blues across the paper. I also mixed up some gold really well with water and splattered it over the top. I set it aside to dry while I got to work on the letters.

As I mentioned earlier, I was limited in my design because of the alphabet die cuts I chose to use. They are the Bookprint Alphabet Upper Die set. In the end, I really like that I was only able to get one word onto the design. I just chose to incorporate the 3 different colors by using a different color for each letter. The "N" and the "L" are both red, however! I die cut each letter four times and then glued them together using Tombow Mono Multi glue. I also added some Wink of Stella to each letter as well as a good coating of Tonic Crystal Glaze.

Once the watercolor panel was dry, I ran it though my cuttlebug using one of the "Next Generation" embossing folders from We R Memory Keepers. I also spritzed it heavily with shimmer spray. I glued the letters onto the card using liquid glue as well. I made sure to place something heavy on top for a bit so that they would stick nicely. With all of the grooves from the embossing, it makes it a little more difficult to glue them down.

At that point, I was ready to call the design done. It had a boutique chic feel that I just love, but my daughter disagreed. She DID NOT  like it! Her new favorite word is "terrifying" which is how she described this card! LOL! So...at that point I thought what more I could add {that wasn't a stamp} that wouldn't detract from the original vision I had for the card. I decided to pull out some ancient SU! rub-on transfers. They were just the thing! The texture from the embossing folder made the application a little tricky, but I finally got it done! I added a few Sparkling Clear sequins to the centers of three of the snowflakes for some shine!

I really enjoyed making this card! It was so fun to think a little out of the box and not use stamps! Thanks, Deanne, for the fun challenge! I hope you will join us as well! It's so fun to see your creations in the gallery! Thanks for fluttering by!

Color Throwdown #481 and SFYTT {Baby, it's Cold Outside!}

We're having the most beautiful snowstorm today and I couldn't be happier! The roads were okay when I took the boys to school and I've been able to just be home getting things done around the house. I was itching to get inky with this week's Color Throwdown Challenge as well as try this month's Reverse Confetti SFYTT. I was, much to my surprise, last month's winner, so I was able to get this adorable Happy Winter set and coordinating Confetti Cuts! Thank you so much, Reverse Confetti! Now...disclaimer here...I DID  use purple ink...I promise! It just looks very pink in the pictures for some reason. I used Wine Ink for the blended background as well as on the two hats. I also added in some old SU! Pale Plum ink as well.

I really love this color combination and I REALLY like it for this winter card! I don't think I normally would have thought of these particular hues for a card like this, but I do! If it wasn't for the new stamp set, the current SFYTT and the current Color Throwdown, I definitely would not HAVE made this card!

To begin,I set out blending some Wine Ink onto a panel of Bristol paper for a nice smooth blend. I wanted it to have an Ombre look, so I softened it at the bottom and added in some of the lighter purple. Do you like how I layed out the ink? LOL! I just couldn't resist making it look like the sketch! After I liked how it was blended, I spritzed it heavily with Frost Shimmer Spray. Once it was dry, I dry embossed it using THIS embossing folder for some fun texture! I thought it would work nicely with all of the images from the Happy Winter stamp set.

Next, I got to work on the hats! Aren't they adorable? I love how you can mix and match all of the fun pieces! I chose one with a pattern and one with a sentiment. I then decided that I'd probably better add a square, ha ha! I layered the knit image onto a square of Dark Roast cardstock. The image running down the left side as well as this knit piece are embossed using Wow! Puff powder for maximum snowy effect!

I cut off just enough of the blended piece so that you could see the embossed detail on the left side. I matted this entire piece onto a base of Dark Roast cardstock as well. I just love these colors together, but I think I already mentioned that!

As you can see, I definitely took a few liberties in the sketch...as I always seem too! I also added a few sequins for some added shine! Thanks for fluttering by!

Color Throwdown #475 Big, HUGE thanks...and hugs!

I'm slowly...very slowly, getting a few thank you cards done for all of our fabulous Christmas gifts! I normally do it the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, but it didn't happen this year. At this pace, I might get done by NEXT Christmas! LOL! Anyway, I saw this week's Color Throwdown Challenge and knew I wanted to play along! I love the beautiful colors and I was in the mood to do some watercoloring!

Because I did a color wash using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors, I have quite a color gradation between them, but I really like how the background turned out. I decided to just put down a lot of color using a flat brush onto a wet piece of 140 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper from Strathmore. I just kept adding color until I got the colors that I wanted. I sprayed it with Shimmer Spray while it was still wet and set it aside to start drying.

I hadn't made up my mind what stamps I would be using for the finished card, but ultimately decided on these cute hippos from the Happy Hippos stamp set from My Favorite Things. I've only used them the once on THESE cards, but they are some of my favorites! I decided it was time to pull them out again. I also paired them with the Words for Friends die set which is another favorite. I stamped the hippo using Palette Noir ink and then colored her using an assortment of gray markers. I also added a little bow colored turquoise to add in a little bit more of the colors from the challenge. I also die cut the hippo once she was colored.

Once the background was dry, I ran it through my Cuttlebug using a Next Level embossing folder from American Crafts. I just love how the watercolored piece looks embossed. It is one of my favorite techniques. You can see a few other examples HERE, HERE, and another one HERE. I haven't done it in a while so it was fun to try again.

The sentiment is heat embossed using some old silver detail powder from SU! I added it to the embossed panel using foam squares. The hippo is added as though she is standing on the panel, reaching up to add the "s" to the HUGS sentiment. Each letter is stacked 4 times using liquid glue and then colored using a pool colored copic marker to match the cardstock. I also added some Nuvo Glaze. I also added a few Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh for some added interest and shine. The embossed piece is mounted onto a sheet of white cardstock and then added to an A2 card base using lots of foam squares. I had so much fun with this card! Thanks for fluttering by!