Beautiful Blossoms March 2023

 

It's March 15th and time for another month of Beautiful Blossoms Challenge entries. Here is our inspiration board and you can easily see I was inspired by the photo in the upper left.

To create this card I used:

1) Strathmore 300 Series 140lb. Cold Press Watercolor Paper;

2) Altenew's Paint-A-Flower: Hydrangea;

3) Ink on 3 Fadeout No-Line Coloring Ink;

4) Daniel Smith Watercolors;

5) Silver Brushes - Black Velvet Size 8;

6) Lawn Fawn Black Licorice Card Stock;

7) Waffle Flower Patched Layers (retired).

I always try and add some of the flower color onto the leaves, sort of as a reflection. It makes it easier for your eye to travel around the image and ties the images together.

A little splatter of the green paint to fill in the background.

I made a second card with all the same products, but not no-line watercoloring. The hydrangea image was stamped with Altenew's Obsidian Black Ink and sprinkled with Altenew's Crisp Clear Embossing Powder while still wet and heat set. 

2 rows of gold washi tape from Altenew to add a little something.

Thank you for joining me and we'd love for you to come join in for March's Challenge!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Kitty-ology

Hi friends! I thought I share a really cute digital image from Whimsy Stamps by Chrissy Armstrong called Kitty-ology, How cute is she with those big glasses?!!!!

I am joining the Critter Crazy Challenge with Kitty-ology:

If you follow me you know I almost never make just one card with a design. Here is my second cutie:

Both are created as follows, just with different colors:

1) In a Word.doc - insert picture and resize to an A2 size card. I used an 8 1/2" X 11" piece of Ranger Ink Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Card Stock with a laser printer.

2) I watercolored with Daniel Smith 238 Dot Watercolors and The Stamp Market 24 Pan Color Crush Watercolor Palette with my Silver Brush Black Velvet Size 8.

3) The glasses and little heart were colored in with a fine tip silver pen I picked up at Michaels.

4) The edge is from Penny Black Semi Circle Stackers.

5) The sentiments are from Honey Bee Stamps - Purrrfect Sentiments (retiring).

You can't see in the pictures, but the tummy fur is painted with white sparkle watercolor from Daniel Smith called Pearlescent White. Always like a little sparkle!

Thank you for joining me and don't forget Digital Stamps are such a great value for the money - you can resize, flip, overlay, all the things!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Momo

Welcome back to The Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge! We have been on a short break, but back for March 2023!

I started with this cute cute image from Mo's Digital Pencil called MOMO. How darling is he?

I love stencils and this one in particular! It is called Big Top and is created by the genius of  Mary Kay DelaFuente the owner of A Colorful Life Designs. I felt these 2 were a match made in heaven...do you agree?

I resized the image and printed on regular copy paper until I knew it fit into the Big Top. Then I printed the image onto Distress Ink Tim Holtz Watercolor Card Stock with a laser printer. To color this cutie, I used Daniel Smith 238 Dot Watercolor Set. For the flesh color I always use my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker in Flesh Colour and Pale Pink.

Here is the image (above) of the Big Top Stencil which is a 2 part stencil. The center part is a separate piece and I used it to mask MOMO while I ink blended. 

A light spray of Pixie Spray, was necessary so that the stencil would adhere well to the paper. For ink blending I used Distress Ink Candied Apple and a touch of Aged Mahogany around the edges.

The sentiment is from Spellbinders' It's Party Time stamp set. I've used this so many times lately and I thought it just fit the bill for this card. 

Thanks for joining me today. We'd love to see you at The Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge. Come join in!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Kittens at Play

Today I am playing along with Freshly Made Sketches 575:

I couldn't resist playing along with the sketch using the Purr-fect Picnic Cats from Whimsy Stamps (digital). I just finished water-coloring this image this week and thought it would fit the sketch design "purr-fectly"!

How did I make this card?

1) Resize the image in a Word.doc and print through my laser printer on Ranger Ink Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Paper on the rough side.

2) Water-colored using Daniel Smith's 238 doc set with Silver Brushes - Black Velvet Size 8. 

3) The sentiment is from It's Party Time from Spellbinders white heat embossed on Lawn Fawn Black Licorice Card Stock.

4) The rest was created with items in my stash. I very seldom used patterned paper, but I thought in this case it would work. The white cover plate in the background is from Honey Bee - Honey Cuts - Buffalo Plaid Cover Plate (retired).

I made a second card with the same "ingredients" but not using the sketch.

Thanks for joining me today and thank you to Freshly Made Sketches for their inspiration! I will also be submitting to favorite, NBUS, for keeping using up by "Stuff"!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

IG Hop March 2023 Release

IT’S A HOP! Check out all the amazing projects that our design team has created with the new March release. Hop along & like and comment on each Instagram profile for a chance to win a $25 gift code to use online at A Colorful Life Designs!

 Head over to my Instagram Page @stampingbyanita for all the details!

Here is my card for the IG Hop made with two 2-part stencils called Calvary Hill for the image and Shadowed Risen for the sentiment.

Other Products used:

1) Bristol Smooth Card Stock;

2) Pixie Spray;

3) Distress Inks: Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers, Vintage Photo, Black Soot;

4) Scrapbook.com White Hybrid Ink;

5) Spellbinders Fluted Classic Rectangles.

If you want to shop at A Colorful Life Designs please use my code AnitaFan10 for 10% off your order!

And head on over to Instagram so you don't miss out on the fun!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

MAIKO

Welcome to the Paper Funday Challenge for March 2023! Anything Goes! One of the things I love about being on this design team is that I get to try out new-to-me companies with unique designs. Sometimes I just look for unusual designs that I normally wouldn't choose. For example this month Star Stampz was one of our generous sponsors and I choose Maiko in Spring...so much fun and I've never painted a Geisha before!

I had to Google MAIKO to find out what it meant. A MAIKO is actually an apprentice GEISHA still in training. As for the coloring, most of the images of a MAIKO had a red umbrella and of course they wore white makeup.

I created an Art Journal page, along with a framed 5" X 7" picture. Both resized and printed with a laser printer onto watercolor paper.

Here is what I used for the Art Journal page:

1) Strathmore Watercolor Paper cut into an 8" X 8" piece;

2) Altenew's 24 Half Pan Watercolor Set;

3) Sizzix Thinlits Alphanumeric Bold #665205;

4) Lawn Fawn Black Licorice Card Stock;

5) The Happy Planner Punch.

For the frame I purchased a 5" X 7" inexpensive black frame off of Amazon. Here is what I used to create the picture:

1) Distress Ink Tim Holtz Watercolor Paper;

2) The Stamp Market 24 Pan Color Crush Watercolor Palette;

3) Spellbinders Fragrant Flowers STP-033 (retired);

4) Daniel Smith 5ml Tube Pearlescent White Watercolor.

Here you can see the Daniel Smith Pearlescent White Watercolor Paint. Love the shimmer!

This was a really fun unique digital image and I thank Star Stampz for being our sponsor at Paper Funday Challenge! Come along and play with us!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Birthday Trike

Happy Weekend, all. I always like to try and do at least one blog post every week and for this week I choose this cutie from Mo's Digital Pencil called Birthday Trike. Did you ever see such a cute face?

She reminded me of my sister with the sassy look and straight hair. Just love her!

These 2 cards were made the same until I choose the finishing stencil and sentiments. Here is what I used on both cards:

1) The image was printed with a laser printer onto Taylored Expressions 118 lb. Watercolor Card Stock on the smooth side - goes through the printer like a dream!

2) Watercolored with Daniel Smith's 238 Dot Card - great for travelling and I color at lunchtime at work so I need light and flat;

3) Used Silver Brushes Black Velvet Size 8 - It has a great point and I use it for all my watercoloring - no matter the size;

Then I added 2 different stencils from A Colorful Life Designs:

I used the Diminishing Lines Stencil with Sizzix's Prism Paste for the card shown above. This is a 6" X 6" Stencil:

I used a 3" X 6" stencil called Numbers with Distress Ink Kitsch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry to have a cool something something in the background on the other card.

I've got to say this one is my favorite! Which one do you like?

Thank you to Mo's Digital Stamp for her wonderful designs and to A Colorful Life Designs for always inspiring me. If you want to shop and pick up some stencils at A Colorful Life Designs use AnitaFan10 for 10% off your order (excluding bundles)! There are hundreds of really unique stencils  - made in the USA by a woman-owned small business!

I will submit to the following:

1) NBUS

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.