Birthday Stars & Bubbles -- an Oddball Art New Release

It's New Release day at Oddball Art Stamps, and there are some great ones again this time, all to be found in the Etsy Shop.

I got out my watercolor paints to create a card using #343 - Bubbles & Stars:

Watercolor paper, watercolors, a brush and water were the ingredients in this card.  The background paper, card base, and sequins are from Close To My Heart. 

Need some of the new releases for yourself?  Use discount code DTJULIE10 to get 10% off of anything in the Oddball Art Etsy Store!  Yes!

Check out the Oddball Art Blog to see the other new releases.

Have you joined the blog challenge yet?  There's a few more days to enter here. 

Never Give Up -- for Great Impressions Stamps

This is it.  My final post for this term on the Great Impressions Stamps blog.   I have so enjoyed the ride!

For my last post, I decided to share one of the cards I used when I applied for the team.  It uses 2 Great Impressions Stamps that I purchased long ago.  They still bring me great inspiration, and they are still 2 of my all-time favorite stamps from ANY stamp company. 

This card features 2 Great Impressions rubber stamps.  They are:  E795 - Tricycle and  A145 - Never Give Up.

I colored E795 - Tricycle with watercolor paints and a very tiny paint brush. 

This Tricycle and Never Give Up sentiment inspired me to try out for this design team.  I am so glad I did!  It has been one of the more outstanding creative experiences I have had!  Thanks to Deonne, Mynn, and the whole design team for a wonderful term.

Big Hair & Big Books!

I fell in love with this 'The East Wind' image as soon as I saw it.  What's not to love?  Hair piled high, reading a book, animals, birds, hearts, and a chopstick.  Pure bliss!

The original image I purchased looked like this.

I got busy creating.

I colored Lucy Loo first, using Copic markers.  Oh, that hair!  It was so. much. fun!  Then, I found a digi from DigiStamps4Joy in my collection that I knew would work perfectly -- the stack of books. 

I printed the books and the computer generated sentiment on watercolor paper.  I used my NEW Prismacolor pencils on the books and a watercolor wash behind where Lucy Loo is placed.  I matted it all on several matching shades of card stock.

The East Wind Challenge blog has a Winter Blues challenge happening right now, and I made this into a bookmark with that challenge in mind.  What better way to beat the winter blues than to get lost in a book?!?  I think that's what this girl is doing -- she's in another world, she's so absorbed in her good book.  She doesn't even know it's way below zero!

Read on, Lucy Loo, read on!

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

TEW Challenge blog -- Winter Blues

Anything But a Card -- New Beginnings (new watercolor pencils)

D.L. Art --Jan Linky Party
Hiding in My Craft Room -- Color It
Through The Craft Room Door -- ATG
AUD Sentiment -- ATG
Word Art Wednesday -- ATG

Never Give Up!

It's Thursday, which means I get to post today on the 3 Girl JAM blog.  Yea!  I can never get enough 3 Girl JAM!  I'm particularly excited about today's card because it has special meaning to me.  The sentiment really speaks to me.  As we go through life, we can NEVER give up!

I used lots of 3 Girl JAM goodness on this card.  I started with a layer of jute ribbon, added some distressed lace, then topped it off with some of the brand new tie dye ribbon. Works fantastic together, doesn't it? If you'd like some for yourself, use discount code JO10 in the 3 Girl JAM store for 10% off anything!  Any thing!

The stamped image and sentiment are from Great Impressions Stamps.   Their stickable stamps are some of the best out there.  I love to work with them.  They are having a design team call right now, and this is one of the cards I submitted for the call.  Wish me luck!

Everywhere I turn, I'm seeing watercolor paints on cards, so I decided to try my hand at it with this card.  I used a fine detail brush for the tricycle, then a wider brush for the wash.

The bicycle paper was given to me by a friend because she knows I love to bike.  I don't know the company, I apologize.  It seemed the perfect background paper for the stamped image.

So, never give up!  Never. Give. Up!

When it Rains....

I've got a quick post today, sharing a watercolor resist card I made to enter in a couple challenges.  It's been raining non-stop here all spring, so I wish I had a pair of these boots!

The adorable image and sentiment stamps are from Great Impressions Stamps. I embossed the image and sentiment with black embossing powder, then used watercolor paints.  The umbrella is a die from Memory Box.  The black rhinestones are from my stash.  The purple background paper is from Paper Wishes.  The Sorbet and Smoky Plum cardstock are from Close To My Heart.  

Enjoy your Wednesday, and heed my advice!

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

Great Impressions Challenge Blog -- use a Great Impressions Tutorial (watercolor Emboss technique)

Sister Act Card Challenge -- ATG

D.L. Art May Linky Party -- ATG

Just Be Creative Crazy -- May Linky Party -- ATG

It's Friday! -- Yeehaw! (and FWF!!)

It's Friday, and this is supposed to be the start of a 2-week vacation for me.  However, my oh-so-wonderful boss is making me come in to work Monday morning for CPR recertification.  Yeah.  I bet he'd interrupt HIS two weeks for it.  Oh well.  I have a job!

Remember last week's post? I posted early, heading out on my first ever scrapbook retreat? Well, it was a wonderful experience.  I would do it again tomorrow (or as soon as I catch up on sleep).  Here we are, my online friends from CropChocolate.com

 

 Our Tees say, "chocolate is usually the answer".  Don't they just look like a great bunch of scrappers?  Yup, they were!  We shared supplies, some techniques, lots of food, and even more stories and laughs.

 

I promised you the "serious" card that I gave my BFF for her birthday last week, and here it is:

 

 

I used one of my favorite Unity sets, Tulips & Daisies.  I've colored the tulips a few times, but this was a first for the daisies.  They were colored with Copic Markers.  Then, I used a little Creative Inspirations Paint Fairy Dust on the petals for some lustre. I used Fancy Pants Hopscotch 12x12 papers on this card, a Lifestyle Crafts doily die, and Spellbinders die, a sentiment from Get Inky! Stamps, a chipboard border from Close To My Heart, and chipboard confetti circles from my friend DeeDee, and UmWow Studio.

The birthday card used a sketch from Cardabilites:

 

I'm going to post a couple other cards that I had on my blog earlier this week.  I really like both of these.  They both have Unity stamps on them and neither one got much traffic.  I want my FWF audience to see them, too.

I made this butterfly card for a tutorial on the All That Stickles blog.  You can find the tutorial HERE.

 

 



I used Unity's Bold Butterfly (Donna Downey) on this card.  The sentiment is from Joy's Life "Pun in the Sun".

My last card was a fun one.  I made it for the Unity {Show & Tell} party happening this week on Facebook.  It hasn't gotten a lot of attention.  I think I entered it too early in the week.  So, I thought I'd show it here.  Maybe it will inspire you to go "like" it on FB ;)

 

 

 

It uses, of course, the free digi image from Angie Blom. I loved the way this turned out.  The colors of the digi matched the papers so well.  The papers I used are Simple Stories Vintage Bliss 6x6. I used 3 different Spellbinder dies on this, and a corner rounder.  I added some bling from Close To My Heart and some pearls from my stash.  The cream crinkle ribbon is from 3 Girl JAM's coffee bundle. And, there's some Stickles on the flower's centers.

I have more blog candy to give away this weekend.  Karen Nofziger won last weeks.  Tomorrow, I'm hopping with the Joy's Life design team so I'm giving blog candy away to celebrate that event.  To increase your chances of winning, you can comment on any of my posts from Thursday, July 25 (there are 2) through Sunday, July 28 (there are 5 more posts Friday and Saturday).  I'll announce the winner on Monday, July 29.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

 

Sister Act Card Challenge -- anything goes

Oozak.com -- anything goes with texture

Pin and Tack -- anything goes
D.L. Art Thankful Thursday Linky Party -- anything goes

Color Me Creative Challenge -- Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations Paints -- inspired by ribbon and bling
Crafty Creations Challenges -- Summer





Watercolor butterflies

Happy Tuesday, everyone.  I promised to announce the winner of my blog candy today, and I will, but I want to share a couple cards with you first.

I have a tutorial on the All That Stickles blog today. It's Tips and Techniques Tuesday.  I used a "watercolor paints and Stickles" technique to create this card:

 

 

The card was made using an inexpensive watercolor paint set, a 5x7 watercolor paper card by Strathmore, Crystal Stickles, & May Arts white silk ribbon dyed to match the butterfly (and painted with Stickles).  The butterfly is a Unity stamp called "Bold Butterfly".  The sentiment is from the Joy's Life "Pun in the Sun" stamp set. I used Tim Holtz distress ink in Stormy Skies on the butterfly and distress stain in the same color on the ribbon.  The sentiment was stamped using Close To My Heart Outdoor Denim ink.

The second card is for the Unity Show & Tell group, using the free Unity digi from yesterday (7-22).  Unity is having a Creative/Color contest, and I'm entering this card in the Show & Tell group to be eligible.

 

 I love the free image by Angie Blom.  It was very fun to create with.  The sentiment is by Joselyn Nielsen.
Here's the Copic colors I used:

The one Ciao marker is YG 63.
 

And now, I promised a winner for the blog candy from Sunday's All That Stickles blog hop! 

I used the comments from all weekends' blog posts (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).  Random.org chose -2 -- Saturday's post.  Then, using Random.org again, it chose "3".  That comment is Karen Nofziger.  Her comment?  "Super cutie patootie"  You gotta love that one!  Congratulations, Karen!  You win the goodies.  More Stickles coming your way, plus other stuff.

I'm hopping with the Joy's Life team this Saturday and will have more blog candy from this weekend's posts, (I'm counting 7 from Thursday-Saturday) so visit often to increase your chance to win!

 

 

I'm entering these cards in the following challenges:

 

Sister Act Card Challenge -- anything goes

Oozak.com -- anything goes with texture

Pin and Tack -- anything goes
D.L. Art Thankful Thursday Linky Party -- anything goes
Color Me Creative Copic Challenge Group -- anything goes