no line watercolor

Cherry Blossoms with Picket Fence Studios!

March 26, 2021

Hi there! Today, I have a project made with some lovely products from Picket Fence Studios. They were kind enough to send me some of their stamps and dies, including Que Sera Sera and More Fancy Sentiments, which I used with some older stencils to create today’s pretty-in-pink project!

I began by stamping a few of the floral clusters from Que Sera Sera on some watercolor paper using Ink On 3’s Fadeout Ink. I then used my Holbein Watercolors to watercolor them pretty shades of pink and jade green. Once I’d finished watercoloring the images, I used the coordinating dies to cut them out.

Next, I trimmed down an A2 panel of pale pink cardstock, on which I arranged a Blending Stencil and used a Blending Brush with some violet ink. While the Blending Stencil was still attached to the card front, I added the Fancy Flourish stencil over the top and blended some more violet ink to create a tone-on-tone pattern that faded into the top left corner of the stenciled circle.

I stamped a greeting from More Fancy Sentiments, then die cut it with the More Fancy Sentiments Dies. I arranged the flowers on the stenciled panel and adhered them using foam adhesive. I trimmed the bottom 1/2″ of the stenciled panel and added a strip of violet cardstock to the bottom so that it was peeking out the bottom. I added a few iridescent white pearls for some extra texture and shine!

Well, that’s all for my project today. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Sympathy and Dahlias with Honey Bee Stamps

March 20, 2021

Hi there! Today, I have a sympathy card for you created with Darling Dahlias, Oval Spotlight Stencils, and With Sympathy stamps and dies. Sympathy cards often are quite difficult to make, not simply because of the subject matter, but also because they must not be too cheerful with color or embellishments. I find that it’s easier to create sympathy cards and have them on hand rather than having to create them as they’re needed.

I began by stamping a small cluster of flowers on watercolor paper using the Darling Dahlias stamp set and some no-line coloring ink. I also used one of the stencils from Oval Spotlight Stencils to lightly pencil an oval around the floral cluster. The oval frame helps to ground the flowers.

I used some Prima watercolors to watercolor the image, using a variety of colors to create an almost marbled background, and taking care to keep the paint within the edges of my penciled oval frame. I used the same colors from within the frame to add some highlights and other colors to the flower, adding interest to the flower to keep it from being too flat.

I trimmed the panel down and mounted it on an A2 panel of coral cardstock. I die cut and heat embossed a sentiment from the With Sympathy stamps and dies on some dark gray cardstock. The deep gray helps the sentiment pop from the muted colors of the flower and oval frame in the background.

Well, that’s all for me today. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Altenew February 2021 Love & Friendship Release Blog Hop+ Giveaway!

February 3, 2021

Good morning! Today, Altenew is releasing a brand new batch of stamps, dies, and embossing folders, and we’re celebrating with a blog hop to inspire you! You should have arrived from Kelly Griglione and your next stop is Tenia Nelson, or you can start back at the Altenew Card Blog to get the full hop list. I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

Both of my projects are a “mini slimline” size (3.5″x6″) which I think are such fun, interesting dimensions, a bit different from the normal A2 size. I also am using a bright pink, charcoal, and white color scheme for both projects, though with very different techniques.

My first project uses the new Queen Anemone bundle. I began by stamping the layered florals on some plain white cardstock using the pink inks from the Spring Bouquet dye ink set, as well as some foliage. I also stamped several leaves on the mini slimline card base, as well. After I die cut the stamped images using the coordinating dies, I arranged them in a cluster on the card front, allowing the foliage stamped on the card base to peek out from behind the die cut flowers and foliage, which I adhered to the card front using foam adhesive.

I die cut the “hello” greeting from some pretty charcoal foil cardstock using the Bold Alphabet Dies. When I’m wanting to get my alphabet die cuts perfectly straight, I like to line them up on my Crafter’s Essential Cutting and Alignment Mat, then carefully lay a long piece of washi tape or Press’n’Seal over the top and pick all of the die cuts up as one piece. While they’re still in one straight line with the washi tape, I will add my adhesive of choice to the back and lay the die cuts on my card. I laid these large foil die cuts right over the top of the Queen Anemone bouquet, finally adding a few metallic gunmetal gems for some sparkle!

For my second card, I used the same color scheme and card size, this time focusing on the beautiful rose bouquet in Fresh Cut Roses. These giant rose blooms were so. much. fun to watercolor! I started by stamping the rose bouquet from Fresh Cut Roses using some no-line coloring ink, then used the Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolor Set to paint the roses a beautiful shade of bubble gum pink.

Once I’d finished watercoloring, I allowed the painting to dry completely, then added some deep pink splatters for an “artsy” look. I also heat embossed the greeting (also from Fresh Cut Roses) using Obsidian ink overlaid with some white pearl embossing powder to create a pretty pearlescent charcoal embossed greeting.

Once all of my painting and stamping had been completed, I trimmed the panel down slightly by 1/8″ on each side, then adhered it to a dark charcoal mini-slimline card base. Finally, I added a few more of the metallic gunmetal gems to round out the “rule of three” for my gunmetal accents.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I have really been loving making these color-coordinated sets of cards with completely different supplies. Really stretches my creativity! As always, Altenew has lots of fun giveaways to celebrate the new release:

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $20 gift certificate to 10 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 02/08/2021 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 12 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 02/11/2021.

Your next stop on the hop is Tenia Nelson. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Altenew Build A Flower: Hawaiian Coral Blog Hop+Giveaway!

November 1, 2020

Hi there! The first of the month always means a new Build A Flower from Altenew, and this month’s flower is absolutely gorgeous- Hawaiian Coral. Not only are the layering stamps available in this set, but these big fluffy blooms are super fun to color like I’ve done here. Altenew features a different bloom each month, and you can subscribe to receive the kit automatically each month (and at a discount!). I’m super excited to be taking part in the blog hop today. You should have arrived here from Amber Rain Davis and your next stop is Jaycee Gaspar. You can also head back to the Altenew Card Blog to start at the beginning.

I love watercoloring the floral images from Altenew, and this beautiful fluffy Hawaiian Coral stamp is the perfect size for some no-line watercolor. I recently acquired some Ph Martin’s liquid watercolors, and I wanted to play with them for my project today. Let’s get started with the details!

I stamped the blooms and foliage on some Altenew watercolor paper using fadeout ink, then did some watercoloring with Ph Martin’s Radiant watercolors. I used several different layers of color to achieve lots of vibrance and dimension.

Once I had finished watercoloring, I used my trusty T-square to add a black frame around the edge to make the flowers the focal point of the card. I stamped a greeting on a strip of white cardstock using black ink. I try to stick to the rule of threes when adding embellishments and pops of accent colors to my cards, like the black frame, so I added a black cardstock mat around the edge of the sentiment strip.

I also added some black gems to the card front to help balance out the bouquet and add the third and final black element to complete my “rule of three.” I love adding these little pops of black to help make a project look more finished.

Well, that’s all for my project today! Now, for some fun giveaway information.

To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog by 11/09/2020 for a chance to win. Altenew will also draw a winner to receive a $15 gift certificate from the comments left on each designer’s blog on the blog hop list below. All winners will be announced on the Altenew Winners Page on 10/09/2020.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Your next stop on the hop is Jaycee Gaspar.

Colorado Craft Company October Reveal+Release!

October 3, 2020

Hi there! Today is a special day for the Colorado Craft Company. They have released a brand new line of absolutely darling stamps created by Anita Jeram, the illustrator for the popular Guess How Much I Love You children’s book. I personally adore this illustrative style: kinda sketchy, whimsical, but still an element of elegance! I’m not the best scene-builder in the world, and the majority of these new stamps have the scenes already built for you. All you have to do is stamp and color! You can view the entire release here at Simon Says Stamp and here at Ellen Hutson. The entire release is full of gorgeous images, from cats to deer to birthday bunnies. My little guys are going through a cognitive leap this week, making them extra clingy and unusually cranky, but I managed to make two cards with some of my favorite sets from this release: Kittens and Mittens (EH|SSS) and Snow Happy (EH|SSS). Let’s get started with the details!

If you’ve ever read the Guess How Much I Love You book, you’ll have noticed the beautiful, detailed illustrations straight away. I tried to maintain this whimsical watercolored style with both of my projects today by stamping the main images on Arches Cold Press watercolor paper using Ink On 3 Fadeout Ink (my favorite for no-line watercoloring), then watercoloring with my Daniel Smith watercolor palette.

For me, the key to no-line watercolor is to work in segments, keeping the wet sections away from each other so that you can maintain crisp lines and avoid different colors bleeding into each other. Once I had stamped the images onto the watercolor paper, I maintained a cool color palette for both projects, adding in lavenders and blues to the snow on the Snow Happy (EH|SSS) card. I just love holiday cards featuring deer. Something about a deer in the snow conjures peace for me, reminding me of a crisp, cold Christmas Day.

Once it had dried, I trimmed down the watercolored panel and adhered it to a light gray A2 card base. I also added a charcoal gray foil frame, cut from the Essentials by Ellen Essential Rectangle dies and some dark gray foil. (I’ll link both below.) The final step was to add a simple greeting from the Christmas Tree Cat set using some black pigment ink to make it nice and crisp. I just love the simplicity of this project, and it will be super easy to place in an envelope and pop in the mailbox!

For my second project, I focused on the darling Kittens and Mittens (EH|SSS) stamp set. Not only does this set have a sweet little trio of felines, but it also features some wonderful sentiments, such as “Like mittens in winter you warm my heart!” I’m not huge on schmaltzy sentiments on my projects; I feel like it’s more of a challenge to pair with just the right recipient, therefore making them more difficult to send. These sentiments, however, are so sweet that I think anybody would love to receive them!

I began by stamping the image from Kittens and Mittens (EH|SSS) again on a panel of Arches Cold Press watercolor paper using Ink on 3 Fadeout Ink, but this time I used a wide brush to create a wintry sky before adding details to my kittens. I wanted to pull the lavender down behind the kitties, but still maintain that super light fade into white, so I laid down my blue to purple ombre, pulling the super diluted color down even over the top of the kitty images. I allowed background to dry completely before moving on to adding paint to the kitties. Ensuring the panel is completely dry before adding the details will help to avoid feathering and bleeding when adding color to the stamped images.

After I’d finished watercoloring all of the felines, I used some white gouache to add snowflakes, first by flicking my paint-loaded paintbrush at my panel, then adding individual dots of white so that we got different sized snowflakes. I also added a few white pearls for extra dimension. I white embossed a greeting on some light gray yardstick, then added it to the watercolored panel with foam tape. Finally, I matted the watercolor panel to a slightly larger piece of charcoal gray cardstock, then mounted it on a cornflower blue A2 card base.

To celebrate their new release illustrated by Anita Jeram, Colorado Craft Company is generously giving away a $35 gift certificate to their store for each blogger participating in the reveal! To enter the giveaway, simply leave me a comment telling me which of the new sets is your favorite. I will leave the contest open until the end of the day on October 7, 2020.

Here are all of the links of everyone participating in the release:

Adrienne Kennedy
Angelica Conrad