watercolor

Cottagecore Canvas with New Simon Says Stamp Shine On Release!

June 27, 2026

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon! *I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links at no extra cost to you. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

Hi friends! The beautiful new products from the new Shine On release are now available for purchase, (click HERE to see the full release!) and I am absolutely obsessed with the new Cottagecore stamps. The sweet little cottages in the set are just begging to be colored, and so I decided to take it a step further with a little painted canvas. Wouldn’t this be so cute as a housewarming gift created in the colors of the new home?

I used a combination of acrylic markers and watercolors on this project, so the canvas needed a bit of prep before I could begin my painting. I covered this gesso canvas with watercolor grounds that I purchased from an art supply store so that I could use my watercolors. Watercolors require a porous surface to work properly, so typical stretched canvas will not work with watercolors. The watercolor grounds allow you to add a porous coating on any non-porous surface, making it perfect for watercoloring! After painting at least two coats on my canvas, I set it aside to dry for a few days before beginning the fun part of my project. This technique does require a bit of prep work, but if you do several canvases at once, it can be done assembly line style and then you have a bunch of surfaces all prepped and ready to go for future projects!

Once I had completed the prep work on my canvas and allowed it to dry completely, I stamped a sweet little scene using the images from both the Cottagecore and Cottagecore Flowers stamp sets from the new Shine On release. I stamped the house and tree first, then added a little flowered bower and fence leading into the garden, as well as a mailbox and sweet puppy in the front yard! I also added some individual cloud images in the sky, creating one of those perfect summer skies with crisp white clouds in a blueberry sky. Because I planned on using acrylic paint markers to color the images, I used silver pigment ink to stamp the images, keeping the images light but easily covered with the opaque paint markers. I allowed the images to dry a bit before painting.

After my stamping was complete, I used acrylic paint markers to paint the images; the bold, solid color of the acrylic paints works perfectly with the simple lines of these illustrations, I think! I kept the color palette fairly simple with coral, blue, and almond, which I think fit perfectly with the “cottagecore” theme. Once I had finished adding the acrylic paint and given it a bit of time to dry (not much time, for they dry pretty quickly!) I used my watercolors to add blue to the sky and green to the grass! The acrylic paint resists the watercolors, so I was able to fluidly paint the sky and lawn without worrying about the detailed paint work being marred. If there was any watercolor pooling on the acrylic painted areas, I simply dabbed it away with my microfiber cloth. I think the combo of the acrylic paint with the haze of blue and green watercolor works beautifully together, and makes it so worth the extra prep time for the canvas!!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I encourage you to try your stamps out on unexpected canvases and mix your coloring media… you can create lasting gifts that the recipient will treasure!!

Also, don’t forget about the two-day blog hop happening right now! I shared my blog hop post yesterday (click HERE to check it out!) but you can see the list of all of the Day 2 participants over on the Simon Says Stamp blog by clicking HERE. So much inspiration, prizes, and a free gift are up for grabs!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Simon Says Stamp Always There Collection- Now Available!

May 28, 2026

Hi friends! Simon Says Stamp has released their latest collection, called Always There, and good heavens is it filled with gorgeous goodies! (Click HERE to see the entire collection!) I say that slightly bashfully, as I have not one, but two, new sets that I’ve illustrated for them, called Blooms of Encouragement and Keep Palm! These 6×8 sets feature some of my most favorite illustrations that are perfect for these late spring and early summer days, and I’ve done my best to fill in the blank spaces with useful, meaningful, and maybe even a few punny sentiments. I have several projects to share with you using these new goodies along with lots of other projects with new products from the release, so let’s get started with my first project!

For this first project, I wanted to put my watercolors to use with the pretty tulip image from Blooms of Encouragement. I began by stamping the large floral image using Inkon3 Fadeout Ink on some nice watercolor paper, then used Karin Brushmarker Pro Watercolor Markers to add color to the floral image. When working with these Brushmarkers, I prefer to scribble the color on a palette or glass mat, then pick the color up with my damp paintbrush. This allows me to better control the intensity of the color on my finished watercolored piece, rather than putting the marker directly to the paper. Sometimes the color sinks down into the watercolor paper and is finicky to move around, so picking the color up and putting on my paper with the paintbrush gives me the most control over the movement and saturation!

Once I had finished watercoloring all of the images, I die cut the large scale floral with it’s coordinating die, which is super detailed and makes life so much easier! After I had die cut the image, I used some gorgeous shimmery glitter watercolors to add some extra shimmer to the oval frame in the center. Using my MISTI, I also stamped a greeting from Blooms of Encouragement onto some creamy cardstock using Iris Pawsitively Saturated Ink, then stamped it again using embossing ink and added Iridescent Purple Embossing Powder over the top, creating a lovely iridescent purple sentiment. I die cut the greeting using the coordinating die and popped it up in the center of the watercolored oval with foam adhesive. When designing the set, I made sure that each of the sentiments was sized appropriately to fit within the open space of the oval.

To create the card itself, I thought I’d try something a little different with a vellum card base. Working with translucent card bases can be a little tricky, because the adhesive on the back of the elements on the card front can’t be easily hidden. After I had created my top-fold vellum A2 card base, I adhered the tulip die cut to the center of the card front with some thin foam adhesive, then opened the card base and added strong double sided adhesive tape behind the solid die cut and placed a coordinating wisteria panel in the center, successfully covering the adhesive on the back of the die cut from the card front! I also added a few Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for a little extra sparkle.

For the sentiment, I stamped one of the encouraging greetings from Blooms of Encouragement, again using Iris ink, then trimmed the strip with a guillotine trimmer. I mounted the sentiment strip on a panel of Ivory cardstock (using a T-square to make sure it was perfectly straight-I had a mishap when I tried to stamp directly on the panel itself and this solution covered up my mistake!) then used Red Line Tape to adhere the panel to the interior of the vellum card base. I learned at CREATE that this tape is invisible on vellum, and I am pleased to report that while not 100% invisible, it does do a great job hiding on vellum!

I am so excited about my new Blooms of Encouragement set… I went a little nuts creating with it, so I have lots more inspiration to share with you. I think this vellum card was so fun and definitely something a little different than my normal project, and I am really in love with how it turned out.

Don’t forget about the blog hop, starting tomorrow bright and early!! The Always There release (Click HERE to see the entire collection!) is absolutely smashing, and the blog hop promises to be filled with exquisite inspiration as always. I hope you’ll join us. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

New Simon Says Stamp In My Heart Release Now Available + New Illustration!

March 19, 2026

Hello friends! The new Simon Says Stamp In My Heart release is now live and ready to spark your creativity! (Click HERE to see the entire new release!) These springtime releases are filled with all kinds of things that I love: flowers, butterflies, textures, poignant sentiments… but I am especially excited when one of these releases features a new stamp set that I’ve designed. My new Wild Rose stamp set (click HERE to see the whole set!) features two large bouquets of wild roses with clusters of eucalyptus and some dainty filler flowers to create lush nosegays of blooms! I love creating large bouquets that you can use as a focal point to practice coloring or that you can use as simple stamped images to create a pretty background. For today’s project, I used the larger bouquet to create an A7 watercolored panel. Let’s get started on the details for my project!

To begin, I placed the larger bouquet from Wild Rose in the corner of a 4.75″ x 6.75″ panel of hot press watercolor paper (hot press=smooth surface) inside my MISTI, then stamped the image using Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink, which works nicely with water media, then rotated the panel inside my MISTI 180* so that the opposite corners had switched and stamped the image again. This leaves me with two large bouquets in opposite corners! After I had stamped the images and given them a few minutes to dry completely, I used Distress Oxide inks to watercolor the images. Did you know that you can watercolor with Oxide inks the same way that you can with regular Distress Inks? Simply tap the inkpad onto your palette or glass mat, then pick up the color with your damp paintbrush and apply it to your watercolor paper! The Oxide inks create a slightly opaque, almost velvety effect on your watercolor paper.

After I had finished watercoloring the images, I used my Simon Says Stamp T-Square and a black pen to add a frame around my florals, which I think helps make the panel look more polished and intentional! I added some opaque gold gel pen to the stamens of the open flowers and splattered some Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Perfect Black Splatter Medium on the panel as well, highlighting the crisp black stamped lines of the stamped images. I typically like to use floral stamps with no-line coloring ink, but wanted to do something a bit simpler for this project (no-line watercolor can be somewhat fussy) and so decided to lean in to the black lines by adding multiple black accents to make the black lines pop!

To complete the card, I mounted the watercolor panel to a full sized A7 panel of So Very Black cardstock using Tear-rifically Tacky Tape, which helps to minimize any warping that might occur during watercoloring. For the greeting, I die cut the new Reverse Friendship XL EZ sentiment cards with the new XL EZ Strips Rounded Rectangles, selected one, and mounted it in the center of the watercolored panel with some thin foam adhesive squares. Finally, I added two more touches of textured black accents with some Black Pawsitively Dazzling Gems and a black twine bow tucked beneath the sentiment strip!

Well, that’s all for my project today! The new In My Heart release (click HERE to see the entire new release!) has so many marvelous products and truly inspired tons of creativity for me. I can’t wait to share the other projects that I’ve created with you! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and don’t forget to come back for the blog hops tomorrow and Saturday! Have a marvelous day!

Glittery Texture for Valentine’s Day with New Simon Says Stamp!

February 12, 2026

Hi friends! I am back with some more Valentine’s Day inspiration for you, this time covered in texture and glitter! I love customizing embossing folder images; the possibilities for customizing these embossing folder panels are truly limitless. For today’s project, I pulled out some glittering watercolors to create this pretty floral pattern out of the embossed images from the Heavenly Heart Floral Frame embossing folder. Let’s get started with the details!

Before adding any embossing to my A2 panel of white cardstock, I used a blending brush to lightly blend Peony Pawsitively Saturated Ink around the edges of my panel. The order in which you add ink blending to an embossed panel is important; if you add the ink blending after embossing, the ink can get caught in the raised areas, making the blend not quite as smooth but enhancing the texture. If you ink blend before embossing while the paper is still smooth, your ink blending will also be smooth and consistent. After I had blended the vibrant pink around the edges of my panel, I ran the blended panel through my die cutting machine using the Heavenly Heart Floral Frame. The embossing on the blended background is super pretty and textured in a tone-on-tone fashion, but I wanted to kick things up a notch!

I used a combination of alcohol markers and shimmering watercolors with a very fine paintbrush to add details to the individual raised images. I kept things simple, maintaining an overarching pink color palette in a variety of shades for the flowers, adding sparkling silver to the leaves and stems, then using my white gel pen to enhance the raised dots. It’s so difficult to capture in a photograph just how sparkly this panel is!!

After I had finished adding details to the embossed panel, I die cut the detail layer of the new My Heart is With You sentiment die set from some coordinating magenta glitter cardstock, then backed it with a vellum shadow layer. I used thin strips of foam adhesive to pop the sentiment die cut up in the center of the embossed heart, then added a silver-embossed pink bow leftover from a previous project and some Taffy Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for additional sparkle. Doesn’t this just look so pretty and feminine? Perfect for Valentine’s Day!!

Well, that’s all for my project today. We are coming in hot on Valentine’s Day, and I have a few more Valentine’s Day projects to share with you for some last-minute inspiration. Stay tuned! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Sunset Valentines For Guys with New Simon Says Stamp!

January 27, 2026

Hi friends! I am back with some non-traditional valentines today that are perfect for that persnickety “man’s man” in your life, one who might not love flowers and lace on his valentine! My husband isn’t too bothered by feminine imagery, but he absolutely loves sunsets and has asked me for years to create a watercolored sunset painting for him. I thought this would be a perfect visual to incorporate into his valentine using some of the new goodies from the Heart to Heart Release from Simon Says Stamp (click HERE to check out the entire release!). Let’s get started on the details!

My projects evolved from this leftover watercolored ombré background. I had an extra background from some experimenting that I had been doing, and thought that it would make a perfect sunset valentine for my husband! I knew that I wanted to incorporate stamped hearts, so I selected Pawsitively Saturated Inks in shades of Shell, Lilac, Eucalyptus, and Morning and stamped a bunch of solid heart images using the new Tons of Hearts stamps, then cut them out with their coordinating dies.

For my first project, I started by using the shadow die from the new Love Our Story sentiment die set to cut a window in a panel of white A2 cardstock. I then backed that window with some vellum and added an iridescent white die cut “love our story” detail cut, created with iridescent mirror gloss cardstock. To add a little extra interest, I filled the area behind the vellum window with the new Lavender Hearts Embellishment to create a fun shaker card!

I created a visual cascade down the card front with some of the stamped solid hearts, working in rainbow order from pink to green, and filling in some of the gaps with sparkling white glitter die cuts created using the Tons of Hearts Frames dies. I popped some up with thin foam adhesive, then used liquid glue to adhere the glittering hearts. The final touch was a few sparkling Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems! The white space, the muted colors, the shaker component… I think this is a great valentine for a not-super-mushy kind of guy!

This card features the watercolored background that started both of today’s projects. It was from this background that I selected the ink colors to use with the solid stamped hearts with Pawsitively Saturated Inks in shades of Shell, Lilac, Eucalyptus, and Morning. I used some of the leftover stamped hearts from the first card, as well as a die cut Lined Love You. I die cut the shadow of the sentiment die cut using Simon Says Stamp Shimmer Vellum, then cut the detail sentiment layer from some iridescent white mirror cardstock. I love the subtle iridescent shimmer that it brings to the card!

Before I started arranging the die cuts on the watercolored background, I used some sparkling mica watercolors to splatter some shimmer on the background. The color fading from warm blush to muted turquoise definitely puts me in mind of a Caribbean sunset, so I had to add some water “sparkles”! After the splatters were dried, I used clear dimensional adhesive to add the sentiment die cut to the center of the watercolor panel, then tucked stamped hearts in a variety of sizes, as well as a few standalone glitter heart die cuts. Finally, I added a few Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for some added sparkle and texture!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Do you find it easy to make valentines for the guys in your life? I have three boys so I’m going to have to keep working on this genre!! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!