Maddie with Glasses Bookmark with Paper Nest Dolls

Good morning all!  I have a fun watercolor bookmark for you today featuring Maddie with Glasses from the Paper Nest Dolls :)

I used my Prima Watercolor Pencils to color her on some Prima Watercolor paper.  This pad of paper is 3 inches by 6.25 inches and is the perfect bookmark size!

I love to watercolor and this is one of my most favorite of the dolls, so why not combine the two!  The sentiment stamp is from my stash, and I used my Cotman water colors to complete the blue background.

I hope you enjoyed my inspiration project this month for the Paper Nest Dolls!  Don't forget our challenges run for the whole month and the theme is always Anything Goes!

When I watercolor I like to work on three or four projects at a time, this gives me something to do while I wait for my layers to dry.  And this project was no different...stay tuned on Friday for the other two projects I completed!

Friday Feature - Prima Marketing Water Color Pencils!

I am back with the last of the Watercolor Pencil Friday Features, but don't worry...next week I will start a new series of Friday feature cards featuring one of my favorite stamp sets and creating different cards with one set.

So for this week, I have my second most favorite card, and watercolor pencils.  These pencils are by Prima Marketing and they are great!  Very creamy and smooth :)

This card turned out so great!  I am very happy with it.  The flowers are from Stampin' Up although I don't know the name of the stamp...if you know it, let me know in the comments below!  The sentiment is also from Stampin' Up, from the "Yippee Skippee" set.

So that's all for the Watercolor Pencils Friday Features...and the winners are?  Definitely without a doubt...Derwent Inktense in first place and Prima Marketing a close second!  I'm loving them both, and next I wil try mixing them up to see if I can blend them together well....yay!

As I stated above, next week I will start the new Friday Features using one of my favorite stamp sets and creating different cards with the same set.  And I'm gonna leave it a surprise as to which stamp set it is hehehe.  See you next week!

Friday Feature - Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils

For this week's feature, I have a card created using the Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils.  And I have to tell you, although I am a Prismacolor fan, these were my least favorite of the five sets.  It could very well be because this is also the oldest of the five sets (like 25 years!) however, they did not blend well at all, and I found them very grainy for WC pencils.

This is a very small set, lol, 6 pencils, and I think I used them all here lol.  You can see in the picture the grain-iness of them (is that even a word? LOL!)  However, I stil think the card turned out ok.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up "Really Good Greetings" and the flowers are Hero Arts.

Next week, the last of the WC pencils is Prima, another great one :) See you then!

Friday Feature - Derwent Inktence Pencils!

HI!  I have another Friday Feature card for you today using Derwent Inktense pencils :)  SPOILER ALERT****these MAY just be my favorite of the five pencil brands...but are you really surprised? LOL!

I also think this may be favorite card out of the five lol.  I just love the way it turned out.  The flower stamp is an unamed STampin' Up I believe (if you recognize it please let me know lol) and the sentiment is from the Stampin' Up Set "Yippee Skippee".

All five of these cards have been embossed before watercoloring.  For card work, I just find it that much easier and faster to watercolor when the image is embossed.

Next week, I will have Prismacolor Watercolor pencils to pay with so  come back and check it out!

Friday Feature - Staedler Ergosoft Aquarell

I have another watercolor pencil project for you today, this time with Staedler Ergosoft Aquarell pencils :)

I do like the brightness of these pencils, however, once again, the Staedler pencils have very hard leads and it's hard to keep the pencil pigment on top of the paper.

The butterfly stamp is from Hero Arts and it is a fun stamp to play with :)

Stay tuned next week for Derwent Inktense!

Friday Feature - Watercolor Pencil Comparison :)

Hello everyone, I have a new feature set for you for the next five Fridays!  I have done a comparison of five different sets of watercolor pencils.  No, I don't have the full sets of each of these (except Prima ;))  Each set is a small set that I have acquired over the years, some I have purchased, and some were gifted to me, and each has it's own unique set of pros and cons.  I will touch on a couple of these in each of the five blog posts :)

The first one I have for you is Staedler Karat Aquarell.  This was a nice set, however I found the leads very hard.  The colors are fairly bright, but not as bright as I like them.

The set I purchased about 4 years ago is very small, so I needed to pick an image I could color with a very limited palette (I think there may be 6 pencils in this set lol).  This stamp is  the Large Thistle Flower from The Rubber Cafe.  The ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons.


Stop by next Friday for another review, this time of Staedler Ergosoft Aquarell :) See you soon.

Paper Girls Challenge "The Great Outdoors"

Hello everyone!  I have been asked to Guest Design for the Paper Girls Challenge this month, and I am honored :)

This first challenge theme is "The Great Outdoors":

I created this card with the Altenew stamp set called "Persian Motifs".  I stamped the image on hot press water color paper with Versamark ink and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  Then I painted the flowers using my Inktense pencils.

The sentiment is from Tim Holtz Just Sayings stamp set, and I added some sequins from my stash.

I enjoy coloring or painting flowers, and to be able to do it with water color makes it even better!\

I'll see you again in two weeks for another Guest Design project for Paper Girls Challenge!  Until then, Happy Crafting!

Grow in Faith with JoyClair Stamps

For my second Joyclair Color by Faith bible journalling page this month, I am creating with the "Grow in Faith" stamp set.

For this project I chose the verse from Luke 8:5:  "A sower went out to sow his seed.  And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it."

I pondered this one for a bit and came to realize that I believe this verse is essentially telling us to take care of even the smallest seeds, no matter where they land.  We have so much to teach and to show, and if we are not careful to nurture even the smallest morsel of knowledge, it will be lost.  And if we wish the future to be better and brighter with our knowledge, then we must take special care with that knowledge.  This does not mean we cannot sow the knowledge, but that we must continue to nourish it.

This is another new release for February, there's many new sets released every month!  Come back soon to see more ;)

Have a Beautiful Day with Sweet Stamps

I have some beautiful Cabbage Roses for you today for Sweet Stamps :)

I stamped the Cabbage Rose rubber stamp in layers using a post-it note masking technique in a light colored dye ink.  Then I water colored them using my water color pencils and water.  I used the Beautiful Day rubber stamp for the sentiment, but I accidentally double stamped the left side, so I used a black marker to thicken up the first letters in each word.  This is a good way to fix a mistake without actually having to redo your whole project :)  Lastly I added some dew drops with Glastique!  I love how nice this stuff works on a floral card!

Sweet Stamps has many beautiful floral rubber stamps, and the detail is amazing.  I will eventually be coloring them all!  Muwahahahahah!  Hehe, sorry, that one snuck out lol!

There are loads of other products in the Sweet Stamps online shop, like chipboard accents!  I love them, lol.  I will definitely be creating with them again soon :)

And come and join us for our two monthly challenges!  The Anything Goes challenge begins on the first Sunday of every month, and the Anything But a Card challenge begins on the third Sunday of every month.  Come and join us for some fun and prizes!

Flutterby Birthday Card with Sweet Stamps

Hello everyone, I have a fun new card design for you today for Sweet Stamps :) AAAnnnnnnddd I am totally in love with it lol.

I had a lot of fun creating this card, and the most fun thing about it?  Starting out with one idea, and then having it morph into something totally different and unexpected!  I love how creativity works sometimes ;)

I stamped the Daisy Side rubber stamp on hot press watercolor paper in a light colored dye ink and then heat set it with my heat tool.  Then I water colored the flower with my watercolor pencils and water (duh, of course!).  Then I decided to try something new.  I die cut the flower with the Flutterby #2 die set (the solid one).  Then I die cut the layer of the die with patterned paper and glued them under the solid butterflies.  I also used a sentiment from the Kitty Sweets clear stamp set and then added some Glastique for dew drops!

I love how this card turned out!  I will definitely be trying this technique out again soon.

You can find all the products I mentioned in the Sweet Stamps online store :)  (As well as many, many more;))  And don't forget to come and join us for two monthly challenges!  The Anything Goes challenge begins on the first Sunday of every month, and the Anything But a Card challenge begins on the third Sunday of every month!  See you there!

A Gorjuss Feature and A Cup of Tea :)

The third installment in my stamps feature, featuring Gorjuss dolls, is called Sweet Tea.  And she is so sweet :)  I stamped her on 140lb hot press water color paper by Arches (another first for me lol).  I really like this paper, it is so smooth compared to cold press.

I colored her up (another first) with my Prima water color pencils.  They are soooo nice!  I will definitely be doing that again!  I really do recommend these pencils, and Noelle sells them in her shop at Quick Creations.  They take the guesswork out of water coloring!

I paired her up with some paper from the DCVW The Garden Tea Party Stack 12 x 12 card stock pad.  I have been finding it much easier to choose my paper before I choose my coloring colors these days.  That way everything matches perfectly!

If you would like to purchase this or any other Gorjuss stamp, please visit the online shop at Quick Creations.  And don't forget to come and join our monthly challenge over on the challenge blog!  You can also find Quick Creations on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest!

Gorjuss Feature: Ladybird

Hello everyone, I have another Gorjuss feature for Quick Creations to show you today.  I ventured a wee bit out of my comfort zone again (phew...this is happening a little too often, hehe) and painted her using Prima Water Color Pencils and a paintbrush and water.

The rubber stamp image is called Ladybird, from Santoro's Gorjuss line, and you can find her in Noelle Martin's online shop at Quick Creations.  Noelle carries many Gorjuss stamps (and I think I may have purchased almost all of them heehee).

I colored her using the following Prima Watercolor Pencil colors:

Hair:  91, 95
Skin:  05, 08, 09
Dress:  16, 44, 32
Leggings:  62
Shoes:  07, 22
Ribbons:  16

I began this project by heat embossing the image with with white Stampin' UP embossing powder and then used the pencils only in the areas that would be shaded.  This allows the color to stay inside the lines when adding water to the image.  When she was finished I created an easel card using paper from the Echo Park "Summer Bliss" 6 x 6 paper pad.

I also die cut the two different sized ovals using the CC Designs Make A Card #5 Die Set, which you can also find in Noelle's shop.

Don;t forget to check back here often, for more Gorjuss features and inspiration.  Head's Up:  on the 15th of this month, I will be showcasing a Magnolia image!  I just love Magnolia too, and can't wait to get her done :)

If you order from Quick Creations, don't forget to use my referral code for a nice discount!  LEAH10