Halloween cards

I actually finished the cards for the grands. It started out innocently enough making a card for Ashton and he’s not quite a year. I didn’t want to scare the pants off of him so I found this cute stamp set that I bought on the whim that are LDRS creative stamps and it has cute little dogs so I decided it was cute for him. I thought it was too cutsey for the older ones but changed my mind. . and yes I fussy cut out way more critters than I needed Shockingly my fingers weren’t happy also, I didn’t make them quite as cookie-cutter as I usually do. Moved the moon around which was fun in changing everthing else up.

ALOT OF FUSSY CUTTING. 

There were 6 dies of the animals so I made 10 of each because

I thought I would need that many for the cards.

Silly me.

However, it was great to have a big selection.

Only count I got right were the bats.

And because the moon was on black paper I used enamel ink.

Making embellishments for a tag and a card

In exploring all the fun things one can do with paint, watercolors

and anything Tim Holtz (dyes, crayons, etc) I started

pages in a 7x9 album (check it out)

 using mixed media and then finding something

to do with said pages.

Some pages have photos and a layout was born, some pages

were of the "what was I thinking" concept.

Did I get a photo of this paper prior to whacking it up?

Nope.

However, here is a recreation after whacking it up. 

Notice the wonky circles.

I rock them.

Using a tiny corner, prior to totally whacking it up, 

I die cut some seashells and a tiny crab to use

for the adorable crab card I made using the

leftovers from my pal Hollie's cut file.

How stinkin' cute is that.

Oh and another sheet of premade watercolors was used

as the background.

When I looked again at the paper I pilfered the corner from

- I saw the circles

And thought what about those whacky round flowers

that are everywhere?

Of course can I cut competely round circles?

DOH.

Therefore, I sort of whacked out the circles and loved

them so much I freestyled the leaves and stems.

I KNOW!!!

I then thought "grass" was needed to I took regular scissors

and sliced the blades and mussed them up.

Love how it turned out.

Of course outlining was a must.

I am seriously challenged when it comes to drawing

of any kind so I am soooo jazzed at how

cute this turned out.

For my playdate at Holli's

I used mixed media paper from the Canson albums you

can get in the drawing section of M's or HL's.

I like that I am able to cut out tags any size I want... 

These two happened to be made the at the same time which

cleverly makes them look a lot alike.

I'm okay with that because they can look totally different

when mussed up more.

 

The tags below were made again at the play date because

I was able to "shop" Holli's endless supply of 

really cool stamps that I don't have

but love to have.

 

And if I don't like them as tags I can fussy cut them out or

cover them up. 

It all works.

 

Mixed Media - Twelve and then some

This was a fun page to make, however, if you skim

down, I made it for the photo of my favorite, fearless eldest son

jumping out of a perfectly good airplane but the colors

didn't work. At. All.

However, this page of Owen turning 12 is perfect.

It turned out really fun.

Lots of TH - using the oxides sprays.

I'm still trying to get the hang of the sprays, etc.

stamps, but the embellishment side of it.

I still scrapbook it LOL.

However, it turned out using the packaging technique

and some stencils from Art-C and some

Tim Holtz tags and embellies.

The title was done with stamps I bought from M's

and even though I have the packaging - there's no name.

I also use some same stamps from the Art-C.

Thanks to my pal Holli who gifted me with this

TH die cut of flowers.

Love the colors!!!

Those butterflies are made of wax paper. I find

that if you layer in wax paper when die cutting

intricate dies - it helps pop them out easier and the

wax paper does make a cool embellie.

This was a premade page - using watercolors.

Had a lot of fun making these pages and as I said

I'm feeling my way. 

I also found these pages are sticking together so I'm

only doing one side with photos in this album as well.

In this album which is a mixed media watercolor album I gessoed

the pages and I think that is the sticky culprit.

I'll keep you posted.

 

Mixed Media - "no beauty shines brighter than that of a good heart"

Love how this turned out.

You may remember I did this page ahead of time 

in a "just because I could" frame of mind.

Using inks and watercolors with stencils I had

trying to make a "scene."

The sun that I drew and the clouds I made were from

thread. 

And it looked stupid.

So I pulled them all off the page which then required

some covering up.

The sun I tried to fix it with just wasn't quite right

but I had this doily thingy for cake decorating more or less

The clouds were stamped on cardstock and I

had the creative moment in swishing white paint across the clouds.

Love the photo of Annie and Owen but the background

had a lot going on AND I screwed up the 

photo after it was printed and no covering that up.

SO...I fussy cut it out.

I'm liking that look.

Having them framed on top of a bird looked fun.

I had to cover up the original TH sentiment because it didn't

go with the photo.

I also decided a title wasn't required.

I have a couple of albums going on...

Mostly because I've been playing with watercolors, Tim Holtz inks,

sprays, crayons, and oxides oh my...

However, I was dabbling in this album before I binge watched

Tim and decided that I had to have his product.

But I digress.

Saw this photo of our beautiful granddaughter and I was like

SO WHEN DID SHE GET TALLER

and more grown up.

When did that happen?

Obviously, when I wasn't looking.

This is my "Wonder" album - mixed media artist album

from Michael's, I think.

I created some pages uses watercolors, sprays and dylusions

that you may have seen some previews here.

Anyway the rainbow drips did the trick, add a TH sentiment

with a doily and and inked up butterfly from

messing the TH inks.

Love how it turned out.

Learning about pencil lines

I have been watching Susanne Rose on u-tube - she

rocks the art journals. Check her out.

In the meantime,

I purchased a stencil that was of a sun and rays.

Well...

I decided this album needed to have a cover other than the original

so I used some watercolors and painted over the gesso

and dabbed on the stencil.

Well, juicy dabbing results in lots of colors running amok.

Together.

Messy.

Therefore, drastic action was required and I decided to add more

watercolors because I blending would help.

But it came out as one big blob.

Enter the pencil.

And in scribbling lines that I think a flower should look like

and shazam.

It looks pretty cool.

Now I need a 'saying', a sentiment, a title.

Any suggestions?

Nothing has spoken to me.

Yet.

Watercolor album pages - scrapped!

Well I know you've seen these before.

Several times I'm sure.

However, they were so much fun I decided that

in some cases photos are now required to grace the pages.

Since I had an extra photo of our campsite and since  it

just fit perfectly on this page

that had already been stamped with a title

made it very easy to pull this page together.

 My psychedelic

winged granddaughter was perfect for

this wildly colored page.
Love the sentimentsand I handcut the title.

I KNOW.  

I've been totally watching way too

much of Lisa Fonseca on u-tube.

LOOK HER UP.

She hand-draws 

EVERYTHING.

and everything is stinkin'

ADORABLE.

But it works with the psychedelic vibe
 - LIKE totally.

I cannot express how hard it was for me to put that handmade title out there
because it's not "perfect."
(Like my pages are perfect LOL, but.....)

But I'm over that now and may do it more often.

 And the music man worked because it was already

titled "dream a little dream".

Owen could be a rockstar if

he keeps working at it  and practicing
one day he'll be a gifted musician.

Guitar, keyboard, sax (to name a few).

This book has been really fun.

From creating the watercolor pages to finding

the perfect photos to grace the pages

along with the perfect embellishments.

So stamps and diecuts and thickers and words and stickers.

Oh my........

Watercolor - album complete - Photo Heavy!!!

I really didn't have a plan when I started.

Shocking I know.

I just wanted to do something fun without an agenda.

So this is the FIRST page (after this NONE are in order

except for the LAST page)

Why it loaded out of order I have no clue.

Anyhoo.......👀

When I did the pages I did all the right side pages first

and then came back and did all the left side.

 Some are complementary pages and some are

what the heck was I thinking LOL.

If you recall It started out as sunflowers and quickly

evolved into "scenes" because I don't do sunflowers

freestyle well.

 I incorporated stamping and stencils.

Some worked out well, and some as you can see above

right - cover up was required.

 This one really had to be side-by-side because what else

can you do with a spider web.

 It was a lot of fun to do.

Very freeing.

And extremely relaxing.

 Not sure what I want to do but I did go out

and by another mixed media album like

this only BIGGER. Because honestly, I'm tired of small.

Actually, I LOVED doing ALL SIZES 

and I miss that.

 Some I included stickers on because why not.

And don't these rock?

 I finally used the "because" stamp I had forever written

in Ali Edwards handwriting.

They have been in an out of the give away piles for years.

Glad I kept them.

 Aren't you glad I didn't bore with doing the LEFT side

and THEN doing BOTH sides in posts. 😂

 You're welcome.

 Tried something different here.

No guts no glory eh?

 Had to get in TH coffee stains because what book

would be complete without it.

 And the TH critters.

As you can see there were some stamping issues

but I can work with that.

And I think I removed that annoying butterfly too.

 I must have been having quite the day for this one.

Very dark and "dramatic" LOL.

and yes I fussy cut those hearts out. I think I

ripped the page out because I didn't like the direction.

It's okay to think this is bizarre because I do.

 No matchy matchy going on here.

 I actually did the mushrooms twice.

Forgetting I already did it but one is ink

and one is modeling paste.

 So it's different and allowed LOL.

No rules.

 I had a leftover photo and it worked perfect

with this page. If you'll remember that I had that

"Our adventure together" already stamped on there.

I may or may not journal because this picture is in my TN.

Did the rainbow effect here because why not.

This is the last page and aren't you thrilled LOL.

Anyway, the TH critters are on the back cover and I wasn't paying

attention that it wasn't paper - because I screwed up 

the stamping part - like twice (see above).

And that cover is slick so I had to wait forever so it wouldn't smear.

All in all I'm thrilled with this and can't wait to do another.

A bigger another.

😍

Watercolors - learning curve

Well this started out with flowers that were

pretty but just like out there.

I decided that the brick wall was required because my

drawing skills are meh and the seemed

to be floating in air and needed to be grounded.

Love the balloon stamp and writing, however

that one blob over to the left can be gone it just doesn't fit.

I'll work on that.

 This page started innocently enough with leaves.

However, I had a total wardrobe malfunction and

ended up covering it all up with white

enamel paint as there was no amount of fixing with watercolors.

Also added were the fairies.

You can see them better in the picture than real life
but I think they're a fun addition.

 I tried the leaves again and this time

it didn't turn out so bad.

The pine cone is iffy and I do love the lantern.
The pinecone??? come see come saw. lol

 Somewhere along the line I have ballerina stamps.

Who knew and looks fun on this page.

 And then I found my mushroom stencil that looks

a bit likea whacky impressionist painting because

after I painted over it I decided it needed more oommph
and it was a bit wet.

And then there's the sun 😐

 This one came about because I was tired of swirling

paint and decided that lines were needed.

The butterflies were an after thought

that probably should've been not thought of at all.

LOL.

A well it's a work in progress and huge learning curve.

Birthday cards

Had some fun with them and won't the adults (ladies) love them.

I did the llama thing because that seems to be in now, 

and because it was cute.

I did use watercolors because I'm growing quite fond of them.

Hero Arts stamps and a really old birthday journal card

that I cut up because I wanted those candles.

And yes, they look similar, because it just flowed that way

and why not repeat the fun stuff.

Watercolors- I got carried away....

 Well I fell in love with watercolors because you don't have to be an artist

when mucking it up in the paints.

Here I did some flowers - more or less, and decided

why NOT use STAMPS.

Gasp!

I also decided not to bore you by doing these pages one-at-a-time. Much better to see all the pages.
At one time. Wouldyoubelieve I have another batch coming up.

I got braver on this page and I decided that using a doily

and mooshing paint around would be fun.

Well...see that ugly blog behind the flower stamp?

It didn't go well. 

So there's the big cover up. 

LOL.

More stamps and a punched butterfly just to round things out.

You should've seen the doily used in the first Santa

page from yesterday's post.

It's a pretty melon color.

 Not to be deterred on the same night I decided that

why not make "scenes" in my watercolors.

So this page evolved with some Tim Holtz stamps

and stencil.

I believe this one is my favorite.

And then disaster struck.

I have no idea what happened here but it was ugly.

I stamped the jar and felt that it was toooo bold

with the ink and tried to settle it down some.

Well...

I scrubbed and mooshed and there ya have it.

I'm gonna keep because 

why not.

Learning curve.

Oh and that punch - made that adorable bow.

Scored that baby from Tuesday Morning for $4.99. 💜

I'm really liking this watercolor thing, however,

I don't know what else to do with the album right now.

Not sure if I'll add photos or words or what.

Suggestions from you wouldn't hurt my feeling.

Remember that adorable raccoon photo - it's scrapped.

 Love the Tim Holtz words and phrases.

They work perfect with this page.

 Got to use more of those precut die cuts and I love that.

Still sort of watching the dimension 

and I'm loving this new book I'm using.

Don't you love that die cut from a flash in the past

when we looked at those viewfinder thingies.

Actually it's the old campground book - 

that had really REALLY UGLY

pages that I ripped out to start anew.

Loving the new look in the book now.

That baby raccoon was so adorable.

Just sitting in the grass at sundown (I was there to

capture the sunset) when an eagle-eyed 

photographer saw him gazing from the grass.