WCW: Alis Volat Propriis

The past weeks I have been inspired to work in my Moleskine watercolor pocket book more and decided it would be fun to share those pages in a new segment called WaterColorWednesday. This page was done with all VLVS! stamps and Daniel Smith watercolors and handmade colors by Designs by Rachel Beth.

The under layers started with the blending a few greens of the Irish Luck set by DbRB as a test page. I found the pot of gold, which is only glitter with binding, very difficult to work with sadly. Maybe I just need to get the hang of it, but when it dried, you can easily rub off that glitter from the page. The rest of the set is amazing and the two extra colors are spiced mimosa and berry cake. Berry cake I used a little bit on her dress but found it doesn't really work with the color scheme I had in mind. The red on her dress is from DS and I continued working with the dot cards I have of the brand.

It's amazing how much you can use from those little dots in the 66 colors try it set! I cut the sheet up so that it would fit easily in the back pocket of the moleskine watercolor pocket book. I added more layers of color, then some shimmer glazing and white gelpen for highlights. Stamed some mixed media stamps to give the background more interest. I thought the page was done, but then added the sentiment and a border around it with a fineliner.

Sharing my Watercolory desk shots with my friends over at WOYWW this week - it's been a while, hope you all been well. Looking forward to catch up with you :) 

I hope you can see the shimmering effect the watercolor has, it's so lovely to see in the light! With my watercolor experiments I am completely falling inlove with this medium and how it works and the pure whimsy of it.

By the way I used the following VLVS!

Alis Volat Propriis

Row of numbers

Scribble Circle

Sequin waste border

Cross mark background

Whimsical Fairy Lady 

I also would love to enter this page in the following challenges:

VLVS! june challenge is all about nature

There is still time to play along, you have until the end of the month to link up!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Mail Art Monday: Sail Your Ship

It's definitely been a while but here I am with another Mail Art Monday post. I made this one a while back and recently found the recording of it and sharing the process video below. It is made inspired by the postage stamps and I found rubber stamps and stencils to fit with the theme.

You can see the process here:

Products used:

Distress Oxides, Viva Decor and Arte Mio Clear stamps, Staz-on ink pads, faber castell pitt artist pens, StencilGirl® Doodle it Tornado stencil

Hope you liked seeing the process of this MAM - I'm not sure if I'll be doing the weekly posts, but am thinking about doing them monthly. Let me know in the comments here or in the YT video if you would like seeing more of this Mail Art Tutorial video's.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have an awesome day!

Happy 300th SDC!

If you have been following the SDC blog and entering our challenges, you must have noticed the HUGE celebration that has been going on in the past weeks. The Stampotique Designer Challenge is celebrating the 300th challenge! Can you believe it, already 300 challenges?! It's amazing! And we all of the DT have made a special project to share with you and today it is my turn to show you the project I have made :) 

I have made this card with my fave stamp from Stampotique Originals (and believe me it was hard to choose the one fave because there are so many wonderful ones!) which is the Unicorn by Magda. It is such a beautiful fun and whimsical design and really feels like she can make magic happen! On this card I also emphasized the whimsy as I have her "farting hearts",  LOL! These are Daniel's hearts which I have colored and cut out individually. The many Heads on the background are all the SDC friends celebrating with us, wishing the Stampotique family a happy 300th celebration. 

By the way, a little about the technique: the background is embossed with pear violet interference and water colored over it with Purple Pazzazz Diamine Shimmertastic inks. The unicorn is water colored on a separate piece of paper using Daniel Smith and Designs by Rachel watercolors. the number 300 is stenciled in using Stencil1 stencils from his book. And lastly Terri's Alphabet is used to form the sentiment. 

So head on over to the blog and make sure to comment on all the posts to be entered in the prizes that are being given away. Make sure to stay with us until the 20th when we will draw 2 people from the comments at random for the 30.00 gift certificates!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Art Journal: Experienced workmen

It's not often that I make masculine themed art journal pages but for some reason I was inspired to make this page in my art journal. I suppose it's also to do with the fact I got those Tim Holtz paper doll packs and there a bunch of masculine images in there and it prompted me to use one. Also perhaps, when doing free association art journaling, my dad popped up in my mind. Art journaling definitely helps me through this grief process and while he may not be here anymore to celebrate father's day with, which is this weekend, he will be always in my heart. And thus I also dedicate this page to men whom worked hard all their life and see possibility in every turn.

I started this page on watercolor paper by strathmore and used some Cosmic Shimmer pixie powder in emerald green which I already mixed with water and sprayed over the page. Then when that dried, I scraped some transparent texture paste through the Diamond Dance Stencil by Terri Stegmiller over the page that then dried would show through the deep emerald color and keep that under layer safe. I added some pewter pixie powder for some darker aria's and traced the shapes with first a black posca pen and then a white one. More texture with stamping mixed media stamps from VLVS! and AALL and Create. Some fine gold and white gouache splatters and created the border with the black and white posca pen. The image is popped up with some foam dots and he is grounded by washi tape. I created a shadow around him using stabilo all pencil and faber castell pitt pens.

The sentiment is put together with Tim Holtz sentiment and chit chat stickers. I found the gold lettering on white too light so I traced it with a sakura pigma extra fine liner.

The texture paste (which is semi glossy) resisted the other water soluble mediums and kept the brightness in the diamond shapes and the pewter pixie powder gave them more shadow and dimension on the page. And I love how these paper dolls have such a beautiful sepia tone that when you use a bright cool color tone under them, they just pop from the page as well. Definitely like how this page came together. 

Would love to share this journal page in the following challenges: 

Simon Says Stamp - Monday challenge - Anything but a card 

Art Journal Journey June challenge - Inspire by theme 

(Inspired by my hard working dad and all fathers/men in general really) 

Try it on Tuesday - For the boys theme 

Country view challenges - the written word 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have an awesome day!

Craft Stamper TIMI - June Challenge Inspiration

Hi everyone, today I am sharing some inspiration with your for the challenge over at Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It challenge for June. I've made some summer tags with beach colors and fantastic mermaid images by Brian Kessinger from Viva Las VegaStamps! I usually don't make tags, so this is a departure for me but really loved making these. A few close up shots of the tags:

Discover your treasure

Be different, love yourself

The sentiments are chit chat stickers from Tim Holtz. The back ground is made with distress oxide and splatters of picket fence and a bunch of mixed media stamps. The main images are colored with alcohol markers on sticker paper and then adhered to the tags after fussy cutting. 

Come and join the challenge at the Craft Stamper TIMI blog where you can be in the running for fabulous prizes from this month's sponsor and have a chance to get your work featured in the magazine! But you must be it it to win it, so link up your projects HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Little ray of pitch black (Stampotique Originals new release)

A quickie today to show you a little card made with one of the new releases by Daniel Torrente this month over at Stampotique Originals. She is stamped on a watercolor card on which I stamped off excess ink from Kassa's flower frenzy stamps and colored her with watercolors and enhanced with colored pencil. The phrases by Terri always make me laugh and I just thought this one would go well on the card. 

Over at our Challenge blog you will find a very special post about the 300th challenge at SDC!! That is right, there have been 300SDC posts so far and there will be 2 weeks of celebrations going! Each of the DT members will have their own day on the blog to post their project and there will be prizes given away too! So head on over to the challenge blog today to find out more on how you can enter!

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

Angel Hugs (Stampotique Originals new release)

It's the first of the month so that means Stampotique Originals has new stamps up today! I'm showcasing a card made with 2 new releases, the birdie branch by Tini Lubberink and the Angels by Terri Richardson.  I've used watercolor paper and my Tombow markes for this card, added some shadows with Distress Crayons and matted onto black before adhering to the card base. The hugs sentiment is die cut from Technique Tuesday. Oh and of course to add more texture I almost always use Kate Crane's Texture cube :) 

Check out more new release stamps from the other DT members in our Facebook group. 

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!