Under the Sea Birthday Card

The challenge over at Seize the Birthday is "Ocean Colors" and the theme of this week's challenge at My Time to Craft is "Under the Sea".  I found a wonderful open sketch layout at Sketch Saturday and used it to make this card that fits all three challenges:

Products used:
     Under the Sea stamp by Technique Junkies
     Ponderosa Pine Ink (retired Close to My Heart)
     Just a Number sentiment (retired Close to My                     Heart)
     Watercolor paper
     White Daisy CS
     Tropical Blue CS (retired Close to My Heart)
     Sapphire CS
        Sapphire Ink
     Nuvo Glitter Markers
     Watercolor Paints
     Nuvo Morning Dew Crystal Drops

Here is the fabulous Sketch Saturday sketch #480 that inspired my card layout:

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:
     Always Fun Challenges--Create a Scene
     Dragonfly Journeys--True Blue
     Glitter 'n' Sparkle #256--Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

p.s. If you like what you see on my blog please consider "following" me by email or in your blog roll so you don't miss out on any of my fabulous card making ideas. You can sign up on the right sidebar.

Watercoloring for Atlantic Hearts Sketch #150 and Joyful Stars Blog Hop

Welcome back to another Joyful Stars Blog Hop!  We are a group of Close to My Heart consultants who share something each month on the 9th and at 9PM EST.  If you are coming from Betty Locco's blog you are on the right track.  (If you get "lost" along the way visit Joyce's blog for the complete lineup.)  Have fun being inspired! 

I had so much fun using Close to My Heart Watercolor Paints for the Watercolor Blog Hop last week that I decided to use them again for this card.  The sketch is from Atlantic Hearts Sketch #150 and the color theme is from A Blog Named Hero called "Rainbow".  Since this card has a birthday message I'm also entering it into the Seize the Birthday challenge.

I used thin washi tape to mask off sections on watercolor paper to create the color blocks.  Here's a helpful tip:  when watercoloring use painter's tape and a flat sturdy board so that you can heat emboss it to dry the paper and keep it flat.  I used a Dollar Tree mini cutting board for this purpose.

Close to My Heart products used:

     Watercolor Paper

     Watercolor Paints

     Canary CS

     Gypsy CS

     For Family stamps

     Versamark Ink

     Ranger White Super Fine Embossing Powder

     3D Foam Tape

The next stop on the blog hop is Crystal Davis' blog.  I'm sure you'll be inspired by what she shares.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

P.S.  If you like Close to My Heart products and you like to challenge yourself I invite you to check out the Color My Heart Color Dare blog.  We award blog badges to our weekly winners and have a monthly prize drawing for a randomly drawn entry so the more often you play the more chances you have to win a donated prize from a CTMHconsultant.

Your Own Kind of Wonderful in the Watercolor Blog Hop

Welcome to our Watercolor Blog Hop!  We will be featuring the Watercoloring products from Close to My Heart such as our Watercolor Paints and our Watercolor Pencils.  If you have come here from Kathy Burrow's blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog:  http://ifyoublingit.blogspot.com/p/stamp-of-month-blog-hop-list.html. 

This month we have 30 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using Watercolor Products and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! 

My project features a technique called "Watercolor Lifting".  Basically you paint your panel and then clear emboss your images.  Next you paint your panel with plain water to lighten the colors so your embossed images are darker.  It's pretty easy to do!

Here's a close up so you can see how shiny the silver embossed panel is:

Can you guess how I got the silver embossed dots on the butterfly?  Okay, I'll tell you--I used a small Q tip cotton swab dipped in Versamark ink pad and then applied silver embossing powder and a heat tool.  I got the Happy Birthday Greeting from the Perfect Fit Birthday stamp set.

Close to My Heart products used:

     Watercolor Paper

     Watercolor Paints

     Art Philosophy cartridge Pink dotted butterfly

     Versamark Ink

     Clear Embossing Powder

     Ranger Silver Embossing Powder

     Your Own Kind of Wonderful stamp set

     Perfect Fit Birthday stamp

My card layout was inspired by Freshly Made Sketch #226:

Now "Hop" on over to Lela Norris' blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get the products I used in this project.

Here are some other projects I've made recently using the Watercolor Paints:

     Monochromatic Blue Watercolor Card

     Spring Critters Frog Card

     Watercolored Striped Card

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

     

Spring Critters Frog for Color Dare #174

Happy New Year!  Welcome back to another Color My Heart Color Dare challenge blog post.  The new Close to My Heart Seasonal Expressions catalog is live today and I just couldn't wait to use this adorable little frog with it's coordinating "Thin Cut" die.  This week's challenge colors are:  New England Ivy, Desert Sand and Poppy.

Close to My Heart products used:

     New England CS

     Watercolor paper

     Desert Sand Ink

     New England Ivy ink

     Poppy Ink

     Spring Critters Stamp set

     Spring Critters Thin Cut

     Heart stamps from For Family stamp set

     Birthday Funnies (Hostess Reward stamp)

     3D Foam Tape

Other products:

     Tiny Wiggle eyes

     Paintbrush

The background panel was created by "painting" with Desert Sand ink. I placed an acrylic block into the ink and then spritzed with water and painted with a watercolor brush.  After it was dry I stamped the greeting from Birthday Funnies.  The frog was first stamped in New England Ivy ink and then painted with New England Ivy ink.  When it was dry I stamped the frog outline a second time.

My inspiration for this card layout came from Try Stampin' on Tuesdays sketch:

     

Since my card has a birthday greeting I'm also entering it into the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes challenge.

Head on over to the Color My Heart Color Dare blog to see what the fabulous Design Team has to share with you.  You have until Thursday evening, January 7 at 9 PM CST to enter the challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful New Year filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

Watercolor Class Day #2 Homework

The Online Card Class Watercolor class is really fun yet I'm a little behind in my "homework".   Lesson #2 was about more background watercolor techniques.  I started this card last week with the Color Dare #93 colors and just finished it today.  I used 4 Close To My Heart ink pads for the watercolors.  First I placed an acrylic block onto the ink pad and then misted with water and used a brush to paint on the colors.

Close To My Heart products used:

    Cranberry Ink

    Twilight Ink

    Honey Ink

    Juniper Ink

    Friendship Alphabet stamps (retired)

    True Teal CS (retired)

    Metallic paper (DOTS retired)

    3D Foam Tape

Other products used:

    Watercolor paper by Faber Castell

    Stazon Teal Ink

    Studio G star punch

    Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold Mist spray by Ranger

As this is a special birthday card for a dear friend I'm also entering it into Seize the Birthday.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie

Gelato Stripes for Atlantic Hearts Sketch #28

Atlantic Hearts has another great sketch for us this week.  I was intrigued by the stripes and decided to use my new Gelatos once again. 

 

This time I made colored stripes on watercolor paper and wet them with a paintbrush and layered it onto Black CS.  The greetings are from the Artiste Cricut Collection which has stamps to match the Cricut cuts-- they were stamped in Cranberry ink. The star embellishments are "Milepost Shapes" (recently retired from Close To My Heart).  Originally these stars are kraft colored however I gave them some color with the same Gelatos I used to create the background.  The birthday greetings and stars were popped up with 3D Foam Tape.  A pair of  Licorice Adhesive Gems adorn the Birthday Wishes banner. This was a fun challenge to undertake!  

Here is the Atlantic Hearts Sketch #28: 

The challenge closes on Sunday, November 10.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week filled with fun and creativity!

:) Marie