smooshed watercolor background

October AJ Page-Believe in Fairytales

Hello friends! It’s almost Halloween, can you believe?! Today is actually hubby & my 23rd wedding anniversary that we are out celebrating and hanging out having fun right now. So the theme of my page was designed to fit with this in mind today.

Hard to believe that the end of the month is here and also time for a monthly Art Journal page and collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too! We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles! So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” October prompt of “UNUSED MEDIA from stash” :

As I was thinking of this month’s prompt, I was checking through my media to see if there was something that I had NOT used at all yet, but for the most part, I have. So then my thoughts turned to what I haven’t used in quite a while. So after going through bottles and bottles of liquid watercolor…and throwing several away that were no good…I used some colors to create the background on my page using a 6″x9″ sheet of Bristol Smooth Watercolor paper with pre-punched holes. I added drops of the watercolor on my glass mat, sprayed with water and “smooshed” the paper to create the look I wanted and let dry. I wanted the smooth texture because I knew I was going to stamp over top.

Another media I haven’t used in a while is the Faber Castel Gelatos, which was used to create the moon. I took a circle scrap, traced around it and then scribbled on a white and shimmer white gelato with my finger and rubbed into the areas I wanted. I also pulled out several of the Lavina Stamps which were all used to create the scene over my watercolor background. I had these stamps for quite some time, but have never used any of these images. So I stamped stars at the top, the moon, the castle, the stage coach and the tall grasses. BEFORE all the stamping, I did use some gold paint to create splatters at the top.

After stamping the images, I took some torn scrap paper and sponged in the “ground” areas for my images.

For the quote, I printed out the “in fairytales” on my computer, added a die cut “Believe” sentiment cut from some gold glitter cardstock and attached it above the computer generated wording. I tore around this sentiment and sponged in some dark blue around it. I finished off the page with some gold Stickles around the edges and drops randomly over the star areas. I also took a glitter brush pen to add some sparkly highlights to the castle, ground areas and stage coach.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my AJ page today & been inspired in some way. Please check out Carol’s page for more inspiring fun! Thanks so much for dropping in!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Fairytales, Folklore and Fables (Mine is based on the Fairytale Cinderella)

October 29, 2022October 21, 2022

*Vicki*18 Comments

A {Cupcake Inspirations} Color Combo Reminder with a Slimline

Hello there friends! I hope that you’ve had a wonderful weekend! It’s slowly getting cooler as we go along with this month and even some snow in the forecast. I love the Autumn Season and will try to hold onto it for as long as I can! So with that, I’d like to remind you about the halfway point of our challenge:

There are still a few days left to enter your project for the Yellow, Orange and Red color combo challenge over at {Cupcake Inspirations} so I hope that you can join along with us!

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**Also, there is currently a design team call going on right now if you’re interested in being on the “Cupcake Sweeties” team. CLICK HERE for more details**

Today, I have a fun Autumn style slimline card to share with you today using the beautiful color combo:

So I’ve been wanting to pull out my Aqua Pigments to have some watercolor play time! I pulled out a piece of Bristol Smooth watercolor panel that I cut down to a slimline size approximately 3.25″ x 8.25″ because I knew that I would be layering it over top of a Raven top folding 3.5″ x 8.5″ slimline card base.

The Aqua Pigments that I’ve used on this background have a gorgeous sparkle in them and I’ve tried to capture that in the photo, but it’s so sparkly and pretty in person! I’ve used Sparkle Yellow, Heirloom Carrot (subscription only) and Firecracker (subscription only) Aqua Pigments that I’ve dripped randomly over my glass mat, sprayed with some water for more movement and “smooshed” the panel over it and let them run and drip together. Once dried, I’ve splattered over it with gold and black paints.

A while back, I got me the beautiful Leafy Slimline Die from Pink and Main that I cut out with some brushed gold cardstock from my stash I’ve had for quite a while. I also used the Blessings Slimline Dies to cut the sentiment including the shadow underneath with vellum and the words with Raven cardstock glued down over the leaves.

I’ve added the leaves frame die cut over the watercolor background and mounted it to the card base. Lastly, I’ve added some sequins and crystals from an Autumn mix embellishment pack. I filled the centers of the red sequins with some Nuvo Red Berry Crystal Drops.

Hope you’ve been inspired today with my slimline design! Thanks so much for dropping in and please be sure to stop by and check out more inspiration using the color combo over on the {Cupcake Inspirations} Challenge blog to see more! I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

Make My Monday – #135 Elegant Fall/Autumn
Not Just Cards – Anything Goes November
Crafty Gals Corner – #213 Thankful
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Thanks/Thanksgiving
Creative Fingers – #197 Anything Goes

November 15, 2020November 13, 2020

*Vicki*24 Comments

Add a Quote For Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! It’s Thursday and time again for a new challenge over at the Cute Card Thursday Blog! The theme for this week’s challenge is to “Add a Quote” to your project! I happen to love quotes and find them very inspirational to help lift my spirits and I think it’s a wonderful type of card to send to someone who might need a little lift. So here’s the card I created for the challenge:

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There’s always something magical about a night sky especially with some soft glowing lights hanging up in your backyard!

Starting with the background, I took some watercolor paper and the Night Shift Aqua Pigments along with some sprayed water and some acetate to move around the watercolor and mix them together to create the “night” look I wanted for the background. I then took some circle stencils that I made myself with some circle dies and white Ink with a sponge to create the “bokeh effect” over the background in the upper portion of the design. Then I white heat embossed with white EP using an image from the stamp set. I also heat set the quote at the bottom. I also added some “splatter” at the top of the card with some watered down Pearl Aqua Pigment and a brush. I then colored in some of the open stars with it. I’ve used some Brown Aqua Pigment to color in the branch too. I used some yellow chalk to make the “lights” around the branch glow and then covered them some glitter. Then I took some TINY star confetti and glued them around the branch area for more sparkle.

It’s hard to photograph all of that shimmer from the Night Shift Aqua Pigments and sparkle that’s all over this card, so I thought I would share it in motion:

I want to keep replaying so that I can see that shimmer in the background!

Here’s a closer look at the quote I’ve used in case you couldn’t read it. “It is important to remember that we all have magic inside of us.” – JK Rowling … Love that!

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