Monday, November 21, 2016

Challenge #30 Thankful!

I won this awesome kitty die set at Her Peaceful Gardens Cat lovers hop. 13. Taylored Expressions Sack-It Kitty die set
                                 I added the link in case you are interested in getting this die set for yourself. I made mine on a circle die that I had but you can add the face and tail to almost any shape. So cute!
I also won these adorable kitties from Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda on Challenge #29 last month and I am going to use them for this months Challenge #30 Thankful. These just came in today along with the Sunny Tile stamp that I ordered is by Stampendous via 123 Stitch. I figured I'd use them both since I got them both in the mail today. 

Friday, November 18, 2016

New Watercolors

Yup! Like I needed to try any more watercolors. LOL But I recently decided to try the Prima watercolors. The colors are numbered and don't have names. I spotted them on The Frugal Crafter's You tube review. Yea, Lindsay(bless her heart) is the bane of my existence. LOL I love her, and have watched her videos for years, but if you follow her be prepared to be led to trying new crafty goodness. I do think she needs to drop the frugal part of her name any more. LOL
Anyway, on to the Prima watercolors: Set one is The Classics. I could have done without the gray and white, possibly the black too, but they do take some work and skills to mix. The second set I got is the Tropical set. I decided to mix blue and red to make purple, not that there isn't a purple in the set, but I just actually felt like seeing how they mix. Well, when I added the red to the blue, I got red and than I added a tick more blue and the whole thing turned blue. I eventually did get a purpleish color from my mixing, that's why I said maybe on the black. I don't know if you could get mud from these if you wanted to. Now, I know I haven't been watercoloring for a very long time and  generally don't mix colors because I like to get the most colors that I can and why have a set of 12 colors if you aren't going to use them. If you are only going to use the three or 6 basics why buy a bigger set. Anyway, that is just the way I think of it. However, every once and a while I want to play with color mixing just for fun. So the truth is, I don't understand how this weirdness happened. I do have a basic knowledge of color theory and I am positive that when you drop red into blue you should get something resembling a purple depending on how much of blue or red you add, not the last color that you added. Once I finally got something resembling a purple, as the color started to dry, the grains of color started to separate. I should have gotten a picture of that to share, but I didn't think of it. I just sprayed the little bit I had left on my palette and let it drip down. Now I have nothing more than a cool red color. 

But look at this yumminess! I love the way watercolor blooms. This is what I have been looking for in a watercolor. The old sets I have gave me a hard time not wanting to spread This is also different paper. I decided to try other kinds of paper to see if that helps, so it could be a combination of the 2. I will have to get some more of this paper and see if the other student grade watercolors will give me any satisfaction. This paper wasn't expensive at all. It was about 6x8. It does tend to pill if you work it too much though

This is just dots inside dots. Rather fun and relaxing. Sea Lemon posted a video of fun relaxing ideas.

Looks like I totally cropped this too short. I was just playing with scenery and blooming sun. So yummy up close.

Lagoona Bue Monster High Acrylic Painting Tutorial for Beginners by the Art Sherpa from Nov 15, 2016. I decided to try it in watercolor. I think she turned out rather good. Looking at it now, I think I would work on her hair a bit more.
I hope you are having wonderful creative days. As we enter this holiday season, don't forget to take time for yourself.

Lost Coast Day Of The Dead Celebrations

Since I threw in my other Day Of The Dead stuff with my Halloween stuff, I decided to do a watercolor page using the Sugar Skull from Lost Coast Designs. I don't recall where the flower designs are from off hand. If you want to join in for a chance to win some rubber go to Lost Coast Review to find out how!

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Steam Pumpkin

I just recently got this handsome Steam Pumpkin stamps from Stampendous. I did this on watercolor paper that I deckled the edges by running a wet brush along the edge of a metal ruler. Let it have a few seconds for the water to soak in and then hold the ruler in your left hand and pull the paper towards you wuth your right hand. I used the Perfect Craft Ruler to do this nd it made it very easy. No slipping or sliding as it locks the paper in place. This card was mounted on a chocolate brown, orange and deep sea blue all Star Dream card stocks.
This one is simply done in colored pencils and layered on black with an orange card stock base. 
I had mixed up a pallet of Pearl-ex to use as watercolors and used those on the metal pieces of these cards. I had done 2 cards in watercolor but I can't find the other one. In these pictures I have tried to show off the sparkle.

Hope you have a great day and have enjoyed seeing my Steam pumpkin.