Thursday, April 28, 2016

Pearlized Watercolor "Butterfly Prints"

Start with an extremely inexpensive set of watercolor paints ... pearlized watercolor paints from Oriental Trading Company ... obtained during an incredible sale last autumn.  Normally $8 for a dozen, I got that dozen for $1.28!  WOO HOO!
First time I used them, I was not all that impressed but ... I dug out a palette a week or so ago to paint  a background for a "no line watercoloring" rubber stamping project I had seen over at YouTube. 
Liked how that turned out and decided to try to make a piece of jewelry ... This a double-sided pendant about 24x34 mm (image area is 20x30mm according to the invoice -- need to measure it to find out if that is the "open" area or if it takes into account the size of the slot to drop the photo or artwork into) ...
So, I traced the outside of the pendant three times across the top of a 5.5 x 8.5" Canson Mixed Media spiral-bound sketch pad ... wet the blocks individually then plopped on the pearlized paints.  This time I remembered that as a general rule, watercolor will dry lighter than how it looks when wet.  Much better results than my first use of the paints when I had not taken that fact into account and got a very washed out, almost-not-there result.
Once the paint dried, I got out my Black Licorice True Color Fusion Ink Pad from Fun Stampers Journey (IP-0041), a 3x3" acrylic handle and the Butterfly Prints stamp set (SS-0017) also from Fun Stampers Journey.  The "doodle-winged" butterfly seemed to be the one to use.  Stamped it twice -- so it was on an angle in the two blocks at the end and so that there were wing doodles in the center block.  Then I set the book aside to let it all dry ... as I looked at it, I thought it might look good on a card just the way it was ...
Not sure whether I will cut it to fit the pendant or not -- hubby says he likes it just the way it is and I should not cut it.  In fact, he thinks the butterfly is too large for the pendant, even if I just want part of it in  the corner.  He may be right.  I will probably do lots of these ... it was too fun and too easy not to do it again and again ...


Sorry the photo isn't so good -- the scan was way off in color and had weird purplish areas because the tablet and paper was not sitting flat on the glass;  had to rely on the photo.  This one is a bit dark but the flash was too bright for the next three photos ... no happy medium LOL!.

At the bottom, I had a piece of lace I wanted to dye green but could not find my reinker of green stamping ink, so I tried the pearlized watercolors.  The lace hardly has any color on it but where I had placed the lace on the page while trying to colorize it left behind this sorta cool  image of itself ...





Monday, April 18, 2016

ATCs Received ... :D


Trading Cards are so much fun!
Artist Trading Cards are even more fun because you made the ones you trade with other people ...
So, I belong to a group of Fun Stampers Journey coaches who make and swap ATCs (artist trading cards) -- I also belong to a couple of other groups who make and trade ATCs using any and all papercrafting products out there.  It is a lot of fun creating "tiny" works of art.  At 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches, I consider them "tiny" (of course, "inchies" (1x1") are even tinier! LOL) ...
Well, I already shared one of the ATCs that I recently received, in the "April Showers" Blog Hop post ...
Here are the others:












Okay, the next two are not Trading Cards, as you can tell.  They do go with the above Trading Card, though.  Fun Stampers Journey has been sending out Birthday Gifts to the coaches.  It is this ATS-sized stamp in green rubber (to show that it is special) ... Just received mine and have not gotten to use it yet ... But ...
Just got off the phone with my oldest sister. She told me about her youngest grand-daughter sitting in the Play Area pretending to be running a Cupcake Shop ... using the sand in the sandbox as the ingredients, as "sprinkles" on top and using the various sandbox molds to make the cupcakes in.  And Mylah's birthday party is going to be a combo of Noodles Company and a trip to Build-A-Bear.
This stamp, plus some little bears from as set of stamps I won (for writing a post that featured a product from that company) back in January before I joined FSJ, will be the basis for my card to my great-niece.  It is a set of small animals and I already have a bunch of the little bears from that set stamped out and colored -- I'll probably use three of them in front of the cupcakes to make the card I'll send her ... I'll post it in my general stamping / crafting blog and bring the link to it here once I get it done... :-)  Wondering whether to color in the cup cakes or do some paper piecing ... oh decisions, decisions!  LOL!









 

Saturday, April 16, 2016

April Blog Hop -- April Showers



I just LOVE this ATS stamp from Fun Stampers Journey --
It is part of the Retirement Sale going on NOW at

While Supplies Last, all retiring items (from the annual 2015-16 catalog) are 30% off regular retail, and if they are still available in May, will be 40% off!
Oh, what ATS am I talking about?  It is called "Rain Tweet" and is product AT-0054.

I belong to a group of FSJ Coaches who have a monthly ATC Swap (Artist Trading Cards).  In the most recent envelope of ATCs there was this truly delightful swap.  While that ATS stamp was already on my "I Gotta Get This" list, seeing it used like Julie did makes it even more firmly planted in that list ...  Isn't it adorable?!? 


You are On The Hop ...
I'm so happy you're hoppin' along! If you arrived here from Carol Moffet Norby's blog, you're on the right track. If not, that's ok too! Just continue the hop and you'll come full circle!  Your next stop is ... back to the beginning with Janice Whiting ...


Don't forget to go on over to Fun Stampers Journey to pick up this ATS before they all sell out and to take advantage of the 30% off all retiring items!  (Be aware, at present, it my understanding that stamp sets and matching dies that are available as a "bundle" -- if you choose to order it as a bundle, the 30% off does not apply to the bundle price but the individual items within the bundle ...)  For the full list of what is on clearance, click here. (I noticed there is at least one error -- it shows one Bundle at $9.60 as the original price -- it is a typo, should say $29.60...)
I know I am heading over there right away to get mine and then I will hop on down the Hop Trail ...


Don't forget ... the next stop is ... back to the beginning with Janice Whiting ...


Your Call To Action today (or the Commenting Challenge) --
For a set of 6 inchies, 2 Twinchies and a couple of butterflies (and possibly more -- depending on what is on my desk while the envelopes are in front of me ...) -- be sure to add "Tweet! Tweet! I hop to win!" somewhere in your comment.
In March, only Sue G and Betsye Rose said they "hop to win" ... so both of them will receive a "Stamper's Salad" of papercrafting goodies ...
{If you happen to have any trouble with the Retiring List pdf over at dropbox, mention it here in the comments and I will be sure you get a working copy ...}


Blog Roll for April FSJ Blog Hop

 1. Janice Whiting - http://janiceaileen.blogspot.com/2016/04/fun-stampers-journey-april-showers-blog.html
2. Vicki Schmidt Soni -www.paperinkle.com
3. Wilma Payne - http://stampintotheoldies.blogspot.com/.../april-showers...
4. Ruth Cooper - www.sassyangelsstudio.com
5. Betsye Rose Cimino Erazo - BetsyeRose.blogspot.com
6. Sharon Venclauskas -www.bloomsbysharon.com
7. Sandra Kay Tate - www.craftingwithsandra.com
8. Crissy Salima Rivas -Iheartscraps.com
9. Rosemary Roca -http://mycrazycraftcorner.blogspot.com/
10. Carol Moffet Norby -http://stampincarol.blogspot.com/2016/04/april-showers-blog-hop.html
11. Susan Berg - http://suseadoodledo-journeys.blogspot.com/2016/04/april-blog-hop-april-showers.html