Thanks for the support!

Thank you, QueenB!

I found a new blog to follow while hopping through Pretty Pink Posh's latest blog hop.

Barbara, aka QueenB at The Buzz is also participating in Kathy Racoosin's 30-day Coloring challenge.

Anyway, these cards are direct CASEs of ones Barbara created HERE. Same stamp set, same technique, same card design. Why improve on perfection?

So I made up a big 8x10 sheet of watercolor paper with the black-line emboss-resist image and used watercolor pencils on the flowers and leaves (Inktense) and then a wash of Distress Ink marker (Tumbled Glass) for the sky. I love that you can scribble with a marker on the watercolor paper, and still wash it out. It flows, rather than sinking in.

Then I cut up my panel and created half a dozen 4-bar cards. Cream card base, black stitched mat (Lil'Inker Designs), white-embossed sentiment, done!

I made a couple more cards with the left-over watercolor pieces:

These cards are intended for all the kind folks who sponsored me in the recent 10km race I ran here during the Ottawa Marathon weekend. I was raising funds for stuttering treatment.

My friend Erika and I wearing our team shirts on race day.

Thank YOU for reading!

Happy crafting, 

Caroline

We go together like...

Good morning, crafty friends!

Bit of a hiatus in creating there for a while... I had a busy time at work: running a stuttering intensive clinic (rewarding but exhausting) and coordinating a fund-raising team for the Ottawa Race Weekend, plus training and running a 10km...not a lot of energy left-over.

However, I did carve out some time to play with Create A Smile's first paper-crafting kit, "Sending Sunshine."  I had my heart set on it, as soon as I saw the sneak peek of the stamp set: lobsters and starfish and jellies, oh my!  The perfect accents for any scrap-booking related to our time in our cottage on Canada's east coast paradise, Prince Edward Island. I set my alarm for 2:00 a.m. on the day of the release, to make sure I got a copy...

So this card was made to celebrate my wedding anniversary. 28 years to the same great guy!

I used the bubble stencil included in the stamp set to create a gradient of ocean colour with Distress Inks. Then splotched some water drops over that. Once it dried, I used another Create A Smile stencil, Waves, to apply a layer of translucent embossing paste, to give it a more watery look along with great touchable texture. You can see the effect better in the first photo.

The sentiment comes from a Lil'Inker Designs set, Perfect Pairs. The original images are of peanut butter and jellly, but I added the words "Jelly & Jelly" on the inside, "sticking together for 28 years and counting..."  It was a big hit with the DH.

The jelly fish (which are actually kind of purplish on PEI) were coloured with Copics then coated with Liquid Glass to give them a glossy finish. The coloured enamel drops from the Sending Sunshine kit were the perfect accent.

I am linking this card up with Pretty Pink Posh's Watercolor Blog Hop:

And Kathy Racoosin's 30-Day Coloring Challenge:

I seriously DOUBT I'll be able to keep up with Kathy, but even a little colouring is therapeutic.

Speaking of which, my father-in-law, who has dementia, is colouring up a storm with my Inktense watercolor pencils. I ordered some adult colouring books from www.DoverPublications.com. He particularly loved the Frank Lloyd Wright book, full of architectural masterpieces.
I ordered one for myself from Paper Wishes: Steampunk for Colorists. The perfect little project to take on holiday...


Happy Sunday!
Caroline