More July Anniversaries

Our three children have anniversaries in the summer. Here are my cards for each:

Jess and Steve:

John and Erica:

Stephanie and Chris:

All three are ready to go - Thanks to Penny Black images and Distress inks, watercoloring continues to be my new found love! I actually stamped the images first with Distress Antique Linen and then watercolored with other Distress inks; Barn Door, Firebrick Red, Spiced Marmalade, Wild honey, Walnut, Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn. I also used black ink, and white gel pen for the sunflowers.

The color backwash is Distress Broken China with a bit of Wild Honey. I added the background wash after the image was painted. I am getting a little more confident with each time.  And surprisingly I do like the splatters on the first card!

The Tim Holtz watercolor paper goes perfectly with the Neenah solar white paper. I used foam tape to adhere it to the card base. I continue to sign my cards when watercolored as suggested in the Watercolor class- after all they are very different each time!

Makes me feel like an artist :)

Vic's 93!

Yes, hard to believe Vic is 93 years old on July 2nd. So glad we got him into assisted living and he seems to be doing so much better. Here's my card for him...

Yes you may be noticing a trend!  Watercoloring! Love this poppy image from Penny Black's Blooming Gardens. Not sure I will ever tire of it...

Our gardens have always been known for the poppies that bloom at the start of the season so this card is very appropriate for Vic!

Again, the Tim Holtz watercolor paper is my favorite. Gives me enough courage that maybe I will try to paint some of my own impressions for cards... scary!

July the Anniversary Month

There are so many wedding anniversaries in July for our family! So I really got in watercoloring mode with those new Penny Black Stamps!


First my sister on July 1:

Just love the look of the watercolor on the Tim Holtz paper! All of the inks I used are Distress inks. The backwash is my favorite Broken China, and the lilies are a combination of Spiced Marmalade and Wild Honey with some Barn Door added. The greens are Mowed Lawn and Peeled Paint.

I masked the paper before watercoloring and it made its own edge, then attached it to the card base with foam tape. The greeting is from Hero Arts and the image is from Penny Black. 

Wonder when I will tire of watercoloring???

Next anniversary is a celebration of friends in town for their 50th:

The difference with this is that there is no border and I added a larger masked area to color. It appears more vibrant and the speckles on the lilies are less intense. Love the watercolor look! 

I also stamped the greeting right on the card! On the first one my stamping was not crisp enough and I fixed the error with another layer. At least I didn't lose the watercolor image!

Happy 50 th Ken and June!

June birthdays - 2

Lyla Kate will be three years old this year and is such a force to be reckoned with! Here's her card...

I really wanted a card that showed Duchess, a mother cat and her eight kittens that we are fostering through their 8 weeks. Lyla and her sister, Cami have so enjoyed visiting them and helping to socialize them all!  We are almost through the fostering and will return them to Second Chance Animal Center so they can be neutered and spayed and be ready for adoption. 

So I pulled out SU's Zoofari, and turned the leopard into a kitten! The card base is PTI teal and the next layer is the patterned teal also from PTI.  Diecut circles with stamped cats on white -  then watercolored each to match a kitten and were glued to the patterned paper layer. Yes, all eight kittens are there peeking at Lyla! The teal paper made a perfect flap in the next larger circle size, adhered with a foam piece. I can just see Lyla flipping them open now!

The number dies are from Avery Elle and crystal effects added the sheen. I ended up not liking that, and made new circles, embossing the numerals in white for the final card (which I forgot to take a picture of before mailing it)!

Duchess is the black cat in the top right circle.  The center circle is larger with white embossing with the happy birthday message from PTI Bigger Blooms. I needed some bling for charm and added 3 stars- just right!

Now I have my college roommate to think about. I am really hooked on the watercoloring- and my Penny Black order came!

So here's my card for Cathi...

The card base is Neenah Solar White 120#. The background wash is with Distress Broken China, the Penny Black Stamp set is Blooming Garden. The greeting is from PTI Bigger Blooms. The watercolor paper is from Tim Holtz. The image is stamped in Distress Antique Linen, and then brushed with BarnDoor, Firebrick Red, Spiced Marmalade, Mowed Lawn and Peeled Paint. I also added some Wild Honey in the background wash to look like some sunlight.

Splattering has never been my favorite, but I do think I needed it on this image. And yes, I did sign it as suggested in the Watercolor class! Love this stamp in watercolor and it does look different every time!

June- first anniversary and birthday

June is the month to get ready for all of the anniveraries in the family for July-August, starting with ours on June 26th.

There are also a few birthdays starting with mine on June 2nd. There's also William on June 27th, Cathi on the 29th(my college roommate), Lyla Kate on June 30th, and Vic on July 2nd. He'll be 93 this year!

This year there is only one retirement that I need to make a card for, so I plan to use the "Amazing" card from the watercolor class. I do need to duplicate that card though, because I love it so much! It could really use many different sentiments.

My anniversary card for John:

Using PTI's A-Mazing stamp set this was a quick card to make. I did a watercolor wash with a new stencil from Heidi Swapp on the base, using Distress blue inks. It is a one layer card, and then just stamped the sentiment with the maze. The inside says, "I don't know, but I am sure glad we did!" Very appropriate for our anniversary!  

John presented me with a card and theater tickets to the Weston Playhouse FOR THAT NIGHT! So amazing and unusually for him to do that... we had a great time!

Here's my card for William, our grandson who just turned 7!

Using the same stamp set, I followed Laura Bassen's idea and die cut 4 layers of the maze, glued them and used sprinkles for the balls under a piece of plastic. Then I diecut the patterned paper from PTI's new teal pack, and adhered it with foam tape to give it the layered look.

Topped the whole thing off with some bling with sequins and stars for William!  The balls don't work as well as I wanted them to, and if I do this again, I will do at least one more layer of diecut. I was also disappointed that the maze stamp doesn't match the die cut! Crazy, huh?

Love the new teal color from PTI!