September 2016 Blog Hop

I know, I know....I used RED! And there is no red in the inspiration photo. But my card just wouldn't have looked any good with a black, or brown bird...  It does have the greenery, dark brown, black, kraft and twine, however, so I hope it still qualifies.

PTI Stamps and dies: Peaceful Pinecones, Winter Woods, Songbirds

SAF Remix

I didn't have time to participate in many of PTI's Stamp-a-Faire projects, but did do one more a couple of days ago. My mother had a serious stroke a couple of weeks ago, and has now been sent out of town to a stroke rehabilitation center. She is 90, and a fighter, so we are hoping and praying that she will be able to make enough progress to return to her home in the senior's center. I made this card to mail to her, since I am unable to travel to go see her.

I used Kay Miller's technique for watercolouring, seen here:
http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2016/07/saf-2016-watercolor-like-a-master-with-kay-miller.html

Such a pretty, and relatively easy way to get a watercoloured look. I used the same PTI flower stamp as Kay did, and even the same PTI inks, as I thought what she did was perfect!

Thanks for looking!

Stamp-A-Faire 2016: Gilded in Gold

Danielle has us "gilding in gold" for this challenge. I chose to use "Meadow Greens" for this masculine card which is going to a friend for his 65th birthday. I gilded the edges of the panel in Versamark and gold embossing powder. I also made one of the ferns and part of the sentiment gold, since he can now apply for his "gold" senior's card! Sentiment is from "Wet Paint" stamps and dies.

SAF 2016: POINTILLISM PLAY

I was intrigued with Heather's "Pointillism Play" challenge and thought I'd give it a try with Pretty Peonies. Heather's violets were spectacular, with lots of contrast in colours. (I would have liked to have more contrast in mine.) It took a long time! It's not like watching the video on fast forward. I used a Shakers and Sprinkles frame and a wide variety of PTI inks to stamp the flowers.

Here's a close-up of the "dots":

PTI: Share Your Masterpiece

I'm sharing this card, as it's one of the first watercolour cards I've painted. I still like how it turned out. I've never put a sentiment on it, as I was keeping it for a special occasion...which hasn't arrived yet, apparently, since I still have it! This is a PTI stamp, called "Sunflower Bouquet".

Thanks for looking!

PTI's June 2016 Blog Hop Challenge

I thought this inspiration photo for Papertrey's monthly blog challenge (seen here) had some beautiful colours, and ones I wouldn't have thought to put together.

I immediately thought of an underwater scene, but since I don't have any seaweed stamps, I went with Harvest Berries (heat embossed in white), and Turning a New Leaf, stamped in Americana ink, as well as heat embossed in clear powder onto the Aqua Mist card stock panel. 

I sponged the following inks over the stamped images: Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, and Blueberry Sky. I added 3 Simple Seashells and then a layer of vellum, to make it look like it was all underwater. One more seashell was added on top, along with a heat embossed sentiment from Keep it Simple: Birthday, to finish it off.

This next one was actually my first panel, but I wasn't happy with the colours. I didn't think it went with the inspiration photo very well, so I made it into another card. I was going for masculine cards, as I have some male friends with birthdays coming up. These colours are out of my comfort zone, but it's good to go there once in a while, right?

Thanks for looking, and your comments make my day!

Make it Monday #251: Gradient Watercolour Die Cuts

Here is a card I've made for a good friend, whose birthday is in a couple of weeks. I used the Diagonal Cover Plate to cut my watercoloured background. I actually felt brave enough to use my Zigs, after seeing Dawn create such a beautiful background with them.  I wasn't as successful using my waterbrush, though, and ended up grabbing a wide paintbrush and a jar of water to blend the colours. And I know that Lupines are not naturally this colour, but call it "artistic license" ;)

Thanks for looking, and thank you to all the caring people who wished me well last week! You are all such a great bunch!

Make it Monday #250: Masked Backgrounds

Well, hello! I've been MIA for quite awhile, as I've been dealing with some fairly serious health issues. However, I am glad to be able to finally make and post a card for this week's challenge.

I'm loving the new faith-themed stamps that PTI is coming out with, and have recently made a few cards, just for me. I've never done this before, as they're always for other people, but I am needing these reminders that God is always with us, especially through the storms. However, this card is going to a friend, who is also dealing with health issues.

I masked off the edges of some watercolour paper, then sponged with Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores and Tropical Teal inks. Finally, I splattered with water. I used Betsy's new Inspired: Praise stamps and dies to make this card.

For the inside, I chose a sentiment from A Cheerful Heart.

And finally, here is one of the cards I made for myself. I watercoloured this panel awhile back, but just recently added the sentiments. (Stamp: Mondo Hydrangea, from EH)

Make it Monday #245: Colour Isolation

This week at Papertrey Ink, Ashley made a wonderful card, using "Colour Isolation" as the theme, which is just using a neutral ink to stamp a background with the same stamp as the focal point. I loved this look, so gave it a try. I used PTI's "Fashion Sense" and stamped a background in Soft Stone ink, as well as Hero Arts Soft Granite. I watercoloured the main image with red watercolour paint and added the sentiment in white embossing powder. (WPlus9)

And here is another card I made, using Altenew's "Beautiful Day" stamp set. I combined watercolouring with stamping, then heat embossed the outline image in gold embossing powder for more punch. The card front was mounted onto Soft Stone cardstock, which set it off beautifully.

Thanks for looking!

March 2016 Blog Hop

This month's inspiration photo didn't grab me, at first, because I'm not into stitching or embroidery. However, after seeing some of the wonderful cards other people are doing (Donna Phalen, especially), I was inspired by the colours, especially in the following photo.

So I found some time while the turkey is cooking to go down to my craft room and "play".

I used Lace Bouquet stamps, which I haven't used in a long while, and embossed it in white. Then I painted Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink over it all, then coloured in the image with my Copics. The sentiment was also embossed, and it's from Birthday Classics: May.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Make it Monday #243 - Ink Blending Over Embossing

Over at Papertrey Ink, Dani shows us how to ink blend over embossing powder (shown here), a tried-and-true technique for many people. I went for an ombre look, from light blue down to dark blue, for my rainy sky. I'm not crazy about this card, but I wanted to finally bust open this stamp set from PTI (Rainy Day Sentiments).Besides, it's been raining a lot lately, so making a card about rain seemed timely.

Other PTI products used were the Tip Topped dies, the die for Banner Sentiments (one end was trimmed off) and some Stamper's Select cardstock. The design paper is from my very first Patterned Paper pack from PTI--so many years  ago now, that I have no idea what the name of the pack is!

The umbrella die is from WPlus9 and the raindrops background is from Hero Arts.

Make it Monday #242 - Sponged Stamping

Over at PIT, Dawn has us sponging our stamps with a second colour of ink before stamping (video shown here). I used the same stamp set, but made a "robin red breast" for my bird. I put Bright Buttercup ink on his throat, then sponged Orange Zest on the bottom of the stamp. For his tummy, I stamped in Kraft ink, then dabbed on some Canyon Clay ink for the ombre look. This card is going to my husband's niece for her birthday.
My husband said he likes this card better than any of the others I've done... Ok...  I think it's alright--I like the simplicity of it--but I wonder if it's just the simple bird, "cute" appeal? I can't figure it out, but I'm glad he likes it!

And here's a close-up of the bird.

Make it Monday #241: Ombre Stencils

This is a remake of a card I did for the last blog hop. I liked the colour combination so much that I tried it again. I had some of the fern panel left over, so used up the bits on this card. The flowers (Vintage Linens) are a brighter pink this time, though, because I used watercolour paints instead of Pink Lady re-inker. For the ombre-stenciled background, I used a Tim Holtz stencil "Dot Fade" , which is a type of ombre, in that it goes from light, scattered dots, to larger dots on the bottom, which I sponged on using Lovely Lady ink. It's a light pink ink, which is difficult to see in this photo, but they're there! The sentiment is from the "Swoosh" dies and stamps. Thanks for looking!

PTI's MIM #240 Watercolour Resist

Well, it's Sunday night--and I'm posting this at the 11th hour! I don't seem to be able to get things done ahead of time these days...
I was going to do a big balloon for this technique, but I couldn't find my dies. (I'm not only late these days, I'm more disorganized!) So I used my Life Is Beautiful butterfly dies. My watercoloured panel was done in 3 layers, but I did an ombre wash instead of all one colour on the bottom layer. Each layer was drizzled with Rubber Cement. I cut a pale yellow vellum top for this butterfly and applied some Wink of Stella to the vellum (not that you can see it in this photo). There are two other butterflies, but I'm saving them for another project--I forgot just how large these butterflies are! The butterfly is mounted on the Quilted: Winter Tag die, which was splattered with a little Distress Ink and embellished with some sequins. This card was a bit of a departure from my usual "style" (if I have one), as it's a bit more fussy. The person it's going to is another card maker, and is the "queen of detail", so I wanted it to be something she'd like (I hope). Enough blathering, here it is:

All materials are PTI, except the embellishments. Thanks for looking!

PTI - Feb. 2016 Blog Hop

Just a quick post to get this card into today's Blog Hop for Papertrey Ink. Love the inspiration photo colours. I've focused on the fern, the pink flower, and the touch of gold.

The flowers are from Vintage Linens, and the gold-embossed sentiment is from Bloomers. I heat-embossed the ferns from Meadow Greens onto some watercoloured paper, then wiped off the extra ink. Kind of a reverse emboss resist, so that the darker areas are underneath the clear embossing.

This card is going to the senior's home, where the staff held a wonderful dinner in honour of my mother's 90th birthday last weekend!

Paintings For Sale

The following original paintings have all been painted by my mother, Lee McColl. They are acrylic, and are varying sizes. (Click on any photo to enlarge.)  All prices are discounted to be half price, or about half price.

Courtenay Air Park
was $100, now $50         Painting is 5"x 8"  (frame is 11"x 14")

Tie-Up
was $80, now $40              9"x 12"

Sunrise

was $100, now $50               12"x 12"

Chinese Still Life
was $80, now $40     11"x 14"

Leaves
was $100, now $50      11"x 14"

African Violet

Was $100, now $50    10"x 10"

Eagle and River

Was $80, now $40                9"x 12"

Foothills of Alberta
Was $80, now $40              9"x 12"

Tree-Woman

Was $100, now $50             11"x 13" (frame is 18" x 22")

Blue Vase
Was $100, now $50              16"x 20"

After the Rain

Was $175, now $80.00        12"x 16" (frame is about 20" x 24")

Chicken in the Woods

Was $175, now $80.00        12"x 14"  (frame is 17" x 22")

Feeding Time

Was $200, now $100   16.5"x 20.5"   (frame is 22.5" x 26.5")

Close up view

The Fence
Was $125, now $60         12"x 24"

Medicine Man
Was $100, now $50        8" x 10"  (frame is 13" x 15")

In the Garden

Was $100, now $50         12" x 16"  (frame is 14' x 17")

Oval Flowers (Oils)

Was $75, now $40        11" x 14"  (frame is 13" x 16")

Poppies

Was $100, now $50    8" x 10"  (frame is 15" x 18")

Quiet Stream

Was $125, now $60    8.5" x 11"  (frame is about 14" x 16")

Fading Into the Past

Was $100, now $50    8.5" x 10"  (frame is 16" x 18")

Denman Island

Was $80, now $40    5" x 7"   (frame is 11" x 13")

Black Iris

Was $80, now $40   5" x 7"  (frame is 11" x 13")

The Meadow

Was $75, now $40    9" x 12"

Forest Road

Was $75, now $40               9" x 12"

City Street

Was $125, now $60                 8" x 10"   (frame is 16" x 18")