Water Color

Birthday Buzzard Gift Set

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I was asked to make a gift box for a specific sized item for an 80th birthday gift.  I of course had to make a matching card because I had just the thing!

Birthday Buzzard Gift Set

I am normally quite the Stampin’Up! purist when it comes to product, especially my stamps, but I couldn’t resist these.  I purchased them at a recent convention I went to from http://www.stampsbyjudith.com.  There are actually three used for the front, a sentiment for the inside, and then little flies as well.  Yes, I said flies.  Like I said, I couldn’t resist!

Birthday Buzzard Gift Set

The box used a whole sheet of the heavy Shine On Specialty DSP, and isn’t it lovely?  I needed something strong because the jar going inside is heavy.  I made the largest box with the Gift Box Punch Board, but left the flaps open since the jar was too tall.  I think it will just have to get some fun tissue or something.  I will leave that to the giver.

Birthday Buzzard Gift Set

I know I goofed my stamping some, but I was having too much fun to care.  I honestly just forgot to mask off some of the sign for my vulture to sit on.  I think everyone will live through it though.  The humor in the card is just too awesome!

Birthday Buzzard Gift Set

Have a creative day!

Moana

Inspired First Sight

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I have a thing for unique mugs and my oldest daughter gets me.  She found this little treasure and couldn’t resist.  It reminded me of simple water coloring, so I thought I would create a card around it.

Inspired First Sight

Of course it had to be water color somehow to go with the simple brush strokes on the mug.  I matted a card base with painters tape to leave me a clean 1/4″ border and brushed the whole surface with plenty of water.  I then dabbed my aqua painter in the ink colors to coordinate with the mug and created a very soft background.  When I was satisfied I went looking for the perfect stamps.

Inspired First Sight

One of the new sets in the spring catalog caught my eye.  It is called First Sight and has more than one use.  It isn’t all about Valentine’s Day, or Mother’s Day but really has several uses.  For me, that is when a set gets purchased.  Having a stamp for just one use better be pretty darn amazing to get into my collection.  And as of today, the catalog is live so you can have the stamp set too.  How fun!

Inspired First Sight

Have a creative day!

Moana

Elegant Butterfly

~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

Butterflies, butterflies, and more butterflies.  There are a bunch going on here, but one in particular started it all.  You might not realize it, but I played quite a bit with this little butterfly.  Lots of detailing and working it with a stylus.

Elegant Butterflies

Sometimes the attention to detail makes all the difference.  My daughter made a good observation.  She said it would be really pretty if it were glass or something so it could be a necklace charm.  I have to agree, it would be lovely.

Elegant Butterflies

I do rather enjoy working with colors that are so not of the current holiday.  Nothing more entertaining than making a spring card in late fall, or a fun Christmas project in the middle of July.  Something different to expect.

Elegant Butterflies

Have a creative day!

Moana

Nautical Themed Invitation

~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

Take a look at this fun invitation and imagine another twenty-four of them.  Quite the fleet of cards, and I just love them.  They are themed invitations for an event a few weeks out for a church event.  The cream banner at the bottom ended up having “Embark…” written on it.  Great invites for a great night to come.

Nautical Themed Invitation

I am not prone to square cards, but I don’t know why.  They look so fun and offer a different design pallet.  Good reminder.  Crumb cake, very vanilla and soft sky come together for this lovely scene.  Only one stamp and a lot of die cuts.  I did have help on this assembly line for sure.  I did all the stamping, sponging and assembly while my husband ran the die cuts.  Yes, he did all six sets of twenty-five.  He is so fun to work with.  How lucky can a girl get!

Nautical Themed Invitation

The dies are from a collection my husband found for me at a thrift store, so I couldn’t send you in a direction for them.  Aren’t they great though?  But honestly, the stamp makes it all happen, and that comes from the Traveler set.  Lots of layers and an eye for design.  With those in mind, there are no limits to what you can create.  Just be patient and try a few options out until you are satisfied.  Now, to create centerpieces that go with these.  Another day…

Nautical Themed Invitation

Have a creative day!

Moana

You’ve Got This

~ moanaj ~ 2 Comments

Sometimes simple words are all you have, and sometimes that is all you need.  That is just how I feel this morning.

You've Got This

I took my time painting this lovely flower with a few of my favorite inks.  I stamped the flower in almost artichoke and did light water coloring to get the base down.  I added cajun craze but kept it light the first time through.  Adding more water helped to do a little blending, but I didn’t want too much of that.  I like that two colors together can create a third unexpected surprise.  In person, you can see the blended areas have nearly a cherry cobbler tone.  Cool, right?  I thought so too.

You've Got This

The entire image was accented in gold encore ink, still using the aqua painter.  That really creates a fun look and is surprisingly easy to control.  One simple sentiment in black stazon ink with a little gold metallic thread and this simple card was done.  Well, I did have to stamp inside as well.  I stamped off twice before I placed the stamp on the inside paper.  Nice and light.  And look, absolutely no sponging!  Crazy.

You've Got This

Have a creative day!

Moana

Irresistible Beautiful Bunch

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Some days the creativity flows effortlessly and some days it would be easier to birth an elephant.  That would be today.  I had to walk away two different times before I called it done.

Irresistible Beautiful Bunch

The color me irresistible designer series paper is so very cool.  I love that I get to choose which colors I want to create as well as others that are already done and full of interest, especially this black paper.  Isn’t it so elegant?

Irresistible Beautiful Bunch

These flowers just about took me down, they still just might.  I was determined to use these new pearl embellishments and picked this flower stamp and coordinating punch to frame them.  Well, they turned out too light with my method of water coloring and I didn’t like the boarder from the punch, even though it was small, it made the flower just too light.  I did more painting and added black ink in too.  Just a bit, but it is there.  Tried curling the flowers more, and then just about tore them up.

Irresistible Beautiful Bunch

 

I just put them in place and grabbed the ribbon.  I wasn’t going to use a ribbon, but a sentiment layered on tags.  When I gave it a try, I decided it wasn’t so horrible after all.  I am sure there could have been other things to help, but I just had to call it and walk away.  Either way, I really don’t hate it anymore.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Happy Father’s Day!

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What more do you need to say than that?  I guess there are too many words to include in such an important day as this, but a card can only hold so many.  It is a special occasion, so I did a little more than normal for this project.

Happy Father's Day!

A friend of mind recently stepped out of her front door to a scene similar to this card front.  Of course hers was more accurate, and with a lot more trees, but you get the idea.  It was a beautiful sunset and I couldn’t wait to put it in a card somehow.  It worked out and was fun to arrange.

Happy Father's Day!

 

I hope you are all enjoying this special day in the way you would like.  We are actually all over the place, but doing good things either way.  I love all of the dads in my life!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Swallowtail Watercolor

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The only thing I could think about was getting out my Swallowtail stamp.  I love this huge guy.  I had visions of a muted but colorful butterfly on watercolor paper.  Well, it took a few tries before I didn’t hate what I was doing.  Sometimes my vision and my technique process don’t connect.  Then something new comes up.

Swallowtail Watercolor

I took a piece of watercolor paper and spritzed it heavily with water.  I then applied drops of ink randomly, focusing on one color at a time.  I used my spritzer to dilute the ink drops further and helped them spread out more.  I ended up with four colors.  I put my heat gun to it until it was nice and dry.

Swallowtail Watercolor

I really had my heart on using black stazon for the butterfly, but that just wasn’t looking right.  I switched it up and stamped it in wisteria wonder.  That gave the perfect look.  I think because the ink is water based and could be loaded up heavier gave a better impression on this type of paper.  Not sure exactly, but it sounds good.

Of course I had to make a little bag.  The need to make matching sets is so strong sometimes.  When you see a card or a bag on this blog by themselves, you know I had to tell myself to just walk away.  This time, it had to be done.

Swallowtail Watercolor

I actually love it so much, I can see myself making a large set of these for a gift for someone.  They are truly all occasion, not a sentiment to be found.  That also took great self control.  Not to mention how badly I wanted to add basic pearls.

Swallowtail Watercolor

I have gone on and on, but I wanted to give more detail today.  You should really give this one a try.  It is so liberating and actually, quite simple.

Have a creative day!

Moana