More Watercoloring and a Penguin

Once again I am using the My Favorite Things Penguins in Paradise stamp set and coordinating dies. I also was playing with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors again.  Today's card has a much softer background and I really like it.  This time I sprayed water on my work surface, dipped the brush in it and moved it around and then brushed softly across the watercolor paper.  I also taped the watercolor paper down on a heavy piece of cardboard so I could create a border.  The one thing I did not do~~add in a little orange for the sunshine!  I colored everything in using my Copic markers.  And then Tip Top Taupe ink was perfect for stamping the sentiment into the sand.  Have a great day!  If you go out tonight, be careful and enjoy New Year's Eve!  

New Watercolors First Try!

Very much to my surprise, I was gifted with the Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor set.  Oh my!  You have read here that I have the Kuretake Watercolor brushes and that I like them very much.  They are easy to use and the colors are very pretty.  Well, the colors of the Gansai Tambi watercolor pans are so vibrant and very creamy when you put water to the paints.  Today's card is the first one I created using the new watercolors.  Look at that vibrant water!  If I tried to water the color down any more, I think even the watercolor paper would have started to peel! But with a little practice I will use these watercolors like a professional~~I hope!  I used the Penguins in Paradise stamp set and dies by My Favorite Things, another set I have been wanting for a while and am so happy to have it!  Thank you Matt, Jen, Mark & Sydney!  I already made a few cards using the set and you will see a couple more tropical penguin cards in the next two days!  Have a great day!

Cute Igloo

After yesterday's cold, very wintry weather, I thought this would be a perfect card to post.  I used a Christmas gift, Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Snow, to create it.  I die cut Soft Sky card stock using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Rectangle dies for both layers. After heat embossing, stamping, coloring and die cutting the igloo and seal, I tore Whisper White cardstock and then covered it and the igloo using the Wink of Stella clear glitter pen.  To add dimension to the card, I used craft foam to adhere the smaller Soft Sky layer to the larger one.  There was a little too much Soft Sky space left, so I quickly die cut a few of Lawn Fawn's snowflakes and they are just the right size..  The sentiment is actually from a Close To My Heart stamp set.  The little seal is so cute and you will soon see the cute little polar bear and penguins that are included in the Critters in the Snow stamp set.   Thank you, John, for the stamp set and dies!  I have wanted this set for quite a while now.  Have a great day and stay warm!

Christmas at our house . . .

. . .was so good.  There is nothing better than being with your family at any time, but Christmas is so special.  When I was little, Christmas Eve was the day my family celebrated with our Grandpa and Aunt and Uncle and Santa, too.  As we grew up and John and I had children, we started to spend Christmas Eve at our house with my Mom and Dad and sister and brothers coming over.  And here we are all these years later and we continue the tradition of spending Christmas Eve together.  I miss my sister and Mom and Dad very much but more so on Christmas Eve and my brothers have families of their own in Arizona.  But we have Matt, Jen, Mark and Sydney and their little dog and even Dexter here, too.  Matt put Syd's pet stroller together while providing lots of laughter with his antics.  Syd walked Maddie and Dexter in her stroller and then put on Jenny's bird back pack to give Dexter another ride! Our friends, Mickey and Lenora, spend Christmas Day with us and on Saturday, I played with some new toys.   Hope your Christmas was full of love and happiness, too.  Have a great day and be careful if you are out and about in the ice that has arrived!