Christmas Card

I used another one of my new Stampin' Up! stamp sets, Holiday Home.  I also tried out a few new techniques.  I've always been inspired by Kristina of KWernerdesign.com.  I used my distress markers to create the background on the Ranger watercolor paper.  I also tried my hand at some Copic coloring.

I also pulled out the Liquid Applique that I've been hoarding for a couple of years now.  This card took me way too long, and it is not one that I would do multiples of, but it was fun to create.

I attempted a night sky with this card.  I also sprayed it with some Perfect Pearl mist and dotted some "snowflakes" on the background with Liquid Applique.

Thanks for looking.

Friend Card

Well, my BFF is moving. :(  But luckily, she's only moving an hour and a half away.  While I'm still sad that she doesn't live 2 minutes from me, she is moving to a place that I can drive to and spend the weekend when I want!!

I decided to make her a card to go with a little "send off gift" I picked up for her.  I have a closet full of stamps and I couldn't decide what I wanted to use.  I remembered that this odie but goodie Loads of Love & Loads of Love Accessories Stampin' Up! stamp sets have a "moving" option and a cute phrase to go with it.

I purchased the Tim Holtz distress marker set a couple of months back thanks to an amazing Blitsy sale (link in the side bar).  I have been dying to play with them.  I also picked up some of the Tim Holtz watercolor paper that I've been seeing some fabulous bloggers use recently.  I pulled out all my supplies, inked up the stamp set, and got to coloring.

It's been so long since I've watercolored anything and I realized how much I missed it.  I need to jump on the watercolor bandwagon that has been going on and do more of it!  I added the image to some Stampin' Up! solid cardstock and then pulled out a MME paper pad from Hobby Lobby for the background paper.

In true AmyR fashion, I stamped the image that's in the back of the truck multiple times onto the bottom edge of the inside of the card.  Before watching her videos, I never decorated the inside of my cards.  I did, however, forget to take a picture of that part.  :(

So, I have a little *review* of the Tim Holtz distress watercolor paper.  I have seen many designers use this paper and several have wet it before using it. They did this mostly when they were adding a large amount of color to the background.  It might work to wet the paper first and then add the color, but I did not like this technique when using the markers to color in the images.  When I got the paper wet before coloring on the paper with the marker, I had a LOT of pilling.  The marker seemed to grab bits of the paper as I colored and then it would show up on my image.  So, in the future, I will color directly onto the paper with the marker and then add the water when using this paper.  I do love that it is a true white and not a vanilla/off-white color like most watercolor paper.



If you have any questions, please let me know.  Thanks!