Watercolor sunflower

I think I mentioned before that I started drawing and painting a few years ago.  One of the first watercolors I made was a gift for some friends of mine, a sunflower.



 

 

 

 

She likes sunflowers and he is a beekeeper (I can't remember the technical name for that).  I painted the sunflower from a clip art photo of a sunflower that I really liked.  I loved the way the focus was on the single flower with only the sky in the background.  I then added the bee to the center.  It's a little difficult to see because the color blends in a little too well with the center of the sunflower, but it is there.  In my opinion, this is the best painting I have done so far and I wanted to put it in front of me, so to speak, for inspiration.  I want to paint like this again.  I think I have just rushed so much on anything I have done since then, that it has really shown in the quality of the work.  It's time for me to stop, or at least slow down, and smell the sunflower.

 

 

 

On a different note, I thought I would also show my latest card.  My husband's birthday is this weekend and he has been talking for weeks about going to see the new Star Trek movie, which also comes out this weekend, so I used that as my theme.  It is a side pull V-card.  This is what it looks like closed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this is what it looks like when you pull it open.  The picture of the Enterprise pops up from the inside.

 

 

 

 

I used black glitter cardstock for the card and printed the sentiment on dotted white vellum.

 

 

That's it for today.  Hope you enjoy.

Donna



More Printed Cardstock

I have fallen in love with using printed cardstock for cards.  The added character it gives to the card thrills me to the core.  OK a little dramatic, but you get the picture.  I thought today I would show you a few more I have made using printed cardstock.

On the first one I combined a printed cardstock from K & Company (Susan Winget Nature collection) with my favorite stamp from Unity Stamps (Phyllis Harris' Your Wings Exist) on a sympathy card for my friend.

The "Praying" sentiment is from Annie's Cardmaker Kit of the Month Club.  I stamped the girl on mulberry paper for texture, colored with Copic markers then spritzed with Glimmer Mist.  I cut around the upper part of the leaves and curled them a little so they would stand up, wrapped a little jute around the top and I was done.  The girl and the other two sentiments are from the Phyllis Harris stamp set. 




Next is a birthday card I made using a stamp from an Inkadinkado set I just purchased called Humorous Birthday.

 

 

 

First I cut apart the stamp, separating the sentiment from the image of the lizard.  (I know! ... very brave and daring!)  Then I cut the sentiment in half because I wanted the second part on the inside of the card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I colored both images of the lizard with Copic markers.  The printed cardstock and the sticker I used on the front are part of Michael's Recollections The Create Collection kit. I dusted the back of the sticker with baby powder so it wouldn't be sticky, popped it up with dots (I realized too late I should have dusted the baby powder after I added the dots but before I removed the backing on them, but it worked out all right.), then added a little glitter glue to the flower petals.  I was trying to stamp the lizard on the card front on top of the printed lines so it would look like he was standing on something, but I should have moved him over or down because he wound up right on top of the printed flower.  It looks like it is part of his tail, but it isn't.

 

 

 

 

My final card for today is a remake of one I did earlier, only as a Mother's Day card for my Mother-in-Law rather than a get well card.

 

 

 

 

This time I used the printed cardstock as the main part of the card, just added the panels, with matting, and the die cuts and flowers.  I think I like it better than the previous one and it was much easier to make, didn't have to measure and cut those "T" shaped pieces.

 

 

That's it for today.  Hope you enjoy!

Donna



Printed Cardstock

I made several cards today using printed cardstock as the main part of the card and just added stamping and embellishments.  By using the printed cardstock these were very quick and easy to make.  Some turned out better than others.



First up, I needed two masculine birthday cards.  I started with this one and decided it was not masculine enough so I just added it to my stash for future use.

 

 

I really liked the white flowers on the watercolor look cardstock and decided to use it as the background on the card front.  I also liked the green vine print coordinating cardstock and decided to use it for the card.  I had a Mrs. Grossman's embellishment that I really liked, but the whole thing together just didn't work so I deconstructed it and put the elements on the card.  I added the Making Memories metal embellishment and the card was finished.  Pretty simple.

 

 

The next card is what I used to replace the previous one. 

 

 

I just loved the clouds on this cardstock but I wanted to add just a little something so I stamped an Avocado Arts Perfectly Perfect Day kite on a separate piece of printed card stock that had a white flower on a bright yellow background that sorta reminded me of a sun, then cut it out, added string with some ribbon ties and popped it up with a foam dot. The sentiment in the cloud is from the same Avocado Arts stamp set.

 

 

 

 

 

The cardstock I used on the next card is one of those that has a really busy pattern that really could be used for either male or female, depending on what you focused on and how you embellished it. 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to bring out the marlin (or is that a swordfish?  I'm not a fisherman so I don't know about these things.) so I decided to add some other oceany (is that a word?) stuff to the front.  The Happy Birthday sentiment is part of a pop can (Pepsi) cut up and run through my cuttlebug using the Happy Birthday embossing folder.  The other sea stuff is K & Company 3D chipboard stickers.  I just love em!

 

 

 

Last, but not least, in fact it's my favorite one for today.

 

 

 

 

This cardstock was one of a few free samples of My Mind's Eye products I received at the Scrapbook Expo in West Palm Beach last September.  I just love all of the cardstock and the embellishments!  They are sooooo pretty!  I started out with some simple brown polka dot cardstock for the card, added a layer of Jolee's Boutique adhesive crinkle paper by EKSuccess, then the printed cardstock.  To give it some dimension I added some K & Company 3D floral embellishments and some blue crystal gems.  Done in no time!

 

 

That's it for today.  Hope you enjoy!





Clearly Special

Today I decided to try making another acrylic card and I really liked the way it turned out.


Here is the front:

and the inside:

I used coordinating K & Company cardstock and printed acetate sheet.  The 3D sticker on front is La Petites by the Paper Studio.  I also used dollar store stickers and rub-ons.

Well, that's it for today.  Hope you enjoy!

Another Case

I cased another card yesterday and really liked the way it turned out, though it wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I started.  I saw it on Pinterest and fell in love with it.  Here it is:






I needed a masculine birthday card and I wanted to try a technique I think I read about in a post from I'm in Haven blog of using clear embossing as a mask to make this card.  I even found the inks I wanted to use that would go with the scraps of cardstock I wanted to use for the stamp shaped background for the little squares.  I liked the colors and general layout but I wanted to also use the sentiment "Time to celebrate."  I found my clock vellum diecuts I have had for many years and a gear stamp I have also had for many years and knew that was what I wanted to do.  One other thing that influenced my design were some long envelopes I had purchased, yep, you guessed it, many years ago, and had not yet found a card to use them for.  I thought this design would work perfectly.

So much for my plans.  Here's my card:

As you can see I didn't do the masking.  It turns out I had to use a special size card shape to fit the envelope.  I couldn't just take 2/3's of the cardstock and fold it in half.  It was too narrow for the envelope and would slide around.  After figuring out the correct size I then had to figure out how to print the words I wanted on the card ... oh for a stamp that had the words on it.  It would have made things so much easier!  By the time I got to stamping the gear image I was so frustrated I used the ink I had planned to use over the mask instead of the embossing medium and embossing powder so decided to just leave it the way it was.  I am pleased with the result even if it isn't exactly what I wanted.

Well, that's it.  Hope you enjoy.

Card Case

Occassionally I come up with original ideas for cards, but most of the time I borrow ideas from someone else.  I believe the term is "case."  Anyway, I thought I would show a few of the cards I made with links to the ones I cased.

First, I receive once a month a kit from Annie's Cardmaker Kit-of-the-Month-Club.  Sometimes I make the card samples they have and sometimes I just add the "ingredients" into my other supplies for future use.  Following is one of the cards I made from their sample.

Here is the sample:

This is from their New Beginnings kit.  The card I made is almost identical, but I wanted to make a Valentine's Day card so I used elements from several of their kits to change it up just a bit.

Here is my card:

The sentiments, both inside and out, are from their Lustrous Metal kit.  The key is from their Vintage Lace kit.  (Sorry, I couldn't find a link for that one.)  The "bliss" embellishment is from a set I purchased several years ago from Michael's.  I used a pearl head pin and stuck it through the back of the "I love you" embellishement upside down so that I could hang the charm on it and glued a bead to the pointed end so no one would get hurt from it.  The bead and charm are from a child's dollar store necklace.  (I find elements to use on my cards in all sorts of places!)


The next card is Simply Beautiful ... literally ... that is the name of it.  I purchased a kit for a 8" x 8" scrapbook page from Shoestring Productions at the Scrapbook Expo last year and made a card using their design, sort of.  Here is the page sample:

Here is my card:

Okay, one last card.  This one is from a card using Heartfelt Creations Sunny Day paper collection.  I love their stuff!  I would buy it all if I could, but I can't so I just have to make do.  Anyway, here is their card:

Here is my card:

They are almost identical, but I did make a couple of minor changes.

Well, that's it for today.  Hope you enjoy.

Christmas Cards

I've shown some cards that required paper cutting. (The "cut" part of my blog's name.)  Now for a couple of cards that were created by drawing.  (Yep, you got it, the "draw" part of my blog's name.)

First, a little history ... I have always wanted to draw, but never felt like I had any talent.  In October of 2009 I had a Sozo.  (In case you're wondering what a Sozo is click here or here for more information.)  After a lot of forgiveness and healing, the Holy Spirit told me he wanted me to draw and paint.  My first attempts weren't great, but I kept trying.  I have always loved a picture of my sister and I taken when we were children so I decided to draw it.  It took months of drawing and erasing, erasing and drawing, until I finally had a picture I thought was OK.  I wanted to do something with it and remembered a Christmas card a friend of mine had sent with a drawing she had done on the front so decided to do the same.  Here is that card (I added color clipart ornaments and star) and the photo it was drawn from.  I sent it out for Christmas 2010.

In 2011 I was so swamped with stuff I just bought dollar store cards to mail out.  Yeah, I know, laziness to the extreme, right?  But for Christmas 2012 I drew this from a photo of my husband and his father.  Both are below.

 

I decided to add the same clipart ornaments and star.  I think that will be my "signature" on the Christmas cards.

 

If you have done something similar, leave a comment and let me know.  Also let me know what you think.

 

 

Thanx!  Hope you enjoy!

Donna