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