Art Inspiration, Cards, Classes, Scrapbook & Cards Today

Christmas in July Merry Wishes

Hi Angels!

I’ve still been busy sorting, purging & organizing. I do plan to get a bit more creating done in August and I’m squeaking in just under the wire with a Christmas in July post. I signed up for Scrapbook and Cards Today’s Merry Wishes event this past weekend.

So far I have only completed the 1st class.

I pretty much stayed to the design with just a couple of additions or changes here or there. These were fun to create and I can’t wait to complete the other classes. All 3 classes use the same products and the variations are all beautiful.

I hope everyone is staying cool during this hot summer. It’s definitely a good time to hide out inside & create, or sort in my case.

I’m challenging myself to get more posts done in August and get back in the art groove.

Have a Fabulous Week!

Art Inspiration, Cards, Classes, Concord & 9th

December Round-up C9 Joy Class

Hi Friends!

Life has been busy, it’s the holiday season.

Since I still have several creative projects to post from the fall months, I thought I’d do a December round-up of several posts to finish off the year.

In October I joined Concord & 9th’s In the Classroom Holiday Edition Classes and on that weekend completed one class with the 2nd class still waiting in the wings. I had lots of fun with the Holiday Joy stencil set & class. We were scheduled to make 2 cards & since I had been sick with a sinus infection & cold & was finally feeling better, I worked on 4 cards.

The top 2 cards are the class cards & the bottom 2 are my extras. Coming up with different ways to use the same set is fun & stretches your creativity. The set came with a coordinating stencil, stamp & die bundle.

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season filled with hope & love.

Blessings!

Art Inspiration, Cards, Classes, Taylored Expressions

Taylored Expressions Gifted Class Part 1

Hi Angels!

I am still enjoying celebrating Gloriously 60 with a variety of online classes & events and have several lined up the next few months. Today I took the 1st of Taylored Expressions Online Crafty Classes featuring the Gifted Background stamp and it was lots of fun.

We did 4 cards basically 2 for the girls & 2 for the guys but easy to make in a variety of colors. Tonight I am sharing the more girly style cards.

These are so bright and colorful and sure to bring lots of smiles. These 2 cards feature ink blending. I don’t own Taylored Inks so I substituted Catherine Pooler Designs inks in similar colors to the class samples. The balloon card is emboss resist and the Yay! card is blended through the matching stencil after stamping.

The really cool thing about the Gifted products is not only is there a large background stamp, but a matching stencil & cutting plate that give you endless options for creating. We also used the Celebrate Big Stamp set and matching Celebrate Big Balloon Shaker die set, Caps Lock YAY! die and Simple Strips Birthday stamp & matching die.

Taking classes helps keep my skills sharp, I get to try new techniques or products or refresh older skills I learned awhile back often with a new twist. Plus there’s more freedom in designing without deadlines.

Hope you have some summer fun planned this weekend with maybe a bit of creating.

Art Inspiration, Classes, home & holiday projects

Glamorous Snowlady

Hi Angels!

This was such a fun project!

One of my sister Admin/Moderator’s over on the Let’s Make Cards group has a shop over on Etsy called Jazzy Bundles and when she shared these snowmen I just knew they would make a great project. You might have seen my granddaughter’s version a couple of weeks ago……here’s mine:

She looks like she’s ready for a night on the snow with her fabulous fur accents. She is base coated white, has Nuvo Glimmer paste in Moonstone on her raised pieces and for the base. You absolutely must have an assortment of jewels for a night out.

This is the type of designing I love, just seeing where it goes as one element leads to another.

I hope Miss Snowlady brings a smile to your day.

Thanks for popping by.

Classes, Fun Stampers Journey, Taylored Expressions, Watercolor

2021 Floral Calendar Jan/Feb

Hi Angels!

It’s time to debut the 2021 Calendar. I have been offering this calendar class I think for 7 years now. Could be 8 years but somewhere around that time frame. This year features watercolored florals.

I did every other month alternating silver & gold embossing for a touch of elegance. I brought out my Twinkling H2O’s for shimmer. I used Taylored Expressions Seasonal Sprig for January and an old Fun Stampers Journey set Sweet You.

Like a lot of artists this year, I am planning to use what I have on hand as much as possible. While I am puttering in my studio during my Glorious 60th year, I hope to create with a lot of things that haven’t been used yet as well as revisit some unfinished projects & see about the finishing touches on them. As you can imagine with well over 35+ years of paper art supplies, I have a small treasure trove here. I also plan to purge some more. When I do purchase I am planning to support local & small business shops as much as possible.

I hope your week is full of sunshine & blessings!

Cards, Classes, Watercolor

Watercolor Stripes

Hi Angels!

It’s been a hide in the house type of day with the ice/sleet here in Oklahoma which also means a migraine day for me.

The AngelS were scheduled to come over for a Cards for The Troops processing day, but for safety reasons, we are rescheduling. Which means I spent a good portion of the day in the studio working on Troop & our other charities cards.

I finished up the night by turning my final 2 projects from day two of Simply Watercolor Christmas into cards.

Day 2’s lesson was masking off circles with masking fluid. The joy & tree were both masked too. Then we painted stripes. My circles were a bit rough so I opted to die cut them out. I also added stickles to the white masked areas for sparkle. I picked out hand colored backgrounds and embossing folders to compliment my circles to add a bit of interest.

Here are all four of day 2’s cards completed.

Since we will be iced in for at least another day, maybe I’ll get day 3 done.

Have a Great Creative Week!

Cards, Classes, Watercolor

Watercolor Half Trees

Hi Angels!

I finally managed to work on day 2 of my Simply Watercolor Christmas class. This is going to be a squeeze it in when I can process I think, but that’s okay because I am taking it just for fun & something a little different.

Today’s cards are actually the bonus cards from day 2. I got the pieces watercolored for the regular part of class but haven’t quite decided how I am turning them into finished cards yet. These were fairly easy peasy.

Day 2 features masking fluid. I haven’t worked with masking fluid in a long time & I forgot how fun it can be when creating. I used the Fineline Masking Fluid Pen on the tree on the left and posty type tape on the card on the right for the circles. After I watercolored, I detailed the circles & filled them in with Stickles to camouflage where a bit of the color seeped through, plus the tree needed a little sparkle. The Blue tree got some sequin ornaments. I found the sentiments at Tuesday Morning this week, Sizzix Christmas Phrases. One can never have enough word dies.

I have a special project to work on tomorrow but will see if I can finish up the other 2 cards from class.

I hope you find some time to be creative or enjoy some fall color this weekend.

Thanks for popping in.

Brutus Monroe, Cards, Classes, home & holiday projects

Fall Sampler

Hi Angels!

I had a lot of fun designing for class this week although having hubby home for an extra week after vacation threw me off my timeline. I was scrambling to finish up the design & teach at the same time.

This class was requested by one of the AngelS and it came out beautifully. We opted to do the four seasons instead of holidays. The winter class is scheduled for just a couple of weeks from now.

The card was a bonus since the Lawn Fawn Stitched Pumpkin Frame cuts out extras that can be swapped between patterns & colors.

I also used the Tim Holtz Impresslits Leaf cut & emboss folder, a variety of dies in my stash and stamps from Brutus Monroe, FSJ & Stampin’ Up!

Okay it’s confession time… for all the designing I do, I have a bit of a problem with 3-D visualization. I did not think the frame was sized right to fit the 12 x 12 layout. Why? Because I was thinking the layout went on the glass like a regular picture not to the back of the shadow box. I really struggle with figuring out anything with depth. So I trimmed the layout to fit to the glass & ended up having to mat it on another 12 x 12 so it did show properly. Bonus, the layout is much sturdier now. You would never know if I hadn’t fessed up. But it’s important to share what we learn & struggle with because it might just help someone else along the creative path.

I hope to get back to my watercolor class soon but I have some Troop business to take care of & birthday & sympathy cards to make.

I hope you are finding time to be creative.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cards, Classes, Watercolor

Watercolor Stacked

Hi Angels!

I completed day one of Simply Watercolor Christmas. I wasn’t sure since I’ve been dealing with a migraine all day.

Card 1 was supposed to be a trio of stacked presents but I kept seeing the middle present as a lid to the bottom box so I made two stacked gifts. The base colors are regular watercolor with metallic watercolor accents. Sentiment strips from Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Christmas.

Card 2 is the bonus video by Jennifer McGuire featuring a divided Christmas tree. I used metallic watercolor for the whole tree & had fun with the star & sequins.

Here is the picture of all of day one cards together.

I will try and get at least one card done tomorrow. I have a bigger paint project to start working on and a class to design for.

Toodles!

Cards, Classes, My Favorite Things

Unexpected Joys

Hi Angels!

It’s been a busy week. I have done a little creating & organizing but the change in weather also brought a couple of migraine days.

Tonight I took Sandy Allnock’s coloring class in partnership with My Favorite Things Stamps. MFT provided a digital image from their new Joyous Holidays stamp & die set. The tutorial featured coloring with Copic markers. I have a very limited selection but I made what I have work.

Nothing like a groovy rainbow santa to bring holiday cheer. Until I got my blending a bit better he looked more like a tie-dye santa. I don’t work in alcohol markers very often. The tree is done freehand with the markers and was really easy. I was able to color along in the hour class online & finished up my card right after class. Sandy is a great teacher.

I hope you have a wonderfully creative weekend!

Thanks for stopping by.