Today was about the pure enjoyment of simple pleasures.  A walk along the river always enriches me.  Taking photos of whatever caught my eye along the way was amazing.  Not only did I get in a little exercise, I gathered several reference photos for my sketching practice, and I decided to post on my blog about it.

I miss writing and sharing my creative journey that the E-News gave me.  However, I also love my blog and I can share just as well from here! 

Until next time, I have some dried up leaves to sketch!

XOXO

LYN

Yesterday I made this card to give away and I love it so much, I want to make more of this style.  The technique is super easy with The Misti, Distress Oxides, a water spritzer, regular cardstock, and the direct-to-rubber inking technique.

In case you aren't familiar with this inking technique, arrange the leaf stamps onto the lid of The Misti to line up with the cardstock.  Pick up one of the Distress Oxide inks and randomly swipe onto the leaf images (without over thinking!).  Note:  Distress Inks can also be used for this technique.  Next, pick up a second ink color and swipe over the stamps.  It won't matter if you swipe over the first ink.  Finally, pick up the third ink and fill in any remaining areas.  Lightly spritz the stamps with water (I emphasize lightly because regular cardstock reacts poorly to too much water.)  You can always go back and re-ink areas and re-spritz.  If I were to critique this card, I can see the long leaf in the lower right corner got too much water as the detail is washed out, but that didn't bother me.  Let completely dry before the next step.

The magic is to accent the stamped images with a bit of gold paint diluted slightly with water and a round brush.  A splatter of gold paint with the same round brush hit against a dowel fills in the stark white areas nicely!  After making sure the gold paint is dry, a simple sentiment finishes the card.

If I didn't give this one away, I'd place it in a wood frame and add it to my fall décor, which is why I'll create more of these to keep and give away!

Products Used:
Paper:  Hammermill Color, Copy, Cover
Ink:  Ranger Distress Oxides:  Crackling Campfire, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade
Sentiment:  Concord & 9th - Mushroom
Stamps:  Stampendous:  Summer Leaves, Sentiment:  Amuse Studio
Paint:  Peerless Gold Transparent Watercolor


Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

LYN

I was inspired to paint this for my son's office.  No matter what kind of day he's having, gazing at this will invoke a calmness that only the ocean can provide!  All that's needed is background ocean sounds!

Recently, I fell upon a Pinterest pin about hammering flowers.  It is a technique I'm familiar with but never took the time to explore.  I decided to try my hand at it!

My son and daughter in-law gave me a beautiful begonia plant for Mother's Day and its gorgeous brilliant red flowers was a perfect choice for this "experiment!"

To my surprise, my brilliant red flowers turned a greyish purple blob when pounded!  The flowers were quite wet and pulpy when I was finished pounding, and I literally needed to allow the paper to dry before proceeding.  The leaf was just an outline but was a nice green color.  I was surprised I didn't get more detail, but since I was totally experimenting, I kept going.

I love doodling and turning blobs into a meaningful visual picture, however, I felt this particular project was a different kind of challenge for me.  I kept at it and "walked away" when the negative voice in my head got too loud!  ​I actually pounded a second leaf to better fill in the space during the doodling process. 

The piece was nearly finished and rather than add splatters as I often do with watercolor, I literally pounded additional flowers directly onto wax paper and pressed the wax paper over the piece to allow any wet areas to randomly add color!  (Refer to the original pounding above to see the difference.)

Another artist I follow (stalk) is Catherine Cote (CreationsbyCeeCee) for her amazing watercolor and doodle talents.  She is also one to add gold paint and white gel pen to many of her pieces, which I promptly did as well!  ​I actually pounded a second leaf to better fill in the space during the doodling process.

The finished piece is only 5x5 but I took it to my favorite framer (Hobby Lobby in Liverpool) and am thrilled with the frame and matting.  The hard part is waiting for it to be ready!

Hope you give this project a try, especially if you're looking for a new creative challenge!


Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

LYN

 It has been way too long since I've responded to challenges!  The current Card Concept Challenge intrigued me as I made several Christmas cards this year and to choose a favorite one was actually a challenge in itself!  Here are two favorites that couldn't be more different!

The Adirondack card began with stamping the Buffalo plaid image (Inkblotshop.com) on red cardstock and a Moose diecut (Penny Black).  Along with my Hugs and Wildflowers Stamp Set (Gina K) for the cross section of a cut tree.  Living most of the year in Central New York state really provides me the environment to create this card even though I was in Florida when I made it!

​
Finally, here's a photo of my

tree and front window that is

my favorite place to read.
























​

​Thanks for stopping by!
​
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year!

XOXO

LYN

​This week, I'm showing you how easy it is to create lots of cards with one triangle shape!  I've purposely kept the cardstock base white and didn't add any additional background embellishments.  We loose time fussing and this E-News is all about producing!

DIRECTIONS:
Cutting a triangle Christmas tree begins with a rectangle.  I cut rectangles in various sizes, but for this explanation, I'm using the dimensions of 1-1/2" x 3-1/2. 

Find the center of the short side (eyeball it) and cut from the center point down to the bottom corner.  Repeat for the other side starting at the center point.  Voila!  You have a perfect triangle tree shape!

Before I started cutting triangle trees, I had an idea in mind to use the following papers/materials:
Felt, Glitter Paper, Paint Chips, Background Scraps, Small Pattern Papers, Embossing Folders, Scrap Ribbon, Washi Tape

Have fun making simple Christmas tree cards!  I'd love to see your tree cards!  If you're just making a few cards, it would be fun to go all out with embellishments!

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

LYN

In my last E-News #346 I posted a fall background card using Distress Oxides.  I thought it would be useful to show my process of making this (literally) 5-minute card.  Running out of time has definitely served me well in discovering this fun technique.

To begin, I chose 2 Distress Oxide colors from my stash and pressed them onto my glass mat as shown.  

Generously spritz the inks.

Using regular cardstock, quickly swipe the top half of the card across both inks and repeat going in the other direction.  Dab the card front into the remaining ink for added blots, but don't fuss too much.  Let dry.

Repeat the process for the bottom half of the card using 2 different inks.

The background will look something like this.  The magic is that each time this background is created, different results will be achieved.

Stamp the bare trees twice to achieve the design across the entire width.  I used Tim Holtz Tonic Studios stamp positioner.  The Misti will work also.  Rather than black ink, I chose VersaFine Smokey Grey.  A sentiment was added in the same ink color.  Final step was to splatter in gold acrylic paint that is slightly watered down.  I like to hit the loaded brush against a dowel or larger paintbrush.

Here's the first card I created using the same inks.

This technique will work for a snowy scene as well and I can't wait to play with winter colors!

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

LYN

​I subscribed to a new artist on YouTube this week!  Lynne Bauer of Dragonfly Spirit Studio.  She creates simple Postcard Paint-Alongs.  I happened to have Strathmore postcards just sitting in my drawer, so I was happy to watch her video and create my own little paintings.  She shares really useful information as she paints along beginning with a dime!  I think you'll be pleasantly pleased to give her video a look, especially for my friends who are new to watercolor!

This was my first of 7 postcard paintings.  The techniques I really love are painting a water ring around the sun and creating sparkly waves reflecting off the sun with a credit card!  I added birds just to fill in the space.  Notice where the horizon line is on this one compared to the others!  Had to go back and refer to the video several times.

​I basically worked with the same color pallet using Daniel Smith watercolor.  I just chose color in different orders and mixed them differently as I went along.  I found it interesting that the artist doesn't recommend using black paint for the foreground images, but I'm happy with the results.

​I love the bloom around the sun on this one.  The heron was hand drawn on a scrap paper first, scribbled on the reverse side with a graphite pencil covering the entire bird, and then placed onto the postcard.  I traced the bird with a blending stump, 'cuz I couldn't find a dried up pen.

​​Same bird image and graphite pencil technique.  I love how each postcard is a little different!

​Had to veer away from the video and go out on my own with a palm tree.  This bloom is amazing around the sun too!

​Tall grasses are so easy to create and fills in the corner nicely.

​Had to try different color combinations for the last postcard.  There is no limit to the colors you can use for this project!  I loved creating these little painting so much, I hope to move into making 5x7 cards using the same techniques!

​I sure hope I've inspired you to give this a try!  Like Lynne says continually in her video, "it's a postcard!" and meant to be quick and fun.


Have a pleasant week!

XOXO

LYN

After a long absence from my Florida home since early April, a quick trip to my happy place and this Inspired By Challenge was all I needed to get in a coastal state of mind!

The colors are favorite Florida colors for me and the pop of black and white background pulled all the water color images together!  TIP:  After arranging all the diecut pieces (and before affixing), take a phone photo for reference to place everything back together just the way you envisioned.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Timeless Tropical Stamps & Dies Bundle (SU)
Paper:  Cardstock (Darice), Watercolo (Canson), Black Background (Reflections)
Accessories:  Trellis Die (W Plus 9), Koi Watercolor (Sakura), Versafine Onx Black (Tsukineko), Mono Multi Glue (Tsukineko), Foam Mounting Tape (3M)


Thanks for Stopping By!

XOXO

LYN

Loved the challenge immediately and couldn't wait to play.  The card came together fast once I chose my stamp set.  I was totally happy making this card!!!!

Here's a view of the dimension of the flowers.

​Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Bouquet of Love (Amuse Studio), You're So Sweet Sentiment (Studio Katia)
Papers:  Cardstock (Darice), Watercolor Paper (Canson)
Accessories:  Versafine Smokey Grey, Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko), Framelets Tag (Stephanie Barnard Sizzix), 3D Foam Tape (Scotch), Foam Mounting Squares (Scrapbook Adhesives), Mono Multi Glue (Tombow), Twine (Fun Stampers Journey)

Thanks for Stopping By!

XOXO

LYN