December is my favorite month of the year for card making (although, come to think of it, every month is my favorite for cardmaking)!  However, in December, I love to design Christmas cards for mailing and, I also gift a variety of assorted cards made throughout the year in little bundles to family and friends.

Here are two of my cards out of eight that I designed this year!

The above card is a very simple design on Canson watercolor paper that began with the tree on the left.  By adding more water to my brush, I was able to create trees that appear to be in the background.

I experimented with the above card design on regular cardstock and I'm rather pleased with the result!  I worked fairly quickly being mindful of controlling the water so as not to warp the paper.

As we close out 2023, I'd like to give a special thanks to Kylie for leading and administering all the monthly blogs over the years!  I have thoroughly enjoyed being on the design team for Happy Little Stampers Watercolor Challenge.

I hope your holidays are filled with family, friends and love. 

XOXO

LYN 

My November watercolor card is short and sweet!  I had previously doodled the undersea elements and had them set aside to use at a later date.  The embossed background (Spellbinders) was perfect for my little collage.  The glittered areas on the shell and turtle added a nice sparkly element.

I live in sunny Florida seven months a year, the optional tropical challenge fit right in with my coastal vibe!  Since the majority of my tropical images are currently in Florida and I'm still in New York State, I was really digging into my limited stash.  However, I couldn't resist ordering a cool diecut set from Catherine Pooler that is the foundation of my card.  A very, very old flamingo wood mounted stamp became the focal point. 

Rather than discard the diecut pieces within the sun, I individually glittered them!  The background panel was smooshed with Distress Oxides.  Flamingo and embellishments were stamped onto Strathmore watercolor paper (Versafine Onyx Black) and painted with Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor paint.  Sentiment (Stampendous) was stamped with Catherine Pooler ink.  Mounting papers (A Muse Studio).  Sequins and gems (A Muse Studio).  Scrap seam binding was pushed behind the shells for added interest.

We recently went on a road trip that​ was eight hours round trip.  I had the bright idea to paint cards using supplies that wouldn't involve much effort to work with while riding in the car. 

Here's what I brought along that all fit in my purse:

Aquarelle Watercolor Pencils
Faber-Castell Water Brush Pen
Strathmore 5x7 Watercolor paper
.3 Copic Multi Liner Black

All of the flowers were free hand painted first.  When dry, I decided to doodle them.  The flowers were just silly shapes that I just made up as I went along.

My process for applying paint to paper was to swipe the wet tip of the water brush over the tip of the pencil until I had picked up sufficient color and then colored each flower, leaves and stems.  Sometimes I created a flower shape with the clean water brush first and then brought in paint from the pencil.  The overall splatters were created once I got back home to my craft room space. 

​It was so much fun having simple supplies to work with and made the long ride so enjoyable.

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

LYN

This month's card is designed with my happy place in mind, which is Florida!  I'm not there in the summer months and all of my numerous coastal stamps are there with the exception of this set from Spellbinders Seahorse Garden.  I'm loving all the possibilities designing with this stamp and die set. 

​Watercolor used was Kuretake Gansai Tambi.  Images were stamped on Canson watercolor paper.  Background panel is A Muse Studio paper.  Seaweed was stamped with Catherine Pooler Fiesta Blue ink.  Sentiment stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink and the white panel is Hammermill Color, Copy, Cover cardstock.  Perforated edge is Lawn Fawn.  Sequins are A Muse Studio and they were affixed with Tombow Multi Glue.

Here's a closeup of the glittered areas using a Quickie Glue Pen.

I was thrilled to see an optional Christmas theme for this month's Watercolor Challenge!  I was also excited to dig out my stash of shimmer paints (that I haven't used in years) for this challenge.  It's been so long, I needed a quick review on YouTube to brush up on the proper use of them.  I'm glad I did, as I forgot about wetting them and letting them sit for about five minutes to get a nice gummy consistency in order to pick up all the shimmery color with a brush.  (It appears the Luminart Twinkling H20's are discontinued, but I'm sure any metallic paint will work.)

Once I found the perfect Penny Black cling stamp (la fleur rouge), I grabbed The Misti and began the technique of painting directly on the rubber, misting with a spritz of water and stamping onto watercolor paper (Strathmore).  At first, I worked on painting the flowers, letting them dry and moving onto the leaves and stems.  I even laid another panel of watercolor paper on top of the first dry panel, spritzed the rubber again and pressed another image!  If certain areas weren't well defined, I proceeded to paint where color was needed.  I repeated this step four times with great results!

The Noel card has a lovely painted gold edge.  To achieve that, I masked a border with drafting tape (my go to removable tape) and it worked great!  To add further interest, I splattered the panel with the same gold paint.  A Spellbinders Holiday Sentiments die word is all it needed to finish the card.

The Joy card is painted using the exact technique as described above.  For this card, I left the panel as is.

The last card, Merry, is a closeup to show more of the yummy shimmer!  It was mounted on coordinating green cardstock with a narrow strip of red metallic cardstock mounted vertically behind the panel.

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

LYN

​Today's watercolor challenge is all about using Gelatos by Faber Castell as my chosen coloring medium.  I love Gelatos but I don't use them very often, so I was excited to work with them again.  They are so versatile!  Since there are several techniques with Gelatos, I chose a wet technique where I scribbled them onto wax paper first.  Next, I dipped a round brush in water and picked up the scribbled Gelato color onto the brush and proceeded to watercolor my image (I think Penny Black) that was previously stamped on Strathmore watercolor paper.  The more water on the brush, the lighter the color.  To really intensify color, I took my wet brush directly on the Gelato tube.

​Even though you can't see the detail, I splattered gold paint (Peerless) to fill in the background.  I also used a Quickie Glue Pen (Tombow) and added glitter to the flower stamens and a little white Uni-ball Gel Pen.  Happy Birthday sentiment (Stampendous) was colored using Gelato directly on the edge and blending with a brush.  Ribbon and gems (A Muse Studio).

Here are the Gelato colors I used for the card.  If you aren't familiar with Gelatos, there are numerous YouTube tutorials to help you through all the techniques! 

​I'd say my favorite wet technique is water coloring as in my card today and my favorite dry technique is to Gesso cardstock, scribble on color over the dried Gesso and blend color with a baby wipe.  Perhaps next month, I'll work with that technque!

Black and white color pop!

I've been in a doodle phase lately, which worked perfectly for this month's watercolor challenge!  Basically, I paint shapes on watercolor paper without any sketching first and once dry, I add double line doodling.  It's a fast process and I love the end results!

Prior to starting this card, I wanted a black and white background and decided to paint splatter on a white cardstock card front first.  I "forced" some splatters by directly painting larger shapes.  Now the background was ready for the colorful flowers!  I purposely affixed a couple flowers off the edge of the card and cut away the excess for visual interest.

I had so much fun with the first card, I decided to hand paint horizontal black lines on a second card!  I hand painted lines using a fairly light touch and a round brush with a good point.  No pre-measuring was done as I just started painting the wonky lines.

For both card assemblies, I used some principles of collage that are super helpful when figuring out where all the pieces go in a visually pleasing manner.  For more information about collage, find the link to a previous blog post HERE.

Here is my painting session showing all my silly flowers and leaves and the doodling that really brings out the final shapes.  I worked with Canson watercolor paper and Sakura Koi watercolors.

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

LYN

It's bunny time!

Today is all about painting bunnies freehand.  Thanks to a YouTube video HERE, I learned I could actually paint them without sketching first!  It was a fun process and my favorite part was adding the little faces with a micron pen.  The grass and flowers grounded them nicely.  The added diecut border gave the card a whimsical appeal.  TIP:  The border is actually heart shapes that is tucked behind the paper to reveal just the tops of the hearts.

I used a waterbrush and Koi watercolors on Strathmore paper.  Papers are 6x6 paper pad from Echo Park A Day in the Life.  Diecut is from A Muse Studio.  Sentiment is Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Crazy Talk Collection.

The inside of the card serves as a border on the right side of the card front.

I was having so much fun painting the bunnies, I made a second card that I ended up doodling.  Rather than a waterbrush, I used a round brush.   ​Oh those cutie patootie faces!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Easter!

XOXO

LYN

We are back from a holiday pause and I'm so excited to be posting to this month's Watercolor Challenge!

This month, I am working with watercolor pencils (Staedtler 24 Karat Aquarell) and a waterbrush (Jane Davenport B).  I recently dug out this watercolor medium and have been totally enjoying working with them.  

My card is an example of using watercolor pencils in four different techniques as follows:

​1.  Swipe the waterbrush over the pencil point to pick up color and paint the gnome images that were stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink on Canson watercolor paper.  Go back to swiping the pencil point as needed to get the desired color.

2.  Use the pencil directly on the image and blend with the waterbrush for highlighting or depth.

3.  For the sky, I used regular cardstock (Hammermill Color, Copy, Cover), and swiped color onto the waterbrush.  Working quickly, apply the color randomly and lightly.  Keep adding color as needed.

4.  Splatter the sky by flicking the waterbrush over the pencil point that is aimed at the sky.

The stamp set (Photoplay Tulla & Norbert by Becky Moore) has a matching 12x12 paper kit (flower box stickers and Lucky sentiment).  NOTE:  To eliminate the adhesive backing, just rub with powder and the adhesive disappears!  I do this trick in order to add foam mounting tape.

The St. Patricks Day embellishment (Amuse Studio) was stamped in Altenew Fresh Leaf ink.  I diecut three additional circles and glued them all together to create thickness.

To create the rainbow edge, do Step 1 above on watercolor paper and cut a 1" strip and affix to the bottom of the card.  Gold narrow washi tape (my stash) divides the rainbow edge from the flower boxes.