The 12 Kits of Occasions: August--It's a Birthday Party with Kara

This has been such a fun month! Kara, KandR Designs, is our hostess and the theme is birthdays. Today is the 12 Kits reveal and I'm sure you are going to love Kara's kit as much as I did. See her photo below. She included so many fantastic supplies--papers in so many bright, cheery colors, lots of die cuts and wonderful stamped images. There was even a stamp set from WPlus9 for each of us plus an extra that YOU have a chance to win! Do you feel like you're at a party yet!! 

PHOTO BY KARA

One of the things I especially loved was that Kara cut the plain cardstock with various dies, leaving two  trimmed pieces that could be used together or separately. It also created a great way to show off the awesome patterned papers!

Another item that was included was a supply of glossy cardstock. Kara has been doing some awesome designs with this over on her blog. Be sure to check our her last few posts. Unfortunately I didn't have as much luck. I tried several inks without any success and I don't have any Copic reinkers which is what Kara has been using. But I love the shiny look and the paper can easily be cut with dies. I used mine to make confetti die cuts, using a Mama Elephant die. They look just like white enamel! Wish the photo could capture the shiny finish. I used stars and hearts on two of my cards. 

To create another card with some shine, I used some paper from Marybeth's June kit. Several of the papers were tone-on-tone with a shine/matte design. The matte part can easily be colored with distress inks, leaving the glossy design--a technique I used before after seeing Kara's post here.

Hope this doesn't look too busy! I got a little carried away after I decided on the 'Happy, Happy, Happy' die cut that Kara included. I used a PTI die to cut out 'birthday' and made four layers so it would add more dimension. And the little girl from Mama Elephant's In My Heart set just seemed like she needed to be there!!

I also did the inside! I used the Ink Splats stamps, colored the 2 and used a 'you' die from the last WPlus9 release. Maybe a little too much--but it was fun!

There is still a lot more to see so visit the 12 Kits blog for a link to all the other members' blogs. We also have a special guest designer, Alanna, Allana's Spot in the World, so be sure to stop at her blog too. To enter the drawing for the stamp set, you need to leave your comment on Kara's blog.

Hope you enjoy the hop and have a great weekend,

Sharron

My New Love: Watercoloring!!

When Dawn at WPlus9 started posts for her last release, I knew I had to have this Flora and Fauna set! I love nature images and her butterflies and hummingbirds are AMAZING. I invested in some watercolors and new brushes and started playing with the stamps are soon as they arrived. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!! At first, I just tried different colors on scrap paper and made a bunch of butterflies. I was initially nervous about the hummingbirds but found them really quite easy, at least after I got used to the watercolor! There are many kinds of hummingbirds so I'm anxious to do more colors. These are ruby-throated, a male and a female--the most common ones in our area.

The above is a sympathy card. On the inside, I used an Altenew sentiment with the smallest butterfly in the WPlus9 set positioned at the top.

I decided to try a different colored butterfly for a birthday card and came up with this. I meant to use the smooth side of the paper but this worked okay. Even though I looked through pictures on the internet, I ended up with just playing with some greens and aquas. I purchased watercolors that are in tubes. with 12 colors. I did find a few more tubes in my old paint supplies. Never know what you might find! Don't even know what they were for since I've never done watercoloring but they had to be from ages ago by the prices on them! Initially I felt pretty intimidated with having to mix colors but as I got more comfortable, I really enjoy them. Makes me feel so creative!

I'm going to enter the butterfly card in the CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge.

Thanks for letting me share,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Flora and Fauna 2, Basic Banners  (WPlus9); Bird of a Feather (PTI); Sun Sentiment (Lil' Inkers)

Paper: White (Recollections and Neenah); Green Acres (WPlus9); Watercolor (Grumbacher); Solid Mat Pad (K&Company) 

Die: Basic Banners (WPlus9), Banner from First Place Award Winner Die Set (MFT)

Additional: Watercolors (Koi, Grumbacher, Winsor and Newton); London Fog Ink to stamp images, Bamboo Leaves (Memento); Wet Cement Ink (Hero Arts); Embossing Folder-Branches (Cuttlebug); Color Shine Gold Spray (Heidi Swapp)

CAS-ology Challenge: Magic

This week's cue word at CAS-ology is Magic. It makes me think of all the things we see in nature that seem to occur like 'magic'! Remember when you first planted a seed and watched a new sprout come out of the soil. I don't think I will ever outgrow being amazed and excited about new things growing!

Well, maybe not so excited about weeds....... 

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Our temperatures have soared and we spent time today giving drinks to all our plants. So thankful that we have only a short time left before the return of cooler weather.

Thanks for taking a peek at my card!

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Sprout-Mo Manning Digital; Sentiment was computer generated

Cardstock: Neenah White: Harvest Gold (PTI)

Die: Sun (Lil' Inkers)

Ink: Copics

More Bokeh!

I've still been trying out different colors using the bokeh technique that I posted info about two days ago. And I recently won this cute set, Flirty Flamingos, from Newton's Nook and wanted to make something with the sweet flamingos. I already had the background done so needed to cut out one of the birds. After masking off one of the pair, I stamped once on the card and then on some pink cardstock. Just cutting the body and head was so much easier! I used a Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangle die for the tag and cut apart a Memory Box Precious Mittens die for my bow. 

I'm entering my card in these challenges.

CAS-ology: Stripe

CAS(E) This Sketch teamed with Tag You're It

Thanks so much for letting me share,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Flirty Flamingos (Newton's Nook)

Cardstock: White (Recollections); Pink (Bazzill); True Black (PTI)

Patterned Paper: Sugar Chic (Heidi Swapp)

Dies: Precious Mittens (Memory Box); Stitched Rectangles, Anytime Tags (Lil' Inker)

Additional: Watercolors (Koi); Onyx Black Ink (Versafine); White Ink (WPlus9); Clear Wink of Stella

Trying a New Technique!

I've been busy playing with new bokeh techniques after being inspired by Dawn's WPlus9 blog post! I have had better luck with lighter colors but wanted to try these for a couple of challenges. I have also been attempting to mix watercolor paints and don't yet have the hang of getting the right color. I did okay with the aqua but as you can see, the gold I had envisioned didn't quite come out! I had fun though and decided to post this anyway!

I am so new to watercolors but love the look so I'll keep trying. My WPlus9 order arrived today (yeah!) so I'm anxious to see what I can do with hummingbirds! Nothing like starting with something difficult!!

Challenges I Have Entered

Curtain Call-Bow Tie

Colour Q #253

Loved that you took time to visit today!

Hope you have something fun planned and have a wonderful weekend,

Sharron

Supplies
Stamps: My Sunshine (Mama Elephant)
Paper: Watercolor (Strathmore); Soft Grey Cardstock (PTI); White (Recollections)
Ink/Paint: White Ink (WPlus9), Rich Cocoa Ink (Memento); Watercolors-Burnt Sienna, Deep Yellow, Yellow Green, Vermilion (Koi)
Additional: Clear Wink of Stella; Cork Sentiment (Joyce's May 12 Kits Supplies)