Beautiful (Beachy) Blessing - TGIFC66

Happy Friday everyone!  We had a great week here in MN with nicer (cooler) temperatures and lots of rain for the garden - but now we have too many misquitos!  I also hosted my first stamp class at my house since we moved here and all 6 ladies that came had a blast!  I've never had two classes going on at once - so I'm very excited!

But, enough about me!  We have a new challenge over at TGIF Challenges - we are picking our favorites from JUNE and casing them.  It could be a design team member or a challengers card from TGIFC #62-65.  Pick one you like and share both the original and your take on it!  Simple enough!

The last two times we have done this challenge, I chose two challengers cards.  This week I was inspired by this card made by a fellow DT member - Jennifer Frost.

I love the watercolored background and the beachy feel.

I didn't want to use the same set for the focal point, so I decided on another sea themed stamp set.

The lighthouse is from the set From Land to Sea and it's paired with the sentiment from Rose Wonder.

I wanted to add some color to my card so I added some Calypso Coral Thick Twine, By the Shore DSP stack & I colored the lighthouse and oval with my Aqua Painter.

I also stamped the background a few times with the sentiment.  I love the graphic look of repeated words.

So there you have it!  I hope you liked the card (and the original)!  I can't wait to see what you come up with for this week's challenge!

Blessings!

-Holly

You're a Great Catch! - GDP031 and Guest Designer Eli!

I have a special treat for you today!  I have my youngest (and first) guest designer!  If you follow me here on Instagram, you may have seen my little Eli watercoloring with me last week.  We were attempting to make bubble stationary with soap, water and food coloring.  It was an epic fail - certainly didn't work out like I remember as a child.  So we decided to get some reinkers out with watercolor paper and do something different!  Eli had fun and I was so amazed by the job he did!

So this weekend I sat down and made a card with the paper.  I received the From Land to Sea stamp set in the mail on Friday and wanted to try it out.  I was really pleased with the card and was planning to blog about it today when I saw the new challenge at Global Design Project was "nature"... PERFECT!  Btw, I'm so honored that I was chosen as GDP29's pick!  Thank you everyone! <3

(Click on the image below to go to the site and see all of the other nature inspired cards)

I love the marlin in the stamp set.  When we went on the KLove Cruise with my inlaws in January, we stopped at a Guy Harvey restaurant and store in the Cayman Islands.  I had never heard of the guy "Guy" but his artwork is amazing.  Marlins are one of the things he paints.  So I was inspired to use the blue and purple from the paper Eli made and used the Lost Lagoon and Blackberry Bliss for the marlin too.

I used corrugated paper to make it look like the fish was mounted on wood.  I thought the texture would look better than stamping the hardwood stamp in brown.   I colored the fins using the clear Wink of Stella and found the perfect sentiment from Settin' Sail.  (It's a current photopolymer set with SU!)

Because I stamped the image on Coaster Board, when I colored it using an Aqua Painter, the paper curled.  I wasn't at all upset about it - made it look like a real fish that was mounted!

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope that you are inspired to make your own background paper!  Be sure to head on over to Global Design Project's blog and see some more!

Blessings!

-Holly 

Celebrate Balloons - GDP23

Hey everyone!  Happy Monday :)  I have had some time this weekend to stamp and even rearranged some things around in my craft room.  Diggin' these new canisters set that I purchased at a consignment shop in PA.  They're white porcelin and in great shape. $2!! They're the new homes to my buttons, sequins, paper clips and washi tape. 

 

But anyway, why should I even talk about it without a picture right?

Moving on...

 

I'm playing along this week with the Global Design Project.  I receive Brian King's daily emails and this theme seemed fun - but I also thought, everyone will be using the same set! But what the heck, why not?  Plus, February is packed full of birthdays for friends and family.  I can hardly keep up!

 

 

I wanted to share the original look that I had for this card.  I even took all the photos and was ready to upload them.  But something just didn't seem right to me.  The "celebrate" was just not doing it for me.  I was hoping it would've looked better...

 

 

So when my MIL stopped by today I asked her which one she liked better.  She said she didn't even notice the white "celebrate", so that was proof enough that the Melon Mambo pop was needed.

 

 This was my first attempt with the "watercolor smooshing" technique. I'm loving it! I wish I hadn't taken so long to try it. So thankful for youtube :)

I chose the colors Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry and Mint Macaron. I really like this combo and love that SU! is using it so much in the Occasions Catalog. 

 

I added some Gold Glitz Dazzling Details on the balloon.   

 

So there you have it!  Hope you like the card! I will be sending it to a fellow stamper :) 

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

-Holly