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Watercolor Whimsy – Week 6

/ Jodi / 28 Comments

whimsical green and purple polka dot birdie watercolor card

This week I went in a little different direction with my watercoloring…

Wanting to loosen up and just create FUN like my artsy bloggin’ buddies, Laura at CreateArtEveryDay and Jill at JillsArtJournal, I poked around on Pinterest and found some super fun work by Lucia at StressieCat.  Such unique, original, crazy, zany, whimsy!  I used Lucia’s inspiration to draw and paint this first crazy green and purple polka-dotted bird.  You should check out her blog – crazy awesome talent!  Mine turned out nothing like hers, but I still kinda like it.

whimsical green and purple polka dot birdie watercolor card birdie doo doo inside birthday

And any card that has a crazy green and purple-polka dotted bird on it naturally needs some green birdie doo doo on the inside!  Right?

whimsical watercolor birdie card

Then I made this other silly guy from a photo I saw that stuck in my head, but I’ve lost the source (since I did it over two days – starting one evening and letting the base dry and polka-dotting the next day).  It was a paper mache bird, but I thought I’d recreate it in watercolor and for a card.  I just tore off a piece of watercolor paper and went to town.

whimsical watercolor birdie card 2

I really had fun making these silly guys, and this green one is already on its way to a friend who is celebrating a birthday this week.  He’s a pretty great guy – so he even gets a Superman stamp!

whimsical green and purple polka dot birdie watercolor card read to mail

Have some fun today – and EVERY day!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Hugs

/ Jodi / 34 Comments

too kind hugs watercolor card

I sadly needed a sympathy card for a special co-worker friend.

I hope he and his family feel the heartfelt hugs I sent when they receive this card.

This card was a labor of love and a combination of water coloring and stamping.

I first dropped some green watercolor paint into the bottom left corner and then blew through a straw to push it up to resemble blades of grass.  I then brushed watercolor paint onto the Stampin Up Too Kind flower stamp and lightly stamped it, letting it loosely spread.

The “hugs” sentiment is from the Paper Smooches Sentiment stamp set.  I love the font, and this set has a bunch of other fun ones I’m sure you’ll be seeing in future cards.  I finished it off with some “signature” jodi splatters, then distressed the edges of it and some complimentary colors of card stock.  I wrapped it with some linen thread and adhered it to some vanilla cardstock.

Cheers & HUGS & Happy Friday,
Jodi

 

Vintage Birthday Card

/ Jodi / 31 Comments

masculine card hero artsferns watercolor penny black letter background

This card was one of those projects that just evolved….

I had no idea where I was going with it, but I love how it ended up.

I felt like just splashing some watercolor on paper.

I wanted to get “wild and crazy” and just tear the paper instead of cutting it.

After the watercolor dried, I stamped Penny Black’s Letter Stamp on top.

I then heat embossed Hero Arts’ ferns on top of that.

Then I splattered…

and I sponged the edges…

and I wrapped with some SU linen thread and a wooden button.

masculine card happy birthday paper smooches sentiment hero arts fern watercolor

For the inside, I painted some “leftover” watercolor paint onto the Hero Arts Fern stamp.  I LOVE how it turned out.

Then, I used the Paper Smooches Happy Birthday Sentiment on top of it.

masculine watercolor penny black letter hero arts fern vintage card

It turned into a birthday card for a very special brother-in-law.

I hope he feels the love and passion that went into each step of the creation.

Kinda like the love I feel for him. 🙂

Happy Birthday Ron!  May your birthday be as special as you!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

P.S.  I am entering this card in the CanYouCaseIt Designer’s Choice Challenge this week (CYCI#66).

CYCI66

The little things

/ Jodi / 38 Comments

PP241 Clean and Simple Watercolor Butterfly

Long walks on country roads and chats with neighbors along the way.
Raspberry lemonade sipped from a straw on a chaise lounge in the sunshine.
Sunday boat rides with your lifelong partner and a furry companion.
Simple suppers of sausage and potatoes and salad.
Red wine to sip while painting and creating.
Cool breezes and light showers at bed time.
These are the little things,
That are really the big things.

It was a great weekend….  full of “little things.”  So I ended it late Sunday evening by creating this Clean & Simple Watercolor Card for The Paper Players PP241 Challenge this week.  How could I resist a watercolor card?!  🙂  I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

pp241

I’ve been dying to do something watercolory with the SU Swallowtail stamp.  I’ve had it for a while.  It is a very large stamp, and just begs to be watercolored.  I envisioned it offset a bit, and the watercoloring loose and abstract.  I kinda love how it turned out.  A few splatters in blue and the sentiment from the SU Hello Life stamp set that says “the little things” just added the perfect finishing touches.

So Happy Monday!  Enjoy the little things that this day and week brings.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

‘Tis the Season

/ Jodi / 41 Comments

charrie shower card artisan embellishment and hello life

Tis the season…

For showers and weddings that is.

And you might know I love a good theme.

charrie shower invitation
So when I received this invitation to our family friends’ shower, I thought it would be fun to repurpose some of it for the card I made.

I gently removed the lace bow and added it to the card I created with vanilla and kraft card stock, a tiny watercolor, and the SU artisan embellishment floral cutout.  A simple “love” sentiment was added from the SU Hello Life Stamp set.

charrie shower card artisan embellishment and hello life

I then continued the theme when wrapping the gift.

Charrie Wedding Shower Gift Wrap 1

Instead of wrapping with paper, I used burlap which can be repurposed and was from our son and daughter-in-law’s similarly-themed shower and rehearsal dinner.

I made a big bow with some new kitchen towels that were on the registry, stuffed in a couple wooden spoons (they go with the gift inside), and tied it all together with lace to match.

Off to the shower today to celebrate Charrie and Corey and wish them many years of love and happiness.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

PS  I received a very sweet note and invitation from the HUGELY talented Leslie Mahon at InkPaperScissorsStamp.com to enter my card into The Paper Plunge #29 April Showers Challenge.  It is a less-known challenge that I am super happy to learn about and participate in.  For my card crafty friends – hope you will check it out.  If you have created a baby or wedding shower card, take the plunge and play along with us!

The Paper Plunge

 

Celebrate Today

/ Jodi / 25 Comments

PP238 CYCI64
It’s Friday!  Reason enough to celebrate – eh?

PP238 CYCI64 2

The card I am sharing today, however, is in celebration of a special couple’s anniversary:  my Dad and “Mom II” Carole.

It is such a joy to celebrate their happiness.  They are such great role models of a truly caring, loving married relationship.

Though my biological parents divorced when I was young,  I am happy for both of them that they have found loving, lasting marriages on Round 2.

(And for those of you that weren’t around when I was a new blogger close to a year ago,  I’d love to share one of my favorite posts with you from back in July of last year to read the story of my reunion with my Dad.)

PP238 CYCI64 3

So Dad and Carole, I join you in celebrating your upcoming special day.  I thank you for your love and example.  And most of all, I love you dearly.  Celebrate YOU!

For my cardmaking friends, I am submitting this card for two of my favorite card challenges:  The Paper Players, which is hosting a Die Cut Challenge this week, and Can You Case It, which is hosting a color challenge this week.

CYCI64pp239

And here are the “Ingredients” for my card:

StampinUp’s Crazy About You Stamp Set for the flowers and leaves
StampinUp’s Perfectly Penned Stamp Set for the sentiment
Lil’ Inker Designs Stitched Mat Rectangles for the Die Cut stitches and cut out rectangles
SU Whisper White, Black, and Crisp Cantaloupe Card Stock
Inks:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistsachio Pudding, Memento Black
Boho Blossoms Punch
Wink of Stella Clear Brush
SU Pearl Embellishments
Old Olive StampinWrite Marker for leaf veins
Adhesive

Celebrate today and EVERY day – at Life in Between.

Cheers & Happy Friday Hugs,
Jodi

Happier than a Bird with a French Fry

/ Jodi / 29 Comments

Hey There

This card I am sharing today is a quite a diversion from my “usual” (if there even is such a thing), but oh how much fun it was to make!

I needed a birthday card for a special 14-year old boy, so pretty posies and sappy sentiments were not in order.

hey there inside

Remember last week when I shared my watercolor painted petals card and entered it into a new challenge, Can You Case it (CYCI#62)? 

Well…. lucky lucky me – I won!  Woohoo!  Happy dance!  🙂

So I was excited to see what the next challenge is, and this card is an entry for the CYCI#63 challenge.  It’s a sketch challenge, and here here is our sketch:

CYCI63-232x300

I tried to stay pretty true to the sketch.  What do you think?

Hey There

For this  card, I used the following materials:

  • StampinUp’s Just Sayin’ Stamp Set “hey there” stamp
  • StampinUp’s Just Sayin’ Framelit Die Set bubble die
  • StampinUp’s Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set “ink blot” stamp
  • Jillibean’s You’re Tweet Stamp Set “little bird” stamp & “happier than a french fry” sentiment stamp
  • StampinUp’s Pumpkin Pie Orange Marker (for birdie’s beak)
  • StampinUp’s Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper “brick wall” paper
  • StampinUp’s Very Vanilla and Black Card Stock
  • Inks:  Stazon Black, SU White Craft Ink, Versa Mark, SU Tempting Turquoise
  • White Embossing Powder
  • Wink of Stella Clear Brush

Have a great day – in fact, I hope your day is Happier than a Bird with a French Fry!

By the way – have you ever seen a bird with a french fry??  I can say I have first hand!  A couple of years ago, a friend took me to this very specific “special” french fry place on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland.  We got a batch of fries and were walking along talking, when out of nowhere and in no time at all (I hadn’t even tasted one fry yet), a bird swooped in to grab a fry, startling me to the point of throwing the fries in the air.  When they fell to the ground, about 50 hundred gabillion birds appeared, and the fries disappeared in about 1.5 seconds.  And to top it off……… the stinkin’ bird POOPED on my shoulder in the process.  So after that fiasco, I went to the ladies room to “wash” off my top, and back we headed to buy more fries.  When we arrived at the shop, it had closed for the day…..

I never did get to try those fries.  But the birds sure were happy!  🙂

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

PS  Happy Birthday Aaron!  With love from Aunt Jodi ❤

Chicks & Rubber Duckies

/ Jodi / 15 Comments

rubber duck 1

I’m going to a baby shower this weekend, so I had fun using the same technique I used for my Watercolor & Painted Petals Note Card to make this little bitty Rubber Ducky card.

rubber duck 2

I used the rubber ducky stamp from StampinUp’s Something for Baby stamp set and embellished with a white gel pen and pearl for the eye.

I can’t get enough of this fun technique and know I will be doing more of it.

And speaking of having fun and making cards, I had a few chicks over one night this week.  We ate chicken fajitas and Cadbury mini egg blondies, washed it down with some wine and G&Ts, stamped, and made…

chicks stamping

some CHICKS!  (Easter Chicks that is!)  So here we are… Chicks making Chicks!   Thanks to Head Chick Stacey for leading our “class.”

chicks and chicks

Aren’t they cute?!

Easter Chick

Here is a video tutorial on how to make one similar done by Deb Valder.

We made ours a just a little different by adding a little holder for a Cadbury Egg.

Easter Chick side

Happy Friday from this crazy Chick!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Hello There in Watercolor Bokeh

/ Jodi / 18 Comments

hello there bokeh 1

Hello There Friends!  It’s Friday!  Thanks for visiting today.

For this week’s Friday card, I had fun experimenting with an abstract watercolor and bokeh technique Diane Dimich featured recently here. 

For the blues/greens, I mixed some stamp reinkers with water, and I used some watercolor paint for the red/oranges – just to try a couple different ways.  Once I decided on my color palettes, I brushed my watercolor paper with some clear, clean water using a water brush, then began randomly dabbing the colors all over covering the entire surface.

watercolor bokeh 2

Once it dried, I daubed white inked circles in multiple layers overlapping from a template I created using a piece of acetate cut with the Stampinup Circle Framelits to give the bokeh effect I love so much in photography.

watercolor bokeh 3

Once I was pleased with the effect, I mounted it onto cardstock with a white border, stamped the Hello There greeting in black and embellished with a few simple rhinestone gems.

hello there bokeh 1

I haven’t finished the rest of the painted sheets yet.   I think I will save them for when I need a particular card that I can add just the right greeting and message to.

So here’s to Friday, the weekend, creativity, sharing, and all the wonderful things to enjoy at life in between.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Just Sayin’

/ Jodi / 15 Comments

Just Sayin Blended Bloom and Crazy about You 3

Just Sayin’…

I’m ready for Spring.

I’m ready for flowers.

I’m ready for sunshine.

So when I saw this week’s Paper Player’s Challenge (PP236) was to make a “Clean and Simple Floral” card, I couldn’t wait to play along!

 My Card Recipe:  I heat embossed the StampinUp Blended Bloom floral image in black onto Whisper White card stock.  Using a sponge dauber, I sponged Crushed Curry ink in the middle, then light to dark shades of “orange” (Crisp Cantaloupe, Tangelo Twist, Tangerine Tango).  For some extra pizazz, which is so hard to capture in the photos, I added a light brush of Wink of Stella on the petals.  I then “fussy” cut the flower out and adhered it to another white layer using an antique brad (to which I stamped the image with Memento Black ink underneath just for some extra dimension).  I used my favorite new Lil’ Inkers Stitched Rectangle Border Die Cuts to create the edge of the white piece and to the front of the Tangerine Tango card stock base.  I adhered the white to the orange using foam tape to add extra dimension.  The final step was to stamp “Just Saying” in Memento Black ink using the Crazy About You Stamp set.

I love this simple stamp and how this card turned out, and I can’t wait to share it with someone.

Just Sayin Blended Bloom and Crazy about You 2

So today, I’m “just sayin'”…

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy Spring!

Happy Birthday #25 Nick!  Thanks for bringing such joy to my life and making every March 17th one of my favorite days of the year!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi