Thursday, October 22, 2015

Two-thirds Way Thru 30-Day-Coloring Challenge

See my first ten days of colored projects during this 30-Day Coloring Challenge.
See my 2nd ten days of coloring projects.
Day 21:

 I was over at Stephanie Ackerman's blog last night,
catching up on all her latest news,
when I ran across a post with her directions
on how she watercolors using watercolor pencils and an aqua-brush, 
so knew that was the direction I was going next,
to color in a house,
a gingerbread house,  to be exact, by Stampin' Up.
The colored pencil practice was a good prelude to coloring in with watercolor pencils,
however, when it came time to actually get the Strathmore
watercolor paper wet, I had a hard time getting some of the pencil pigment
to dissolve and smooth out like a marker.
I was using a "light" hand, as per Stephanie's instructions,
 but had to re-color over the dried sections.
The sky finally puddled after the second coat,
but the clouds and the house still wouldn't,
so then I had to look at the pencils.
I keep all my watercolor and colored pencils (various brands of both)
 separated in school boxes, so. . .
when I tried to find them on the Fantasia Pencil company website,
there were no photos of individual pencils to compare them to, so I decided
they must be coloring pencils, not watercolor ones. =0(
So to finish off the scene, I added stickles to the roof and gumdrops
and glossy accents to the little gingerbread man's heart.
~~~~~
Day 22.

Tonight my son was in a car accident with a motorcycle
that totaled his car; he's at the hospital getting checked out as I type this.
When I tried to call my husband to let him know
about the accident, his boss answered my hubby's phone and said he had
fainted and medics and an ambulance was on the way.
So tonight I elected not to color, but take care of my guys.
I hope you understand.
~~~~~
Day 23:
Kathy's Lawn Fawn Christmas Card 

I decided to do another watercolor card, but in a different technique
with the watercolor pencils.
I got inspiration from this Art Impressions tri-fold card video.

I love the look of watercolor and
followed the directions from the video of measuring and marking the card,
however, I didn't have the Art Impression stamps to make it with, so used what I had.
I think if I make this card again, I would move the car down so it is not hiding the house
and move the evergreen tree up and to the left side of where the car is..
I felt a little out of my element as it involved moving the pigment
from a "palette" to the paper
with the waterbrush; I have more control with the above watercolor technique of scribbling
the watercolor pencil pigment directly on the paper and wetting it with the waterbrush to puddle it.
~~~~~
Day 24:

Well, I played with placement today after I visited Michaels.
I was looking for Tim Holtz's Distress Micro Glaze fixative, but they didn't carry it.
You wouldn't believe the amount of coloring books they were carrying. WOW!
Right in time for Christmas shopping!
I thought I had a tree stamp, but all I could find were evergreens, so
I ended up buying a little 8 piece Inkadinkado tree set, but am still not satisfied
with the placement on the left side of the card.
The perspective isn't quite right yet, but I'm tickled with the shadows,
esp. the one of the car.
~~~~~
Day 25:

This crazy bird ATC is dedicated to Judy Cantrell,
who not only sent me stamp-off's of Tim Holtz's Crazy birds,
but also suggested how to color them in with watercolor crayons.
Did you know the term "jayhawking" is said to have been invented
by Patrick Devlin, an Irishman, who had emigrated to the Kansas territories 
during the Border War between Kansas and Missouri?
I couldn't resist adding the green polka-dot tie and bowler hat to the bird
along with the google-eyes.
He even has a little shamrock (confetti) next to him.
I have a plastic paint palette somewhere, but couldn't lay my hand on it,
so grabbed a plastic package bubble to use instead. The crayon scribbled easily and dissolved quite readily into paint and it didn't require the effort to get it transferred to the
image as the watercolor pencil scribbles did from the paper. 
~~~~~
Day 26:

Wise Old Owl
This coloring challenge is a two-fer; I'm getting
 shopping bags of supplies that I moved out to my craft barn
put away before I get down to business coloring, so
yesterday I found two palettes of watercolor paint;
one was a generic kids brand and the other was an Pearlescent
USArtQuest Stargazers palette that I had purchased at a thrift store
for $3.00 which had never been used.
I took that water brush in hand and painted up this wise old owl --
first layer was the generic brown - squirt one drop from water brush into paint,
mixed it a little and lightly painted it on and heat set it with my heat gun,
then went back over it with a darker brush on the shadow areas.
The bow-tie, cap, & pencil were all colored in the Stargazer paint.
It's more opaque than the generic watercolor paint. Then I went back over the bow tie
with lime green gel pen polka-dots and google eyes and he was done!
~~~~~ 
Day 27 & Day 28:

Me bad.
I totally blew off the coloring challenge yesterday.
Got involved in genealogy and didn't want to leave it, so
tonight I made two atc's.
I wanted to stamp the Celtic Cross in black, but could not find the stamp,
so had to rely on a stamp-off cut out of a "Ka-Ka" card.
You don't have a "Ka-Ka" card stash, do you?
I do. I keep unfinished and ugly cards in a shoebox.
Never know what you can dig out or find a use for from time to time.
I water colored both of these atc's with a paint box and water pen.
~~~~~
Day 29:

I'm tired tonight.
We're almost done with this 30-day Coloring Challenge.
I had a list of things to get completed and
have some things almost accomplished like the cleaning of my craft barn. Woo hoo!
I've  also learned that I like coloring with coloring pencils
and watercoloring with a water pen!
So here's my atc for today!
~~~~~
Day 30:

I made an atc-size envie  from a Asian treat bag I've hung onto like forever as a template 
and had to wait for the seams and the shamrock die cut on it to dry.
I was trying a new glitter glue which I got at a dollar store that I don't think I'll get again.
Had trouble getting it to come out and when it did, it came out in a big glop,
ACK!, so had a mess to clean up.
Here's the envie and the template.

The front of the envelope is 2.5" x 3.5." Score along dotted lines then fold and glue. .

I appreciate my friends and your lurkers out there
for coming back to read my blog every day
and commenting. 
Also, kudos goes to Kathy Racoosin for hosting this 30-Day Coloring Challenge.
Thank you.


Monday, October 12, 2015

30-Day Coloring Challenge Continues

See my first ten days of colored projects during this 30-Day Coloring Challenge.
Day 11:
My friend, Peggy, brought a few of her Mary Engelbreit rubber stamps
 and made some stamp-offs for me after our
ATC club meeting today. I colored a few to meet my
coloring challenge for today.
~~~~~
Day 12:

When I got home last night, I realized I had no idea what colors
to use on these stamp-offs. I recognize Mary Engelbreit's art
for as much as her color combinations as well as what she illustrates.
So I pulled out several of the books she has illustrated from my personal library
(I have approximately 65 of her books)
and found the illustration above, however, for the one below,
I had to wing it.
~~~~~
Day 13:
Kathy's Sparkly Pegusus Birthday Card

I went out to the craft barn and dug in my "Ka-Ka" stash and
found some stamp-offs I forgot I had, so I got to work coloring them tonight.
They almost look like a flower garden. . .
But here is an up close photo so you can see how I colored Mary Engelbreit's flowers in.
The tip of my pointy finger is quite numb tonight! LOL!
 I practiced using light pressure vs. harder pressure on the coloring.
You can see that in the blue and pink flowers and the leaves.
I also blended colors -- leaves and flower centers.
And used a white pencil to smooth out the red pencil pigment.
It really worked like a blender pencil.
Now if only these flowers had dies to go with them, I'd be a super happy camper.
~~~~~
Day 14:
What color(s) make you happy?
Somebody sent me an email today about colors and
it reminded me of an old post I had forgotten about.
I joined this coloring challenge,
not to make cards as some are doing, but to practice coloring.
Later, I can put the elements to good use in projects.
The sun above is part of the leftovers from my August ATC making.
But I did color a card front I found in my stash yesterday.


This is an old Stampin' Up set of rubber stamped images.
I added a few details with my colored pencils like the clouds and the tree bark.
And then I went back to bits of this and that.

The above snowmen are from an old Stampin' Up set, too, I think.


The flowers above were intended as a bit of a background and
I also colored in a cute corner or two.
Wanna watch Mary Engelbreit color in a drawing? Click here.
~~~~~
Day 15:

I think both these images are from a friend's Penny Black rubber stamps. . .
I've been looking very carefully at how ME shades her figures. . .
Part of the challenge for myself this month
 is becoming confident in the use of color.
~~~~~
Day 16:

Learned a fellow 30-Day Coloring Challenge
friend's mother passed away Sunday.
So here's a card in memory of her mother!


Shepherd stamp is by Highlander Celtic Stamps,
 the sentiment is by Inkadinkado,
the sheep is a stamp-off from a friend. 
~~~~~
Day 17:

Colorblock Technique
Make three circles by tracing around something round with a pencil, pen or marker,
anywhere on the page.
Save these three circles for stamping two images and a sentiment &/or for stickers.
Then, using a straight-edge ruler,
draw lines in the rest of the space to make "blocks."
You may stamp in the blocks and color in.
~~~~~
Day 18:
Sorry folks, I was really tired,
been working on a couple of genealogical articles for one of my other blogs,
so I elected to go to bed
instead of staying up and coloring.
~~~~~
Day 19:
Kathy's Guesting on Power Poppy -- It's a Cool Christmas Card!

One of my nieces sent me some black and white doodled coloring pages,
one of which I colored tonight.
The artist is: Deborah Muller.
Did you know that blue, green, and lavender are calming colors?
And pink is an appetite suppressant?
Supposedly, if you want to lose weight, paint your kitchen walls a bright pink!
~~~~~
 Day 20:

I was going to use my watercolor pencils tonight,
but first I have to find my aqua (water) brush.
I'm still trying to organize my craft barn.
So. . . tonight, it's still coloring pencils on one of those coloring sheets
niece shared with me.
After I got done coloring, it seemed like it still needed something and
I remembered that Mary Engelbreit uses black so effectively to pop colors,
so I used a fine-tip sharpie marker to reink the lines
and a light grey pencil to add some shadows.
I believe adding both helped.

I am Thankful & Blessed For God is with me!  
~~~~~
See my last ten days of projects during this 30-Day Coloring Challenge.