Stamping with Watercolor Paint {use what you’ve got!}

Howdy friends! Today I have a quick, fun technique project for you that will have you making cards in minutes. Feel free to substitute supplies I used for ones you have on hand. You can use ANY watercolor paint for this. I use Gel Sticks on the card base but if you don’t have them try watercolor crayons, oil pastels or even kid’s crayons. It’s not about having the most resources at your disposal, it’s about being the most resourceful! Here is the video!

Here are a couple close ups of the quick cards from the video.

You can do this! You don’t need hours to create something worthwhile. Use those little snippets of time and make something wonderful! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Don’t faint, I stamped a card!

Boy, it feels like it had been a long time since I just sat down and stamped for fun. Sure, I did a lot of stamping on Christmas presents and craft fair items but those were fairly planned out. This card was just playing with ink, stamps and watercolor paper:

I dusted off the old Stampmaker and made the TARDIS and police box sign stamps and then used a blueprint stamp from Technique Tuesday and the gears and winged clock from Inkadinkado.  To make the card I inked up my TARDIS with 4 Distress Inks: Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Faded Jeans and Dusty Concord (working light to dark in this order) then I stamped it on watercolor paper. I spritzed it with water to give it a softer look. I smooshed the Dusty Concord pad on my silicone sheet to act as a palette and I painted a shadow. Then I took a damp brush and dragged some of the ink around for shading on the TARDIS. I chose Distress ink because it can be reworked with water, typically it is not my favorite ink to stamp with. Tip: If you are stamping on rough paper lay the stamp on your table rubber side up and press the paper to the stamp!

Then I just added some of the other stamped imagery with Stampin Up ink because I wanted a sharper look. I mounted the panel on black and hot glued the “police box” stamp in the wrong spot (!) but, it is hot glue so there it will remain ha ha! To balance it out I added some clock hand die cuts and attached them with screw top brads.  all in all, a really fun card to make! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Snow! {better late than never..}

Wait, did I say better?!? The kids were disappointed that we did not have snow for Christmas (I secretly was glad the roads were clear for those traveling!) but boy, mother nature made up for it this week! We got about a foot on Thursday and I awoke to what looks like another 6″ this morning! I’m thinking this would be a good day to stay in my jammies, bake some bread and pick away and my annual craft room reorganizing project. Here is a watercolor sketch I did a few weeks ago of lobster buoys pulled in for the winter:

Time for another cup of coffee, fist I think I will visit my chickens (who, by the way, do NOT like the snow) and see if I have any goodies to bring them…I think I should make them some chicken booties so their feet won’t get cold in the snow. We put more savings down in their covered run yesterday to keep them off the snow but it must have been windy because it looks like there is more snow in there today, poor chickens. Has anyone ever knit for a chicken before…wow, I am Turning into “crazy chicken lady!”

Have fun in the snow (if you have some) and til next time happy crafting!

2 Days ’til Christmas! {you can panic now…}

Ha ha, just kidding. I don’t want you to panic, Christmas will come whether or not you bake that extra batch of cookies or hit the mall one last time. People will enjoy gathering together even if there is a layer of dust on your mantel or you burn that apple pie. We don’t look back and wish we spent more time shopping, cleaning or baking. we wish we spent more time with the people we love…let’s do more of that! Here is a painting  I painted it a couple of weeks ago. It is a peaceful sunset in Maine:

Since all of our snow was washed away by rain this weekend it looks about right.  So, don’t stress out today trying to finish everything on your to-do list. Snuggle on the couch and watch a Christmas movie or decorate a gingerbread house with the kids. As for my stress free day the Schwanns man is scheduled to stop by today so I have Christmas dinner all set LOL! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

WOYWW: Random Painting & Projects

Howdy folks and happy Wednesday! You (hopefully by now) know what it is time for…What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday! I have had a plethora of projects on my desk this week…well, just have a look:

I have been painting! I am happy with the bird and lily painting but the one at the bottom of my desk is an epic fail…it was looking a bit too stark so I decided to use some spray mist and stencils however I was too impatient to wait for the paint to dry and ended up with a big ugly blob which I dumped some glimmer eye-shadow on and then smooshed some plastic wrap into the puddle. It’s like I ran out of bullets and I threw the gun. I thought about pitching this in the trash before I took the picture but I didn’t want anyone to think I never make mistakes…OK you can STOP laughing now…really. Stop. Oh, shameless plug, I have a couple new watercolor painting kits at Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff this week!

On the other side of my mayhem I have some cleaner crafts. Some fun candy-colored plastic beads that my daughters sorted for me and some cute tags I made so I can price some of my loose necklaces and bracelets I have made for the craft fair (because I was a doof and forgot to buy the stick-on ones!)

But luckily I have a tiny tag punch (splurge from a stampin-up party last summer) and my new yummy baker’s twine from Papermart and I made my own! I think my jewelry might just sell due to the cute tags! Quick tip: This tag punch does not have a hole in it so make sure to punch 1/8″ holes first and then punch the tag upside-down so you can center the hole in the circle because you will not be able to punch the hole after you punch the tag, it will get stuck in your punch!

Well, there you have it! I do have herbal tea (instead of coffee) on my desk as I am trying to be healthier, I even took a spin on the treadmill today (highly unpleasant but being able to watch Torchwood on my kindle made it tolerable) so, yeah, woo…go health. That’s sarcasm by the way Oh, here are the two paintings I didn’t mess up…

I am going to mat them and sell them as well at the craft fair…boy don’t I sound optimistic!

You can check out more crafty desks on Julia’s blog, the home of WOYWW. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

A Painterly Playdate!

Back to the ol’ grind today! I hope you had a nice weekend! It was a mini vacation here as the kids had nearly a week off for Thanksgiving break. We are in full craft fair prep mode. My kids have been crafting stuff to sell, as have I! This year I have conned…er I mean invited some friends to exhibit at a craft fair with me. My Friend Kath who is an extremely talented seamstress is making “American Girl” sized clothes to sell and we have gotten together several times for crafty playdates to prepare… basically we drink a lot of tea, chit-chat and occasionally make some product for our tables. On Friday she invited me over to craft, I was going to bring my beads and make jewelry but I decided it would be less of a bother to bring my watercolor supplies. Here is one of the paintings I completed:

I started 6 paintings. I have a method where I start a painting and put in the background and then sketch out and paint the backgrounds on as many paintings as I can while waiting for the first one to dry. I like to work on very wet paper to start so I would have quite lot of ‘sittin’ around waiting’ to do if I did not get to work on other paintings. I started 6 and finished 3!

Did I mention we had 6 kids between the two of us. Actually we each have a set of 8-year-old twin daughters who entertained themselves playing with their American Girl dolls while we crafted and our boys wandered about playing video games and chess. You would never have know that there were a half-dozen kids there LOL!

I have quite a stack of watercolors to mat and put in clear archival bags to sell at the craft fair, my booth is going to be so schizophrenic looking with the mish-mash of craftyness I have planned but oh what fun it is to plan for a craft fair! BTW, I will be working some of the new paintings into downloadable how-to painting packets for my shop, I’ll let you know when they are available! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Wishy-Washy Watercolors? No Way!

Happy Friday folks! Looks like rain in New England this weekend (we need it!) so it is a nice excuse to stay inside and paint! One of my favorite tricks for making my watercolors nice and bright is to use complimentary colors next to each other like I did here with red and green in my new Learn To Paint with Lindsay kit: Chinese Lanterns:

 

As with all of my beginner kits the cost is $3 and you get about 20 step by step photos and instructions to paint this. No previous painting experience is necessary. I’ll show you how fun and easy watercolor painting can be!

 

If you have some extra time this weekend why not check out the other Learn to Paint with Lindsay kits, the Birch Trees lesson is still at the special introductory price of $1 so why wait?

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting (and painting!)

Get Out Your Watercolors!

Let’s Paint! I love watercolors, the splashy vibrant color and the immediacy of creation is what hooks me every time. Unlike oils or acrylics they are always ready to go when I am! This painting is done in watercolor but I applied the paint in different ways: painting, spraying, stenciling and spattering. I love the texture and interest these different methods give the piece.

Cyclamen Watercolor Painting Copyright 2012 Lindsay Weirich

I really believe that anyone can paint, you just need to give it a go! If you don’t think you can draw well enough you can print out a digital stamp (there are lots of great ones that would be perfect for watercoloring in my Fancy Flowers set) and transfer it to your painting surface with graphite paper. I almost always draw it on a scrap first and then trace it so I know I have the drawing again if I mess up or if I want the pattern to use in a class. I mixed watercolor in a spray bottle with water to use with my stencils and I also sponged on some thicker watercolor. Normally I do not use white watercolor but in this case I did to mimic the velvety soft petals in the flowers and for the polka-dot stencil. As a final touch I added some stamping. No rules, just paint! Just remember, it’s only a piece of paper!

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

WOYWW: A Painterly Mess!

Howdy, time again for another What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday! I spent the entire day painting, sipping coffee and watching Gossip Girl on Netflix.  Not a bad way to spend a rainy day!

 

I am pleased with how my painting is turning out, hubby bought the lovely cyclamen plant for me on Valentine’s day and it is still alive (will wonders never cease?) so I decided I better paint it before it realizes I am the one caring for it and it and it keels over. Ha Ha.

That’s all for today, if you want to see other people’s creative mess you can head over to the Stamping Ground, the home of the WOYWW phenomenon. Til next time happy crafting!

LSS Weekly Wrap Up 3

Wow, I must say I really enjoy gathering up my design team’s projects in one spot, I am so lucky to have such a talented group of artists working for me on the Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff team. Without further ado let’s see what they cooked up this week!

Micki’s Card this week has me dreaming of summer, find out her tricks for printing and watercoloring this digital stamp from the Seaside Sketches set on her blog.

Rhonda has been in the sewing room again this week with a beautiful card using the Posh ‘n Trendy set, wowza, isn’t it gorgeous!

Here is our ‘hybrid homey’ Diane with a great Easter Card (love the sentiment) and she made her background paper with a digistamp, find out how on her blog-this girl knows all the tricks and she shares her card making secrets! She used the Cute Easter Set and the Easter Sentiment freebie on this card:

And if you want another freebie check out the paper Karin used in her elegant card today, it is from the Vintage Sheet Music Freebie from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff-these days you gotta love free!

And here is Tracey with an earth-friendly decor craft (you are not gonna believe what she made this wall hanging out of) using Owl Tree stamp from Lindsay’s ShopHandmade Store and it’s only $1!

Last but not least we have Cindi with a hybrid card. She used the digital invitation from the Valentine Party Add-on kit as a background then layered over a digistamp from Sweet Stuff, yum!

Now, I’m sure the DT has left you with plenty of inspiration to get crafting this weekend, be sure to stop by their blogs and leave them some love and also be sure to snag this weeks freebie on yesterday’s post.

One more reminder, if you haven’t signed up to win a set of ProMarkers you have until Sunday Night to do so, just leave a comment on the Promarker Give-away post and let me know what set you would like if you win, easy peasy!

Til next time happy crafting!