Let's Color Linky Party 6

Good Morning and Happy Weekend! Hope you're having a nice and sunny Easter weekend. Rain in our forecast I think, so we won't be spending much time outside.

It's time already for the new Let's Color Linky Party. Thanks to everyone that played along in the last linky party, lots of wonderful entries again. Be sure to scroll down to see if your entry was a top pick this time around.

As always, the theme is simply

Anything goes with something colored.

 I have a floral card to share today using the set Blooming Garden by Penny Black as the focal point. The background stamping was done using a Whimsy background stamp (Life Defined) and a fern stamp by Stampin Up. Edges were then inked with distress ink and distressed. The poppies were stamped twice, once onto my white card stock, then onto watercolor paper (I used a winsor &newton watercolor marker pad).
The poppies were then colored with my new Zig Clean color brush pens and a waterbrush, then I added some sparkles using a clear wink of stella brush pen (where has wink of stella been all my life??!!)

You can see the sparkles better in this close up.

Sentiment is by Penny Black. I embellished with some ribbon and twine and added a little bit of designer paper to match the butterfly.

Now onto my top picks from the last linky party. As always there were so many fantastic entries, but finally decided on these entries in no particular order:

Ike

Larissa

Chris


Congratulations!!
 Below is your Top Pick badge if you'd like to add it to your sidebars.

Now it's time to get coloring again :-)
Just a few reminders:
Must include something colored

Blog post must include link back here

Unlimited entries and feel free to combine with other challenges

Anything goes with something colored

ETA 5/20/18:

To protect the privacy of those who entered this challenge, the linky tool has now been removed.

Watercoloring and My Zig Clean Color Brush Opinion

Happy Monday! I had some time over the weekend to play with my new Zig Clean Color Brush Pens and one of the images I colored was the cute "Doggie's Little Behind" from Whimsy Stamps, which I used on the card below. If you'd like to read my opinion about these brush pens, be sure to read to the end of this post.

As mentioned, I used the zig clean color brush pens and this Zig Detailer Waterbrush, which I also picked up from amazon. 

The background was done with a polka dot embossing folder and sentiments are all part of this cute set from Whimsy Stamps.  

I kept the card CAS, embellished with a little bit of ribbon scrap which I stapled onto the card, then tied a bow onto the staple using some white twine.

I found a new challenge blog today, CAS Mix Up, and I am going to enter my card there. This is a CAS mixed media challenge where this month's theme is stamping, watercoloring, and "your choice", something you choose from a list on their side bar. I chose embossing folder for my extra choice. 

If you are interested in my thoughts about these brush pens, keep reading. 

Some of you may know, that I was thinking about getting these brush pens for some time now, but then remembered I had a set of Aquamarkers and a package of Distress Markers (not to mention the 2 packages of high quality artist watercolor paints). My main reason for wanting water soluble markers is for coloring directly onto stamps before stamping, especially for those stamps that require two colors.  And since I found the other markers I decided not to get them. But I kept watching videos about these Zig Brush Pens, and finally changed my mind again and purchased the set of 36.

Here are some of my opinions: They are so easy to watercolor with. I can't believe how nicely the ink dissolves! Of course I am no expert with water coloring, but it's easy to learn  if you have a product that helps you along. I love how vibrant the colors are! While watching lots of videos, I also discovered the Winsor & Newton watercolor marker pad, and decided to get one from Dick Blick. This has been my favorite paper to use with these markers.

About coloring directly onto the stamps: yes, it works and stamps beautifully, but...I won't be using them for this purpose. While trying this technique, I had a feeling the bristles from the brush pens won't last long if I did this more often, so I will  order more of the distress markers for this use.

Do I regret buying them? Not at all. I love watercolor looks and I feel like these are the easiest to use for water coloring. I think they are a great watercolor medium especially if you are new to water coloring and want to learn. Besides the card below I also colored another image which I shared HERE on Instagram .

Do I regret buying only 36 instead of 48 or more - no. I was going to get the set of 48, but the 48 pack seller from amazon had too many negative reviews within the last month, so I chose the pack of 36. I might add a couple more colors someday, but right now it's all the colors I need.

I have seen some complains about not having a "red" red. The color I thought would be red is very pink, bright pink, when dissolved with water, but since these are water soluble, it's easy enough to use a little bit of brown with the pinkish red to tone it down a little. 

Again, these are just my own personal thoughts after owning them for a few days.

Sorry, that got a little bit longer than I thought it would. 

I need to get off my computer now, been working on blog posts and card edits all morning...getting dizzy staring at the screen for so long...

Hope you all have a fabulous day!!

Whimsy Stamps March Release - Day 3

Happy Friday again, I am back with a second card today. If you'd like to see my first post simply scroll down.

It's the last day of the Whimsy Stamps New Release Inspiration posts for March. Don't forget to visit the Whimsy blog to enter into the prize drawings if you haven't already.

For today I made another cute Easter card. This time using the cute Easter Bunny stamp from the Krista Heij-Barber collection. 

Colored with copic markers and fussy cut. I used the same tag die from Whimsy's stitched tag die set. Similar sketch was used as on my card from earlier today. The sentiment is from a really old SU Easter Set. Designer paper is from a recent designer paper pack I picked up at Hobby Lobby and card stock is from Stampin Up.

I am playing along here:

Cute Card Thursday - Easter
 Animal Friends Challenge - Easter
Crafter's Cafe - Easter
DoubleClick Skittles- Use A Bunny, Basket or Egg 

 

Thanks so much for visiting! Hope you have a fantastic weekend! 

From one Spring Chick...

Happy Friday :-) 

Today's card was made as a reminder card for the current Penny Black and More challenge, where our theme is "Feature a Creature". 

It's almost Easter and I wasn't done yet playing with the cute set "Chick to Chick" so I made this card using another stamp from that set. These chicks are just too adorable! 

Image was colored with copic markers. The cute sentiment and bee are also part of the set. 

The tag was cut out using a die from Whimsy Stamps from the stitched tag die set. and I used some sheer ribbon and twine as embellishements. Designer paper is from my stash, I had it forever, it was a perfect match for my colored image.

I hope you'll come join us, still plenty of time left and we have some great prizes to give away. Don't forget you can enter up to 3 times :-) 

These are our prizes:

by Penny Black

by Marianne Designs

 

by Crafty Ribbons

by our team mate Sam

 

Isn't that an amazing assortment of prizes? Lots of chances to win!! I do hope you'll come join us!

Have fun creating, 

I'll be back later this morning with another post!

Whimsy Stamps - March Rubber Stamp Release

Good morning, happy Wednesday and thank you so much for visiting today!!

It's time already for the March rubber stamp release at Whimsy Stamps. I think you are going to love this new release. I know I do, lots of cute critters are being released, and those are always my favorites :-)

There will be Whimsy prizes to give away, so be sure to visit the Whimsy Inspirations blog to find out how easy it is to enter into the drawing. You will also see all of the new stamps in one place. 

For my card today I used the adorable new Bunny with Daffodil illustrated by Lee Holland. What a cutie and I had lots of fun coloring him. 

Copic markers were used for coloring and I fussy cut the image. The meadow background was done by inking with distress ink mowed lawn and I used some grass and leave stamps with certainly celery ink (SU -retired) to stamp the leaves and grass. I used a grass punch and some designer paper from my stash to add an exta grass border. Sky was also inked using tumbled glass distress ink. Sentiment is from the set "Everyday Moments"  which is currently my favorite Whimsy sentiment set.  I used one of the dies from the stitched tag die set to cut it out and tied it onto the card with some green jute twine. 

 I embellished with some jute twine and added a little prima flower and brad, then stitched along the edges before adhering it to the card base. 

The card is now listed here in my Etsy shop if you are interested.

Product list:

Bunny with Daffodil,
Everyday Moments

stitched tag die set

cardstock from Neenah, SU, xpress it

designer paper by SU

 green jute twine (may arts)

prima flower, brad

copics for coloring 

  

Playing along here:

Fan-Tastic Tuesday - Anything Goes with a twist: Spring is in the Air
Ooh La La Creations -  Spring is in the Air
Come and Get It -  Easter/Spring
A Gem of a Challenge - spring My Time to Craft - flowers

Today is also the start of the new Whimsy Inspires challenge. You can view the challenge here and don't forget you don't have to use a Whimsy stamp to play along, and there is a fun prize up for grabs there too.

Find me here: