PTI Make It Monday #158: Stamping with Watercolor Mediums

Hello Friends & Followers!  I hope you have had a good weekend!  Those of you who follow my blog know I tend not to use watercolors much, but when I saw Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge 158 to stamp with watercolor mediums I broke out my watercolor crayons, Out on a Limb- Revised & Out on a Limb Sentiments sets and gave it a whirl with this sympathy card:

I used watercolor crayons in chocolate chip for the branch and pale plum & perfect plum for the blooms but I think I used a little too much water in my watercolor brush and washed them out a bit too much, they have a pretty soft quality IRL, but they are a little difficult to even see in this picture.  I really like how this came out though, I think I am going to make a bunch more, perhaps in other colors, so that I have them on hand in the unfortunate event they are needed as sympathy cards can be difficult to make on the spot if you know what I mean.
     Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great week!
~ Crafty Math Chick

At Home with DCWV

Hello again friends & followers - I hope your week is off to a good start!  I have two cards for your viewing pleasure today - both are inspired by  this week's sketch from Card Positioning Systems - Sketch 235, designed by Tami Mayberry, seen here:

I rotated it 180 degrees of course and used it to make two cards.  The first was inspired by this lovely picture from this week's 'For Your Inspiration' Challenge 13:

I was inspired by the deep navies and purples of this photo with the golden glow of the Eiffel Tower and created this card using an image from Gina K. Designs' 'Sent With Love' Stamp TV kit:

That lovely DP is from DCWV's 'At Home' stack.  The Eiffel Tower is embossed with gold EP onto a Labels 14 die cut (one of my favorite Nestability shapes!).  My second card also uses sketch CPS235 and papers from the At Home stack, but I was more influenced by the colors from The Play Date Cafe Challenge 98, which had fewer purple tones and more teal & golden hues as seen in their picture:

Using these colors 'Labeled with Love', also by Gina K. Designs, I created this card for Jimmi Mayo's 'Free-for-All' Friday Challenge over at Stamp TV - to make a sympathy card (which are always difficult to make when you need one on the spot right?  So it is always a nice idea to have a few stashed away... just in case).

So, what do you think?  Do you have a favorite of the two?  


Thanks for stopping by my blog and viewing my creations!  I hope you have a terrific evening!!
~Crafty Math Chick

Happy Blogaversary Mustang Sarah!

Hello friends and followers.  This really nice fellow stamper that I met at Verve's release party last week announcd she had a Sketch Challenge on her blog in celebration of her 4th blogaversary (can you imagine?  I don't even think my blog is a month old yet, LOL!).  I missed her birthday blog hop, but I made this card in honor of her blogaversary:

I love the combination of River Rock and Black together, don't you?  All the images and sentiment are from Verve's 'Forever in our Hearts' set.  Now that I think of it, it seems a little odd to be making a sympathy card in honor of a blogaversary (what was I thinking?!!) but really, I think this is the perfect, calming set for a sympathy card, and I wanted to use it when I saw Sarah's appealing sketch.  I don't know about you, but for me, sympathy cards are the most difficult to make because they are for a somber occasion and stamping makes me happy, but I have found if I don't have a few set aside in my stash that trying to make them on the spot when you really need one is far more difficult.  So Sarah, when you see this, don't read into it?  Okay?  Please?  And there is still time to play so I hope some of you will, Sarah even has a little Vervey blog candy to entice you, or at least stop by to wish her a happy blogaversary.

I made a second card today for Sketch Challenge 135 at Taylored Expressions, using Taylor's cute 'Pet's Place' set.  I found some striped pre-glittered patterned paper from my DCWV's Pet Stack (thanks Barbie!!) and basically found papers that matched the colors in it - Taken with Teal (which I hardly ever use), Regal Rose and Chocolate Chip.  I attempted to have half of the pups turning their heads in opposite directions using a reverse image stamp, but after 5 tries I decided my back would appreciate it more if I used the doggies as they were.  I punched them out with a 1 1/8" circle punch, colored them in with Copic Markers, stamped the paw prints on the teal cardstock with a marker of the same color and added the sentiment and twine.  I hope you like it.

Thank you Sarah and Taylor for the cool challenges, and thank you all for stopping by my blog today to see my cards and listen to my ramblings.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
~Crafty Math Chick