Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone.  I hope you all are enjoying some quality family fun time.  We certainly are.  We spent the day down at the beach with a bunch of friends.  One of group has a great little camper so we had a home port (and frankly grill) so we could keep pretty grounded.  It was a lovely way to spend the day.  Nothing like being surrounded by good friends, good food and copious amounts of beer and margaritas.  We had crazy numbers which made the day even more festive.  I mean there were some fifteen adults and nine thousand kids (or twenty, but they were all ten and under so it felt like more).

Needless to say it was the perfect day to spend a holiday weekend.  Even better since some of the group were friends I rarely get to see and one couple it has literally been years since we sat down and had a drink together (they live out of state now).

What is even nicer, is everyone slept in this morning so I was able to get some stuff done in the silence of the house.  Nothing like sand, surf, and sun to wear out babies, right?  Even the husband was down for the count.  The only reason I woke up was the stupid cough that I have been enduring for the last few weeks.  Why is it coughs when they come take for ever to banish again?

Friday started a new chapter for me in my art study.  I am taking my first class, a study in copic markers, online with the beautiful colorist Sandy Allnock.  If you want to improve your coloring skill or understanding of how to use your markers, I highly suggest looking at her Copic Jumpstart Class.  We are one lesson in and I am fascinated by the lesson.  It is pushing already how I look at things.  Needless to say I may be a little copic heavy over the coming weeks with my coloring…you are just going to have to deal.  🙂

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With luck however, the first card on today’s line up of card challenges is not done in alcohol ink, but watercolor, sort of.  This week the queens of color over at Colour Q decreed a three shade color challenge.  This week they royal court is looking for the shades of basic black, calypso coral and gold.

I pulled out a scrap piece of watercolor paper and my Gansai Tambi watercolors and mixed up some orange shades, a terra cotta shade and a bit of yellow till I got a pretty shade of coral.  Then using my versa mark ink and a Stampendous stamp set, I embossed the image with some antique gold embossing powder.  Then using just a basic black ink, I stamped the sentiment from the same stamp pack.  Pulling out some metallic gold paper, I trimmed it up to fit the sides of the watercolor paper.  Yes the card ended up really simple and clean, however I think the shade of coral I mixed up made the whole thing very pretty.

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This week they gals over at Always Playing With Paper‘s The Challenge, we were given a masculine photo challenge.  I love the colors in the tractor and the softness of the landscape.

Knowing that this masculine challenge

would be the perfect image to use this stamp from Art Impressions, I stamped out they image onto some watercolor paper.  (Yes, I know another watercolor, but how could I not.)  Using my Sakura Koi watercolors, I quickly painted the image, worrying little about shading, except for the truck.  I trimmed out the paper to just 3.75 by 5 inches and backed the paper with a simple piece of brown paper.  Once again I left the image rather simple, but I think it worked well.  If I had added any more, I think I would have ruined the masculine feel of the whole thing.

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The gurus of color over at Color Throwdown this week challenged us with a very fruity color challenge.  This week they were asking for a blueberry shade, a pale pink, and either a strawberry red or a raspberry shade (frankly I wasn’t quite certain.)  I ended up aiming more for a deep pink instead of a pale red.

I was really uncertain where to go with this challenge, and kind of found myself at a loss of what

image to use.  Finally, for fun, I just pulled out these heels and purse from a Penny Black stamp set and lined them up.  Finding a sentiment to go with the images I thought would be hard, but as soon as I saw this one from Dylusions, I knew it was perfect.  I colored all the images in using my copics.  However, when I was done coloring the card seemed a little void of interest.  Pulling out my dots (seriously, what do people call these things), I added a couple of soft pink dots, but still found the card falling short.  Finally, I added the wide strip of pearl paper to the bottom of the card, and that finally gave the ultra girly feeling I was going for.  I backed the card with some soft pink paper and left the card at just that.  No, was all the pearl dots, the card is not that simple, but it is girly, and sometimes girly is just what we need.

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My big challenge today fell with this next card.  The designers over at Freshly Made Sketches handed out one of those sketches that I find impossible to work with.  I don’t know why, but these heavy layered sketches are really hard for me to wrap my brain around.  Yes, I could just dig into my florals and just layer they up, but that didn’t excite me.

Finally, I figured I would just attack it, using a very non-traditional attack at the sketch.  I pulled out three different images from Deep Red, and stamped them out.  The mushroom I stamped directly onto the card stock in some Toffee colored Memento Ink.  Then I stamped Alice and the Hatter out onto some other paper and colored them in with my copics.  I fussy cut them out and added them to the card layering them.  I added a simply birthday sentiment and a bunch of dots and little adhesive crystals for alice to be staring at.  I don’t know if this card is a obvious successes , but since I am more than a little Alice obsessed, I like it.

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Finally today I have a card that I missed the link up for, but wanted to share regardless.  This is the image from Cupcake Inspirations had great neutral shades and this week they were looking for a card that was just a bit ‘punny’.  I know this Avery Elle stamp isn’t new to the rest of the stamping community, but is new to me.  I snagged it cause my husband’s work is often using the viking image as a theme so I thought I

would snag it up for little thank you notes when I need them.  However, I thought this would be the perfect challenge for the little guy.

I colored him in using my copics, and then added him over some muted neutral paper with a bit of dimensional tape.  I added the Fiskars ‘smile’ sentiment.  I took my copics and with a bit of an experiment colored the corners and horizon line trying to distress and age them.  It worked a little better than I thought it would, especially since it was just on printed paper.  I am sad I missed the link up yesterday, but holiday fun won out.

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That’s all for this Sunday post, but I’ll be back to play later this week.  Everyone enjoy the long holiday weekend if you are lucky enough to have one.