Floral Card with Aqua Painter

One of my great loves in life is playing with color.  I love how the colors blend and change with the light and how they're influenced by other colors around them.  I love painting and coloring as I play with color.  Yesterday, I finished painting a couple of little storage containers for my studio and then I played with seeing how our new and old colors work together.  After all that, and because they're painting our house right now (exterior), into my little head pops the idea of trying a new color for our front door.  Imagine my delight when the painters rang our doorbell this morning and presented me with a huge color swatch paint sampler.  Yippee!  Right now, our door is red.  I've always been disappointed in the original job on it because they didn't sand it first and they didn't use the exact color I'd wanted.  It was ok at the time, I guess, but as time marched on, it has faded a lot and looks more of a pinky red and now has a lot of wear and tear on it.  Yay!  Time for a change.  (I know.  It's a sickness:)  I'm actually thinking of a black.  With all those colors, I chose black???  Well, yes.  I think it will be nice.  I'd suggested a turquoise or a beautiful teal and my husband actually had an opinion --- a quick no.  I'm taking a day or two to think about it.
Now, let's get back to using color in our artwork.  I first learned to color my cards using watercolor pencils.  I loved how you could add shading and darker areas.  Then, along came the Aqua Painter and my life was forever changed.  My favorite go-to method of coloring is using it with just a puddle of ink in my ink pads.  The trick is using the least amount of water possible.  Those who tell me they hate using this method, it always turns out to be that they're using too much water.  Hey, that's why they make paper towels, my friends:)
For today's card, I chose a stamp that has beautiful shading already there.  The detail is incredible.  This is a super easy technique.  You stamp your image in black (or dark gray) and then, once the ink is dry, you color it with your Aqua Painter and puddles of ink colors of your choice.  Fun!  Easy!  It's a great technique.  Here's my card.

Isn't this a beautiful stamp?  The little 'Levi' tag adds the perfect touch of elegance to the card, using a Berry Burst ribbon with beautiful silver edging.  I love this ribbon!

I've used Berry Burst and Old Olive for my card.  Keep this card design in mind.  It works for lots of large, single images.  Tip:  When you use Whisper White as your card base, use the thick CS.  It holds up nicely.

That's it for today.  I'm off to work in my studio.  I need to stay here pretty much all day because yesterday, I took my first solo drive to get my hair cut and then ran a super quick errand on the way home.  Later in the afternoon, we went to Target to get some essentials.  I realized that I'd overdone it for the day because I could barely push the cart and began having severe hip and knee pain which increased as the evening went on.  I had a very painful evening, went to bed super early, had a painful night which eventually settled into some actual sleep.  By morning, I was feeling much better.  I just can't seem to find the right pace for me to enjoy life without constantly overdoing it.  Hope you're keeping me in your thoughts.  I need all the help I can get:)

JULY HOSTESS CODE:   

HPWJY6EF

 
My July Hostess Code Special ($35.+ orders)
--- Surprise Gift 
--- First dibs on 'shopping day' for you to shop.   
     You will be a VIP shopper!  
     See shopping days listed below.
--- Equal credit from your order to use @ sale.
--- Free Color Coach (new/updated) !!!

My July Hostess Code Special runs through to the end of July.  We'll have a new code for August. 

Important dates to remember:

Aug. 13 / Scraps and Prayers / 5:30-7:30 / $15.00
     Joy Sampler / Pay to register at least 2 days before class. 
Aug. 18 / Saturday Stampers / 1:00-4:00 / $20.00
     Color Your Season Cards -- Brand new!!!
     Fall, All-Occasion, and Christmas cards!
Aug. 26 / Summer Open House Party  / PLEASE RSVP!!!
     2:00-5:00 / a no fee event
     Super fun fellowship, stamping, goodies, and shopping!
     It doesn't get better than this!
Aug. 31-Sept.1 / Garage Sale /  8:00-5:00 Fri. and Sat.
Sept. 8 / FREE STAMPIN' BLENDS CLASS
      1:00-4:00 / Let's color!!!
Sept. 10 / Scraps and Prayers / 5:30-7:30 / $15.00
       Fall Project, showcasing the gorgeous colors of nature.
Sept. 15 / BONUS Saturday Stampers / 1:00-4:00 / $20.00
       Let's make some gorgeous Fall and Christmas cards.
Sept. 29 / FREE BRUSHO CLASS
       1:00-4:00 / This should be the most fun ever!!!

If you've earned one of my Sept. Free Classes, contact me if you need to attend on a different date.

Shopping Days for my little sale:

July 30 / 5:30-6:30 / VIP Shoppers may come at 5:00
Aug. 13 / Before or after Scraps and Prayers
Aug. 18 / Before or after Saturday Stampers
Aug. 26 / as a part of my Summer Open House Party
               2:00-5:00  
               (I cannot begin earlier than this.  
               You may stay until 5:30 if you need more shopping time.) 
Aug. 31-Sept.1 / Garage Sale /  8:00-5:00 Fri. and Sat.

- Thanks for stopping by my corner of the blogging world.

- Come back often for more creative inspiration.

- Let's create something beautiful today.