Friday, December 19, 2025

PEACEFUL PIER WATERCOLOR

I couldn't share cards this week with the Peaceful Pier Stamp Set without trying to watercolor a scene.  I'm still debating a bit on how I feel about it.


I love to try to create pretty nature scenes on cards, but my style is also to have a lot of dimensional layers, details and embellishments.

From that perspective, this card is very different for me and differs from what I am comfortable with.  This card has minimal layers and pieces and zero embellishments!  Believe me, I tried!  But nothing looked right.


I used the dock from the stamp set for the first time this week. 

The card was made using two basic techniques.  The background (water, sky and sand) was watercolored with a Water Painter and Reinkers.  I did that first.  I left a lot of white space to provide the appearance of depth and dimension.

Then I used the selective inking with Stampin' Write Markers to ink the stamps and stamp over the water coloring once it was dry.


I used a positioning tool to stamp the trees and the dock with grass.  That way I could ink the stamps with various colors and stamp them multiple times in the exact same place until I got the intensity of color that I wanted.

I did stamp the dock a second time on Watercolor Paper and color it with Pecan Pie Stampin' Blends.  Then I fussy cut the dock and adhered it over top of the dock I stamped on the card.  I used rolled-up glue dots to provide just a little lift.  

Since the grasses are on the same stamp as the dock, I didn't want the dock lifted too much.  I tried it with dimensionals first, but the extra lift made the grass look strange.  Think of this process sort of like using the Paper Piecing Technique.

To finish the card, I added clear Wink of Stella to the water to give it some shimmer and added a simple sentiment.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the card.  What does it need?  I feel like it needs something!


A list of the products I used is shown below.

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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

FISHING FUN

I'm a big fan of water life and the fun things associated with living on a lake, however, fishing isn't really one of them.  But I do think this little fisherman is cute.  I'm going to name him George, after my dad, because Dad used to take me fishing when I was young.


We do have a lot of fishermen on our lake, and soon they will be out there in their shanties ice fishing.  But this image reminds me a bit of my neighbor.  He has a bench out on the end of his dock, and he likes to sit out there and fish.  I've never seen him actually catch anything!  LOL


For this card I used the Woven Textures Designer Series Paper (DSP).  I think that this DSP is great for masculine cards, and this particular design reminded me of the woven baskets that fishermen sometimes use.  When I was a kid and went fishing with my dad on our lake, we didn't have a fancy woven basket.  We just used a pail, but I've seen those cute woven baskets in the movies!  Does anyone actually use those?


George was stamped with Black Memento ink and then he and his surroundings were colored with Stampin' Blends.  For the sky, water, and grass, I intentionally left a little white space as it tends to create dimension and the feeling of movement.

The fisherman scene and the sentiment were die cut with aTraditional Labels Die.  If you didn't snag these already, you should consider these dies.  The have a great variety of shapes and sizes so are extremely versatile.  They are also on the Last Chance list and on clearance!


The Peaceful Pier Stamp Set also includes a couple of fish, so I added one here on the inside of the card.  I hope George catches one this size and not just that tiny little "minnow" that he has on his pole!

If you would like a detailed tutorial for today's card, use this link to download a free PDF.

A list of the products I used is shown below.

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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA

Monday, December 15, 2025

PEACEFUL PIER & THOUGHTFUL JOURNEY

This week I am featuring the Peaceful Pier Stamp Set from the 2025 - 2026 Annual Catalog.  If you have been following me for any amount of time you probably have figured out that I love all stamp sets and bundles that have a water theme of some sort.

So, of course, when I first saw this stamp set in the Annual Catalog I was drawn to it.  However, since I have so many stamps with docks and trees, I tried to resist.  But I finally gave in.


This was a very quick and simple card using the Thoughtful Journey Designer Series Paper (DSP).  For some reason I thought this paper retired months ago, but it did not!  It is still available and it is beautiful, so you are going to start seeing lots of it again.


To create the card, I simply stamped the trees with Mossy Meadow along the Cajun Craze area of the DSP as I thought that could work as a " northern shoreline".  I then stamped the cute little fisherman in the area I thought looked like the sandy south shore. 


The area between the "sand" and the "north shore" is my lake.  OK, use your imagination a bit, but there is some Lost Lagoon color in that area, so I thought it could be water.

My little fisherman was colored with Stampin' Blends.

I stamped my favorite sentiment from the Peaceful Pier Stamp Set on Basic White cardstock and die cut it with a Perennial Postage die.


Since the Thoughtful Journey DSP is 6" x 6", when I stamped the trees, I stamped them all the way across and then trimmed it to the size I wanted for the card front.  This left a nice, pretty strip to use on the inside of the card base.  I'll add a greeting later when I know who it is going to. 

Use this link to download a tutorial with all the details.

A list of the products I used is shown below.  Stamp on any image to learn more about that product or make a purchase.


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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA
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