Trying Something New (to me)...

Happy Saturday, everyone! I hope you have plans for a fun weekend ahead.

I recently took an online Watercolor for Cardmakers class through Online Card Classes. The number of lessons, the talent of the teachers, and the projects were fabulous. Unfortunately, during the class, there was a lot of activity going on around here, and I only had time to watch the class video at the end of each day and download the PDFs for later reference.

There were many techniques demonstrated during the class that I plan to try, but one captured my interest right away. I began to carry my little watercolor set with me each day, and when I had some downtime, I practiced, practiced, practiced (and I painted and threw away and painted and threw away some more), until I had something close to what I was trying to emulate. I was especially taken with the looser, colorful style of Sanketi's class sample, and wanted to see if I could make a small watercolor in that style (you can check out her beautiful work here).

In the end, the painting I liked the most was the one of poppies - not the same stamp used in the class - but the bright colors of the class sample are what attracted my attention from the start, so that's what I ended up choosing as my favorite of my "experimental" pieces. And since my sister's birthday was coming up (and she's the *real* artist in the family) I thought it might be fun to make one that I liked enough to use on her birthday card.

So here's what I was brave enough to send her. She said she loves it (she's my sister and probably would say that anyway, but it's obvious I have more practicing to do - LOL)...

And since I had to add some of my usual shabby style to the card, there's a bit of white twine wrapped around the piece, a couple dyed seam binding bows with an embellished leaf stick pin, banner sentiment strip, and a few red gems on the painting...

Supplies:

Stamps:   Penny Black "Blooming Garden" (flowers);   Winnie & Walter "The Big, the Bold, and the Happy" (sentiment)

Watercolors:   Sakura Koi           Edge punch:   Martha Stewart Vintage Doily

Die   Tim Holtz Tattered Banners            Hug Snug seam binding          Gems:   Recollections

Maya Road leaf stick pin (embellished)

Thanks for stopping by today...have a great weekend!