2008 Revisited on PTI

Continuing the fun of scrambling to put together another card for PTI's 10th anniversary challenge!

My inspiration today is a Melissa Phillips creation.  

My best friend and card-making pal and I have a saying:  "It's a Melissa card!"  For me, this means that I pushed myself beyond a single layer to multiple layers, extra embellishments, and sweetness.  For me, a Melissa card is an extra special card!

2007 Inspiration

Today's challenge was to create a card inspired by some of the stamps released in 2007.

My inspiration came from a Dawn McVey creation based on Spiral Bouquet.  I really liked her

layout and used some images from Embellished Elegance.

My Most Favorite Card PTI 10th Anniversary

PTI is celebrating their 10th anniversary and today's challenge is for us to post a favorite card.

I have a lot of favorites that decorate my studio shelf but I think one of my favorites of all is one I made for a Stamp Affaire challenge a year or two ago  I LOVE lots and lots of color, but this is an all-white card, made with three different PTI die sets.  The idea for the design came together in a flash and it stays a favorite because it's so different from my usual love of colors.  I've made many copies of it since,  It's perfect for a wedding day or anniversary.

Exploring Watercolor - Lesson 2 - A Pear

I confess I still haven't figured out how to get an Instagram photo shared on to Sandy's Instagram Page, so I'm just going to load this up on to my blog.  I finally got an evening of peace and quiet to work on this lesson and I think the biggest thing I'm learning is to let the water do it's own work!

There are a few lines that I'd prefer not to have, but all in all I'm happy with this.  I love the looser quality of this painting!  Thank you Sandy!  Your videos are mesmerizing!

Exploring Watercolor Class 1 With Sandy Allnock

I am so excited about Sandy Allnock's class!  When I first heard  about it, I called up my sister who lives in Minnesota and recently started watercoloring for the first time over the past year,  I thought it would be so much fun to take this class together.  And we've had such a great time sharing this experience with each other!  I was first introduced to watercolor lessons as a 12-year old and have been painting by instinct; my sister has taken formal lessons.  Both of us have learned so much, which is a testament to Sandy's talent as a teacher.  I learned all about glazing and the technical intricacies and properties of paint.  I'm happy with my oranges - love how the texture of the skin shows up, thanks to all those layers of color.  Can't wait to start the next class class - a pear.

Color Blocking - a la Andy Warhol

Color Blocking - the last project of the day.  This time I did take a few short cuts.  We'd been at it for  around 15 hours and I was not up for exact and precise measurements etc.  I die cut my soup cans and used Copics to do the backgrounds.  I'm pooped!  We took a selfie with some of our cards and were laughing hysterically.  It was such a fun day, dashing around, hunting down stamps, dies, papers and every kind of glue and tape and watercolors and inks and Copics!  And we made some good cards along the way.

Watercolor is my favorite medium and this was so much fun and easy to do.  Kay Miller did a lovely job with her first "official" video demonstration.  I followed the basic color scheme, but chose some brighter shades of pink and green.  This is one of my favorites, for sure!