Watercolor Flower Fun

I've been following action over at the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge 3 even if I haven't had the time to participate in all of Linda Ledbetter's and the Curosity Crew's calls to action. Beautiful work - be sure to check out the site if you haven't already.

We're using Tim Holt'z third book of techniques....cleverly entitled Compendium of Curiosities 3! These books are just great - overflowing with inspiring ideas. This time the challenge was Distress Watercolors. I just had to play along!

As you can see I went with a floral theme. Each of the flowers used a minimum of three of the distress markers on each of the paper flowers. I remember the first time I tried this technique; I felt like I was actually painting! If you haven't tried it, get your hands on the book, and turn to page 39 and 40 for a full description from Tim.

I layered the paper colored flowers with some metal flowers (an inspiration from Hels Sheridian, a member of the Curiosity Crew, who used metal flowers on her piece). I love the contrast in texture of metal and paper but wanted to mix it up a bit from Hels, so I  colored them with alcohol inks and/or distress embossing powder.

Other bits of using the magic of Distress with water include the ribbon colored with inks, and the second background. For that - I used the cute little mini distress inks on an embossing folder, misted with water and embossed. LOVE this process. Thank you Paula Cheney for that idea.

Okay - one thank you card done, only about 10 more needed!! 

CC3C and Art 365

The past couple of months have left little time for blogging, but I just couldn't let the new Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge start without me. Tim Holtz was the man who brought me to the party - the party of creativity, art, and mixed media. No matter which directions my art goes, this portion of the journey was inspired by his creativity.

The Challenge is being sponsored by Inspiration Emporium and the Funkie Junkie Boutique. Plus Tim and Mario have sent a bushful of cool surprises for weekly winners. Be still my heart.

Linda Ledbetter is the hostess again for each of the bi-weekly challenges, based on the techniques included in Tim's new book - Compendium of Curiosities 3. The first challenge was to incorporate marbled paint, explained on page 43.

This is my finished product. I have to say I love how the marbling turned out this time.

We recently returned from a cruise where my sweetie and I spent a lot of time appreciating the sea and sky. When I started this little project, I thought there would be stars, the sea and the sky. But then while using Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Dried Marigold and Tarnished Brass distress paints I got a portion of the tag that cried out to had be the moon. Who am I to disregard serendipity?

I was just as happy with the sky as well....it seemed to be made for the moon, so I scrapped the star idea. I used just Chipped Sapphire, a bit of Salt Ocean and Faded Jeans Distress Paint to create the sky. And because I've not yet gotten over my bling addiction from last Christmas I used a piece of gold paper behind the orb to give it a bit more POP.

And just for Mario - who knows I like word bands, I gave a nod to all the discoveries we made on the trip.

On another front, I have been keeping up with the Art 365 challenge of making an inchie every day - although I admit I did have a few make-ups from the vacation!

Spring has finally sprung in Alaska and we are loving it - hope you are too!