Michael Strong Black & White Blog Hop

Hello friends and welcome to the Michael Strong Black & White Blog Hop.
I hope you came hear after visiting Jill's beautiful artwork on her blog, Jill P's Place.

Today's card features Michael Strong's sweet Penguin Pals stamp set.
I think these 2 penguins are perfect for a Black & White themed card.
You can see Mike's penguin set and all of his wonderful stamps in his online catalog HERE. 

Be sure to visit Michael Strong's blog and leave a comment for a chance to win some Blog Candy!

Back to my torn paper pocket card...
I stamped Mike's penguins on white cardstock using Versafine black onyx ink,
 heat embossed with clear embossing powder and fussy cut.
I cut 2 pieces of white cardstock 5-1/4 inches wide. 
Then I cut them long enough to fit in the dry embossing folder 
that came with Tim Holtz's Bird Talk 2 stamp set,
dry embossed them and tore them into 3 pieces as shown.
With a tiny amount of white glue, I attached the torn pieces on the sides and bottom,
to keep them together. 
Then I placed this on the card base and punched 6 small holes 
and added black mini brads to secure the pockets to the card as shown. 

The penguin on the left is slipped into the pocket and can be removed.
The penguin on the right is attached with dimensional foam adhesive.
I wrote my own sentiment with a Jane Davenport "Inkredible" cartridge fountain pen
that has wonderful dark black ink and writes like a charm.
Added a few clear plastic sequins with white glue for some bling.

I have 2 other torn paper cards posted here and here 
which show variations of this torn paper card idea. 
My friend, Lynette, introduced me to this technique.
She saw Beth Cote demo it on the Carol Duvall Show some years ago! 

Now for more fun and creative ideas,
please hop on over to Shelly's Creative Rumblings blog.
Enjoy her beautiful artwork and be sure to leave some blog love/comments!

If you landed here in the middle of the blog hop and don't want to miss any of the fun,
you can visit Hetty's Craft Chaos blog to see the entire list of the participants. 

Remember, be sure to leave a comment on Michael Strong's blog
for the chance of winning some blog candy!

Thanks so much for visiting!

July 22 Stamp and Watercolor FEST with Lynette

Lynette and I had a great time stamping, drawing and watercolor painting on Saturday.

Lynette brought drawing pencils and Yasutomo pearlescent watercolors-21 pans, that she found at a garage sale tucked inside a zippered case with elastic loops to keep everything in place. I made a sample background using them-bottom left in photo above.
For our faces, first we sketched with a drawing pencil, then we used Jane Davenport's watercolors Petite Palette Brights and Neutrals. After it was dry, we used Jane Davenport's Inkredible pen for accent.

By Lynette

By Lynette

By Laura

I was inspired to attempt to draw and paint this steam engine after seeing Mary Hambrick's wonderful steam engine on the Jane Davenport Mixed Media Facebook group. 

My dad is a train lover and so I had to give this a go! I have a set of train stamps that I used for most of Dad's cards that I make. For his next card, I may have to try and make one like this.

I'm glad Lynette was interested in trying to make a Corner Flip Card. My friend, Lola, at the Enjoy Michael Strong Yahoo Group shared one of these along with the video tutorial by Dawn Griffith. Lynette and I referred to Lola's blog, Raevon59's Blog that instructions and the video which is also on Dawn's Stamping Thoughts blog. We had to view the video a few times. Once we made the cuts in the correct place, it was easy and fairly quick. We did not add the 2nd layer of color cardstock that was 2-3/4 x 2-3/4".

Inside of Lynette's Corner Flip card

Inside of Laura's Corner Flip card

Stamps used:
Michael Strong, Stampin' Up, Hero arts, Stamps by Judith, PrintWorks

Inks used:
Distress abandoned coral, twisted citron, squeezed lemonade, worn lipstick
Versafine black onyx

Lynette and I always have so much when we get together! Looking forward to next time!

Thank you for taking the time to visit!

July 16 Watercolor Fest with Grace

My sister, Grace, and I had so much fun playing with watercolors last Sunday. I had been showing her some of my watercolor painted faces lately. We christened Grace's new set of 18 Sakura Koi watercolor pans, using aqua brushes and 140 pound cold press watercolor paper.

Grace said she wanted to try and draw a stormy sky. The scene above is Grace's artwork.

I'm still trying to draw lady faces.  I added the pink background at home, using the color called "Best Friend" from Jane Davenport's Petite Palette Brights. I used Jane's Inkredible pen to add detail to the eyes and the neckline trim. It writes beautifully-rich, opaque, dark black ink.

I was inspired to draw and paint these cat faces after seeing Cindi Banach's wonderful cat faces. She made 8 of them sharing on the Jane Davenport Mixed Media Facebook Group. Again, used JD's Inkredible pen for the black accents.

Grace and I had  so much fun watercoloring! Looking forward to our next watercolor fest!

Thanks for visiting!