Painting with Ice Water

I took a trip to Utah recently for Kathy Rac's coloring event at Concord & 9th. I travel a lot for work, and it's funny, because I really don't enjoy the travel part of it at all. I don't know if Virgo is an earth sign, but what I can tell you for a fact is that the earth is 100% my favorite. I don't like the air, I don't like bridges, I don't like water - I don't like any of that extraneous nonsense that isn't me with my feet on terra firma.

Airports are an exercise in.... I'm not sure there's a word for that. All I can say is, I need something in airports that keeps me from losing my damned mind. So on this trip, it was watercolor.

What's funny is - I am in the Phoenix airport so much the waitress knows me - AND - on the day I painted this card, she had actually waited on me a few days earlier.

On my way back home, I had a longer layover, so I decided to paint this stunning holly image, but I needed two water cups, so I asked her for two cups of water. Thinking that I was some sort of deranged thirsty and rabid bat, she brought me two cups of ice water. That is the moment in my life when I discovered two things: 1) Be very specific when you are asking for something from a non-crafty-tribe member 2) Ice water really makes watercoloring a zillion times harder!

Despite these burdens, I did manage to paint this stunning holly image from Julie's latest release at Ellen Hutson, and quite a few people around me got into the Christmas spirit as a result. I'll call that a win.

Mondo Holly [ ELH ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -... [ ELH ] DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Watercolors... [ ELH ] DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Watercolors... [ ELH ] DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Watercolors... [ ELH ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round... [ UTR | BLIC | INK ] Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes... [ BLIC | ELH ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | SBC ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART | SBC ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] My Favorite Watercolor Sketchbook [ UTR ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, 0.88... [ ELH ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ]

After stamping the image in Fadeout Ink, I kept it simple with just a few colors, and I worked each leaf section one at a time, so that they were all very different from each other and you could still see that modern, geometric design of the set. I used Phthalo Turquoise, Quinacridone Coral and Quinacridone Gold - that's it! (If you are in my Daniel Smith Watercolor Split group - these are all in the C&D Splits)

For the next stamp set, which is so cute - I just die cut a card front with the matching dies  overlapping them a bit so it was just one big opening. I did the same with the little die for the road Then I glued that down onto the card base, and stamped the images into the openings with Memento, and colored them with Copics. 

I added glue and glitter to it, which just looks greyish here but it's a clear sparkly iridescent. The sentiment is from the same set.

Here's the rest of this super duper fun release - I just love Julie's style. If you don't have a few hours to kill in an airport with your Mondo Holly, they also have some beautiful cards with this set that come together a little faster than my watercolor did. Lots of you will definitely get cards with some of these from me this holiday season! And you can check out Concord & 9th's new release at Ellen today.

Over the River [ ELH ] Over the River Dies [ ELH ] Copic | Ellen Hutson [ ELH ] Elizabeth Craft Designs Silk... [ ELH ] Memento Ink Pad, Tuxedo Black - Ellen... [ ELH ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | SBC ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Sizzix Big Shot White & Gray - Ellen... [ ELH ] Lawn Fawn Stamp Shammy [ ELH ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, 0.88... [ ELH ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ]

Leave me a comment with whether or not you've started your holiday crafting. I've started a bit early this year thanks to some fun new stamps like these - normally I don't start until after Thanksgiving.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Loveyameanitbye.