Field Trip Artventure

I made some new friends today and their names are Rosie (left) and Tam (right). We had lunch, learned stamping techniques and most importantly, we got along fine!

These are some of the things Ellie had planned for us.

The first thing to greet me on my field trip was this beautiful rose, Perfumed Delight.

I couldn't believe the abundance of roses in this rose bed. These roses reminded me of Ranunculas. They were full of multiple frilly petals but there was no name tag hanging. Does anyone know what this one is called?

The young lady of the house greeted me with a smile as I entered her home. She looks amazingly young considering how old she is.

I was too busy during lunch (busy eating!) to take pictures out on the patio. Too bad cause it was sunny and beautiful outside. When we came in, these ink pads were waiting to be used.

These large background stamps were begging us to use them with the inks in the above picture and so we did. The smaller image stamps were used differently. We actually painted color onto them using Marvy Markers. Some of us huffed and others spritzed water onto the painted image before stamping onto pre-stamped paper.

I'm glad Ellie knows where everything is! Oh look, she got lost in the corner or is she camera shy?

The edges of our stamped cards were sponged with ink.

Here's Ellie adding color with a marker onto her stamp.

The technique below is so cool to learn. It's a water color look using re-inkers. Ellie had pre-embossed our cards to save time. We then HEAVILY applied spritzed water over the embossed image and we dropped tiny bits of color onto the rose. This is Tam inking up her rose. We used up to 3 colors in various shades. After they're dried, they'll be cut out and used on a card. Visit the links I've listed below in my post to see the tutorial and to see how to incorporate these roses in cards.

These are the card fronts I created at Ellie's. I was drawn to purple and pink shades of color. These will become cards for my mother whose favorite color is lavender. You can click on the picture to get a closer look. I'm pleased with the look of my watercolor roses which will be cut out and used on a card.

I went on a field trip to my friend Ellie's home today where I met her sister-in-law Rosie and Ellie's long time friend, Tam. The weather was beautiful and we had lunch on her patio before learning a couple of stamping techniques. I am after all, Stampmaiden. LOL!

Before leaving on my field trip, I tested out my camera to make sure the battery was in full force. I walked around my home and stopped dead in front of my bedroom off the hall. It looked a bit jumbled. How did it get this way? Why was there stuff piled next to my bed, alongside my bed and in front of my bed? Then I recalled the day a visitor (a close relative of my husband's but I won't go into detail on who it was) asked him if I was gathering things to donate to the local thrift store. LOL!!!! I think she was serious. Bigger LOL!!! Why was the one place I head off to when I'm tired and in need of some serious rest look this way? And isn't it time for some new paint? Why not a new bedspread while we're at it. And let's get rid of that carpet already. But what about that "stuff?" I thought I got rid of it last summer. I'm pretty sure I did. When did more show up? Sigh. Don't I have an art room for this stuff? ACK! I quickly got out of there because I had plans to go to Ellie's place!

Ellie had some of her stamps, inks, and paper laid out for us to play with. It's nothing for me to use my alphabet stamps in journaling, but I have to admit I don't utilize my art stamps as much as I should. After learning a couple tricks today, I'll have to bring them out more often. Have you seen the cost of cards lately and are they serious about those prices?! So yes, I'll have to get back into card making. The images we stamped today are just the main focus of a card. I'll have to either add a layer or two beneath it or just attach it to the front of folded card stock in a complementary color. Card making is really not my thing but I did get a jolt of inspiration by the end of the day especially with those watercolor roses. Gayle Smith showcased these on her blog at http://gayle-rubberandink.blogspot.com/2009/06watercolorroses.html and she was inspired by Patty Bennett who has a tutorial on how to make these watercolor roses at http://pattystamps.com/pattysstampingspot/2009/04/watercolor-roses-technique-and-video-tutorial.html Long links I know, but just click on each one and you'll be taken there immediately! This is great especially for those of you who need new ideas on what to do with your stamps.

Now, when do I start on that bedroom?