Watercoloring and Cards

I'm a little behind in posting some of things I've been up to the last few months, so I'm posting several of my favorites.

The above was my attempt at making a card-sized bouquet, but it kept getting bigger and bigger until it took up the entire 8-1/2" x 11" piece of watercolor paper. So I put it aside and thought I would use it during one of my die-cutting sessions, maybe make some butterflies and leaves.

While I was making this card (inspired by a couple of photographs of flowers with these colors; the person I was making it for posted them on her blog), Valerie discovered the big one and claimed it as her own. She called me to her place and when I saw it on her wall, I was taken aback. It actually looks like a piece of art! Framing and matting makes quite the impact.

These are a couple of cards I made. I need to practice my signature and find a better color to sign my work.

This double page spread is in my just-for-fun art journal. I always wanted to try using a page from an old book as a background. I love the results and will definitely be doing that again. The flower on the left was created using a rub-on and gelatos. The one on the right was cut from the image from the rub-on left behind. I found the center for the flower in my scraps (cut from deli paper), and adhered it on top of the layer of gesso and the spritzing I did. I like flipping through my art journal and seeing this.

I have a deck of cards that was my sister Martha's, and I've been altering them like people do with ATC's (artist trading cards). I use things like gesso, tissue paper, paint, ink, molding paste, ribbon, twine, and whatever else I feel like experimenting with. I usually grab one when I want to clear my head or in the mood to make something just for the fun of it. I've given a couple away as bookmarks, and I'd like to put a few in a shadow box I picked up for this purpose.

One more picture. I made these cards for a Dachshund rescue group as a way to thank people for their donations. I love the background paper with the sewing on it, it gave it such a nice touch. One of these days I'd like to try my hand at sewing on the paper myself. But right now there's no place to set up my sewing machine; it's all I can do to find room for my paper crafting.

I'm currently working on a note card order (!), all dog-themed. I sent an on-line friend a sympathy card for the loss of one of her dogs and she asked if she could order some note cards. I've made 12 cards so far and I'm on the final two (they're bonus cards). I'm nervous as all get out because I rarely sell anything. Maybe this will give me the confidence to finally start putting things on Etsy like my daughters have been encouraging me to do forever.