2 for 1 Birthday cards

Good day!

Today I'm showing you how I did a 2 for 1 set

of birthday cards.

I started by wetting a piece of watercolor paper

and adding watercolors at one side and let them 

run down the card.  I sprayed a little bit of water onto

the paper to encourage the colors to run down the

paper.

Once I had the background piece, I stamped

Penny Black's Slapstick/cling Stamp Delight

onto the painted paper with 

VersaFine Onyx Black Ink

I cut the image down to the size I wanted

for my card and adhered it to a card base.

I stamped the greeting  and the card was done.

I still had a piece of the original panel left

and used that to make another card.

You can see here how the 2 pieces fit together.

This card would probably be considered a 

mini slimline card.

I love how they both turned out.

I tried something a little different this time

and I like how it worked.

Thanks for stopping in today,

I hope you have enjoyed your time here and

were inspired in some way.

Come again soon,

until then,

try something new and different

for you.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

 

Doodling Card

Hello! 

 I hope you're having a great day.

Today I'm sharing a card I made.

Lately I've gotten more into doodling,

one day I was going through my background

stash and found this piece that I had made

with watercolors and decided to do some

doodling on it.

I know I need to practice more and get better

at it, but the important thing is that I

enjoyed making it.  

I let this piece sit for quite a while,

not really sure that I was happy with it.

Then one day I picked it up and decided that

even if it wasn't unbelievably gorgeous or anything

close to it, it should be made into a card.

I trimmed it down and adhered it to a card 

base and I think whoever gets it will

love it even though it's not a 

"stunner"

I had fun, like I said, that's the important thing.

Thanks for visiting today,

come again soon.

Until then:

have fun with your crafting!

Smile

Hello and welcome!

I think a rainbow of colors is so happy looking!

I decided to make some simple cards with a happy

look, so I got out my watercolors and made these.

I thought "smile" was a prefect addition to the fronts of 

these cards.  

I had trimmed off a bit of the front panel to make it fit

on the card and thought I'd carry the color inside.

For this card I use a smaller swatch of colors and

heat embossed the "smile" with embossing powder.

I hope these cards made you smile as well as the friends the

were sent to.

Until next time

Smile and spread some rainbows.

Flower paintings

Welcome to Kristie Kreates!

I've been playing around with watercolors

lately and combining it with doodling.

Here are a couple pieces I've done.

Not great art, but I had fun doing them

and I'm slowly getting better, I think.

Water colors and fine liner pens

Again water colors and fine liner

pens.  Not exactly what I wanted 

this to look like, but it's coming along.

I just need to practice and play more.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I appreciate you're spending time with me.

I hope you are finding time to do something

creative during this stressful time.

Until next time;

Do something relaxing!

Poppies in watercolors

Hello and welcome to my blog.

I hope you are doing well today.

Today I'm showing you a painting of 

poppies that I did.

This is the first time I've painted something

that I actually designed and drew myself.

I sketched the poppies lightly with pencil

then painted them with Arteza watercolors.

I'm pleased with the way it turned out, 

don't think it's too bad for a first attempt at

something like this.

I definitely need more practice, but I'm sure

I'll get better as time goes on.

Thanks for coming by today.

Come again soon, until then:

Challenge your creativity!

Water color and doodling practice

Good day everyone!

Hope y'all are keeping healthy.

Today I'm showing you a couple pieces that I 

did to practice my watercolors and doodling.

If you are interested in this kind of artwork,

I suggest watching some of the videos of one of my

favorites watercolor artists

creationsceecee on YouTube.

I love her work and she shows some fabulous 

ways to relax and enjoy creating with 

watercolors and doodling both.

This was my first exercise of this kind,

It was okay, but I'm not thrilled with it.

Much happier with this one and 

every time I sit down to do more, I get

more confident and pleased with the 

results.

Thanks for coming by today,

I hope you are taking some time to relax and

do something crafty.

Take care and stay safe.

Until next time:

watch a fun video and learn something new.

Doodling

Hello!

I hope you are all staying safe and healthy.

We are staying home and our daughter is working

from home now.
I know this is a tough time for everyone and I

hope coming to visit my blog is helping

to keep you from boredom and maybe gives you 

some inspiration.

Recently I've started to do some doodling and today

I'm showing you a little bit of what I've been doing.

I have a lot of backgrounds in my stash and decided to 

do a bit of doodling on some of them.

This background was one I made with some

white alcohol ink along with some colored ones

on black card stock.  I'm not crazy about this

doodle, but remember I'm just learning and messing

around with it.

Alcohol inks on card stock.

Also alcohol inks on card stock,

I thought this looked like a hippo, so

I outlined it.

This is watercolors on watercolor paper.

I know these aren't fabulous pieces of art, but the

point is that I'm having fun with it and I'm hoping

that with time I'll get better at it.

There are lots of videos on YouTube showing

how to do doodling.

It's a fun and easy way to relax, give it a try.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you'll

come back again soon.

Until then, stay safe and stay healthy!

Playing With Watercolors

Hello crafty people!

I have always loved watercolors and recently decided 

that I was going to play with watercolors more.

Here are a couple pieces that I did recently.

This isn't the best painting ever, but I like how it turned 

out.  I think for someone that doesn't have a lot

of experience with painting, it isn't too bad at all.

One thing I've read and seen in a lot of videos

is to practice, practice practice.

That's what I was doing with this piece.

Doing the same thing over and over certainly

helps you become more comfortable with the

brushes and paints and how they work for you.

I just started painting these leaves and continued 

until I covered the paper.

They may not be the best paintings ever, but they are

getting me used to the supplies and you know what

they say, practice makes perfect.

I'm not ever expecting to be perfect, but 

better will be good.

Thanks for coming and spending a little time with me.

Wishing you a happy and healthy day.

First painting

Hi!  How's everyone doing?

Welcome to my blog.

I have always been a little in love with watercolors,

in fact when my kids were little, I took a class in 

watercolors through adult ed in our town.  

I didn't really have time to dedicate to it and after

the course was done, I didn't pursue it anymore.

Recently, I have had a resurgence of that interest and 

decided that I want to do more watercoloring.
I have been doing it in combination with stamping,

but not creating anything on my own.

Unfortunately, there isn't a course available to me right now,

but the internet is.  I've watched a lot of videos showing different

techniques.

(Let me apologize for the poor color in my pictures today.
The paper is not as yellow as it looks, it's actually much

whiter than it shows in these pictures.)

One day I was playing around with some watercolor paints,

thinking I'd make a background for some cards. 

When I looked at this, I could see hydrangeas, 

so I put it aside with the intention of figuring out how

to make it into just that.
I watched a video showing how to draw a hydrangea

and got the basic idea.

I practiced a little bit with some pencil and with great

trepidation, I picked up my Micron pen and put it to 

paper.  Once I got going on it, it wasn't so scary anymore.
It did take quite a while to put all those little flowers and leaves

on there, but it was worth it.

I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out, since

it was my first attempt at something like this.
Of course I have my criticisms of it and yes, I know

I'm really hard on myself,

but the leaves should have been bigger and the

shape a little different, fatter I think.

I would have liked to see the individual

"bunches" more defined and I could have been 

more consistent with the size of the flowers within each bunch.

Like I said, I'm pretty critical of myself, but 

that's how we learn, right?
Over all, I do like it and I'll be trying something

like this again.  But I do want to try some other

things too.

Any of you into watercolor?
Have you taken classes?
Learned from vidoes?
Just played around and learned that way?

Thanks for stopping in,

I hope you'll come again soon.

Until next time,

try something new!

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Love you

Hi all!

My last post was a card where I used the same technique as I used for this card.

I said I'd be posting the other card with this technique and here it is.

This is a technique I learned from Kristina Werner in 

this video.

I made this card to give to my husband, Dave.

Back in February I made a big decision, I decided to have 

weight loss surgery.  If you are interested in my story of why and

how things have played out since then, there is a tab at the top of my 

home page for "My Weight Loss Journey"

feel free to read it if you care to.

From the moment I said to him that I wanted to do it,

he has been very supportive.  He has encouraged me all the way.

When I had the surgery on June 6th, he was right there by my side.

He has been a huge help and support in this journey and I wanted to just

let him know, even in just this little way.

He has been my rock through the entire process and I know he will continue

to be there for me.

I love how this card turned out and I hope he will love it

as much as I do.

Just a little way to say Thank You to the best husband ever!

I hope you will try something that is a little out of your comfort zone.

I know a lot of people are intimidated by water colors,

but just give it a try and you'll be amazed at how easy it can be.

Hop over and check out the video with Kristina Werner

and try something like this yourself.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you'll come again soon.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Valentine's Cards

Hello!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't always send/give Valentine's Day cards,

but this year I am.

I saw this idea on Kristina Werner's blog and

was inspired to try it.

I cut pieces of watercolor paper into squares.

I then taped them down to a board.

This helps prevent warping of the paper when

it is wet.

I cut thin strips of tape to make the "cross bars"

You can use masking tape, painter's tape or Washi tape.

Just be sure that it isn't too sticky and you'll be able to 

remove it easily without tearing the paper.

I then used Distress Inks to paint them.

I smooched some ink, in the colors I wanted to use,

onto an acrylic block and mixed with some water.

Once they were completely dry I removed the tape

and cut the pieces down to the size I wanted.

This watercolor piece I embossed 

Swirl Heart from Biblical Impressions

with silver embossing powder and matted

it with a silver metallic paper that I found

at Hollo's Papercrafts

I printed all the sentiments for the insides of these

cards from my computer.

I matted the sentiments to mimic the outside of the

cards.

I love these mini crazy birds from

Tim Holtz.  I colored them all with 

colored pencils and cut them with the matching dies.

The heart was hand cut and I wrote 'Love You' 

on it with black pen.

I cut a slit in the birds beak to hold the heart.

This one was heat embossed with 

glitter gold embossing powder 

and mounted onto 

shiny metallic silver card stock

that I got at Hollo's

I used "I Love You" from Eureka Stamps

for these next 2 cards.

This card I watercolored the entire piece with one 

color and embossed "You're Huggable" onto the 

panel and added that adorable bird.

I simply stamped this heart, fussy cut it

and put it through a slit in the bird's beak.

I heat embossed this "Scribble Heart" from

Biblical Impressions onto a watercolored panel,

then layered it onto Matte Silver Metallic Card Stock

from Hollo's

This final card I used a piece of card stock for 

the front panel, added the crazy birds and heart,

it needed a little something more and the gold ribbon

worked perfectly to pull it all together.

I love how these Valentine's cards turned out

and I hope the recipients like them as much as I do.

Thanks for stopping by today,

if you come again soon, you will see

what I made for Valentine's treats to go with

some of these cards.

Until next time,

make something fun!

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.