Fall Vibes by Gennette Houghton

 

Hello, and Welcome to Watercolor Weekend!  I love old barns, they give such a peaceful vibe in a landscape.  Open fields and swaying grass add to that feeling.  

For my 1^st card I started by penciling in a wavy horizon line. I wasn’t really sure where I wanted to put the barn, so I used the stamp positioner to help me with that.  I was able to figure out exactly where I wanted to place it this way.  I could see what it would look off to either side, or the center.  I used Distress Ink Pumice Stone on the barn and stamped off twice and then stamped it on my project, slightly off center to the left.  I erased any pencil lines that ran through the barn after my ink was dry.  For the roof I used a mix of 947 and 177, and then adding a little bit of 969.  For the walls I used a mix of 856/969, adding a bit more of 969 in vertical stripes and used 565 for shading on the side and under the roof.  A mix of 565 and 969 was used in the windows and doors.  I then added in the sky, going for a sunset look I started with 055 at the horizon line, then adding in layers I added 025, 993, and a touch of 905.  Before putting in any foliage I added 177 for the ground and 969 for the path. 

The next 5 stamps all came from 5372 WC Mini Foliage Set, starting with the pine tree in 249.  Then the tree trunks in 969, the tree foliage in 126, adding a bit of 177 on the stamp as well.  I then added in the grass in 177.  After softening everything with a damp brush I added in some 565 along the ground for shadows.  I then added some Bleed Proof White for the flowers.  I also added some highlights to the barn.  I used a die from my stash to cut out the image, and then used a cloud border die to create a mat for it.  I matted my card base with paper from the 6033 Inspirational Easter Paper Pack.  I then decided to add the hello from the 5718 Mini Journal Template Set, which I felt gave it a nice finishing touch to the card. 

 

For my 2^nd card I took some inspiration from Pinterest of a late autumn forest scene.  Unfortunately there wasn’t a link so I wasn’t able to credit the original creator. I started with 5064 Circle Double Stitched Dies, 2^nd from largest, tracing around it with pencil for a guide.  I will also use this die to cut out the image when I am done.  Using Distress Ink in Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, and Vintage photo.  I ink blended the background, utilizing a wedge cut from a piece of paper for light rays.  Starting with the largest tree first, I then used a stamp positioner to help place the other trees working back to the smallest.   The trees and colors are as follows….

5388 Rugged Tree – 899

5373 WC Large Tree Set – 969

5826 WC Large Tree Set 2 – larger tree – 977, smaller tree – 098

4960 WC Fir Tree Set – 076

I added more color into each tree as needed, going lighter in color the farther back they went.  4051 Foliage Set 1, large foliage was used for the ground cover, using the same colors to match the colors of the trees or the background.  076, 098, 977, 969, 899, 026, and 025, I then softened everything with a damp brush.  I then used some Bleed Proof White for some light beams, I tried to soften them a bit but the color saturated background was a problem so I left them the way they were. After cutting out my image, I then matted my card base with a solid brown.  Using the same color paper and a texture die for the 2^nd piece, I then used 5063 Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies, 2^nd from largest to cut out my center piece.  I then attached a ribbon to the panel before popping it up on foam tape and placing it on the card base.   I also popped up my circle image with foam tape and placed it over the ribbon.  I then used 3 leaves from 5783 Fall Leaf Frame Set and colored the die cuts with a mixture of 025, 026, 098, and 933. I finished off the card by gluing 2 in one corner and 1 in the opposite corner.  Thank you for joining me today, and I hope you enjoyed my cards!  Until next time!  Create….Share….Inspire!

Focus on Faith with Sara Furr: Lacy Pink Church

 Blessings my dear friends, and welcome to my first edition of Focus on Faith for the month of September.

If you have been following me, you know that I like to use several different kinds of medium to color and create my projects.

 This week, I have a lovely little country church scene I created using colored pencils and dye ink markers. 

I just stamped the front flowers and the church with Versafine Onyx black ink and colored them up with colored pencils. I stamped the foliage (tree, leaves, shrubs, and grass) with dye ink markers.

 To create the sky and the grassy foreground, I just turned my pencils sideways to swipe them across my cardstock and blend them into each other. I added some tiny white accents to the flowers and grass with Dr. Ph Martin's Bleedproof white paint.

If you have any questions on how I created this, please feel free to leave me your questions in the comments section. 

I pray you all have a very blessed month and I will see you soon.

Blessings to you all, 

Sara E. Furr- The Crafty Farm Chick 

Supplies used:

Canson XL Bristol Smooth cardstock 

Colored Pencils

Dye ink markers

Versafine Onyx black ink pad

Stamp platform

Paper cutter

Scissors

Lace

Sewing machine

Foam adhesive 

Focus on Faith with Sara Furr: Misty Sunrise

 Blessings dear friends and welcome to my second edition of "Focus on Faith" for the month of August. 

Every morning I wake up and I thank God for the gift of a new day! New Blessings! The other day I woke up and came downstairs, and while I was walking around with my morning cuppa tea, I caught a glimpse of the beautiful misty sunrise, and had to run out to capture it.

This photo I took is the inspiration for my card today. I will be taking you through a step by step tutorial of my process.

Step 1- colored in my background grass and tree line with a green alcohol ink marker onto Canson XL Bristol Smooth cardstock. I created a small circle mask with a circle punch out of post it tape and applied it above the tree line to mask out my sun.

Step 2- ink blended in some blue sky and some yellow for sunrise, then removed the circle mask, and ink blended some white pigment ink in the tree line for the mist.

Step 3- stamped the barn from #5011- WC Truck mini set,  and colored barn with black alcohol ink marker.

Step 4- stamped in bushes from #4051- Foliage set and #5372-WC Mini Foliage Set with dark green inks.

Step 5- stamped in tree foliage with dark green ink.

Step 6- added in darker shades of grass line with alcohol ink marker.

Step 7- added white permanent ink marker to roof of barn.

Step 8- added foliage back in over the barn roof.

Step 9- stamped in sentiment from #5127- Build My Life set, with stamping tool, in blue ink.

When I was done, I went back in and added some sparkle pen to the sun and tree line to look like the mist. I wanted to male my sun even whiter, so I added some Ph Martin's Bleedproof white ink to the sun with a small paint brush. I trimmed my panel down just a bit and then matted it to a dark green cardstock  and then to a white panel. I popped that up over a panel of light green striped dsp from the #6072- Father's Day PP and a bow of green twine.

Here is my creation....

If you look close you can see the glitter pen I used for the mist.

So, here again is my photo...

AND here is my card...

I hope you are inspired to recreate of little bit of God's creation too.

God Bless, 

Sara Furr -The Crafty Farm Chick

Focus on Faith: Covered Bridge by Sara Furr

 Blessings my dear friends, and welcome to my first "Focus on Faith" for the month of June.

Not too far from me are 2 covered bridges situated in some beautiful scenery in "God's Country". The beauty of them always brings me peace and the nostalgia of times long ago, so I wanted to recreate one of those local spots. 

I used this wonderful stamp set called "He Leads Me", along with a couple foliage stamp sets to create my watercolor scene. I really had fun practicing my watercolor. I have created a mini picture tutorial for you to follow my steps......

I started with an A2 panel of watercolor cardstock and taped it to my board with post-it tape about 1/4" all the way around. I then stamped in my covered bridge with a layer of blue and brown marker. Then the fence and trees with just brown. I just stamped the tree from the set 3x up the left side to create a "Big" tree.

I then pulled color from the lines to create depth and shadow. To soften the tree limbs so they weren't so heavy i added some water to soften and then blotted up the ink before stamping in the green foliage.

I then stamped in the small grass from the Foliage set around the fence posts and trailing the fence leading to the bridge. I stamped the little bushes from the WC Mini Foliage in a bit darker green up along the bank in front of the bridge, and I stamped the bushy tree limb from the same set in a brighter green for the trees' leaves, stamping several generations for each of the stamps, and then blended them out with a damp brush. I added in more shades of green to extend my grassy areas. I also added in some darker shadows on the roadway for the fence posts with more brown. I then added some pretty blue for the creek water under the bridge and then watered it down a bit more to blend in my sky. I let that all dry and then went back in to add some pretty flowers with a purplish blue color using the "lavender" stamp from the Mini Flower set, again stamping several generations onto the edges of the roadway. 

I also added the tiny leaf branch from that set to add some foliage around my fence posts out front and I used it to create some big bushes on either side of the bridge.

I blended those out just a bit with a damp brush and let it dry before stamping in the tiny purple dots, also from the same set.

I then stamped the flower bunches repeatedly over in the right hand corner to give some interest in that corner, and draw your eye around the whole scene. I added  some more blue into my sky for more depth, and lastly I stamped my sentiment with Black Archival ink.

And finally, the reveal! I carefully removed the post-it tape from the edges and admired the beauty of the scene!😊

I honestly wasn't fond of the brown on the "Big tree" on the left side, so after distressing the edges of my cardstock with scissors I added it to a soft purple mat and added a pretty bow to strategically "hide" my tree trunk! Hehe😁 It worked perfectly and it added a lovely touch of softness. Besides, it wouldn't be a "Sara" card without a pretty bow on it, right?! Haha

Behind the purple layer is an embossed layer of black that has little flowers on it, but its hard to see the detail in the photo. But trust me, you can see it in real life really well!

So, with all the layers, my card wound up measuring 5 1/2x6 3/4".

I hope you like my creation and are inspired to create some "God's Country" of your own!

I absolutely love living in the country where there is so much beauty and scope for the imagination! I always feel so much closer to God here!

I hope you have a great week my friends and I will see you again soon!

Blessings to you all, 

Sara Furr- The Crafty Farm Chick

Art Impressions products used:

5129- He Leads Me set

5372- WC Mini Foliage 

5009- WC Mini Flower set

4051- Foliage set

Other products:

Watercolor cardstock

Watercolor brush

Archival Black ink pad

Dye ink markers

Chiffon ribbon

Embossing folder

Die cutting machine

Scissors for distressing 

Paper cutter

Misti stamping tool

Stamping blocks

Adhesive

Foam adhesive 

Focus on Faith: Joy Comes in the Morning by Sara Furr

 Greetings my dear Art Impressions friends!

God gives us so many blessings! Besides the gift of his love, one of his greatest gifts is that of this beautiful world that we live in! His blessings are new everyday. Every morning we wake up to the beauty of the sunrise.

I'm here today to share with you a card inspired by a photograph of a sunrise that I took on our farmstead. I have been wanting to use the stamp set #5129- "He Leads Me", so I "imagined" a covered bridge that would have crossed over the creek next to our barn. This was my inspiration photo..

And this is my Faith Inspired "Joy Comes In The Morning" creation...

As you can tell, this is watercolor, and Sara is NOT a watercolor artist, haha, but I am trying, so bear with me on this, ok? I will be showing my process photos of how I have created this scene.

To start, I stamped my covered bridge and a single tree from the stamp set with a combo of Starry Sky and Soft Suede markers onto a140# cold press watercolor card front.

Then I applied Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, and Cherry Cobbler ink to create my sun. I watered down some Starry Sky and dabbed that in to create some moody blue sky, making sure to leave some bits of white showing. I also added a bit that to the inside of the bridge for shadow.

I then used some post it tape to mask off my sun and added a mixture Basic Black and Chocolate Chip ink to create my skyline silhouette and I added in some slightly watered down Starry Sky for the creek water and some Evening Evergreen for the grass and landscape fading down to the creek, and for the foliage on my tree. I added a bit of brown inside the bridge, roof, tree, and fence posts.

Next, I added in some pine trees, shrubs, and grasses using #5372- WC Mini Foliage Set in Evening Evergreen and Mossy Meadow ink (darker in background and lighter in foreground), and I added some watered down Baked Brown Sugar for the dirt on the road. 

I blended those out a tiny bit with a damp brush, and then added in another tree on the right side and I added a bit of yellow and red to the water to be a reflection of the sunrise. I then added in the the very tops of the shrubs with Starry Sky and repeatedly stamped some little "blue wildflowers" in the grass and on the edge of the creek. Once that was dry I added some sparkle pen "dots" to the flowers for accents. You can't see them in my photo, but you can in real life! Haha. There is also a shimmery dew of sparkle on the water and the objects in the foreground that I was unable to capture, but you can see when tilted in the light.

I then finished by adding the shadows and a bit of color to the covered bridge, and then I stamped the sentiment "Joy comes in the morning", from the #5417-Frameworks Sentiments set in Black Versafine Ink.

I then signed my creation and cut the panel down to 5x3 3/4" and mounted it to a white Postage Stamp die cut, and then popped that up on a piece of Silver Holographic cardstock. I again added funfoam to the back of that panel. I created a 5x7card Base of Soft Succulent cardstock and added a panel of vellum that I embossed with a Pinecones & Berries embossing folder. Before adding my main focal panel, I added a small piece of floral lace so that when the panel is applied the lace is just peeking out of the edge.

For the inside of card I watercolored another sunrise panel and added the sentiments "Jesus", from #5986-Jesus & Joy Dies, and stamped "Light of the world" from the Frameworks Sentiments with Black Versafine ink.

And that finishes my project for today. Here is a list of all the supplies I used:
(All Art Impressions products are linked below)

♡Stamp sets:
#5129-He Leads Me,
#5417- Frameworks Sentiments,
#5372- WC Mini Foliage

♡Dies:
#5986- Jesus & Joy Dies (AI)

Postage Stamp die- (Unity)

♡Inks:
 Stampin' Write markers in: Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Baked Brown Sugar, Cherry Cobbler, Crushed Curry, Daffodil Delight, Evening Evergreen, Mossy Meadow, and Starry Sky.

Black Versafine ink

♡Cardstock:
S.U. Soft Succulent

Your Paper Insider: Ultra White Smooth cardstock 100#,
Glama Natural Clean vellum,
Silver Holographic Diamonds 12pt cover,
Cold press Watercolor card fronts 140#,
Dark Blue Curious Skin 91#

♡ Misc.: 

Double sided tape,
paintbrush, water,
Spellbinders Pine branches & Berries embossing folder,
Gelly Roll Sparkle Pen

Pheeeww, that was a lot, I know! If you are still with me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this! Please know that I truly cherish you!

God's blessings to you all, and I pray you have a very blessed week! I hope you will join me again February 3rd for another Faith Inspired project!

Blessings,

Sara Furr- The Crafty Farm Chick

Ps. If you visit my Instagram page @sarae.furr_thecraftyfarmchick you can see a video of my card up close and in action.