Challenge Chat & More

[ohmypaper!]

The Technique Challenge is Foil Ball Painting!

[ohmypaper!]

Jayne, thanks for posting the challenges! My husband is on a new schedule and I don't get here every day as I used to so we LOVE it when a host/hostess posts her challenges here. It certainly is NOT a requirement, but Stacy and I love it when a hostess likes to post their challenge.

Sabrina, thanks for mentioning how to upload to a tutorial.

Debbie, I am so glad people are loving the WCW Challenge. I just love seeing everyone's paintings. I am loving the watercolor journey!

Shelly, we hope to see you at WCW! I am so happy for you that you will have a little extra time over the summer months! I always love seeing what you create!

[ohmypaper!]

The Color Challenge is This Very Night the Bride is Blushing. It's a pretty combination.

The TLC is Birds and the destination is one another!

Birds are one of my favorite themes on cards! I actually have quite a few favorite themes. So let's chat about that! List some of your favorite themes. How many you wish to list is up to you!

Here's what jumps to mind at first thought.
Cats (I am sure you are all surprised)
Birds
cute animals
Butterflies
pink

[DebbieinOC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohmypaper!

The Color Challenge is This Very Night the Bride is Blushing. It's a pretty combination.

The TLC is Birds and the destination is one another!

Birds are one of my favorite themes on cards! I actually have quite a few favorite themes. So let's chat about that! List some of your favorite themes. How many you wish to list is up to you!

Here's what jumps to mind at first thought.
Cats (I am sure you are all surprised)
Birds
cute animals
Butterflies
pink

My "favorite" theme seems to change all the time but right now birds seem to be plopping into a lot of my cards, And, I always love butterflies, hearts and flowers. And, then there are all the cute Mo's stamps. And, then.....well, it's just too hard to have a favorite isn't it. LOL.

[Scraperwannabe]

Some of my favorite themes:

Flowers
Cute critters
Beach

[Cook22]

Birds and music. The only Really Useful Box I have that isn't sorted by stamp company (and the non Penny Black Christmas one) is dedicated to birds and music. The Eiffel Tower and Paris themes. Snoopy .

[Angelnorth]

Birds are second only to florals in my stamp collection so I think I’m safe to say birds! Fish/shells/underwater creatures. Butterflies. Trees/leaves.

Looking at those I seem to have a nature thing going, don’t I?

[cdimick]

Hmmm, I don't know that I have a favorite theme!

[ohmypaper!]

It was fun to read the favorite themes!

So it's Wednesday and that means it's Watercolor Wednesday! We are planting a gallery of tulips this week!

The Sketch Challenge has 5 pieces to it this week.

[JBgreendawn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdimick

Hmmm, I don't know that I have a favorite theme!

I tend to be equal opportunity in my collecting habits :mrgreen:
I would say coffee still ends up high on the list along with silly people, & nature images.

(so, I went and looked at my gallery and I seen birds, seashells & leaves in repetition down that first page) lol

[mcschmidty]

I love the question of your favorites- I love them all! LOL Flowers, House Mouse, tea, dogs, Christmas themed... I am sarcastic, so love those types of fun Birthday sentiments too. Oh, and Vintage images.... Oh, and if there is a sale...I love sales......!

Thanks for this challenge thread! Check it daily!

Shelly

[ohmypaper!]

Shelly, I just love asking questions and learning more about the people we chat with at SCS. Thanks so much for your kind words! Hugs!

[ohmypaper!]

I am the hostess for the F4All Challenge and I am asking for at least one die.

The Ways to Use It is Building Bridges,

[JBgreendawn]

This week Kelly has the Inspiration Challenge taking a look at frames the inspiration

[ohmypaper!]

Our day was super hectic on Friday so this is out of order but here is the MIX Challenge! Jeanne is inviting us to play with liquid metals!

[JBgreendawn]

Good Morning, it looks like this week's featured stamper is Diane Malcor! Ooh she has a nice big gallery to go poking about through

[DebbieinOC]

Question and not sure if this is where to ask, but hope so:

I am not a good photographer, so I scan my cards to post. I have been using 600 dpi setting since I started posting, but the last two times I tried to upload I got a message that the file exceeded the limit. Am I doing something wrong or has the system been changed and is now has a different limit? Thanks.

[JBgreendawn]

I really don't know that one Debbie, I had the idea in the back of my head the site auto adjusted the file sizes. ( I shoot raw. which is a big big file even after cropping) let me go look at one of mine. the one I just put in was 516 KB so.. maybe the site does not shrink the files? )

I wonder if it is part of the they are working on the site thing? ( the like button now says thanks on it) but, I have decided its really a "like" button and started clicking on it.

[cdimick]

I also don't know the answer to your question, Debbie. I do know that someone recently had difficulty uploading her card and wondered if it was related to the site being worked on. I have no idea!

[Scraperwannabe]

CAS640– Monochromatic Rainbows

[DebbieinOC]

Thanks Stacy and Catherine. I guess it is part of the site changes. I scanned at a lower dpi and it loaded. But then the colors aren’t quite as bright. Oh well. They never look exactly the card anyways. LOL.

[JBgreendawn]

nope, the colors never do, the hardest are the white on white for me though. I tend to wiggle in some creams to get some contrast for shooting them.

It's Memorial Day here in the states and it looks Like Karen is sharing a eclipse technique for that challenge. ( seen here ) ( I have not read it yet, I am on watering duty and moving a hose I am dragging around the yard. long story)

[ohmypaper!]

Debbie, I am so sorry. I don't know the answer either. Maybe try again at some point and see if it changes back to what you had before?

Thanks so much, Stacy for posting the TLC!

[JBgreendawn]

Sooo, I was watching a video on water coloring, ( it just came on) and the closed captioning said... oh, I am painting on the "wrong" side of the paper...
and I really could not see how she could tell?

so, since I am known to paint on both sides of paper, which side is the side you are supposed to paint on??

[lovinpaper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBgreendawn

Sooo, I was watching a video on water coloring, ( it just came on) and the closed captioning said... oh, I am painting on the "wrong" side of the paper...
and I really could not see how she could tell?

so, since I am known to paint on both sides of paper, which side is the side you are supposed to paint on??

Maybe she wanted the smoother side? I use the distress wc paper and I tend to use the smooth side, but some people like the textured side. Maybe she was thinking of smooth vs textured. Otherwise, are there any other differences?

[JBgreendawn]

on the strathmore 400 series sold at Micheals the one side has what I think of as WC texture and the other side has more a gridish type texture to it, neither of them are "smooth".

I have some seriously textured wc paper from Fabriano that is also not smooth on one side.

I have purchased some Arches that I have not opened as it is supposed to be 100% cotton and I am hoping to use up some of the strathmore I have collected and am learning on before I play with that.

[JBgreendawn]

well, it totally ate the edit I made to the post above but, most of the WC tutorial video's start with something along the lines of grab your pencil and sketch this thing...
:mrgreen:

I may have mentioned in the past I own stamps because, sketching the thing is not my thing, I like to color so, we will not mention how much paper has hit the bin this week from tulips I sketched... and I tried some free hand painting no sketch... that's a bust too. So, today I dug out a stamp and started painting it. but, the scale is considerably smaller so, I did not get it as translucent as I would have liked to.

[DebbieinOC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBgreendawn

Sooo, I was watching a video on water coloring, ( it just came on) and the closed captioning said... oh, I am painting on the "wrong" side of the paper...
and I really could not see how she could tell?

so, since I am known to paint on both sides of paper, which side is the side you are supposed to paint on??

Found this on Google from a UK art site:

WHICH SIDE OF MY WATERCOLOUR PAPER SHOULD I PAINT ON?

It is generally accepted that the correct side of the watercolour paper to paint on is the side from which the watermark is legible. For example, if you are using Saunders Waterford paper, the correct side would be the side on which the 'Saunders Waterford' Watermark is displayed the right way round. This side will be the 'Felt Side' and should noticeably have more texture. You will notice that the reverse side will have less texture, as this side will have been in contact with the mesh of the cylinder mould.

But, if you really want to read on and on is a link with a lot more details
:https://www.watercoloraffair.com/whi...omplete-guide/

From my quick perusal of a couple sites, with today's papers it's more a matter of preference. Good luck.

[ohmypaper!]

Oh, Stacy, I knew that this was not the week for me to try my hand painting tulips so I opted for a stamp! I love the watercolor challenge because we can stretch ourselves and sketch or simply use a stamp. Either way, we learn a lot! I am off to check out your card.

Debbie, it's so nice of you to find that info on watercolor paper!

[DebbieinOC]

Stacy, Here is one way to stretch your stamps if you don’t need it to have a transparent bg:
stamp your image, scan it, than move it into any program you use for digis and you can resize it up or down and print. You just need to make sure your printer will take the thicker paper. My HP handles Canson watercolor paper and Neenah 80 lb but I can’t print on 110lb cs. I just use Word for my digis and I know others use Notes, but if you have a photo editor like photoshop it probably works best. Hope that helps.

P.S. Feel your frustration. I can’t sketch either. I can see it in my head but I can’t get proportions right when I try to get it on paper. Very frustrating.

[Cook22]

Debbie, in theory there is no size limit. I usually scale my photos down to 1000 pixels on the longer side, but I know they will upload even at the twice that size, and I take at a medium high resolution. I would definitely be wanting to scan at 600 dpi, it's DH's default setting! Sometimes things can go buggy, I've had trouble with attachments recently being rejected even though they were jpg. It's often worth just trying again. It's far more likely to be the site being buggy than that your file is too large.

Stacy, I think usually the rougher side is the right side for painters (but not stampers!!). I used to work for the company that imported and distributed Arches here (DH did too, he got to visit the Canson factory), and I've I had had 20:20 foresight, I would have stocked up on it then with my staff discount. I absolutely love their really heavy weights, still have a few oddments from sample booklets. Enjoy yours.

[JBgreendawn]

So for strathmore papers the grid side is where the paper was pressed in the mold more or less I am guessing. I have some that is spiral bound and I practice strokes in it, so that one I really am using both sides of the paper.
Eventually I figure I will get to that point where I "know" I have just the perfect amount of paint and water on the brush and will get it just so, nearly every time. rather than once or twice on the whole side of the page lol

I really am having fun with this and that continually surprises my inner control freak. the water just adds so much of a challenge to it.

[JBgreendawn]

It's hard to believe its Tuesday. So, the colors are not pastel or bright ones flower ones this week ( to my eye, there are a lot of them that the first thing I think is what "natural" thing you could color with them is and this one to me looks like a landscape combo.

The Teapotters are doing Must Love Dogs

The Dirty Dozen Christmas Card prompt is hiding so far this morning still Oops.

[ohmypaper!]

The Dirty Dozen Christmas Challenge is up! I don't have access to stick it to the top but you can find it a little lower on the page. Here is the link: June Christmas Fan Club Challenge.

[ohmypaper!]

We are painting bumblebees this week for the Watercolor Wednesday Challenge!

This week's Sketch Challenge has a wide-open layer with lots of possibilities!

[ohmypaper!]

Ways to Use It is paper piecing.

Lisa mentions that paper piecing is one of the first techniques she learned. I am pretty sure it was one of my first too. I really don't use it very often. Can you remember the first technique you learned? Is it something you still do? Do you have a link to a recent example or maybe your favorite card using the technique?

THIS was the last time I used paper piecing and probably one of my favorite paper pieced cards.

Your turn!

[cdimick]

Fabulous card, Angie! I don't actually remember the first technique I learned....I was quite taken with heat embossing though. That I do remember!

Before I was even into stamping, my DH and I went to visit a college roommate of mine and her husband staying the night at their house. I tease him and say that was an expensive visit because, at that time, she was a Stampin' Up demo. That was my first introduction to stamping and while we there, she and I "stamped" some velvet which was a pretty cool technique that I haven't tried on my own mostly because I forget to look for quality velvet when I'm at Joanns.

[DebbieinOC]

Angie, I love your card and all the different pant patterns. I can see why that's one of your favorites. Wonderful card.

My first technique was heat embossing and its still a favorite. My first stamping experience was an "open" craft class at a local hobby store, There were 6 participants all doing different crafts. The woman running the class just said "buy this, do that" and not much real instruction as you can image. She had me pick out ink without any explanation and I picked a pigment ink. So you told me to buy a heat gun and embossing powder. For awhile, I thought I had to emboss everything. I was so relieved to learn about dye ink. LOL. Here's one of my most recent card.with a lot of embossing: Glittering Gold Daisies

[Angelnorth]

It may not have been the first technique I learned but the first that made me squee with excitement and still gives me a childish kick every time is basic masking. I do it often but one of my favourites is still a postcard from way back in 2015: Postcard Time

[Angelnorth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdimick

... she and I "stamped" some velvet which was a pretty cool technique that I haven't tried on my own mostly because I forget to look for quality velvet when I'm at Joanns.

You can get some fabulous results doing this but I found it a bit hit and miss on what velvet worked best. I eventually decided that velvets with some synthetic fibre in the mix worked better than pure cotton, for example. If anybody has hit on a more precise id I’d love to know!