Wild About Flowers

Hi All,

Happy 3-Day Weekend!  Hopefully you have fun plans to enjoy an evening of fireworks. Not sure if we'll head out or not.  With our triple digit temps here in AZ...it makes for quite a warm night.

I kicked off the long weekend with a workshop Thursday night.  Our first card used a stamp set that had been around for quite some time called Wild About Flowers.  It's funny how a stamp set can be in multiple catalogs and it takes that one design to get you hooked.  These were the cards that did it for me.

I loved this design.  It was very reminiscent of a garden.  I kept Hardwood for the background, but created a 'white wash' on Crumb Cake using Craft Whisper White ink.  The flower stems are in Cucumber Crush and the flowers are in Calypso Coral, Rich Razzleberry, Peach Parfait and Strawberry Slush.  They are perfect together.  I loved the pop of purple, so I added a strip of Moonlight DSP.

This stamp set is great in that it offers you three different flower options with stems and buds.  I chose this flower design, as I love poppies and these look very similar.

Item #: 138728 Wild About Flowers $21.00

The background used the Hardwood stamp.

Item #: 133035 Hardwood $15.00

This set is a great addition to any collection.  If you'd like to add it to yours, click on the 'Order Online' icon in the top right-hand corner or pop me an email.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Wild About Flowers, Hardwood and Sincere Salutations
Paper: Crumb Cake Cardstock; Moonlight DSP
Inks: Cucumber Crush, Calypso Coral, Rich Razzleberry, Peach Parfait and Strawberry Slush Classic Pads; Whisper White Craft Pad; Black Stazon
Accessory: Linen Thread

Blended Bloom

Happy 3-Day Weekend All!

Hopefully you have something fun planned or, maybe, a nice relaxing weekend?  I didn't have anything planned till yesterday afternoon when I decided to paint and update my Craft Room.  I've wanted to do it forever and I've even played with different paint samples...but, never found anything I loved.  In the end, I'm going with a darker brown than I have in the rest of the house and an accent wall of turquoise.  We shall see. The paint is bought and the room is taped, so there's no turning back now.

The card I have for you today, is from a workshop I held a week ago.  I had gone Pinning in search of cards using the Blendabilities.  I saw this card by Amy White over at White House Stamping.  The colors were gorgeous and the simple design let it shine.

This was my first time playing with the Blendabilities and I hadn't ever used Copics markers, so there was a bit of a learning curve.  I watched a few tutorials and sat down and gave it a go.  It took a couple of times through to get the hang of it, but boy is it worth it in the end!  The dimension of color is AMAZING.

What you'll need:

• Memento Tuxedo Black Pad (Item# 132708)
• Color Lifter Marker (Item# 129369)
• Blendabilities (Item# 131000 Coastal Cabana / Item# 130998 Daffodil Delight)
• Whisper White Cardstock (Item# 100730)

What's nice about the Blendabilities is that they are alcohol based, so you can use them on regular 'ol Whisper White Cardstock.  They do bleed through, so be sure to use some grid paper or something underneath when coloring.

The Color Lifter is a marker that is used to correct mistakes, but it can also be used to remove the ink to lighten the shade of the color.  The Blendabilities come in sets of three: one lighter, one darker and one in between. For this flower, I used the lightest blue on the tips of the petals that appear to be bent or folded. {After the flower was fully colored, I went back and used the Color Lifter to remove this color}. 

Once those petal tips were colored, I started my shading.  On the petals where I used the light blue on the tips, I used the darkest blue to color near the tips.  Then, I added a bit of shading with the middle color. Finally, I finished out the petals with a bit of the lightest blue shading. {I did the opposite for the remaining petals-darker on the inside and lighter out toward the tips}  Each petal will have three separate colors that will NOT be blended at this point.  The key is to take the lightest marker and go back over each petal in a circular motion to blend these colors together.  The longer you spend doing this, the more blended your petals will be. Don't worry about ruining your markers, they will not be affected in the least by this technique.

To finish out the flower, I colored the center using the Daffodil Delight Blendabilities. The original card used the Mocha marker from the Skin Tone Assorted Blendabilities for the inner petals, but I didn't have these, so I just used my Chocolate Chip Marker.  The final touch, a brown Glimmer Basics Brad.  Perfection!

I fussy cut the flower and popped it up on some dimensionals/pop dots.  The flourish behind the flower is from the Elements of Style stamp set.  If you don't have this, a great alternative would be the Flowering Flourishes stamp set.  I'll be getting it.  It has three different size flourishes and can be used for any size flower.  It would be great to have on hand.

I love the Blendabilities and can't wait to try them out on some other stamps.  They currently come in (12) different colors in addition to the Skin Tones.  You get three per pack in three different shades, so it takes all of the guess work out of figuring out which shades would work well together.  Pure Genius!  If you'd like to add some to your collection, click the Order Online icon in the top right-hand corner or pop me an email.

Item 131000  $11.95

Item 129369  $4.95

  

Enjoy your weekend!

Stamps: Blended Bloom, Elements of Style {or Flowering Fourishes} and Sincere Salutations

Paper: Whisper White Cardstock

Ink: Pear Pizzazz Classic Pad & Memento Black Pad

Accessories: Coastal Cabana Blendabilities; Daffodil Delights Blendabilities, Color Lifter, Chocolate Chip Marker, Simply Scored Scoring Tool, Glimmer Basics Brad and a Pop Dot/Dimensional

A Touch of the 80's

Hi All,

Pastels and watercolors...that's what I have for you today.  What does it bring to mind? For me...the 80's. That's what I feel my card has a touch of anyways.  My inspiration comes from Katina over at Loving Life's Little Blessings.  She had used this simple design to showcase the new In-Colors.  I switched it up a bit and added some Linen Thread and a button.  Everything's better with linen thread is it not?

Did you guess?  Yes, this is another image from the Work of Art stamp set.  So versatile!  I paired up three of last year's In Colors: Crisp Canteloupe, Coastal Cabana and Pistachio Pudding.  As I was searching through my button jar, I was lucky enough to find one that had a similar color to the Crisp Canteloupe, and it also had a soft sea glass look.  It works perfectly with the watercolor feel of the card.

Aside from the Work of Art stamp set, my Must-Have item is the Linen Thread.  It's one of my favorite accessories and I use it quite a bit.  To add either to your collection, feel free to email me or click on the Order Online icon in the top right corner.

Clear Mount: 134114  $21.95    Wood Mount: 134111  $29.95

Item ID: 104199   $4.50

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Stamps: Work of Art & Sincere Salutations

Paper: Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar and Whisper White Cardstock

Ink: Crisp Canteloupe, Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding and Baked Brown Sugar Classic Pads

Accessories: Linen Thread, Button and Mini Glue Dot