Watercolored Hydrangeas

Hello, sweet friends!  Today I finished a card and posted it for this week's Featured Stamper and Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. After church today, we enjoying relaxing and made it a day of rest. We even got to swim today after I finished my card.

I started this card on Friday (my first attempt at watercoloring) and then saw Saturday's Inspiration Challenge. Audrie gave us a wonderful Pinterest board with an amazing collection of postage stamps. This week's Featured Stamper is Francie, who has a beautiful gallery filled with cards using vibrant colors and amazing designs...and she is such an encourager. I used a hydrangea like she did with a different layout and gilded my edge rather than sponging it. This sentiment has special meaning for us, since we both have lost our moms and were recently sharing about missing them.

I stamped my hydrangea with Versamark ink and used a variety of Distress Inks. My friend Becky and I decided we would try it together on Friday, and this is my third try (don't think the first two will ever "see the light of day"). I started to enjoy being "free" to swish the water around and add ink both from an ink pad and reinker onto acrylic blocks. On Saturday I looked at this piece and decided to add more depth with darker colors, and that seems to have helped. I'm so used to Copic markers, that this was a real stretch...but it's good to get out of our creative comfort zones. I added this wonderful sentiment from the Simply Camellias stamp set, gilded the edges, and matted it with blue on a cream-colored card base...and it was done. I do think I will try watercoloring again, but it is definitely easier to use images that are larger in scale. I hope to try a digital image to see how that works...stay tuned (smiling).

Thanks so much for "stopping by" and sharing a comment, thought or question, and I hope you have a wonderful week! And may we all rejoice today and celebrate the beauty God has given us in His magnificent creation!

Blessings,

Stamps:  Jumbo Hydrangea (Stampendous), Simply Camellias (Power Poppy)

Paper: Watercolor cold press paper (Strathmore), Marina Mist (SU)

Ink: Black (Versafine), Distress Inks - Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar, Seedless Preserves, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn (and perhaps a few I missed?)
Tools/Accessories: Gold leafing pen (Krylon), Perfect Layers, red tape

Techniques: Watercoloring

Card Size:  5 3/4"

My Techie Bear

Hello, sweet friends!  Today I finished a card and posted it for this week's Featured Stamper and Sketch Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. My goal has been to post at least one card each week.

I started this card on Sunday for this week's Featured Stamper, Mary J, who has a beautiful gallery filled with lovely cards. And she sure can color. I used the same bear named James, but my bear is working hard on his laptop...hehe! I decided to use this week's Sketch Challenge to finish the card and added colors to match the designer paper I chose. I added a small scallop border on the center piece, paper-pierced (have I can resist?), and added some DMC perle cotton with a button...and finally the sentiment. 

This card is headed to New Jersey as a thank-you note to our youngest son John who visited us last week. He is a teddy bear and gives the very best hugs...and we had lots of them! He is very techie, and we had such fun during our visit. Miss him already, but he is coming again next year...and he's coming earlier so we can make a spring season baseball game - yay!

Thanks so much for "stopping by" and sharing a comment, thought or question, and I hope you have a wonderful week! And warm hugs to all!

Blessings,

Stamps:  James - Laptop (Lili of the Valley), Take Note (PTI)

Paper: Solar White (Neenah), Vintage Cream (PTI), Soft Suede (SU), Sunshine (My Mind's Eye)

Tools/Accessories: Copic markers, Square dies (Spellbinders), DMC perle cotton #840, piercing tool, Perfect Layers, 3M dimensional tape

Techniques: Paper-piercing

Card Size:  A-2
Copics used: E0000, E41, E43, E57, BG90, YG61, YG63, BG10, YR30, YR31, N0

Power Poppy Instant Gardener - April Release

Hello, sweet friends, and I hope you are all done with your taxes! Today is also the day for the Power Poppy Instant Garden Digital Release for April, the monthly digital stamp collection from Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley. Remember, you can buy, download, print, and color the digi images - in an instant - today!

Here is what inspired Marcella to draw this gorgeous image:

This image is based on my recent trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden. It's a zig-zag of branches from a flowering crabapple tree, which are blooming RIGHT NOW in St. Louis! :) I've drawn my image with flowers, leaves, and fruit all in the same image - now, in real life that only happens if the little fruits are leftover from last season, but I think it looks adorable to see all three of them together! 

Look at this absolutely beautiful image - the new digital stamp release called Flowering Branches, and there are two lovely sentiments just in time for Mother's Day. Oh, the possibilities with this image!

After browsing through many beautiful images of flowering crabapple trees on the internet, I decided to use the entire digital image and colored the flowers a deep rose (when the buds turn to flowers, they lighten). Once I finished coloring, I struggled with whether to make a simpler, matted card or use a decorative die (the decorative die won out again...sorry!). I fussy cut the focal image piece and added another fussy-cut "mat," and then pierced it. There are two layers of the white lattice die glued together and mounted on the rose card stock with the focal image on top. It's simple (easy to mail) and hopefully showcases this beautiful flowering branch! Don't you just love the little crabapples?

Now it's time to visit my amazing Instant Gardener teammates and to visit Power Poppy's website to get this new digital release - today (wait to see you them all)!

Broni Holcombe

Cheryl Scrivens <me>

Debbie Olson
Jennifer Dove
Rhea Wiegand
Marcella Hawley on the Power Poppy Blog

Thanks so much for "stopping by" and sharing a comment, thought or question, and I hope you have a wonderful week! And warm hugs to all...spring has arrived in all its splendor!

Blessings,

Stamps:  Flowering Branches (Power Poppy) 

Paper: Solar White (Neenah), White and Autumn Rose (PTI)

Tools/Accessories: Copic markers, Elegant Labels dies (Spellbinders), Perfect Layers tool, piercing tool, Glue n' Seal adhesive

Techniques: Digital images using Microsoft Word, fussy cutting, paper-piercing

Card Size:  5" x 7"
Copics used:  YG01, YG11, YG17, G24, R22, R24, R56, R59, RV000, R81, R83, RV55, RV66, E42, E43, E55, BG0000, BG000

Friendly Camellia

Hello, sweet friends, and may I wish you a happy Friday as you look forward to the weekend! May you have a time of rest and refreshment and a wonderful Lord's Day.

I made this card for this week's Sketch Challenge on Splitcoaststampers and rotated the sketch 90 degrees to accommodate this sweet little camellia in a glass dish. The most enjoyable part of making a card for me is coloring, and I often wish I could just color an image and then "wave a magic wand" to have it made into a card - ha! But that is part of the fun too! I kept this card simple and used some designer paper, added a thin ribbon in the middle, and stamped the sentiment at the bottom. The card seemed to "beckon" me to do some paper-piercing for added interest around the oval and the bottom half. Because the scalloped oval around the flower was cut from designer paper, I sanded it to show some of the white base. And the oval image is popped on the card with dimensional tape (so it's still very mailable).

This card reminds me of some of the beautiful blossoms my husband has brought home from our friends' house after he has helped them with their computers. They have a gorgeous garden and many flowers and plants. They often send him home with either a single flower (and I can place it in a glass bowl much like this one) or even a bouquet or a plant. They are precious friends from church, and Mary's partial to pink...so this card seems perfect for her.

Thanks so much for "stopping by" and sharing a comment, or thought, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! I continue to be in awe of the beauty God has shown all around us and feel so blessed to be able to try to imitate some of what He has given us.

Blessings,

Stamps:  Simply Camellias (Power Poppy) 

Paper: X-Press It Blending Card (Copic), White (PTI), Vintage Bliss (Simple Stories)

Tools/Accessories: Copic markers, Oval and Scalloped Oval dies (Spellbinders), ribbon (Michaels), Perfect Layers tool, piercing tool, sanding tool, 3M dimensional tape

Techniques: Paper-piercing, sanding

Card Size:  A-2
Copics used:  RV00, RV10, RV13, RV14, YG11, G43, G82, G46, E35, BG0000, BG10, BG01, T1

Happy Resurrection Day!

Hello, sweet friends, and may I wish you a blessed and joyous Easter Sunday - Resurrection Day! He is risen indeed!

Yesterday I enjoyed coloring this lovely digital image from Marcella Hawley (which is now available in a clear set called Daffodils). It was so relaxing to sit and color while listening to beautiful music (in between doing laundry).

I made this card for two challenges on Splitcoaststampers. The first was Friday's Free for All challenge to use flowers (an easy one for me...hehe!), and the second was yesterday's Inspiration Challenge to be inspired by a previous card or cards you've made. I chose the French Lilac card and the Dancing Daffodil card a few posts ago. I used a fancy die and gilded edge from the lilac card and the oval shape from the other card that also had daffodils.

For this card, the image needed to be the main focus. These flowers are so beautiful (along with this adorable snail) and so much fun to color. I love daffodils and here in Florida periwinkle/vinca is everywhere in so many gorgeous colors. After coloring and die cutting, I started to figure out what card stock to use for the background. My first thought was to match the vinca, but I decided to use a soft blue...I think it works. Using my gold Krylon pen, I carefully gilded both the oval and the rectangle die. The rest was just gluing (and waiting for it to dry!). 

Thanks so much for "stopping by" and sharing a comment, thought or question, and I hope you have a wonderful week! And may I encourage you to remember that Christ Jesus is real, He is risen, and He reigns - today and every day. If you are a follower of Jesus, He is with you in whatever you are doing each and every day. Praise God!

Blessings,

Stamps:  Dancing with Daffodils (Power Poppy) 

Paper: Solar White (Neenah), White (PTI), Soft Sky (SU)

Tools/Accessories: Copic markers, Tranquil Moments and Heirloom Legacy dies (Spellbinders), Glue n' Seal adhesive

Techniques: Digital Imaging

Card Size:  A-2
Copics used:  BV000, BV01, V12, BV13, YG01, G20, YG03, G43, G45, G46, Y38, Y00, YR30, Y11, YR31, Y21, E43, E81, W3, W5, BG0000