Splitcoaststampers Product Focus - Chameleon Color Tops

Hello, sweet friends! It's been more than a month since I've last posted...time sure flies. But we are praising God for surviving Hurricane Irma with minimal damage. There are so many people still without power, and it's been an extraordinary effort by the thousands of workers from Canada and throughout the United States who are helping to restore power in this extreme heat. Please continue to pray for all those impacted by Irma here in the States and in the Caribbean...and all the people helping in so many ways.

It's Product Focus time at Splitcoaststampers today. The Product Focus team has been working the last month with the new Chameleon Color Tops that are a new edition to the Chameleon Pens system. We have been creating projects and are sharing our thoughts and tips about this new product. Be sure to visit the Product Focus Page: Chameleon Color Tops to read the reviews, and check out the special Product Focus Gallery filled with beautiful projects created by the design team. Here are the three cards that I made.

My first card is a simple one with a small bouquet of posies.

For my second card, I used a digital image and hand-drew a broken frame and colored it in.

My third card is my favorite because I love hydrangeas. I enjoyed coloring the flower petals with the Color Tops to achieve a nice variation of colors. 

I certainly have loved experimenting and coloring with the Chameleon Pens and the new Color Tops. You will definitely be seeing more cards with them. 

Rather than list my card recipes, please feel free to visit my personal card gallery at Splitcoaststampers for all the details.

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As I close, here is a link to John Piper's Prayer in the Path of Hurricanes. You can listen to it or read the transcript, but I am sure you will be greatly encouraged by it. Among many good avenues for giving and going, please consider The Salvation Army (where my grandfather served many years ago), Samaritan's Purse, and the North American Mission Board's SEND Relief. These organizations and others have been on the ground helping both Harvey and Irma victims.

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and He delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
They they were glad that the waters were quiet,
and He brought them to their desired haven.
Psalm 107:28-30

Thanks so much for visiting with me today, and may we all continue to pray and help those in their distress. May God continue to bless and encourage you! 

Blessings,

Dare To Get Dirty Challenge on Splitcoaststampers

Hello, sweet friends! The big news is that I am hosting my first Dare To Get Dirty challenge at Splitcoaststampers. 

Splitcoaststampers (SCS) is the world's largest stamping community with more than 400,000 members, many of whom are Fan Club Members. Each year a number of the past and 12 current designers at SCS (known as the "Dirty Dozen") have a week-long challenge fest known as "Dare To Get Dirty (DTGD)." This special week-long event is just for Fan Club Members to say "thank you" for their support. It's an amazing community for inspiration and encouragement, and I have come to know and love so many wonderful friends from all over the world. If you aren't a Fan Club Member yet, click here to learn more about it. There's plenty of time to have fun! And if you need to "give" yourself permission, here's one from the Dirty Dozen.

I can't tell you what my challenge is, but I am sharing my card with you. I know there are some Fan Club Members who follow me, so I would love to see what you do (and you know where to go to see my challenge). And my sample card makers have made some absolutely beautiful cards to inspire!

I used the Build A Bouquet stamp set by Stampendous, and I love blue and decorative dies. That's all I can share with you...hehe!

Now it's time to say, "see you soon." And I do hope to see a card from some of my sweet friends! You have until Monday, August 10, 11:59 p.m. Central Time, to post your cards.

The Lord will open the heavens,
the storehouse of His bounty...
to bless all the work of your hands.

Deuteronomy 28:12

Thanks so much for "stopping by" and sharing a comment, thought or question, and I hope you have a wonderful week! (And I'll see you tomorrow - it's the 5th of the month and time for a new remixed digi!)

Blessings,

Stamps:  Build A Bouquet (Stampendous) 

Paper: Solar White (Neenah), Blueberry Sky and White (PTI)

Tools/Accessories: Copic markers, Devine Eloquence dies (Spellbinders), Perfect Layers tool, Empressor tool, Glue 'n' Seal adhesive, Kool Tak clear foam dimensional tape and thin squares, red tape

Techniques: Fussy cutting, adding dimension

Card Size:  A-2
Copics used:  Flowers - Y11, BG70, B21, B000, B34; Leaves - G40, G43, G24, YG25, G46, YG21; Stones - W0, W2, W3, W4; Water - BG0000

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"