He is always with us...

Happy Saturday, dear friends! I trust you are having a beautiful weekend. I was playing with some watercoloring using the ZIG Clean Brush Markers, and they definitely were fun to use. But I need more practice...as I do with all my watercoloring. 

Anyway, Friday's "Free For All" challenge on Splitcoaststampers was to make a "CAS for me" card. In "stamping" talk that means making a "clean and simple" card that is even more CAS than I would normally make. I wanted to add some pearls or other embellishments, but I held back and merely added a narrow stitched frame. I am also entering this card in my first CAS Watercolour Challenge, and I am entering this card in the Word Art Wednesday Challenge. 

It seems I am in need of more and more cards that encourage. When we are going through difficult and even painful times...times of discouragement, sickness, or even the loss of a loved one, it's vital to remember that we are never alone. God designed us for community, and yet even when we feel abandoned...we are really never alone. Our faith is vital, and God has promised:

I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Hebrews 13:5

May God bless and encourage you always, and may you know the One Who is always near. 

Sweet friends, thank you for your visits and comments that I love reading. Your prayers and love continue to mean so much to me! There are many prayers that I lift up in your behalf. Thank you, and may God bless you. 

Blessings, dear friends,

Stamps:  Antique Rose Stem (Hero Arts), Blessed (Simon Says Stamp) 

Paper: Cold press 140# watercolor paper (Strathmore), Soft Sky (SU!), Solar White 110# (Neenah)

Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine), printer
Tools/Accessories: ZIG Clean Brush Markers (Kuretake), Mini MISTI tool, Single Stitch Line Rectangle dies (My Favorite Things), gold embossing powder, Multi Mono Liquid Glue (Tombow)
Techniques: Watercoloring, embossing

Card Size:  A2

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Peony Love

Hello, dear friends! Did you have a wonderful May Day? It was a beautiful day here in South Florida, and I know everyone is looking forward to seeing more beautiful flowers grow, even up north. Today I'm sharing a card using the remixed digital set from Power Poppy called Peony Love, and it's just in time for Mother's Day.

"By now most folks know that I am a peony lover from way back. This myriad of peonies in this halo was inspired by those hybridized by the Klehm family. I designed and illustrated mail order catalogs staring in the early '90s for these renowned plantsmen, Klehm's Song Sparrow Farm & Nursery, and learned so much from rare and wonderful plants from this experience! This circle of peonies includes various forms you might find in an heirloom garden: single and Japanese types, bobs and doubles. This image is rather large at 4.125" and can be sized down, but I wanted to leave it pretty large so all petals could get some coloring love! Complete with two sentiments and a small accent peony. Also there is an alternate version of "World's Most Awesome Mom" -- using "Mum" for our friends up north, across the pond, and way over on the other side of the world!"

When you see my card, you are going to wonder: "Where is the wreath?" Wanting to show my stamping friends that you can watercolor using digital images (easily), I decided to use the small accent peony. I enlarged the single peony and added my sentiment (in Microsoft Word). If you want to move the sentiment closer to the image, you will have to use a photo-editing program to remove the backgrounds (as I did by using GIMP). Once I was happy with the size and placement, I printed it on watercolor paper. I used yellow FrogTape to secure all the sides to my cutting mat, gently rubbed a Sanford Magic Rub eraser across the entire image, sweeping away the eraser crumbs. (Before you apply the FrogTape, press it on your clothes a couple of times to reduce the amount of adhesive to keep it from tearing your paper when removed.) Then I started to color, doing one section at a time. Since this is only the second watercolor card I've posted, it's clearly not my best work (and I'm not a watercolorist by any stretch). However, I love watercoloring, and this was an experiment on how the watercolors worked using my HP PhotoSmart 7510 inkjet printer. I would encourage you to try yours. So here she is with sequins and all -- hehe!

Sunday is Mother's Day, and I remember how much my mom loved flowers! Each spring on hands and knees she would prepare the flower beds and plant lots of beautiful flowers. She loved to make her house beautiful inside and outside -- and I miss her and have deep, loving memories of her. But she is with Jesus now, and I have the assurance from God's Word that I will see her again because of her faith in Jesus. I know that in the same way a beautiful flower springs from a seed, we will be given new, perfect bodies when united with Jesus in Heaven.

Every time you plant seed, you sow something that does not come to life
[germinating, springing up, and growing] unless it first dies.
1 Corinthians 15:36 (Amplified Bible)

Be sure to visit Power Poppy blog to see some of my other teammates have in store for you. For my stamping friends, you might want to hop over to Power Poppy to purchase this new digital set to use today -- just in time for Mother's Day or for that special friend in your life. And it's so exciting to see the digital collection continue to grow -- such fun!

As always, thank you so much for visiting with me. You always delight my heart with your precious comments. I am always happy to answer questions -- especially since you may have questions about watercoloring using digital images. Please don't hesitate to email me. (I am entering this card in the current Word Art Wednesday challenge.) 

Blessings,

Card One:
Stamps:  Peony Love (Power Poppy) 

Paper: Watercolor paper, White (PTI), Cool Caribbean (SU)

Ink: None (printer)
Tools/Accessories: Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, and Broken China), aqua brush, FrogTape (yellow), Sanford Magic Rub eraser, Sweetheart Mix sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Perfect Layers tool, Irresistible Pico Embellisher adhesive
Techniques: Digital images using GIMP and Microsoft Word

Card Size:  A-2

Camellias - Color Challenge

Hello, sweet friends! I've been busy with other things the last week or so and have to catch up on my weekly card commitment to myself. 

When I saw yesterday's Color Challenge on Splitcoaststampers, I knew it would work with this gorgeous digital image. The colors are Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, and Basic Grey. But the best part is that "dessert" is allowed by using blue and/or green, which works for my flowers. So I had half a dessert! Thanks to this week's hostess Karen Barber, who just loves coloring flowers (and she surely makes gorgeous cards)!

I used watercolor paper and "fussy water-colored" this image - a first for me. A couple of weeks ago I watercolored my first flower with great abandon. But not this one...hehe! Next I fussy cut this image (it was a lot of work), and then I colored the edges with a black marker for a finished look. My Empressor tool and an old mouse pad were used (on the back of the image) to give the flowers and leaves dimension. (Oops, and I nearly forgot that I added some clear Wink of Stella for some glimmer.) Wanting a pretty background, I used the main Tranquil Moments die in white against Crisp Cantaloupe, and matted it with Basic Grey. There are many itty-bitty pieces of 3M dimensional tape behind this fussy-cut image to adhere it to the background (using tweezers!), along with some regular adhesive for the branches. Added the word "joy" between a couple of the leaves, and it was done and ready to be mailed to a very special person in our lives. She is a joy to us.

When I was looking for ideas for coloring my camellias, I found some vibrant colors and was surprised at how vivid some of them were. Isn't it just amazing how many beautiful flowers and colors God has created? I can only imagine how much more beautiful heaven will be some day. We truly are so blessed! It reminds me of the wonderful hymn by John Rutter that we used to sing in choir. Here are the first two stanzas.

All things bright and beautiful, 

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The LORD God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,

Each little bird that sings,

He made their glowing colors,

He made their tiny wings.

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

Blessings,

Stamps:  Camellias (Power Poppy), Mixed Messages (PTI) 

Paper: Watercolor paper (Strathmore), Solar White (Neenah), White (PTI), Basic Grey and Crisp Cantaloupe (SU)

Tools/Accessories: Distress Inks (Ranger), Tranquil Moments dies (Spellbinders), Perfect Layers tool, Wink of Stella, Empressor tool for dimension, 3M dimensional tape, Glue n' Seal adhesive

Techniques: Digital images using Microsoft Word, watercoloring, fussy cutting

Card Size:  A-2

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"