Power Poppy Christmas Remix Hop

Hello, friends!  Just sharing a heads up -- starting Wednesday, Nov. 20th :

This is going to be fun!  We have classic clear and digital stamps, plus all new digital stamps from Power Poppy.  I've been coloring furiously on the new digital stamps and will pop in Thursday with the first of them.  In the meantime, be sure to check the Power Poppy Blog every day of the hop to see what Marcella and the rest of the team are sharing.  Psssst... there are prizes involved.

See you tomorrow!

Rubbernecker Again

Ready for another week?  I've been coloring when I can and still living the rest of my life, as well.  Sometimes I wonder how I fit it in, but we all need to find time for the things we most enjoy, right?

Today I'm back with another Rubbernecker stamp.  This one is Stacked Tea Cups and I love it to pieces.  I think it might be an older stamp, as they have a lot of old stamps mixed in with brand new stamps.  Truth is, the site can be puzzling to navigate.  Just saying', but it's worth it.  The sentiment is Rubbernecker, too -- Day in Paradise.

Little critter details revealed themselves to me as I went along with the coloring.  Some are more apparent than others:  4 butterflies, 1 beetle, 2 snails, 3 bees, 2 caterpillars.  My favorite critter is at the very top.  Adorable.  What a fun stamp!

Kept the design simple, but with a few things going on:  Scored across the top and tied with baker's twine, punched the sentiment in a circle, popped up the image panel.  Just taking a little break from the seasonal cards.  There will be plenty of that coming up the rest of the year.  Odd to think 2019 is almost over, isn't it?

Okay, I'm off to see what kind of trouble I can get into the rest of this day.  I hope your day is a good one!

Strange and Wonderful

Hey there!  Something fun today... I suddenly went shopping at Rubbernecker because I just couldn't resist certain stamps any longer.  I was really holding myself back by picking out only three image stamps, one with a matching die.  Then, because they do have some great sentiments, I picked out a couple of those that I felt went well with the images I'd chosen.  So you see how it goes... and why I have so many not-yet-used stamps waiting to be colored.  However, I am working on it and not complaining one bit!

Do you think this is the cat talking, or the bird?  I think it's the cat, because the bird is pretty strange looking, but also wonderful.  I love him!  I did quick and simple Copic coloring and left a lot of white space on the image panel.  It has sort of a retro look, I think.  Image stamp is called Bird and Cat.  I could not find it on the site to link to it.  What... did I buy the last one?  Sentiment is called Strange and Wonderful.

I covered the card base with a rather strange and wonderful background panel I pulled from my stash.  I have a few different backgrounds I made with regular Stampin' Up! reinkers and 90% alcohol.  This one is on photo paper.   I don't know why the ink did that funny granular-looking thing.  Strange... and wonderful!

Once again... The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge.  I'm all behind on my blog, but keeping up on Instagram.

Thank you so much for coming to visit.  I wish you a happy day, and if it's a little strange and wonderful, that's good, too!

Let Your Heart be Light

Hello again!  I'm excited to be sharing another Christmas card today... not only because it means I'm another card further along, but also because I love how this one turned out.  I've used a Power Poppy clear stamp set -- Let Your Heart Be Light -- and made an outdoor scene.  You can imagine this as a fence or a weathered wood wall... however you want to see it.

This is definitely a favorite set from Marcella's 2018 holiday release.  It's gorgeous, lots of sentiments, and many different card designs are possible.   I made my card long and low -- 3 3/4" x 9" -- and happily have some pretty blue envelopes to match.

It's colored with Copics.  The wall (or fence) is white cardstock scored every 1/4" and swiped with gray ink.  I used an old Spellbinders die set for the sentiment, attached with brads.  The snow splatters are lightly diluted white acrylic paint.

Inside is this skinny sentiment with one little holly sprig and a whole lot of white space.

Total Christmas cards:  31

I'm still keeping up with The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge, doing a little something every day.  It's been fun!  I've even done some non-Christmas cards.  Back soon!  Have a happy day!

Christmas Bouquet and Wreath Joy

Well, here we are again, friends... a new week, and today I have two cards to share.  These were part of my coloring for the 30 Day Coloring Challenge.  I forget which days they represent.  This challenge has made it apparent to me that I really don't color every day and it has been somewhat of a push to make it happen.  I generally go to my stamp room with my morning coffee first thing, but not always to color.  I might die cut, stamp a bunch of images, prepare card layouts, finish the insides of cards from the day before, maybe just tidy up or organize.  Does that sound familiar to you?

So now I color... and, happily, it's helping me get my Christmas cards done.  The two cards today were both made with digital stamps by AlexSyberiaDesign.  Images are hand drawn and, I kid you not, she has some gorgeous stuff over there.

First card is Christmas Bouquet.  5" square, watercolored with Spectrum Noir sparkle pens.  Much prettier in real life.  Glossy accents on the sentiment panel.  It was not quite dry when I photographed it, so it's actually more clear now that it's dry.

The next card is a very simple Wreath Joy.  I die cut a curve and added a patterned paper border, but honestly, I think the wreath is prettiest when left very simple on an all white card.  I could make a bunch of these very quickly in all different colors.  I do not feel a need to be concerned about color authenticity.  Just have fun with it.

Total Christmas cards:  30

I'll be back here again as soon as possible.  In the meantime, I'll pop around to visit my bloggie friends and see what you're up to.  I've been falling behind, sigh.  Never enough hours in the day for all the things I love to do.  Have a wonderful day!

Twofer Card Challenge #22: Holiday Greenery

Welcome to another Twofer Card Challenge!  Our prompt this month is "Holiday Greenery" -- BUT -- there's a twist this time!

First, to clarify the prompt:

Holiday is any holiday.
Greenery is defined as: foliage, growing plants, vegetation.  It does not have to be green.

A greenery element is required, and it must be the same greenery element on each of your two different designs.

Now, for the twist:

For this month only, the "two different occasions" rule is optional!  You can make two different designs using the same greenery element for two different occasions; OR you can make two different designs using the same greenery element for the same occasion.  It's up to you!

All other rules of the challenge apply. If you have any questions about specifics of the challenge, please take a few minutes to review the updated Definitions/Examples tab on the Twofer Blog, so you'll be eligible to win. We appreciate your enthusiasm and support and want to see you stretch your stamps, stencils, dies, and design skills!

Also, a reminder that there will be no Twofer Card Challenge in December.

Ultimately I went with two different occasions, using the same evergreen branch in two different designs.

I made my greenery white for the Christmas card.  The kraft with black pattern is some cool DCWV paper called Foiled Elegance.  I added a black oval and red die cut sentiment.

The dies for this card are as follows:  Tutti Designs Arched Fir Branch, Memory Box Warm Christmas Wishes, Memory Box Oval Master Frame (used just the inner oval)

For the birthday card I cut that same Arched Fir Branch in green, but then snipped off the snowflakes and added the bird and birthday sentiment.   All is arranged on a wood grain card base.  Additional dies:  Poppystamps Happy Birthday Melody, Memory Box Finnegan Fronds

So..... just remember... your two cards need to use the same greenery element on each, and they need to be two distinctly different designs, BUT this month only they can be the same occasion.  Consider it a little gift from Darnell.

Christmas card total:  28

For fun and inspiration, check out the samples on the Twofer Blog.  We have an awesome guest designer this month, so hop over to meet and greet!  Enjoy!

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Hi there!  I hope it was a beautiful day in your neighborhood.  We've been enjoying a rather nice fall here and not believing it's November already.  I suppose the rain will start soon enough, but for the time being, it's looking a lot like the blue sky and green grass pictured below.

I wasn't sure I'd have time to use my Art Impressions Feast Mode set again this season so I colored all the rest of the critters into one scene.

It took a village of Gansai Tambi paints and Tombow markers to get it all watercolored, then I just stitched it up and put it on a grocer's kraft card base. 

This represents Days 4 and 5 of The 30 Day Coloring Challenge.  I've been keeping up with the coloring, but it sometimes takes a while to get them posted.   Some days I can do a whole card, some days I can get only part of an image colored.  On Thursday I had a routine medical procedure and felt awful the whole rest of the day, so no coloring was done at all.  Today I'm feeling good and back to my usual morning coloring before the rest of the day takes hold.

I'll be back with the Twofer Challenge on Sunday, the 10th.  I hope you're having a good day!

Hanging Basket

Hello there!  More coloring today and I thought perhaps it might be nice to take a break from Christmas and fall cards.  Therefore, I've got a pretty basket of flowers which I recently found at All Dressed Up.  It's a digi stamp called Hanging Basket.  They have some very cute stuff over there!  I still have a few from All Dressed up that I haven't colored yet and, again, I'm hoping the 30 Day Coloring Challenge will encourage me to get more of them done.

This card represents the coloring I did on Days 2 and 3.

I colored this one with Prismacolor pencils on X-Press It Blending Card.  It's not the best for pencils, but the original plan was to do a Copic and pencil combo.  However, some of the detail in the image was so fine it was ultimately best to stick with the pencils.  I did not use Gamsol for blending.  It's just pencils.

A retired sentiment from my stash, retired splatter stamp, a Doodlebug Matte Sprinkle to hold up the basket...  A simple design and colorful.  I like this one!

By the way, I'm not going to complain about the discomfort of my "golfer's elbow", but it's interesting that my hand started going numb while I was coloring this.  I always seem to tense up and grip too hard when I use pencils.  Still trying to manage and not overdo it.

Thanks for coming to see me today!

Stamps:  All Dressed Up 'Hanging Basket' digi, retired JustRite 'A Warm Hello set', retired SU Itty Bitty Backgrounds (splatters)  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, green, blue  Ink:  Printer, Memento Tuxedo Black, Creamy Caramel for splatters  Coloring:  Prismacolor pencils  Dies:  Taylored Expressions Stitched Rectangle Stacklets, Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers, Spellbinders Standard Circles Large