Wild for Penny Black

I have something a little different today from a recent Penny Black release.  It's one of their mini-sets called Go Wild.  Well, I went wild... couldn't resist this one and some others.  I hope I can get to all this coloring before the newness wears off!

I've done this one with Copics and placed it on a blended-ink background.  I tried I-don't-know-how-many different colors for the card base, many of which looked quite good, but they didn't sing to me.  Then I remembered this card base I'd covered with patterned paper and left in a drawer.  It gave the card a look that felt right to me.  I'm seeing a unique character planter in a sun room or garden room... wishful thinking.  I'd like to have the garden room AND the planter!

I seriously love this stamp.  The background is a very soft blend of SU inks.  From the top down:  Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana.  The transition is subtle.  If memory serves correctly, I believe I blended over the whole thing with Barely Banana.  Final step was a light splattering of water droplets.

About that ink blending... I have another new favorite thing:  Beauty Kate makeup brushes.  Aren't they beautiful?

They're just the ticket when you want a beautifully blended, soft and subtle background.  However, you can get more intense color by applying more ink. I've only played with them a little bit, but so far I like them best with regular inks as opposed to oxide inks.  I did make an oxide ink background which turned out very nice, but can do the same with the Mini Ink Blending Tool.  I treat these gently, rinse with cold water.  We'll see how long they hold up.  More good reviews than bad and the price is right.

Well, that's all for today.  I'll see you again soon!

Stamps:  Penny Black Go Wild  Paper:  140 lb hot pressed watercolor, Neenah white card base covered with patterned paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana  Coloring:  Copics  Dies:  Taylored Expressions Stitched Rectangle Stacklets, Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers

Rainy Day Coloring: Potted Geranium

I must have misunderstood the weather report for yesterday.  I was expecting part sun, but woke up to a drizzly day which later dried up and turned simply cloudy and dull.  Is anyone having sunshine?  Ah, well, I trust it will come back soon enough.  By the time you read this I might be outside planting flowers.  In the meantime, I decided to go ahead and color one of my favorites from Power Poppy's Spring Digital Blitz.  This is Potted Geranium.

I colored with Copics all smooshy without a lot of detail.  Truthfully I'm becoming disillusioned with my Copic markers.  My darkest green - YG67 - started out fine while I was coloring this, but before I was finished it started going gummy and pretty much messed up my greens.  Impossible to blend or color over.  I won't even go into all the research I've done on this problem and everything I believe I'm doing right.  Anyone else have this problem?  Feel free to weigh in, please.

The background is all dotty in blue-violets, yellow, and pink, then smooshed over with the colorless blender to make it soft and painterly.  I do love my Copic markers when they work right, sniff sniff.

A few clear rhinestones to decorate and a card base that matches the darkest pink... an easy finish.

Enjoy your week and I'll catch you later.  Happy crafting!

Seaside Sweetness

Hello, friends!  I posted yesterday that through this weekend all digital stamps in the Power Poppy shop are on sale for 20% off, and even more fun is that Marcella's doing one of her Digital Blitzes -- 18 new digi downloads previously released only as clear stamps.  There are several I'd like to color, and will eventually, but I'm starting off with Seaside Sweetness.  I've loved this image in the clear set, Under Glass, but being able to enlarge it is one of the things I enjoy most about digis.  For this 5" card I made it big enough to be a significant focal point, but not so big that I couldn't play with the card design around it.

Coloring is with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol on student grade drawing paper.  I don't especially care for the look of this paper's texture, so after coloring I applied three coats of spray matte sealer which smoothed it out and gave it a nice finished look.

The designer paper is Mintay Marina.  Looks like the image and paper were made for each other, doesn't it?  All the Mintay pads come with several sheets of little images and frames and such that can be used for decoration.  In this case the bottle is cute with a sentiment from the Under Glass clear stamp set.  Is that a joy elixir in the bottle?

Here are the details on the sale again:

Marcella will be sending out a newsletter with lots of info and luscious photos, but you can find the entire Spring Digital Blitz Collection here.

You'll also enjoy these samples:

Broni Holcombe
Nancy Sheads
Christine Okken
Barb Walker

So much going on, so much beauty to color, sigh...  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Power Poppy Seaside Sweetness digital stamp set and Under Glass Clear set (sentiment)  Paper:  Mead student grade drawing paper, Neenah white card base covered with Mintay Marina designer paper  Ink:  Printer, Memento Tuxedo Black  Coloring:  Prismacolor Pencils with Gamsol odorless mineral spirits  Dies:  Spellbinders Standard Circles Large and Small, Sue Wilson Pierced Flags

Watch for This!

Sale starts today at Power Poppy.  Every digi in the store is 20% off.  All info in the graphic below.  I love when Marcella does a Digital Blitz!  I'll be back with a card sample tomorrow.  See you then!

Framed Dahlia

I have a card for The Flower Challenge today.  My big purple flower is Power Poppy's Dahlia XL clear stamp set.  I started coloring the flower a while back, then I saw the challenge -- "Embossing (Heat or Dry)" -- and thought I'd see what I could do to make it fit.  I ended up with a frame and sentiment that were heat embossed with a special EP concoction, plus an image panel that was dry embossed after coloring.

I recently found a tablet of student grade drawing paper in my closet and thought I'd give it a try with Prismacolor pencils, no Gamsol.  Maybe next time I'll try it with Gamsol as there were some imperfections in this paper which made it difficult to fill in all the nooks and crannies.  The dotty background was done with Copic markers.


I am trying to get better with pencil coloring as I think they may be a good travel medium.  I fixed up a tote bag -- lightweight yet roomy.  No concerns about a Copic marker running dry or going gummy in the middle of coloring.  Just sharpen the pencil and continue on.

To sweeten things up I mounted the framed Dahlia on a card base covered with Mintay Lovely Day designer paper.  You know I love my Mintay.  It's art that can make itself useful.  So beautiful.  I've added four new pads to my collection, sigh... 

Once more... The Flower Challenge #32 -- Embossing (heat or dry).  As mentioned earlier, I heat embossed the frame and sentiment, and dry embossed the image panel.

Supply list below my signature.  I hope you're having a lovely spring day!

Stamps:  Power Poppy Dahlia XL  Paper:  Mead student grade drawing paper, Neenah for frame, sentiment, and card base, SU Pool Party, Mintay Lovely Day designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark  Coloring:  Prismacolor pencils, Copics for background  Accessories:  Mix of Ranger Enchanted Gold and Queen's Gold embossing powder, iridescent sequins, Impression Obsession Rectangle 6-in-1 Frames, Cuttlebug Heritage Collection embossing folder

CAS Christmas: Stocking

Hi, there!  Quick post for a quick card today.  Just playing along in the CAS Christmas Card Challenge with the prompt of "Stocking".

I pulled out one of my pre-made Prima Fairy Flora card bases thinking I could probably make it work for Christmas.  Remember a while back I finished off that paper pad by designing 11 card bases.  Well, it sure helped.  I colored and cut the stocking, stamped the sentiment, hung the stocking with a little glue and a pink rhinestone and it was done!

The stamp set is Power Poppy's Poinsettia from 2014.  Still pretty!

Inside I cut a strip from one of the scraps I saved just for this purpose.

Total Christmas cards so far this year:  18

Thank you, CAS Christmas team!  Wishing everyone a happy weekend!

Stamps:  Power Poppy Poinsettia clear stamp set  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card for coloring, Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White for card base, Prima Fairy Flora designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Rhinestone, Taylored Expressions Stitched Rectangle Stacklets

Double D Challenge: Frames

Hello, friends!  It's Double D challenge time again and, as you may have guessed from the title, we're doing "Frames" this time around.  I hope you can play along!

I love working with frames.  Mostly I like to make my own, adding die cut embellishments to the corners and framing up a stamped and colored image, but today I made something very simple so I could use a new-to-me Poppystamps die.  It's the Greenhouse Potted Plants Sidekick Frame and Stencil.  It comes with some small birds and vines, but I left those off today and instead added a cheerful flower from the Poppystamps Sending Scribbles set.

Here's our mood board for your inspiration:

The team has the very difficult task of voting on creative favorites, and a random winner will receive this prize:

I also used a new Poppystamps sentiment set -- Birthday Blowout.  All the clean white is not exactly what I had initially envisioned for this die, but I saw these colors in the mood board and thought I'd go with it.  Funny thing is, I like it!  Maybe it's that funky yellow flower.

Come see the team samples at Double D.  No two alike and all a delight!

There are more card details in the recipe below.  Thank you so much and I'll see you again soon!

Stamps:  Poppystamps Birthday Blowout, Sending Scribbles  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White, SU Cool Caribbean  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Cool Caribbean (sponged thru stencil onto white panel under frame, creating a halo around pots)  Accessories:  Signo Uniball white gel pen, white embossing powder, Scotch brand foam mounting tape  Dies:  Poppystamps Greenhouse Potted Plants Sidekick Frame and Stencil, Taylored Expressions Stitched Rectangle Stacklets (inside)

CAS Watercolor: For a Child

Hello on a Monday, friends!  I can hardly believe I'm back so soon with another card.  I'm starting to feel like one of those people who stamps a lot.  I changed my morning routine, got new stamps and, well, things happen.  I don't know how long I can keep this up as we've already gone on our first camping trip (last week) and now that the weather has changed we'll be out and about a lot.

For the time being, I've been inspired by some challenges I hope to play in more often.  Today it's the CAS Watercolor Challenge.  This month's theme is "For a Child", and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to ink up my new MFT Picture Perfect set.  I didn't buy this set with kids in mind, but it works.  I made this into a birthday card which will go to one of the little girls next door.  Between us we have three dogs, so it's perfect -- picture perfect!

Per the challenge rules I watercolored and kept the card clean and simple.  I used Tombow markers and some MFT dies and mounted the image panel on a grocer's kraft card base.  The sentiment is MFT Die-namics #Captions, frame is Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax, and leaf sprig is Wild Greenery.  I had to put the leaf sprig there to cover up a splotch where I dropped a marker, but the card is better for it.  Nice how that works out sometimes.

That's all for today.  Thanks, CAS Watercolor team, for the creative spark.  Have yourself a beautiful day... hug a furry friend and try on a smile!

Twofer Card Challenge #16: Things with Wheels

It's time for another Twofer Card Challenge, friends!  We're doing "Things with Wheels" this time, so put your thinking caps on and go traditional or unconventional with your trains, planes, and automobiles, bicycles, wheelbarrows, lawn mowers, whatever... you get the picture.  This should be fun!

Below are the rules in a nutshell, but please see the Twofer Blog for more info.

I used another one of my new acquisitions for my Twofer cards.  It's Spellbinder's Truckin' Through the Seasons, which was the October 2018 large die of the month.  It was available for a while to non-club members, then not available, then available again... I kept missing out.  This time when it became available I snatched it right up, no hesitation.  As I write this it appears to be unavailable again.  Whew, I feel lucky!

So... I have a birthday card and a baby card:

The birthday card will be mailed to a guy friend in July.  Nothing like stamping ahead!  I put a frame over a pre-made Distress Oxide ink background, then the truck over that.  I had to slip a dog from another die set into the truck.  Wally or LuLu?  Our friend will appreciate it.  Frame is Memory Box Pine Forest Frame and dog is Amy Designs Cats and Dogs.  Sentiment from Poppy Stamps Sending Scribbles set.

Baby boy gets a plaid truck.  Why not?  Wouldn't it be fun to see this driving down the street?  Maybe I'll do polka dots next.  I have a feeling I'll use this truck a lot!  Banner is La-La Land Random Flags Banner and sentiment is an older Impression Obsession set called Straight From Heaven.

Well, that was fun!  I just know we'll see all kinds of your fun wheeled things in the Twofer gallery before it wraps up on the 24th.  You'll get a kick out of all the team samples on the Twofer Blog, so be sure and pop over there.  We have Hilary Jane and Cornelia guest designing for the May challenge, too.  Happy day!

See you again soon.  Wishing you all things wonderful!

Something to Laugh About

Oh, hi!  I'm glad you stopped by because I really wanted to share a funny with you today.  I thought of each and every one of you when I bought the stamps I used on these cards.  I think you can relate.

That's a Rubbernecker sentiment called Any More Stamps and the Art Impressions Laughing Set.  Yes, they're part of my recent shopping spree and I'm having the BEST time playing.  However, I've curtailed the shopping for the time being because I told myself I wouldn't buy anymore stamps until I've used everything I have at home.  Hahahahahahahaha!  Honestly.

I'd like to send one of these cards to each of my stamping friends, but I only made four.  I used one of the sentiments from the Laughing Set inside each card.

My laughing girlfriends were all stamped on Arches 140 lb cold pressed watercolor paper and watercolored with Tombow markers, then cut out and glued onto the card.  I'll list more details in the recipe below.

Oh, my gosh, this was fun!  I hope it gave you a giggle.  Have a happy day!

Sunset Sway

One must have sunshine, freedom, and a Power Poppy Sunset Sway digi stamp colored with Copics on watercolor paper.

One sentence pretty much sums it up, but I'll also tell you that I'd planned to watercolor these flowers, hence the printing on watercolor paper, but then decided I'd printed it too small to really enjoy the process.  This is a 5" card.

I did partial framing with a fine tipped black pen with the sentiment bumped out to give this very clean and simple card a little something extra.

I just had to stop in the middle of everything and color some flowers.  Have a beautiful day!

May Garden and Stuff

On Goldens and Garden today:

Thank you!

Going Postal

Welcome back!  I hope you've all been having a nice week and are looking forward to a great weekend.  We've had a lot of sunshine and the cold north winds finally subsided.  Best of all... no rain.  Is it safe to believe that spring is here to stay?  I sure hope so!  Onward to stamping...

After several months of little or no crafty shopping I suddenly have quite a few new things.  How did that happen?  Well, it started when I won a gift voucher to The Cat's Pajamas during their latest release and off I went to shop.  Gosh, it was hard to narrow it down, but I ended up with two things:  For Fox Sake stamp set and Mailbox die.  The combination is so cute, I think!

I went all US Postal with the look of the card.   Colored with Copics, added a few extra dots and lines to the scene for grounding, and sponged some sky with Salty Ocean Distress Oxide ink.  I also spritzed some water on the sky and blotted immediately with a tissue.

That mailbox!  I adore it.  It comes with the little heart and envelope dies, too.  Little mouse is asking for help getting his happy mail into the post box.  See, he left a couple of envelopes laying over there by it, too.  They're probably hand stamped cards featuring people characters.  Do you notice how the little bird is sitting with his feet out in front of him?  These details are just so sweet.

I'll be back in my stamp room each morning before the busyness of the day begins.  I've got lots of inking and cutting and coloring to do!  See you again shortly.  Enjoy your day!

Stamps:  The Cat's Pajamas "For Fox Sake"  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White, red Bazzill  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Distress Oxide Salty Ocean and Pumice Stone, SU fine tip black marker  Coloring:  Copics  Accessories:  Enamel dot  Dies:  The Cat's Pajamas Mailbox, Poppystamps Main Street Stitched Tags

Puppy Play

Hello there and happy first day of May!  I'm playing with my cute Flower Puppy from Bugaboo today.  He asked so nice and I couldn't say no.  We played very briefly between gardening and dinner prep -- quick to color, and a ready made sketch from The Paper Players Challenge.  He turned out very cheerful and fun, as is the way of puppies.

I used puppy paper and a matching sentiment sticker with Doodlebug matte sprinkles for accent.  Colored with Copics.  The "play with me" is cute, but for no particular occasion until you think of it in conjunction with the inside sentiment.  Then it has the option of becoming a birthday card.

I love that this quote is from Ward Cleaver.  I still enjoy watching "Leave it to Beaver" now and then.  They were my American dream when I was growing up.  The quote stamp is from the retired Stampin' Up! Smarty Pants set.

That's all for me and my puppy.  Thanks so much for stopping in today.  You know I love it when you do.  Wishing you a very happy day!