Hello Again

Welcome to Monday, friends!  This is the last of the Hello & Thanks cards for now.  I colored a whole batch of these stamped images while we were camping in July, so I feel I've given the set a good share of attention.  When it came time to put this one together I kept it very clean and simple.

A blush of color on the card base.  Pearl steam rising from the cup.

Fall stamping has begun in earnest --  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...  I'll see you again soon.  Take care!

The Last of the Vacation Pics on Goldens and Garden

Covering Utah and back to Oregon.  Come visit me at Goldens and Garden.

Thank you!

Colorful Watercolored Veggies

The last card this week is a celebration of the harvest season.  It could be a Thanksgiving card or it could be any card.  Just look how colorful those veggies are!  Pretty as a bouquet of flowers.

With Gansai Tambi paints I watercolored Power Poppy's Farmer's Market Veggies on Arches 140 lb hot pressed paper.  Designer paper finishes the grocers kraft card base.  Did a little out of the box cutting of the image, and added no embellishments because I couldn't decide what would look best with it.


The next photo is just for fun.  It shows my very unglamorous coloring space.  I have no craft mat or glass mat, but the coloring table Rich made for me is tempered glass, so it cleans up nicely.  I like to clean it with 90% alcohol so even the Copic smudges come off.  See the white edge on the image panel?  That end was taped onto the watercolor paper before printing.  It's regular cardstock weight and it fools the printer into pulling the heavier watercolor paper through.  Probably most printers will print on WC paper just fine, but won't grab it without being tricked.

I don't tape down my image because I like to turn it every which way when I'm coloring.  Sometimes I do the background first, sometimes I do one element of the image at a time.  In this case, I didn't have time to finish it in one sitting, so I painted a light base of color on each veggie so I'd remember my plan later.

Coloring a detailed image, being fussy and trying to get a result I'm satisfied with can sometimes take a while.  Trial and error is the way it goes.  For me, the fun and wondrous thing about coloring has always been the transformation of the image, and that's why I keep at it.

Okay, that's it from me.  Have a great weekend and stay safe!

Mrs. Purdy with Ribbon

My friend sent some of these lacy ribbon die cuts for me to play with and I knew if I would just bide my time I'd be struck by inspiration.  I certainly do have drawers full of ribbon...  This snowflake ribbon was a perfect fit with a snowflake showing in each section.  It even comes with its own glitter.

After I made the frame I thought about Mrs. Purdy right away -- another gift from the same friend -- so I colored her with Copics, added a sentiment and, well, you can see how purdy Mrs. Purdy looks in her laced up frame.

I'll list the recipe for all parts below my signature.

Christmas card total:  23

Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Retired Mrs. Purdy by Plum Purdy, Power Poppy Simple Joys sentiment  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White, soft blue Bazzill, white glitter paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black  Coloring:  Copics  Accessories:  Ribbon, Stickles Stardust glitter glue  Dies:  Marianne Designs Craftable Ribbon Rectangle, Spellbinders Scored and Pierced Rectangles, Spellbinders Create-a-Flake Five

Beware of Cute Dog

The calendar says it's the first day of autumn and the view out my window confirms it.  Things sure did change in a hurry.  Not much in the way of falling leaves yet, but rain, shorter days, waning garden.  We've had a lot of exceptionally beautiful days recently, too.  Autumn... when it's good it's very very good!

I made a fall card to celebrate.  This Beware of Dog stamp is new to me, but it was released by Penny Black in 2001.  I was shopping for stamps at 1-2-3 Stitch, searched "Halloween", and this guy (with many others) popped up.  Searched and purchased the Hero Arts Wood Frame die set there, too.  Love that place!

Anyway... I figured this stamp does not have to be just for Halloween.  It doesn't even look like a Halloween stamp here, does it?

That's because I inked the outline with a marker and left out the Halloweenie parts.  Dressed him up for fall with die cut leaves and patterned papers and a sentiment from my stash.  Everything's watercolored with Tombow markers.

But wait, I did make a Halloween card, too.  This time I stamped him as is, cut him out, and tucked him into a simple scene with a stenciled sky background.  Not scary at all.  Just fun.

I see many uses for this dog.  He could pop out of a big present or a cake.  He could ride in a truck.  Wave through a window.  On and on... these are some of the things I've tried him with and will make later.  We spent quite a bit of quality time together in my stamp room, but too many new things need to be colored before this busy stamping season is over.  Seasonal stamps... I swore I wasn't going to buy any...

Have a happy day!

On Goldens and Garden: Arizona

We're visiting Route 66 and The Grand Canyon today.  Hope you'll join me on Goldens and Garden.  Thanks!

Late Summer Watercolor

It's time for fall colors, pretty flowers, and watercolors.  I'll confess... all the new stamps I've been buying lately are cute or whimsical or totally stylized, and that's because at the other end of the spectrum I have my huge collection of Power Poppy stamps and digis.  I need look no further as I have several I haven't colored yet.  For instance, this particular stamp from the Bountiful Bouquet digital set:

This is one gorgeous set!  The other image is is one of my all time favorites by Marcella.  Sigh... now that I've colored this one...  Seriously, what took me so long?

I literally flopped the card down onto the paint tray and snapped the pictures when it was finished.  It's very colorful with all those Gansai Tambi paints in the background.  With the abundance of stamping I've been doing lately it gets to be a bit much always clearing off the table, setting up for a picture, then putting it all back together for more coloring.

I don't know if you can see how I stenciled a leafy pattern onto certain areas of the background ever so faintly.  Just a bare suggestion.  After I made a blue wash around the flowers I stenciled with blue ink, then washed away most of it with a wet brush.  Splattered with gold paint, tied with linen thread, then popped up on a grocer's kraft card base which had been impressed with the largest die in the Lil' Inker Side Stitched Rectangles set.  The largest die impresses, but does not cut.

That's all the stamping for this week.  I'll be back!  Have a beautiful day!

Double D Challenge: Focus on the Sentiment

Welcome back for another Double D Challenge, friends.  We're making the sentiment the star of the show this time.  Darlene has prepared the following inspiration board for us:

FOCUS ON THE SENTIMENT

Your card doesn't have to be black and white, but wouldn't that be easy?  I think it would look pretty great, too.  As it happens, I had the parts already prepared for two of these cards, so I simply put them together.  I used a digital sentiment from the recently out-of-business Sparkle 'n Sprinkle.

Now... there's one thing I have to point out and ask you about:  I added the heart, which I think is a pretty part of the design, but after I saw the photograph I couldn't help but think it looks like a heart with leafy antlers.  Does it look weird to you?  Am I over-thinking this?  I could probably fix it somehow, but I can't decide if it needs to be fixed.

Next photo is the inside of the card with a coordinating digital sentiment.

Be sure and stop over to Double D to see some very nice team samples.  Maybe I'll see you in the gallery.  Hope so!  Have a beautiful day!

Just When You Thought it was Safe to Go Back in the Water

Okay, friends...  when I was over at Frantic Stamper shopping for a mermaid tail a few extra things jumped into my cart.  You see, I was searching for sentiments to go with my mermaid tail when I spotted the sentiment set I used on today's cards -- Shaaaark!  Wait, what?  Well... the set does have one sentiment that says "Have a fin-tastic day", but it also led me to three more die sets that I felt I (ahem) really needed.

First up here is Happy Shark.  I combined it with dies from my stash -- Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers and KaiserCraft Decorative Anchors.  A little designer paper.  I wanted to keep it ultra-CAS just to see if I could.

I don't have anything against sharks, but I'm not a super fan, either.  However, I thought these would make good cards for boys from kidhood to adulthood.  Truthfully, I was having so much fun with this shark I had a hard time putting it away.

The next card incorporates another new die set -- Making Waves.  It's 5 separate dies which can be used in different combinations.  It's my first wave die set and I think this one will cover all needs.  Additionally, from my stash are Cottage Cutz Rope Corners and a party hat which I cut from an embossing folder.  I colored with a red Copic and added silver Stickles glitter.

Lastly, another die set called Tails and Fin, which includes a shark fin and two sizes of whale tails.  Aren't they a necessity in every die collection?  Maybe not, but I've been wanting to do more nautical/beachy/ocean-type cards.  For this one I added a stamped sun, a balloon, and swirly embossing which suggests a windy day.

That's enough shark cards for now, but I'll get back to it.  More of everything coming soon.  Am I having fun yet?  You bet!  Have a happy day!

On Goldens and Garden

We're traveling through Nevada on Goldens and Garden today.  Hope you can come along.

Thank you!

Thanks

Hello there!  I've been crafting my fool head off.  I don't know about you, but when I get on a roll I just have to go with it.  All these new things sitting on my desk are making me want to get a move on.

Today's card was easy because the stamped parts were already colored and die cut.  I used WPlus9 Hello & Thanks and finished off the last of the images I colored while we were camping in July.  I have another card I'll share later, too.  Today it's very clean and simple with just a blush of blue on the card base and the die cut images arranged over that.

The blue ink on the card base is SU's Bashful Blue, applied with one of my Beauty Kate make up blending brushes.  The card base is Neenah 110 lb Classic Crest so it's very sturdy without layering.

Easy stamps to color and a card that went together very quickly.  I think I like that idea!  See you again soon!

Twofer Card Challenge #20: Critters

Welcome to another Twofer Card Challenge!  We're doing Critters this time around and, oh, my goodness, do I ever have a lot of critter stamps.  I hope you have something in your collection of stamps, dies, or stencils so you can play along, too!

I have critter stamps I haven't used yet... so many choices... I decided to use a Laurel Burch Stampendous stamp called Rainbow Safari to make a "hello" card and a birthday card.  I love this stamp so much and I'm hanging my head that I haven't used it till now.  Well, gee, I've recently added more Laurel Burch to my collection so I'd better get busy with the coloring.

I made the birthday card all fanciful and very colorful.  I pulled a shaded Oxide ink background panel from my stash and stenciled some leaves over top of it (Carte Bella Wander & Find).  Added a sentiment from another Laurel Burch set - Fish Wishes - and a die cut leaf.  More stenciling, faintly, on the sentiment panel.

The "hello" card is rather clean and simple.  I cropped the image and changed the layout, or design, by repositioning the image panel and sentiment in relation to each other.  Framed it with an older and probably retired Memory Box Jasmine Frame.  Cut the "hello" with a much newer Die-namics #captions die.

So there you have my Twofers... now let's see yours!  Check out more fun samples on the Twofer Challenge Blog.  Thank you!

On Goldens and Garden

"Traveling the West, Part One" on Goldens and Garden today.

I'm sharing the first few pics from our August trip.  Hope you can stop by.  Thanks!

Amaryllis and Jasmine

Back in the swing of things...  I realized it was time to get more Christmas cards done so I disciplined myself to settle into it.  I have several not-yet-used Power Poppy Christmas sets from their 2018 release and that's what I'm working with this year.  Today's cards use Amaryllis Bliss and the coordinating die set.  One of the nice things about this set is that it really doesn't have to be just for Christmas.

For the first card I used the amaryllis blooms and greenery.  Colored with Copics and arranged on the designer paper-covered card base.  Additional supplies are listed below each picture.

(Paper:  Fabriano Artistico bright white watercolor, vanilla card base (under designer paper), Webster's Pages Waiting for Santa designer paper  Ink:  Memento London Fog (for image), Memento Bamboo Leaves and Tuxedo Black  Accessories:  Red rhinestones, Scotch brand foam mounting tape  Other dies:  Die-namics Stitched Rectangle Frames, Spellbinders Lacy Pennants)

For the second card I used the greenery and the Jasmine sprigs to make a wreath.  I die cut a ring first and arranged the wreath elements over that.  Added a glittery bow and designer paper from the same pack.

(Supplies as previously specified, plus Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White cardstock and gold glitter cardstock.  Additional dies:  SU Wonderful Wreath Framelits Noel, Poppystamps Lovely Gift Bow)

Total Christmas cards so far this year:  22

Back in March this total might have sounded like good progress, but it's September.  I have quite a few more cards to make, but no worries.  It always gets done.  Have a happy day!

Be a Mermaid

Oh, happy day, after a 3-week abstinence I got to play in my room!  That's a long time to go without getting crafty, don't you think?  This card is a great bundle of little things... the kind of card that grew on it's own and became much more than I'd originally planned.

It started with the sentiment.  It's a digital gift that Donna Ellis shared on her blog here (scroll to the end after you get there).  I've always loved this sentiment, whether it applies to a mermaid or a unicorn.  Would you believe I have neither mermaids nor unicorns in my collection?  Soooo... before our vacation I went on a search and (ahem) ended up with quite a few things in addition to this mermaid tail.  I know that you know how that happens.

The sentiment, the mermaid tail, and the stencil with which I made the water are all new to me.  Everything else is from my stash (clouds, swirls, Nuvo Jewel Drops).  The mermaid tail was inked with Distress Oxides, then smooshed with Versamark and embossed with an iridescent embossing powder.  The panel of stenciled water was cut apart and the darker water in the foreground popped up.  A hint of very light blue Copic (B0000) was added to the clouds and swirls.

Supply list can be found at the end under my signature.

Thank you, Donna, for this beautiful digital sentiment, and thank you all for stopping by today.   I hope to be back soon and, in the meantime, I hope you're enjoying your days in whatever way you choose to spend them.  By the way, I just have to say this:  I cannot believe it's September already!  Happy almost fall!

Stamps:  Digital sentiment from Donna Ellis here  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White  Ink:  Distress Oxide Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves  Coloring:  Copics  Accessories:  Iridescent embossing powder (old), Nuvo Sea Breeze Jewel Drops, Echo Park Sail Away stencil  Dies:  Frantic Stamper Mermaid Tail and Trio of Swirls, Poppystamps Twirly Clouds