Birds and Blooms

I'm on a roll and I hope you can put up with me for a while.  With fall approaching and the need to double down on Christmas cards I decided to go the opposite direction.  Well, gee, I have so many summery stamps and digis not yet used... so I sorted through all of them and picked out the ones I'd really like to finish up while the weather is still fair.  Ha!  As if that's going to happen.  I filled a box with my fair weather coloring and die cutting aspirations.

Getting started... today is a digi set from the out of business Sparkle 'n Sprinkle.  It's called Feathered Friends.  I had these two images from the set printed up, but never colored so today is their day.  It's a very cute set and I think you can see why I just had to purchase it.

Anything with birds grabs my attention and my heart, especially if they're whimsical and easy to color.  I did these birds with Copics.  I somehow managed to get an ink blob on the white panel and that changed my design plan to the extent that I added the little flowers and the feather.  Initially I'd planned to simply tie a length of linen thread across.

The flowers below are watercolored with Gansai Tambi paints on Arches 140 lb hot press watercolor paper.  Again, very simple coloring.  I hand cut them so I could play around with the placement.  Sentiment is SU, probably retired.

I have a few different paper collections I've been trying to use up, not because I don't like them, but because they're close to being gone and maybe if I stay focused... we'll see how it goes.  These are Chatterbox papers.  Are they still in business?  They had the prettiest designer papers.  I might not have chosen these particular papers for my bird and flower cards, but I like how it all turned out.

Wishing you a wonderful week, whichever way you spend it.  Hugs and happiness to all!

Power Poppy: Healing Bouquet

Hello again!  I have another beautiful new digi from Power Poppy today.  This one is called Healing Bouquet.  Marcella's art makes my jaw drop.  Girl knows how to draw botanicals!  Have a look:

I used a hand stamped sentiment, but there are also digi sentiments with Healing Bouquet.  My coloring was done with Copics on 140 lb hot press watercolor paper.  I chose Copics for this one because I printed on the wrong side of the paper.  Fabriano Artistico extra white has 2 subtly different sides and I seem to get better results on one side.  Maybe it's just me.  I do love this paper when I'm careful to use the correct side.

I encourage you to check out the rest of the team's cards here:

• Julie
• Christine
• Stacy
• Allison
• Broni
• Gloria
• Barbara C.
• Catherine
• Power Poppy Blog

It's been a treat for me to color and share these new Power Poppy digis and I hope you enjoyed looking.  Thank you so much for your time.  Take care!

New From Power Poppy: Aloe and Oranges

There's something new from Power Poppy for all of Marcella's digital stamp fans (count me in!).  Today and tomorrow we have digi sets to share, and there will be more coming a bit later, but promise they'll be worth waiting for.  Today it's Aloe and Oranges.  You have to know I love this, don't you?  Click the link to see more of the set.

I had to include the Gansai Tambi paints in the photo because I kept forgetting how I colored this.  I drew the border line with a ruler and marker.  When you have a full front image and no extra layers, the border line makes a quick and easy frame.

My Bloom Brigade teamies have each put their own spin and mad coloring skills to work on this one.  Check here:

• Stacy
• Julie
• Christine
• Kathy
• Allison
• Broni
• Barbara C.
• Catherine
• Barbara W.
• Nancy
• Power Poppy Blog  (7 am CDT)

Come by tomorrow for some gorgeous flowers.  See you then!

Deeply Fun

Hello, friends!  I'm back and will catch up with everyone soon.

Today, it's just for fun... a little something I made before we left for camping.  It's one of those cards that happened mostly on its own.  The background... honestly, before it was die cut it looked suitable only for clown cards, and that was never going to happen.  I figured maybe some smaller die cuts...  Well, after I die cut this one it looked like the makings for an underwater scene, so that's when I pulled out my Gerda Steiner Deeply stamp set and finally made my first card with it.  The background is watercolor, but the stamps are all Copic colored and hand cut.

The background die is actually quite beautiful -- Jeanine's Art Garden Classics Lace Frame, Center Oval.  The center oval does not cut out, but was easily traced onto white paper, hand cut and glued in place.  One of these days it will look great with some flowers, which is why I bought it in the first place.  There are a bunch of similar Jeanine's Art dies still available, but I don't know about this one as it's new to me, but not brand new on the market.

In the next picture you may be able to see more of the embossed impression of the die.

One more pic so you can see the gloss on the submarine porthole:

I'll get back to the Deeply set again soon, I hope.  I don't want to put it away until I've used all the stamps, and there are still a few more.  The same goes for the die.  It will stay out until it's used again.

My card with its NBUS stamp set and die are going to visit Darnell's NBUS Challenge 17.

Take good care of yourselves and we'll get together again before too long!

Just Hello

 We're camping again and will be back in about a week.

This pic is from our last trip and there's one more on Goldens and Garden if you'd like to take a peek.  Trying to keep up both blogs...  I'll catch up with you all as soon as I can.  Enjoy your week!

Two Calling Birds

Hi there!  I have to slip this post in on a Saturday because we're going to be gone for a week and I do want to play along in this month's CAS Christmas Card challenge.  The theme is Twelve Days of Christmas.  Here we have two of the four calling birds.  Perhaps we can imagine the other two are flitting around somewhere out of sight.  I know, it's a stretch... they can bump my card right out of the gallery and that's okay because I still had fun.  I made two of these cards:

I used three dies and a little piece of designer paper for this CAS card.  The music die with birds is layered for dimension.  Birds and Joy are colored with Copics.  Otherwise lots of white because that's one way to keep it clean and simple.  Please see supply list below my signature.

CAS Christmas Card Challenge:  Twelve Days of Christmas

Thanks a bunch for stopping by.  See you again soon!

Paper:  Neenah 110 lb white, Memory Box Yuletide designer paper  Dies:  Yvonne Creations Holly Jolly Music Border, MFT Die-Namics Stitched Rectangle Frames, Cottage Cutz Joy

Butterfly Background

I'm stamping with the oldies today.  No, my friends didn't come over for a crafty date...  it's just that I'm using all old stamps.  After Tuesday's butterfly card I got to thinking about my butterfly stamps, so I had a look in the butterfly drawer.  There were a few to choose from, but this one was front and center and it didn't require coloring.  I don't know its name, but it's by Savvy Stamps and it's many years old.

This card couldn't be simpler.  I stamped the butterfly multiple times in multiple colors:  SU's Cameo Coral, Old Olive, and Bermuda Bay.  Overstamped SU's En Francais script background in So Saffron.  Popped up SU's It's Your Birthday sentiment.

I'm loving clean and simple lately.

My card doesn't look anything like the gorgeous mood board below, but I did have the Double D Butterfly Challenge in mind, so will link up over there.

Thank you for your time.  Have a happy day!

Big Fancy Butterfly

Hello on a Tuesday, friends!  I hope the weekend treated you well.  Same old thing, or did you get out (safely) for a bit?  It was a gardening weekend for me, but I also got to my room for a little morning playtime.  Three dies from three different companies came together for this card.

That's one big fancy butterfly, isn't it?  I've had it a long time and used it plenty even though it's been difficult (for me) to design it into an A2 card.

I was hoping you could see the glitter better in the next picture.  Maybe not. The yellow card base is sanded Core'dinations (I think SU before they discontinued it).  It was sanded and ready in my card box.  So many details to mention for a card that was really quite simple.  You can read more below my signature.

I'm sending my card over to the two challenges I had in mind when I made it:

Double D Challenge:  Butterflies and Darnell's NBUS Challenge ~ 17.  The Happy Border (flowers) is new(ish) to me and never before used.

Well, that was fun!  I'll be back again when cards happen.  Till then, take care and have yourself a happy day!

Additional Details:

• Impression Obsession Open Scroll Butterfly -- I cut one butterfly from 110 lb white and another from black.  The white stayed together long enough for me to tape it on the back so the parts wouldn't fall out.  Glued the open scroll black over the white.  I see some white parts I should have popped out... oh, well... next time.
• Taylored Expressions Picture Perfect - Smile/Hello -- Colored just the "hello" with a B05 Copic.
• Joy Crafts Happy Border -- I punched 1/4" circles for the flower centers and applied Stickles Diamond glitter glue there and to the white dot on the butterfly's body.

Lady Slipper Orchid

Hooray, it's Friday and I colored some Power Poppy!  This is something I've had set aside to work on for quite a while.  First, I should mention the flowers -- Lady Slipper Orchid digital stamp with a sentiment from the Orchids Rock clear stamp set.  I used Gansai Tambi paints for watercoloring.

The border is the clear stamp background, Big Sexy Leaves.  I watercolored that gorgeous thing way back in 2018 (see the card here) and had this strip left over.  I always intended to use it with the orchids and finally got around to it.  Good grief, 2 years.  Can we all agree how quickly time flies?

I did my best to coordinate the colors, using the same Gansai Tambi paints.  Since I'd splattered the leaf border with white acrylic paint back in 2018, I also splattered the orchid image in 2020.  To finish, I drew a border line with a gray marker and distressed the edge. 

Christine has a wheelie great card to share today so be sure and stop over to her blog and have a look.

I'm glad you took the time to visit with me and I hope we can do this again soon.  Hugs! 

Stamps:  Power Poppy Lady Slipper Orchid digi, Orchids Rock clear stamp sentiment, Big Sexy Leaves clear stamp background  Paper:  Arches 140 lb hot press watercolor  Ink:  Printer for digi, Ranger Archival Watering Can for sentiment, Palette Landscape (green) for leaves background  Coloring:  Watercolor with Gansai Tambi, diluted white acrylic paint for splatters, gray marker for narrow line border

A Day at the Seashore

All the beach challenges I've been seeing recently have cumulatively inspired me to finally sit down with some of the beach/ocean/nautical stamps and dies I've been collecting, but not using (ahem).  Today I have one new die and one very old stamp.  Here are the two cards I made Monday morning:

Taking a look at the card below... it features an I-don't-know-how-old wood block stamp, completely unmarked.  It's been in a drawer forever and I've possibly used it once or twice.  The rock doesn't stamp very well, but I filled in the blanks.  We'll call it shading.  I pulled out this oldie for the CAS Mix Up Watercolor Challenge:  Beach

The next card uses a watercolored Pelican die from Cottage Cutz along with a pre-made smooshed watercolor background.  Just having a little CAS fun with this one.  Since the Pelican is a first time use, I'm sharing this one at Darnell's NBUS Challenge ~ 17.

I didn't do a lot of decoration inside the cards, but each features this sentiment:

More info in recipes below my signature.

That's all from me today!  Take care and stay safe.  I hope none of you are suffering damage from the tropical storm Isaias.  The news doesn't look good.  Hugs to all.

Card #1 --  Stamps:  No name OR Coast wood block, Art Gone Wild Variety Pack 1 sentiment inside  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80 and 110 lb white  Ink:  Palette Noir on front, Memento Tuxedo Black inside  Coloring:  Watercolor with Tombow markers  Other:  Kaiser Craft Anchors die

Card #2 -- Stamps:  Hero Arts Moments sentiment front, Art Gone Wild Variety Pack 2 sentiment inside  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor, Strathmore Mixed Media vellum surface for background, SU Creamy Caramel for sentiment  Ink:  DOX Salty Ocean, Versamark  Coloring:  Watercolor with inks and Tombow markers  Dies:  Cottage Cutz Pelican, Frantic Stamper Making Waves, Spellbinders Long Classic Rectangles  Other:  White embossing powder

Cat Paradise

Hi, there!  I'm back for a spell and I hope I can stay for a while.  There really are so many things to do.  I've been coloring quite a lot, but can't share it yet.  Think "Power Poppy" and "gorgeous".  That's all I'm saying for now.

Today's card is a tear-apart-and-re-do of one I made in January.  It's been sitting in my card box ever since and was never photographed, so it's like brand new, right?  I kept skipping over when it came to mailing because it felt and looked too bulky.  The entire image panel with frame and heart is part of the original card.  It was popped up on a busy background.  The new base is sleeker -- more white, simpler designer paper.  Much better.

The Rubbernecker 3 Cats in Tree were stamped on watercolor paper and colored with Copics.  Cut with the matching die and arranged on a smooshed watercolor background.  You can Google "ink smooshing" videos.  Very easy and fun.

I'll wrap this up and see what more I can accomplish today.  Got a list as long as my arm, sheesh.  Take care and give yourself a hug from me!

Stamps:  Rubbernecker 3 Cats in Tree with matching die, Rubbernecker Day in Paradise sentiment  Paper:  Arches 140 lb hot press watercolor for cats, Strathmore mixed media vellum surface for smooshed background, grocer's kraft for frame, SU Whisper White base, My Mind's Eye Notable designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, smooshed DOX Salty Ocean  Coloring:  Copics  Other:  Hero Arts Wood Frame, Paper Smooches Hearts, SU Subtle embossing folder used on card base (barely noticeable in the photo)