CAS Watercolor Bouquet of Flowers

Special Event

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARNELL!!

Please join us in celebrating Darnell's Birthday!!

The team has made special cards for Darnell's birthday,
along with me as Guest Designer
and several Featured Designers (friends from their recent stamping retreat).

During the retreat, Darnell (Dolly to us) was up early one morning
and decided she wanted some frozen blueberries.
Somehow she spilled almost the whole, Costco-sized bag of
blueberries all over the floor.

Bonnie snapped these pictures.

See the swipe of blueberries in the right photo??  Dolly panicked and grabbed
a large piece of card stock to "smoosh" the blueberry juice.

Well, without Dolly knowing, the gals kept that piece of blueberry smoosh and cut it up.

Each Designer has used one piece in making Dolly's birthday cards.  Check out all of them on the CAS Watercolor Challenge -- Bouquet of Flowers.

Now, I wasn't at the retreat, but Loll emailed me a photo of that blueberry smoosh to print and use for my card.  My printer doesn't do well with colors and, sure enough, it came out with dirty pink smudges in some of the white space.  I disguised that by adding some orange speckles and then covering the whole piece with a Scor-Tape sheet and glitter.  The sparkle is spectacular in real life, and the blueberry smoosh somewhat resembles blobby tree branches.  You think?

Try as I might, I couldn't adequately capture the sparkle in the photo, boo hoo.  The bouquet is from Power Poppy's Countryside Bouquet clear stamp set, watercolored with Tombow markers.  Die cut "Celebrate" is Tutti Designs Celebrate Word Set.

I kept it as clean and simple as possible under the circumstances.  White space can be sparkly, can't it?

Inside I stamped a portion of the bouquet in blue ink with a sentiment from another Power Poppy set -- Pure Prairie Spirit.  I could have used the beautiful bouquet from that set, but, instead, wanted to feature the California Poppy -- state flower of Darnell's home state.

That's my story, friends!  Join us at CAS Watercolor Challenge with your beautiful bouquet of watercolored flowers.  The team has some gorgeous samples and we'd like to see yours, too.  I think it's going to be a very pretty gallery this month!  Enjoy your day!

Power Poppy Enchanted Garden Clear Stamp Release Day

After five days of Enchanted Garden previews, release day is finally here!  It's been a lot to take in, but I hope you've enjoyed it.  I've had a ball!  Today, the Power Poppy Bloom Brigade and Instant Gardeners are joined by the Ellen Hutson team for a big ol' hop with all kinds of different samples.

*** WE'VE GOT FUN PRIZES! ***

  

We are giving away $25 to the Ellen Hutson shop and $25 to the Power Poppy shop.  To enter for a chance to win, be sure to leave comments at each stop along the hop.  Two random & lucky commenters will win!  Comment before Sunday, July 7th at 11:59pm PST. Winners will be notified by email.

Gee, I just happen to have an extra Floribunda card...

I watercolored this one vividly with Tombow markers.  Notice the oval cutaway.  That's the space that was left after I cut the oval for yesterday's card. I gave it a gold edge and a gold heart and two of the awesome sentiments that come with the set.

Here's a list to everyone in the hop:

Allison Cope 

Adelina Starace 

Barbara Walker 

Christine Okken 

Ardyth Percy-Robb 

Julie Koerber 

Broni Holcombe 

Carly Tee Minner 

Kathy Jones 

Emily Midgett 

Stacy Morgan 

Kelly Griglione 

Jennifer Dove 

Sandy Allnock 

Leslie Miller (that's me)

Therese Calvird 

Nancy Sheads 

Rhea Weigand

What a fun way to wrap things up!

Treat yourself to a stop at the Power Poppy Blog, too.  See the entire Enchanted Garden Collection here.

Thank you so much for all the time you've spent with me this week.  Can you believe it's July already?  Sheesh!  Have a wonderful summer day!

Power Poppy Preview, Day 5: Floribunda

If you're a clear stamp kind of stamper and you love birds and blooms, Marcella has come through for you.  She's turned another one of her gorgeous digital sets into a clear stamp set.  Introducing Floribunda.

Okay... if you follow me regularly you probably recognize the image in the above graphic as the digital version (Hummingbird Paradise) which I colored when it was released on June 15.  Trust me, you get all that and more in the Floribunda clear set.

Today I gave it a little bit softer look, but still colorful, by watercoloring with Tombow markers.  As you can see, I isolated just a small part of the image by stamping the whole thing then cutting with an oval die.  I turned the oval upside down so the hummingbird would have a flower to enjoy.  It works!

In case you'd like to know, the die is by Marianne Designs, called Anja's Oval.  I adore anything with lattice, especially when it comes to flower stamps.

Marcella has packed this stamp set with beautiful sentiments that pair up perfectly for the card front and the inside.

I'm so smitten with this stamp set I didn't want to put it away.  The two cards pictured below were made with relatively little coloring.  The one is gold embossed on green with watercolored dahlias and hummer.  The other is stamped in blue on blue, then the background filled in with a white Prismacolor pencil.  I stamped the upper corner in blue again on watercolor paper and watercolored just the fuchsias with Tombow markers.  Fussy cut and glued in place.    The hummer comes as a separate stamp.  I watercolored him, too.  He's very easy to cut out by hand.

Why, yes, I have been busy!

Again, please visit the Power Poppy Blog for much, much more and do come back tomorrow for the big hop with some special friends.  Thank you so much for your visit today!

Power Poppy Preview, Day 4: Summer Berries

It's Summer Berries today, friends.  Enjoy a sneak peek at its fruity deliciousness:

I chose to color two of the smaller images today and I made the bird a Goldfinch, or some semblance thereof.  I used Copics, but I'm eager to do it again in watercolor.  I think this is the prettiest stamp!  At first I thought it was a small stamp, but, you know, it's really a very nice size.

I fussy cut the additional strawberry stamp and used it as an accent.  Hmmm... only one picture today.  Well, as I mentioned, I'll definitely be coloring this one again... plus the other main image... sigh...

So far we've seen berries and birds, flowers, treasures of the forest floor... tomorrow I'll be back with the final set in this release, but there's still another day to come when the sets go live with a big hop we're doing with friends.

Today, please see the Power Poppy Blog so you don't miss what Marcella has to say, plus she'll give you a link list to all the sweetness the team has to offer with the Summer Berries set.  Take care and have a delicious day!

Power Poppy Preview, Day 3: Strong and Beautiful

Hello!  Back for Day 3 of the Power Poppy Enchanted Garden clear stamp previews.  Today we're showing Strong and Beautiful (link will be live on July 1).

Perhaps you'll remember these flowers as a previously released digital stamp called Bowl of Beauty.  It was too pretty not to release in a clear stamp set!  Marcella tweaked it ever so slightly and gave it some very useful sentiments and, voila, a clear set is born.

I spent some extra time with this one because I used Prismacolor pencils and I'm very slow with them.  I did not use Gamsol for blending.  Just pencils.  I blended over and over again until the pencil lines virtually disappeared.  I'm probably too dogged about that.  After all, they're pencils; they're supposed to look different.

Before I picked up a pencil, however, I created the background with Copic markers.  Colored random patches of  green, blue, and pink, then dropped colorless blender fluid onto it using a very skinny eyedropper (pipette from my medical lab days).  Final background touch was to add all the little dots that float up and away.  The sentiment was added last and colored with pencils.

You'll find more info from Marcella and a link to all the dreamy team samples on the Power Poppy Blog.  I'll meet you over there 'cause I want to see them, too.  Have a beautiful day!

Power Poppy Preview, Day 2: Woodland Carpet

We've gone from flowers to forest today with Power Poppy's Enchanted Garden clear stamp release.  Today we're previewing Woodland Carpet (link will be live on July 1).

This stamp set and sentiment has my heart.  I do find rest in the cool and calming forest and, aside from the garden, it's my favorite place to be.

I colored this one with Copics, smudged a little ink for shading, added a hand drawn partial border.  The 5" card leaves room for designer paper which I always love, but sometimes it just doesn't fit.  It could be a masculine card... or not.  It's a beautiful quote for a friend who needs soothing.

Now... I'll meet you over at the Power Poppy Blog to see Marcella's post.  She'll also link us up with the rest of the team for samples.  I can't wait to see!  Back tomorrow.  Till then... have a happy day!

Power Poppy Enchanted Garden Preview, Day 1

Hello, friends!  I hope you enjoy the next few days here on the blog as much as I enjoyed preparing for them.  The Instant Gardeners have teamed up with the Bloom Brigade to bring you previews of a brand new clear stamp release at Power Poppy.  Five fabulous sets and I'm sure it goes without saying that I love them all.

We're starting off with Big Sexy Blooms.  This is a large background stamp with all kinds of possibilities.  The link will be live on July 1 when all the sets are available in the store.  My card:

White embossed and watercolored in pastel shades, I couldn't resist coloring the whole thing.  I split it into panels for this 5" card.   The sentiment is from a set we'll be previewing on Day 5.  Note to self:  Do more white embossing.  It's perfect for pastels.  This was such easy coloring!  I used SU's Watercolor Wonder Crayons.

Waste not, want not... I used the leftover strip inside where I'll write my own message.

We're off to a great start!  I'll send you over to the Power Poppy Blog where Marcella will tell you all the details and give you a link list to more beautiful samples.  Wishing you a lovely day!

Double D Challenge: Pick a Pattern

Oh, my goodness, it's time for another Double D Challenge!  Darlene has chosen a good one for us this time:  "Pick a Pattern".  I'll show you my card and explain in a minute.

Naturally, the sentiment is going to play an important role, but the card design is all about the pattern.

Pictured below are the patterns to pick from.  Don't worry, it doesn't have to be an exact match.  Just let yourself be inspired, as long as the pattern is prominently featured in your project.

Random winner prize is a paper pad of patterns galore:

I have so many designer papers I could have used for any of those patterns, but I focused on the pretty blue bowls and made an ink-blended and stamped background.  The stamps I used are from a Stampendous Laurel Burch set called Fish Wishes.  I probably never would have thought of this card if it hadn't been for the challenge, but I like how it turned out and you know I've been feeling a lot of love for clean and simple lately.

Wait till you see the team samples.  Inspired and inspiring!  So, pick a pattern and play along.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Stamps:  Stampendous Fish Wishes by Laurel Burch  Paper:  SU Whisper White  Ink:  SU Brilliant Blue and Bashful Blue, Memento Tuxedo Black  Accessories:  Silver cord, Scotch brand foam mounting tape, Beauty Kate makeup blending brushes  Dies: Tutti Designs Stitched Nesting Hearts, Taylored Expressions Stitched Rectangle Stacklets