Thinking of You

My card's on the Poppystamps blog today!

Thinking of You, and definitely Thinking of Spring!

So many new spring products. Come take a look Thinking of You by Nancy Penir

Happy Easter

I've had my Greetery order on my desk for days, and finally had time this past 

weekend to play with Betsy's Botanicuts: Lily. If you're not familiar with the

I've had my Greetery order on my desk for days, and finally had time this past 

weekend to play with Betsy's Botanicuts: Lily. If you're not familiar with the Botanicuts, it's a series of assembly dies that create a bloom. Welcome, Lily!

My husband blessed me with a Valentine bouquet that had lilies and roses, and the 

colors on the lilies were spectacular.

I wanted to try to capture the watercolor effect plus the amazing colors on each petal.

Mimicing God's creation is impossible, but we can come close with the right tools.

The pieces were 1st cut with Poppystamps' Open Studio new watercolor paper. 

It boasts a delicate finish, useful for mixed media, paper arts and card making, 

and comes in a package of 10 4.5 x 5.75" cards. Die cutting is a breeze 

with this thickness of paper.

I used my Windsor Newton tubes for this project, the colors are intense and 

transparent like no other I've found.

These are 2 of my favorite blooms for an afternoon of painting. (LOL, the first petals were 

heavy with paint, and didn't define. But I kept going until something pleased.)

I do send out Easter cards, mostly to family, and plan to more of this magical lily.

Betsy has a youtube video to help with coloring and assembly,

New Die Intro + How-to: BotaniCuts Lily

Since my palm fronds are considered leaves, I'm adding my card to 

the Flower Challenge

The Flower Challenge #41 Reminder

Did you get this die? I'm afraid to say I'm hooked on all things Greetery,

especially these Botanicuts! 

Have a blessed week!

GD for the Flower Challenge

It's December and the holidays are here!

I have the most exciting news, and a card or 2...

I'm guest designing for the Flower Challenge! 

Now the challenge this month is to use a die, and I've chosen Altenew's Festive Poinsettia

die. This card is a watercolor.

I kept thinking how dramatic it would look on black cardstock, so I did another with

my metallics. 

Hope you like it, and hope you all get a chance to play along!

The Flower Challenge #39 'Use a Die'

Boy Card: Wonderful Whittles

Hello Poppy Peeps! 

I have a sweet little card for a guy this morning, (Could be a girl's card too) with an

animal theme. Poppy's new 'whittle' animals!

Whittles Boy Card

All the info on making this card is on the Poppystamps' blog this morning.

Stop by and see all the new dies and stamps, already in the Poppystamps

store. And while you're there, a reminder that there's a blog blitz going on!

Leave comments for a chance to win!!! 

Have a great day!!!

Tag You're It: Spring Colors

Hello and welcome to a new Tag You're It Challenge!

I'm up today with this photo and 'Spring Colors'.

Check it out here: Tag You're It #87

And here's a little inspiration for you using the colors in the photo. 

I watercolored the tag from Stamplorations, and the bird & branch from

PTI's Songbirds. The stamped black leaves are from PTI's Doodle-Do.

 Hope you play along!

Thanks for the visit!

A Lovely Birthday

Good Monday Morning!

I'm playing along with Win It Wednesday, Laurie's Fabulous Favorites.

This week Laurie challenges us to use our favorite coloring techniques.

I've chosen a couple for my birthday card.

Ink stenciling is a favorite for a subtle background. 

And above all others, watercolor. So relaxing, and always a delight to

see where the water will take the color.

The leaves were shaded with copics, another favorite.

Getting this one under the wire. 

Hope your week is full of crafty goodness!

Vintage Linens Stamp Set

Papertrey Ink - Vintage Linens Die

Papertrey Ink - Cover Plate: Angles Die

Windsor Newton watercolors

Cold Press watercolor yardstick

Black embossing powder

Ranger Distress Oxide Inks

Winter Watercolor

Ashley shows us some wonderful tips to creating our Winter Watercolor

cards, this week for PTI's Make It Monday. 

My card is slightly larger than an A2, because I wanted my Amaryllis to take center stage.

Watercolor paper makes the technique a breeze, blending and dragging one color

into the next. 

A closeup of the Amaryllis blooms and a few drops of Nuvo to highlight the stamens.

Not exactly a one layer, as was Ashley's example, and I didn't add any gesso.

Loved that dimensional addition of gesso, but did stamp the leaves onto

my background for a bit of dimension of my own.

Stamps and dies link directly to the PTI item. Happy Shopping!

Blooming Amaryllis Stamp Set

Papertrey Ink - Blooming Amaryllis Die

Words to Live By: Happiness Mini Stamp Set

Grateful for You

Hi and welcome to one more post for Concord and 9th's challenge, Anything Goes.

You know how you visit one friend who leads you to another, and another...

Well that happened to me and I ended up finding a friend hop where there are prizes 

being given for comments, and I ran across a favorite, Jessica Frost Ballas.

(By the way, there are many favorites on the list!)

Just had to try a series of techniques I learned while visiting Jessica's blog.

The spray of fall florals is a stamp called Grateful For Everything, (C9).

Sentiment is from their Grateful Dies set.

Here's a short version of Jessica's steps: (she explains in detail)

smoosh colors on watercolor cardstock.

I used Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Candied Apple, Ripe Persimmon

Using my Misti, stamped the image in Hero Arts' Wet Cement, for a no line

watercolor look.

Then I colored the image loosely with copics.

Back into the Misti, which still had the image in place, and stamped with Versamark.

Like Jessica, I sprinkled on Gold Embossing Tinsel. 

I added some Stickles and my die cut sentiment, and mounted onto a 

black card base.

I LOVE this technique, and can't wait to do more with it.

Check out Jessica's blog here:

Rubeena’s Crafting Anniversary Blog Hop (+GIVEAWAYS!)

By the way, you might find some new friends going down the hop list!

Challenge #24 – Anything Goes

Sending (Cool!) Hugs

Hello, Poppy fans! I'm bringing you a post today on the Poppy Stamps blog.

Sending Autumn Hugs by Nancy Penir

Stop on by and see how I made this 'cool' fall card. (Hopefully it will cool

you down after a long hot summer!)

Hugs everyone! And Happy Crafting!

Grateful

Hi! Glad you stopped by for a visit today. I recently ordered a new set by C9,

called, Grateful For Everything. Couldn't wait to play with it!

I'm playing along with Just Us Girls, where the challenge is Fast Watercolors.

I love all things watercolor, but this was a new one for me. We were directed on

the JUGs challenge to watch Jennifer McGuire's video on youtube. She made 

making your watercolor card quick and easy.

Lots of quick inking, spritzing, fussy cutting and some Lindy's Starburst: 

Marigold Yellow Orange spray.

Check out Jennifer's video here:  Jennifer McGuire's Fast Watercolors

Have a great day, hope it's full of crafting!

Happy Little Stampers September '17 Watercolor Challenge

Happy September to you! Oh yes, it's September all ready.

Kids in school, temperature cooling (Hopefully), and the colors change

from bright pastels to fiery hues! Love it!

And, to launch September HLS has a challenge for all the 

Watercolor fans, Anything Goes with an Optional Twist - Spritz

Here's some inspiration for you, stamping and watercoloring with your water based inks.

My sentiment is from Year of the Psalms April from PTI, stamped in Ranger's 

Archival Waterproof black ink. 

The berries are also PTI, a set called Beautiful Berries: Summer, which allows 

2 step stamping.

The inked images were spritzed with water before stamping on watercolor paper.

While still wet, the 2nd layer of defining stamps were added, bleeding just a bit,

not enough to blur the definition.

Some added color around the berries, and leaves, and then some Lindy's Stamp Gang

Starburst dropped onto the card, randomly.

Hope you play along this month. Remember winners receive a $25. gc to the HLS shop.

See you in the linep!

HLS August Watercolor Challenge

Happy August 1st, everybody!

It's time for a new watercolor challenge at Happy Little Stampers

It's an 'Anything Goes' challenge, and this time the twist is: Bloom!

Want some inspiration?

Going with the 'twist' this month, and die cut my blooms from 

Poppy Stamps just released die, Chinese Lanterns.

I let my colors blend on the die cut watercolor paper,

then adhered it to a die cut and loosely watercolored PTI: Mix & Mat Postal Die.

Popped it all up with foam, and watercolored bottom layer, for my birthday card

sentiment: HLS: Especially For You

Can't wait to see what you do with this challenge!

Feel Better

It's Blog Hop time at Papertrey Ink, and Nichole's challenge

is this dreamy photo

Inspiration? Well, there's the color, robin's egg blue.

And a beautifully staged wedding invitation.

The setting is positively dreamy.

I stamped a floral from Stemmed Statements onto watercolor paper,

and loosely colored the blooms, letting the water pull the color outside the lines.

Then die cut with PTI's Mix & Mat: Postal.

At the top I added a die cut banner embossed in white, with a sentiment 

from Stemmed Statements. Love that cute little banner with the 2 holes!

Also did an envelope, stamped with Spring Rain, and colored with copics.

Because of the ring box in the photo, I added a few iridescent sequins to finish.

Think I'll do a set of cards with the other florals from this set. 

Will post them as they're done!

Come play along all day on Nichole's Blog.

Finished a few more cards for my set.

This is such a full and versatile set. With many words and sentiments it's easy to find

and add just the right greeting. And the florals, so many that lend to coloring

with any medium. 

Hope you're enjoying the hop. Always get such fabulous inspiration!

July 2017 Blog Hop