Magnolias For Her... Again

I felt like it had been ages since I last sat down to watercolor so I wanted to do some yesterday. I saw a card yesterday morning on another blog and it reminded me how much I love this set.  The current challenge over at the CAS Mix-Up Challenge is for Stamping, Markers and my choice of a 3rd technique. For today's card I used Stamping & Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, with heat embossing, Die Cutting and Sprays.  I also plan to enter this card in the Altenew July 2016 Challenge of "Weddings".  It doesn't have the yellow color in the inspiration image, but it does feature Altenew Stamps, Dies and Cardstock with the white, pink and green, so I'm entering it.


To begin with, I stamped all of the flowers in the Altenew Magnolias for Her Stamp Set except for the sentiments using Versamark onto a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper which is my favorite.  In fact, I ordered a pad of this paper yesterday in Bright White which is a new product for them. The Bristol I normally use is a soft white rather than a cream like most watercolor papers and if I am water coloring on it, then it's no big deal usually.  But occasionally if I am doing a white on white card the difference is noticeable.  Anyway, I heat embossed the blooms using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  This is still my favorite gold embossing powder.

I knew for the sentiment I wanted to use one from Altenew's Beautiful Day Stamp Set and I already had some of those stamped and heat embossed so I only needed to cut one of them out. I also stamped the branch from Vintage Flowers and heat embossed it in gold then went ahead and die cut it as it's a solid image and there is nothing to paint on it.

Next I cut a top folding card base with the Noted: Scalloped A2 Dies from Papertrey Ink out of Altenew's Spicy Yogurt Cardstock.  This card stock is so nice and I love it.  It's not quite as heavy as what I use most of the time but it's 92# cardstock so still quite a bit heavier than SU! Cardstock. I just got my first pack of 10 sheets and I know it's one I'll use over and over again for masculine and feminine cards.  It looks very much like a paper that Creative Memories used to have called Spargo.  It was my all time favorite and I used it like most people use White or Kraft Cardstock.  This paper is only available on the Altenew Website.  I haven't seen anything close to this anywhere else either.

I watercolored the blooms with my Zig Markers in Sugared Almond Pink and Olive Green.  It doesn't take much water to move the color around on the Bristol Paper and I also wanted soft color since this is a wedding card.  Once I had everything painted and the paper was completely dry, I die cut it using the Magnolia's For Her Coordinating Dies and started placing my elements onto my card front.  I have a magnolia tree in my yard so I know the branch isn't an accurate representation of how a real magnolia branch looks, but it's okay. It's just supposed to make the recipient smile.

I arranged the flowers and leaves along the branch and adhered them with a combination of Ranger Multi Medium Matte and Thin 3D Foam Squares.  I added some pale pink and iridescent sequins to the card then carefully misted the whole card front with Tsukineko Sheer Shimmer Spritz.  I let that dry and added a second coat. I love the delicate color in this card and I tried to capture the shimmer which is difficult on this speckled cardstock.  I hope you can see a little bit of it and imagine the rest.

I hope you are having a great weekend.  Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today.  I really appreciate it any time you leave a comment for me or if you have questions be sure to use the "Contact Me" form on the right hand side bar.

Planning for Magnolias

I've been thinking for a few days about The Challenge #73 over at Always Playing with Paper. The Challenges change each week and this week's image is actually one that I've played along with at another challenge back in March.  I wanted to really be inspired in a different way than what I previously did. Thankfully, I had happy mail today!  

I was looking through Pinterest the other night, trying to gather some inspiration as I sometimes do.  I have several boards there, but ones I frequently pin to are Color Combinations or Flora & Fauna.  I think you will always have a winning combination if you go with colors that already exists in nature.  For example, Pink and Green is a frequent floral combination seen everywhere in the spring.  I think there must be more pink flowers in the world than any other color although I try to enjoy them all.  But I came across an image that immediately grabbed my attention. I followed it (as I am inclined to do) and found a website called Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley.  OH. MY. WORD!  I stumbled upon some incredible digital images and clear stamp sets. The bad news is that not all the digital images are available in clear stamp sets because they are a new, young company, but the good news is that there are several stamp sets to choose from and one can hope that as they release new stamps that some of the digital favorites will make it into the collection.  

Marcella has enjoyed incredible success including Martha Stewart Living and Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion.  You can read about it HERE.  The images you see here are all her gorgeous photography influenced no doubt by her mother, whom she lost recently.  Her mother was a painter and illustrator for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City.

This beauty is one I have never seen or even heard existed before and is called Magnolia Coral Lake. Isn't the color just breathtaking? These images were the inspiration for the Planning for Magnolias Stamp Set by Power Poppy. The stamps are clear photopolymer and are a few dollars more than most on the market, but they are incredibly detailed while still giving you the outline image to paint or color as you wish.  They are by far, the most detailed and nicest floral images I have.  I felt that was worth the couple of dollars and I was so happy when they arrived in today's mail and solidified this opinion.  I checked this morning and saw that they were "out for delivery" by my mail carrier so I started checking and rechecking the status (a.k.a. STALKING) until it showed up as "Delivered" to my mailbox.  Then I knew I could go out and get the mail.  I wish you could have seen the smile on my face....

I am just not that in to Copic Coloring.  It doesn't soothe my soul the watercolor does.  I totally appreciate other people who can do it and I love seeing their creations but it is a last choice for me rather than a first choice.  I took some Copic Classes several years ago but I don't feel like I get most of my images to look the way I want them to so it's just not relaxing to me.  I know part of it is practice so I am doing that a bit, but watercolor is my first love.  Trust me when I tell you that I will be attempting to duplicate this gorgeous shading on a card soon. Today, I was after instant gratification so went with the color of the Tulip Magnolia at one of my daughters' homes in Missouri.  And as you know, Pink is a favorite. Actually, I feel like Coral is right up there with Pink these days, even more than purple.  It has to be the right shade and not too orange-y, but I do love it too.  

This card was super simple.  I used the largest bouquet from the Planning for Magnolias Stamp Set, stamped it with Versamark then heat embossed it with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I used a Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Sugared Almond Pink to paint it, layering color where I needed to.  A tiny amount of Gathered Twigs and Forest Moss Distress Marker was all I needed to finish coloring this image.  All of the pink is done with just that one color. 

After that I die cut the panel using the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die.  I re-aligned that into the die to cut a little off of two sides so I could mat it with the pink panel.  Then it was adhered to a top folding card base made from Olive Cardstock. When I use darker colored card bases I cut an extra stitched rectangle to go on the inside of the card. 

In case you are wondering, I find that watercolored images are "the show" on a card of this style.  They don't need a lot of other distractions such as patterned paper going on so I prefer to keep the look of my cards clean and classic. I really admire those who can incorporate a lot of pattern and color in their cards but it's not for me.  

I'll be entering this over at the CAS Mix Up Challenge using Stamping, Heat Embossing and my choice which is Watercolor for this card.  

Thank you for stopping by to see my creation and read my blog post.  I hope you'll look around over at Power Poppy.com.  It means the world to me when you take time to comment.  Have a great weekend everyone! 

Use Some Lucky Stars

I'm popping on here with a really quick card today for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for this week which is "Use Some Lucky Stars".  I started this card by cutting a 4.25 x 5.5 inch panel of watercolor paper and water colored it using my Gansai Tambi Watercolors in #58 - Evergreen, #55 - Green, & #90 - Gold.  I wet the entire surface of the paper with water. Then I "dabbed" paint on it first in the evergreen and then in the green.  I spritzed the whole thing lightly with water after applying the color and just let the water and color move however it wanted. I had taped it to my small cutting board, so I could set it aside to dry and do some other things for a little while.

Once all of the green was dry I dabbed more paint on in a random pattern with the gold paint.  This time, I didn't add any water, but just let the paint settle where it wanted to. When dry, this gives you a fantastic marbled looking background which is great for a Clean & Simple (CAS) Card.  Since I also wanted to play over at the CAS Mix Up, it was important to me to keep it to a single layer.

Next I stamped my greeting and the moon and star from the WPLUS9 Lucky Stars Stamp Set using Versamark and heat embossed it with Ranger Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder.  I love the sparkle this adds to any card. I cut several stars from the Simon Says Stamp Large Holiday Hearts and Stars Die from scraps of gold foil card stock.  Using a Versamarker, I added a few dots with WOW! Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder to give the appearance of some larger stars. For my final touch on the background panel I misted it with a light mist of glycerin water and then took a pinch of Iridescent Sparkle Embossing Powder and sprinkled it on the card front & heat set it.  It gives a beautiful sheer sparkle imitating a starry night sky.  Unfortunately I was not able to capture than in the photograph.  Still, it makes for a very pretty card.

I die cut the panel with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle then adhered it to a Bermuda Bay top folding card base.  Single layer cards are by far the easiest to mail and don't require extra postage or hand cancelling.  My best friend loves green so this is going out in tomorrow's mail for her!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I really appreciate it when you take time to comment.  Have a great rest of the weekend.