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! 

Color Throwdown #393

This week over at the Color Throwdown Challenge #393 there is a very soft, subtle and muted color palette.  The photo on the left was our inspiration image for the colors we were to use; blush, rose and grey and white.  I chose to watercolor some of the images from the Altenew Magnolias for Her Stamp Set and use the coordinating dies.

I've been working with these magnolia images in an attempt to imitate an artist whose work I greatly admire, Marika Rahtu. For this card, she used Copic Markers with Faber Castell Polychromo Pencils to get the phenomenal results you see here.  I still need more practice, but my 2 attempts so far have resulted in great learning for my third attempt which will hopefully happen soon.  My results were not terrible but not good enough for me to share yet.


I do love Magnolias and the smell from the blooms is incredible! The image on the left is from my Magnolia tree in our yard. We purchased and planted it 2 1/2 years ago and it was such a beautiful tree. That first winter, it got hit by an ice storm causing it to lose several branches and some height.  It was so heavy with ice, it just broke the top completely off.  I feel lucky that it survived at all.  Last year, we had so much rain that the blooms would get knocked off by the rain the same day they bloomed so we didn't get to enjoy them at all.  I took this picture last weekend of the year's first bloom on this tree.  It is loaded with buds this year.  We are still getting quite a lot of rain at this point, but I'm hopeful.  A second bloom came out yesterday.  If this flower seems large to you, it's because it is.  I haven't actually measured, but it is approximately 10 inches in diameter. I'll have more Magnolia beauty coming to the blog in the coming days and I can't wait to share!

I've mentioned before that I detest "fussy cutting" and that one of the things that had happened over the 5 years between scrapbooking and making cards is that now most stamp sets have coordinating dies. That is what I used to wish for, but I kind of got away from even traditional scrapbooking and had been doing digital scrapbooking for the last several years. Once I started making a few cards last year and found out this wish had been granted. . . well to me, it's paper crafting heaven! I've gone from scrapbooker to card maker in nearly one fell swoop.

I stamped the magnolias with Versamark and heat embossed them using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder on a piece of Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper. I have other gold embossing powders, but this is my current favorite Gold Embossing Powder.  It's a warm rich color, melts fast and is a reasonable price. Using my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens, I painted the blooms using Sugared Almond Pink and Pale Rose so that I could keep with the designated throwdown colors. Originally, I tried to do a grey branch, but it just didn't look right so I opted for the grey card base.  The branch is cut with the Altenew Vintage Flower Dies.

I laid in my first layer of watercolor using the Sugared Almond Pink and went over the entire image on all three blooms.  I let that dry and went in with subsequent layers of Pale Rose with more color at the base of the petals where the shadows would be deepest.  I use a #2 and #4 Round Silver Black Brush that I got at Simon Says Stamp. You can buy each separately or the three in a bundle. Once I had the blooms painted and they were dry, I went over them with a coat of Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer and let that dry before die cutting them with the coordinating dies.  Then it was only a matter of arranging the elements on my card background and adhering them with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  The biggest bloom is attached with foam squares under the petals except for the very center of the flower is glued down to give it that extra bit of dimension. I added a few Moonshine Sequins in 6mm and 10mm to finish it off.  Simon's has a few sizes and also a multi-pack with 3mm, 5mm, and 10mm in it.

The greeting is from Papertrey Ink's Friendly Flowers and heat embossed with the same Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  This is my favorite font and  also my current favorite sentiment set.

The Color Throwdown Challenge #393 will end Monday at noon so I'd better skeedaddle and get this post up!  Thanks so much for stopping by today and if you'd like to leave a comment, I really enjoy reading them.

My Little Chickadee

The theme over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog this week is "Cute and Cuddly".  I don't normally do critters for the most part, so I have very limited supplies in the cute and cuddly category and what I have tends to lean in the direction of Christmas. However, I just happen to have this New Day Stamp Set from WPLUS9 Design Studio.

I love Chickadees. Just the name sounds happy and cheerful. There are so many trees budding and blooming this time of year and so many little birds surveying the landscape from their branches. It's definitely one of my favorite times of the year with all the blooming flowers and trees.  There's the Redbud, Crabapple, Plum and Pear trees all providing fragrance to the air around us and signaling the new day.  Last year we had so much rain that my magnolia blooms only lasted a few hours before they were so heavy that they fell off the tree.  I'm hoping this year we get to enjoy it more.

I water colored this little Chickadee using Distress Markers in Pumice Stone, Gathered Twigs, Black Soot, and just a hint of Worn Lipstick.  For the halo effect around the bird, I used a combination of Tumbled Glass and Spun Sugar to try to convey the feeling of a new day. For the buds on the tree I used Light Pink Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink for the early Spring leaves. I also put a dot of white gel pen on each little bloom for a highlight.  To help make the mask a little bit whiter and brighter, I used a White Prismacolor Pencil with my water brush.

I also wanted to participate in this week's challenge over at The Paper Players #287 with the "Celebrate Spring" theme.  The design is to be Clean and Simple (CAS).  

Happy Spring Everyone!  Have a great week and please feel free to comment if you stop by as I treasure each and every one of them.  

The Legend of the Dogwood

"At the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood had reached the size of the mighty oak tree. So strong and firm was the wood that it was chosen as the timber for Jesus' cross.

To be used for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the dogwood. While nailed upon it, Jesus sensed this, and in his compassion said, "Because of your pity for my suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth, it shall be slender, bent, and twisted, and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross–two long and two short petals.

"In the center of the outer edge of each petal will be the print of nails. In the center of the flower, stained with blood, will be a crown of thorns so that all who see it will remember."

There is nothing in this world that says "Easter" to me more than seeing a Dogwood Tree and Pink Dogwoods are (of course) my favorites!  We saw lots of them on our 2015 vacation as we drove through Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. My husband had not seen pink ones before and it was a definitely a treat for me as well.

As I worked on another card for the The Card Concept Challenge #51 and was admiring the inspiration image, it occurred to me that I should be using some "Kraft" Cardstock with a Pink Dogwood Bloom to create an Easter card. I have had this Dogwood Bloom stamp by Impression Obsession for a number of years but I hadn't ever used it before.  These days you can buy the cling mount version of this stamp which is fantastic. Now that I have fallen in love with water coloring, I had to try it with this stamp. It's not an outline image, but I figured I could work with it.

I stamped the image in Versamark on Canson Bristol 96# Watercolor Paper and heat set it using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I love the soft white of this paper over some of the others out there on the market. Since the petals are mostly white, I painted the entire flower using a solution of Perfect Pearls & water, then let that dry.  Once it was dry, I took my lightest pink Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Sugared Almond Pink and went around the outer edge of each petal and blended that with more Perfect Pearls Solution. One of the nice things about the pigment powder is that you can make your solution as shimmery as you like.  I just touch the very tip of my damp brush into the powder and mix it with a bit more water on an acrylic block.

I went back in with the same color to add depth to that area for my second and third layers. The final touch on the blooms was using Pale Rose for the indication of each nail in the petals.  The leaves were mostly covered with gold embossing powder but for what was showing, I used Mowed Lawn Distress Marker. When it was dry, I die cut it using the largest of the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles.  The mat was a scrap of Pink Pirouette Cardstock that was laying next to my die cutting machine that I cut down to be 4 1/8th x 5 3/8ths.  I adhered it to a top folding A2 Kraft Card Base.

I die cut the Simon Says Stamp Exclusive "Easter" sentiment from some gold foiled cardstock and adhered it using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  This card is Perfect for the Classy and Elegant Category on The Card Concept #51 Challenge, AAA Cards, the CAS Mix Up March 2016 Challenge and the Double D Challenge to make an Easter Card.  I made quite a few Easter cards this year, but this one is a favorite. It was the simplest to do but really makes an impact.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Please feel free to leave me a comment.  I really enjoy reading them.

Create Along With Us - March 2016

For one of the cards I created today, I was inspired by a few sources. The first one is Kay Miller from the Papertrey Ink Design Team featuring new March Release items. She made this gorgeous card and the colors were so appealing that I just had to include a bright green and blue on my card.  Once I saw The Challenge #64's Color Scheme over at Always Playing With Paper, I went with it.

I started by stamping the butterfly image  onto Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper in Versamark and heat embossing it with Ranger Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder. This Pen Patterned Butterfly is from Stampendous and it came with a set of masks for each of the three butterfly images in this set.  There are also coordinating dies found here.  After I did the heat embossing, I placed the mask over the image and created the soft blue background using a Mini Ink Blending Tool with Simon Says Stamp Maliblue Ink trying to keep the most intensity near the immediate area surrounding the butterfly.  Once I had that completed, I colored in the Butterfly using my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in May Green, Persian Blue, Cobalt Blue and Deep Blue (Navy) for the body and the spots on the wings.  Let me add here, that the Japanese seem to have a couple of their colors mixed up from what I am used to. What they call Cobalt is what I would call Persian Blue and what they call Persian Blue, I would call Cobalt.  There's a few other colors that don't seem the same as what I'm used to so I'm glad I have all my caps swatched.

Once the butterfly was dry, I used my powder tool on the upper right side to make sure there was no moisture left and stamped and heat set the greeting which is part of the Tulip Time Stamp Set from Papertrey Ink.  I just love that font!

Once that was all dry, I still felt it was missing something so putting a drop of reinker with a mist of water, I picked up some of that and created the navy spatter.  I let that dry and then added some spatter using Martha Stewart's Liquid Gilding in Gold and let that dry.  It dries quickly but has some pretty significant fumes and should only be used outdoors.  And it's best to use a throw away kind of paint brush unless you want to have to get a cleaner from your hardware store. Just do whichever one works for you.  It's a very pretty touch.  I could have used my Finetec Mica Gold Watercolors, but I wanted to try the Liquid Gilding.

When everything was dry, I cut a top folding card base from Papertrey Ink Vintage Jadeite Cardstock and a mat from Audrey Blue Cardstock from Simon Says Stamp which has turned out to be the exact same color as Hawaiian Shores from Papertrey.  I assembled it all together and got inspired to make a second card in the same design but different colors.

For this one I used the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in Light Carmine, Deep Violet, Purple and Light Violet.  Purple is more along the lines of what I would call Magenta and is one of only 4 colors I added to my set of 36 pens.  I also added Persian Green, Light Sugared Almond Pink, and Emerald Green.  I added this watercolor panel to a top folding note card made from Papertrey Ink Berry Sorbet Cardstock which seems to be my current favorite color.  Both of the cards are bright and springy and will make someones day a bit brighter.

I'll be entering the top card into the Always Playing With Paper Challenge #64 as well as the Create Along With Us March 2016 Papertrey Ink Challenge. There are lots of challenges this week and next week has a challenge and blog hop for Papertrey Ink so I'll be back soon with my next project.  I hope everyone is getting to enjoy some gorgeous Spring weather today!

Color Throwdown Challenge #283 with Ranunculus

I've been practicing for a few days with a new-to- me technique so I haven't gotten anything posted since Monday. Last night I sat down to get started on today's project and I got far enough along that it didn't take too long to get it finished up this morning. For today's card, I am playing over at the Color Throwdown Challenge #383 which is yellow, orange, green and white.  I knew I had the perfect Stamp to participate in this challenge. I love the bright summery colors in this inspiration image.

I started by heat embossing the WPLUS9 Beautiful Bouquet Ranunculus with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder on a Canson Bristol Watercolor Panel.  I've really learned how to control the amount of water I use in order to get the look I want in Watercolor.  I'm probably not doing it right technically. but I'm okay with that.

To color my image, I used a combination of Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in Bright Yellow, Orange, May Green, Green and I used Festive Berries and Mowed Lawn Distress Markers for a few of the leaves and the berries.  I am so satisfied with the results of these two mediums and I think learning to watercolor has given me a new appreciation for colors outside of the blue based tones I love so much. Yellow or orange is not the first choice I would normally make when doing a bouquet, but I love how this came out.  I actually only have one orange in my colors, so I'm glad it worked out.

For the sentiment on this card, I used one of the greetings in the Tulip Time Stamp Set from Papertrey Ink.  I die cut the panel using a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle in the largest size and mounted it to an A2 card base made from Simon Says Stamp 100# Orange Peel Card Stock.  I don't normally buy orange card stock but it was one of the colors in the Simon Says Stamp Rainbow Pack which has two sheets each of several different colors.  Once the water coloring was completed, this was a quick-to-assemble card.

Have a great day everyone!  I love comments if you'd like to leave one for me.  I have more projects coming up this week, so I will be back soon.

Celebrate - Tim Holtz Style Inspired by a Song

While I was at my daughter's last week, we ran over to the local Michaels Arts & Crafts Store to get an adhesive runner so I could finish swatching my Peerless Watercolors and adhere the remaining swatches the way all of the previous ones have been done.  I ended up finding a Studio G Mini Tape Runner with more than enough (9 feet) to finish what I had started at home and it was $1 or something super cheap like that.  Of course in the attempt to find a tape runner at all, I was in the Stamping/Scrapbooking Section.  I noticed a Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits Celebrate Stamp & Die Set in the clearance section for.... $3.99! Holy Cow! Since my daughter had just mentioned that Birthday Cards are something she uses a lot, I knew it would be perfect and a deal that I could not pass up.  I don't know if I've ever gotten a better deal.

I love the super sketchy, architectural type drawings of all Tim Holtz's Blueprint Style Stamps and this one is no exception.  It's smaller than what I would like and I think I might have to get the larger stamp at some point in time but I'm pretty tickled to get this one at such a great price and especially since it included the matching dies because I detest fussy cutting and me a craft knife just don't go together that well.  I have one but I try not to use it.

On several pieces of Canson Bristol 96# Watercolor Paper I stamped and heat embossed the images in Simon Says Stamp's New Antique Gold Ultra Fine Embossing Powder and heat set it. I knew I wanted bright, cheerful and vibrant colors so I went straight to my Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in Cobalt Blue, Emerald Green, Persian Green, Orange, Red, Purple & Deep Violet. To add the shimmer  to the color I used Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder in the following:  Interference Red, Interference Blue, Forever Violet, Berry Twist, Turquoise and Perfect Pearl.  Simon Says Stamp has a choice of 36 colors but when I've purchased mine, I try to think about what the base color (Red, Blue, Green, etc.) is and whether or not I use that color as part of my card making so I only have about 8 colors.  The two I didn't use here are Gold and Pewter.  I tend not to go for trendy colors except that I heard about the Interference Red from a YouTube Video.  It's kinda pink or kinda purple, depending on your light.

After I allowed everything to dry, I die cut the watercolored panels using the My Favorite Things Stitched Squares in the 2nd largest size and then die cut the party hat carefully with the coordinating die and all of the "Happy Birthday" Banners. Additionally, I cut one Party Hat out of Fun Foam for each watercolored panel. I also cut one Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle from various gold foiled papers.  To assemble the card I made top folding A2 card bases from Stamper's Select White Cardstock. I applied the negative square to the stitched rectangles using regular Tombow Mono Adhesive. I glued the watercolored Party Hat to the Fun Foam for each hat using Glossy Accents and stacked an acrylic block on top for several seconds to let it set and then went about adhering the background panels to the card bases before starting to mount the party hats into their space on the card fronts.  It was quick and super easy to do since I skipped foam tape in favor of Fun Foam.  I used the negative to help place or line up the positive image.  For the little banner piece, I cut several foam squares in half and then adhered those to the card base as well.

Oh how I love gold foiled paper and gold embossing powder. Silver just doesn't pack the same punch most of the time although there are exceptions.  These cards were surprisingly easy to do and I know my daughter will love having them to give to my grandson's friends. I'll be entering these cards over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog where the theme "Inspired by a Song" is up for this week.  My song is "It's My Party" by Leslie Gore way back in 1965.  I'll also be posting this over at the Seize the Birthday Challenge.

Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my blog and I hope you'll come back soon.  All comments are very much appreciated if you'd care to leave one. Have a great weekend, everyone.  See you soon!

Papertrey Ink Feburary 2016 Blog Hop Challenge

Today's card is for the Papertrey Ink February 2016 Blog Hop. We were provided this image for our inspiration. There are so many elements in this photo that it took some time for me to figure out which of those I wanted to use on my card. There are several rectangles & circles in this image as well as the more organic shapes of the flower, fern, leaves, ribbon, frog and other elements.  I wanted to find just the right balance of shapes and colors while still using the same color palette for my card. I love pink and gold together.  It is ultra elegant and ultra feminine in most cases.  

I started with a piece of Simon Says Stamp Cotton Candy 100# Card Stock and misted it all over with some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Iridescent Gold. Even though it seems like this company is no longer in business, I have several bottles of this around.  I set it aside to dry for a little while because damp card stock does not cut cleanly (don't ask me how I know, *wink*).  While I was waiting for that, I stamped my leaves from the Turning a New Leaf Stamp Set onto Wild Wasabi Card Stock and heat set them with Simon Says Stamp's new Ultra Fine Antique Gold Embossing Powder. I used the Turning a New Leaf coordinating dies to cut the leaves off-setting them slightly so some of the green would show. I really love this embossing powder and it is my new favorite embossing powder when I don't want to use the sparkle kind. The color is warm and rich.

I cut a tall rectangle from some gold foiled cardstock by cutting a narrow piece of gold cardstock scrap on three sides of the stitched rectangle die and then repositioning the paper so it would cut the line on that 4th side. If you match up the stitches, it's pretty easy to do and it helps stretch those dies even more.  I stamped and heat embossed the outline floral image from Altenew's Beautiful Day Stamp Set which is a multi-layer stamp set as well as my butterfly from SU!'s Papillion Potpourri stamp set. I also have the coordinating punch for that particular butterfly.  I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Light Pink with a water brush to watercolor the image and extended the painting slightly beyond the outline so that when I fussy cut it there wouldn't be any white showing.  I added more of that same pink to a scrap piece of watercolor paper, then heat embossed it with the "Hello" from Graceful Greetings by Papertrey Ink and die cut it with the coordinating dies.  Finally, I went back to that first piece of misted Cotton Candy Card Stock and cut it with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Die then started assembling all my pieces onto a white top folding 4 x 5.25 inch card base. 

I wanted to add foam adhesive to the back of the gold rectangle, the flower and parts of the leaves so that the layers would look multi dimensional.  The Greeting and the Butterfly were the final elements to attach using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  I have a ScraPerfect No Clog Writing Tip on my bottle and I've been much happier with this than with the other tip available for the 1/2 oz. bottles.  I wish they would make the Multi Medium in a 2 oz. bottle like they do for Glossy Accents.  I gently curve the wings of the butterfly before adhering it by putting my adhesive down the center of the butterfly's body.  This adds just a little bit more dimension to the card.  

Please feel free to post any questions or comments and have a great day!  You can check out the Challenge here: Capture the Moment or shop in the Papertrey Ink Store by clicking the link in the sidebar. 

I'll also be entering this card into the Anything Goes Challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog.  

Winter Blooms

This year was the first time in many years that I did not have a Poinsettia in my home starting sometime shortly before or after Thanksgiving.  I wanted to use this image for some of my Christmas cards, but I never got around to coloring one before Christmas so it will have to wait until next year to be used for that purpose. That said, I really love them and they always add a cozy feel to my home and I think they are a perfect cheery winter plant and found in a variety of colors from flaming red to nearly white and there are even some marbled varieties.  The "blooms" really aren't blooms at all and are instead leaves that have undergone a color change though photoperiodism. Simply stated, how much light and dark the plant is exposed to affects the color of the leaves.  Even the light from a vehicle passing or a television at night interferes with this process and impedes the transformation in color. The more uninterrupted night the plants have, the deeper the red leaves become.  At least 12 hours per day for 5 days in a row is needed to change the color.

Initially, Poinsettias looked like scraggly little weeds by the side of the road but were eventually cultivated to produce a bigger, bushier plant with all of the many variations of color we see today. The association of the plant (which is indigenous to Mexico) with Christmas began in 16th century Mexico and is said to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem and the red color the Crucifixion of Christ. The Poinsettia was introduced to the US in 1825 by the first Minister to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett.

In 1900, a man name Albert Ecke emigrated to California from Germany and started a dairy and orchard and he sold the poinsettias from his street carts and became interested in them.  Albert's son, Paul, developed a grafting technique that produced the bushier plants we know today and until 1991 enjoyed a virtual monopoly of the Poinsettia Market. The wild or native version of these plants in Mexico have much slimmer leaves than the ones we enjoy today. As long as they are not exposed to frost, these plants can live outdoors year round. Betcha' didn't know you were going to get a little history and science on my blog today, did ya? *Ü*

I started with a 4.25 x 5.5 piece of Canson Bristol 96# Watercolor paper that had been stamped with the Stampendous Create-A-Poinsettia and heat embossed using Simon Says Stamp Ultra Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder.  I like this image because it has the holly and mistletoe in the image.

I water colored the poinsettia using Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Festive Berries with very little water to keep the red as vibrant as I could.  As in other watercolor, the depth of the red is increased by adding in additional layers of color.  I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in Deep Green and Olive for the greenery and Deep Red for the Holly Berries. For the Mistletoe Berries, I used Picket Fence Distress Marker, but ultimately I could have left them with no color on them.  It took a few layers to get the red watercolor how I wanted it.

I decided to add the greeting after I had already cut the panel with the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die. As you may be able to tell, I nearly ruined the card when I accidentally shifted my acrylic block during the stamping.  I decided that it only looks bold and not really messed up so I went ahead and attached it to an A2 card base made from Simon Says Stamp Schoolhouse Red Card Stock. I added a watered down coat of Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer Pen to the berries, then topped them off with Glossy Accents. I added a stitched die cut to the inside of the card as well.  It's so hard to read anything on the darker card stocks and the white panel on the inside really fixes that.  I'm super happy with my finished piece.

Thanks for stopping by today and spending a few minutes on my blog.  I hope you all have a great day!

Thanks

During a recent trip back home, my husband and one of my grandsons made a trip with me to see a family friend.  We weren't sure that we could make it so I asked if last minute was okay with her and she said that was fine. I would have felt worse if I said I could be there and then not make it. When I had asked her the night before our visit if I could let her know in the morning, she put a brisket on to cook overnight in case we were there. I'm so glad we could make it to see her for a visit.  It was our first time to visit since her husband had passed away not quite two years ago.

I wanted to try out a new stamp and die set that I recently purchased from Ellen Hutson, LLC called "Mondo Magnolia" from the Essentials by Ellen Collection which was designed by Julie Ebersole.  I love this type of line drawing that I can watercolor and this is my favorite of the ones I have, measuring 3.75 x 3.75 inches. 

I had also recently purchased the Simon Says Stamp Thanks Scallop Border Die and wanted to use it to send a note thanking her for the visit and for feeding us some of her home cooking, which is always so good.  

I stamped the Mondo Magnolia with Versamark and heat embossed it using Simon Says Stamp Ultra Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder.  I really love the Simon Brand Embossing Powders because they melt quickly and smoothly. Next I cut a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle in the largest size out of Gold Foil Card Stock.  After that was cut, I laid the Thanks Scallop Border Die along one edge of the widest side of that rectangle in the bottom third.  Just as in photography, you want to try to use a rule of thirds in card making.  The border die is wider than the rectangle so it gave the panel the decorative edge.  With the gold foil card stock and the gold embossing powder, this made for a quick and easy card.

I spent a little time watercoloring the bloom, but I enjoy it so I had it ready to make a quick card.  I used one of my favorite Distress Markers in Seedless Preserves.  This color goes down very purple, but once you add the water to it, it gives lots of shades of pink and violet.  I call this color "my little extrovert" because of the way it behaves with the water added.  All of the distress inks do this but none quite duplicate the behavior of the Seedless Preserves.  As a person who loves pink and purple, I love the variations in tone and depth achieved with this particular color.  If I want my image to look more pink then I use a bit more water.  If I want more purple and less pink, then I use less water.  There's not really a right or wrong way to do it.  I just add layers of color until I achieve the desired look.  To me, that is relaxing.  And if you know me, then you know that there is not too much that I am relaxed about.  

It's a lot of fun for me to use the various watercolor mediums that I have and learn how each of them behaves.  Distress Markers and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens are the most alike, but still a bit different from each other.  The distress markers give you somewhat predictable color but the pens are such an intense amount of that color that they seem less predictable.  I also use Reinkers or Distress Stains to watercolor with but the thing about the markers or pens is how portable they are.  I can haul them around in a small tote with a water brush and some pre-stamped images in very little space.  That is not something I can say about my ink pads. 

I would encourage you to try all of the mediums that you have so you can learn their behavior and which gives you the most satisfactory results.  Also, be sure to use watercolor paper when you do this because regular white card stock just doesn't cut it.  When I started, I merely wanted something that looked passable and that I wasn't embarrassed to send.  Watercolor has become so much more to me.

We have been traveling, first to Kansas and then to Dallas, for a week and I was so ready to be home this afternoon.  I really crave the creative time in my studio to kind of decompress and I wanted to get a blog post up today.  Now that I can access my studio again, the creative juices will start flowing.  I don't really let myself think about what I might make next when I can't access it because then I just get frustrated.  I have several upcoming projects including some pre-class homework for a class that I am taking in January so I have lots to share and create.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Christmas Cheer

Every time I see this image, the thing that pops into my head is "The best way to spread Christmas Cheer is singing loudly for all to hear!"  These sweet little birdies just look like they are singing!

I used this Stampendous Winter Birds Stamp for yesterday's card, so I'll just tell you the supplies I used to create it without going in to too many technical details. For the branches I used Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Pine Needles and a Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Green so I could get the super fine lines in my coloring of the branches.  For the Birds I used another combination of Distress Marker in Pumice Stone and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Black.  For the winter gear I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Persian Blue along with Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Wilted Violet. I also used a tiny bit of Zig Clean Color in Light Pink for the cheeks.

After I had finished water coloring the image, I put Wink of Stella Clear Pen on the snowy parts then let that dry for a few minutes.  Next I added the Glossy Accents to all the snow and to the pom-poms on the birds' winter gear.  While that was still wet, I put a pinch of Elizabeth Craft Cool Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter on top then set it aside to dry overnight.  I love the extra bit of dimension this adds to the card and it sparkles and shines like real fresh snow does.  It's hard to tell it's there in the photo, but if you try it you'll see that it does.

I created a card base with a piece of leftover Green Shimmer Card Stock so I also cut a white panel to go on the inside of the card for my message.  This was a quick blog post but if you have any questions, just put them in the comments below and I'll send you a reply.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'll be entering this card over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and I hope to see some of you over there.

Cheery Winter Birds

The card I have for you today uses one of my favorite techniques which is Watercolor using markers/pens.  I started with a piece of Canson Bristol 96# watercolor paper and the Stampendous Winter Birds Cling Stamp which I stamped and heat set using Simon Says Stamp Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder.  I happen to buy this particular type of watercolor paper at Hobby Lobby using a coupon most of the time.

I started coloring the birds using a Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Brown for the body and Mid Brown for the Belly.  Then I decided I should probably look at a picture so I googled "Winter Birds" to see some images.  My images are not lifelike at all, but it's okay.  I went ahead and colored them for my Mother-In-Law who just loves seeing the birds and flowers no matter what time of year it is and she won't care whether or not they are realistic.

I like this particular watercolor paper a lot because it is so smooth, yet affordable for card making. It costs me about 6 cents per panel if I get at least 6 panels out of one 11 x 14 sheet.  I also like the Canson XL 140# watercolor paper but it is more cream than white and sometimes I just want the nice soft white of the Bristol.  It's all a matter of personal preference.  However, it will pill up if you work it too much or with too much water so I grabbed a Distress Marker in "Pine Needles" and started working on the evergreen branches in the image between the layers of brown on the birds.  I tried to keep moving so I would not make the paper pill and just went back and forth to different areas each time.  It's very helpful if you aren't working on adjacent areas at the same time.

I wanted some fun color for the little birdie's winter gear so I just did each color layer back and forth on the two birds until I had them all colored with the red, blue and green. One of the particularly nice things about the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens is that they have a super fine brush tip so they can be skinny mini or quite a bit thicker depending on how soft or hard you press with the brush. You don't need to have all 80 colors of these pens because you can make lighter or darker versions of all of the colors.  I think I have about 48 of them now (I originally purchased a 36 set) and I don't really feel I have any missing at this point.  There are lights and darks in each color so you can pretty much do anything you need to.  Many graphic artists use the Zig Pens to color with and they are not using any water, so that should be a good indication of how "juicy" they are.

Once I had the image colored, I went over the white snow and the pom-poms on the bird's winter gear with my Clear Wink of Stella Pen.  Then I added the greeting in Versamark and heat set it with WOW! Primary Apple Red Embossing Powder to go with the striped card base I had chosen. I cut the watercolor panel using the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die in the largest size which is slightly smaller than 4 x 5.25 inches.

I still wasn't too happy with the appearance of the snow or the pom-poms so I added a layer of Ranger Glossy Accents to them.  Then I sprinkled just a pinch of Elizabeth Craft Cool Diamond Glitter on top of that while it was still wet to make it really sparkle and shine. Now I like it (giggle) and it fits the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for this week.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Please feel free to leave a comment or question if you do.

Merry & Bright

A few weekends ago my husband and I traveled to Kansas City for a car show where his brother had a car entered into the competition.  While we were there, we walked around a lot and saw the others cars that were there, but we also had a lot of time just sitting around.  I knew it would be that way, so in my quest for a great Christmas Card, I had stamped several card fronts onto Canson 96# Bristol Watercolor Paper to take with me to watercolor.  This Canson paper is super smooth and much whiter than my Canson 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Paper. I put those watercolor panels into a stamp pocket to keep them clean, grabbed a water brush and about 5 different greens in Distress Markers and in Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens so I could think about how I wanted to watercolor them and in which shade of green.

This 1940's Vintage Panel Truck was our second favorite of the car show after my brother-in-law's car.   There were so many great vehicles at this show which was the Boyd Coddington Inaugural All Speed Expo.  It was pretty fantastic being there for my brother and sister-in-law 's first place finish in the 1960-1990 Custom Category.  Okay, back to cards now....

I had kind of mocked up what I thought I would do for this card and even had one die cut in the gold glitter paper for my prototype.  In the end, I didn't actually color any of these at the car show and only colored all 17 of them yesterday.

I didn't stick with one color or type of marker for these, choosing instead to do each one however I saw it at the moment I was painting it.  So, there's a variety of greens in these.  The newest Distress Marker from Tim Holtz is "Lucky Clover" and I thought I would use that color for the images.  Lucky Clover is a gorgeous color of Kelly Green but it's really not a deep enough green for the holly leaves in this Hero Arts Holly Jolly Stamp Set.  There is a coordinating Holly Jolly die cut for this set as well, but I didn't ever plan to use it for this card. I knew I wanted the Mama Elephant "Merry" die using DCWV Gold Glitter Card Stock, so I used Simon Says Stamp Ultra Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder for the holly leaves and the "& Bright" part of the sentiment. If I would have thought of it sooner, WOW! Metallic Gold Glitter Embossing Powder would have been beautiful also.  But I'm okay with how it looks.  I was hurrying when I stamped and heat embossed these panels.

I tried several other green family distress markers including Forest Moss and Pine Needles but ultimately I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in Green and Dark Green.  There you have it - no need to buy all of the colors of those pens because you can make any color you want from the basic set of 36 Pens.  In fact, I have purchased 4 additional markers outside of that set and I have yet to find an image that they are suitable for.  Persian Green is one such color but in reality it is a teal color and not green at all.

There are also holly berries included in the dies, but I stamped these with Versamark and heat embossed them with WOW! Primary Apple Red Embossing Powder.  After I had assembled all of the card fronts to the card bases, I went over the berries with a coat of Glossy Accents.  That was about 8 p.m. last night so with the way I had them lined up, they could dry overnight.  Any time I try to hurry Glossy Accents, I always mess them up by sticking a finger or some such into them!

I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte to adhere the "Merry" die cut to the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle watercolor panel.  I really like that there is so much white space in this design. I hadn't known until recently that I have a strong preference for really bold graphics.  The Mama Elephant dies are my favorites among my dies and are the handwriting of one of the owner mom's.  I still need to stamp a sentiment on the inside of these cards before I start sending them out but these are primarily for immediate family. This is a clean and simple design that I am very happy with.

I'll be entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which is still "Anything Goes" but already has 738 other entries!  Thanks for stopping by today.  I have several projects in the planning stages so I'll be back soon.

A Note of Thanks With a Bit of Kindness Thrown In

Beautiful Day by Altenew

Today's card uses a few new things I've gotten recently.  The stamp set is from Altenew and is called "Beautiful Day".  I just love the outline image in this set that I can watercolor. It is actually a 4-part layering set, but I haven't tried it that way yet simply because I love to watercolor. This set was released just this month and I ordered it from Altenew the very first hour it was available for purchase on their website. I was sitting at my computer waiting for the appointed hour to arrive. Yes, you can make fun of me if you want, but hey, I know what I like.

One of the things that struck me when I first saw this set is that the flowers also look like Wild Roses and I will use it for that as well. This is a larger stamp set than most of mine set at 5 3/4 x 8 inches.  The large majority of my stamp sets are 4 x 6 inches.

There are several stamps included in this set including some floral branches and some sentiments that I will definitely use.  I've only recently figured out how to create a scene using masking for a realistic look, but this set has been pretty easy so far.

Acts of Kindness by Hero Arts

As a part of the Share Handmade Kindness campaign by Jennifer McGuire, Ink, Hero Arts designed the "Acts of Kindness" stamp set and is donating 25% of the profits to the Kind Campaign which is an international movement trying to end girl on girl bullying. Everyone could use a little more kindness in their life, don't you think?  I love all of these sentiments but especially the one that says, "throw kindness around like confetti".  I also love the little envelope and the hearts that you can add to your greeting.  What a great set for "Thank You" Cards as well.  I always sign my cards to friends with "sending hugs" so I really love that this sentiment is included in the set.

I also tried out a new embossing powder from WOW! in the color Platinum Sparkle.  The photo doesn't do a very good job of portraying how beautiful this embossing powder is so you will have to take my word for it.

For the floral image, I used Zig Kuretake Clean Color Real Brush Pens in Violet, Cobalt Blue and Deep Green for the leaves.  I cut the watercolor panel with the largest of the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles and adhered that to a piece of "Grape" card stock from Creative Memories using Ranger Multi Medium Matte. I attached that to a standard A2 top folding card base.   The Clean Color Real Brush Pens have some of the most vibrant and transparent colors you will ever see for watercolor. To finish up, I used Wink of Stella in clear on the flower and all of the leaves.  In this case, I am using this card to send a note of thanks to someone who loves both, flowers and watercolor. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I will be back soon with another project to share with you.