Poppies in Red

Welcome, welcome! Beautiful Blossoms Challenge for September, yah! Look at this inspiration photo!!!:

Poppies everywhere in all different colors - how fun! Recently I was placing an order at Taylored Expressions and I saw they had a free gift with $100 purchase - layered poppy stencils called Poppy Fields. Just loved it! Sad to say that particular gift with purchase is over, but Taylored Expressions has one every month. I purchase frequently from TE for I love their Watercolor 118 lb. Paper and all their 100 lb. cardstock in a great range of color (my preferred weight for card stock - not too light and not so heavy it is hard to bend). TE also loves a good punny sentiment and lots of good ones can be found on their website.

I started with 6" X 6" piece of Bristol Smooth Paper which makes ink blending a breeze. The layering stencil is really easy and I used Altenew's Crimson & Velvet Fresh Dye Inks for the poppies, The Stamp Market, Leafy and Forest for the stems and buds and Hero Arts Intensified Black for the poppy centers.

These cards were inspired by a stamp set I just purchased - My Favorite Things Wavy Greetings. It seems to be retired, but must have been one of the stamps "From the Vault" they bring back from time to time. Anyway, they are curved sentiments, so I pulled a border die from my stash, Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Borders 1 and cut a nice curve with a stitch line about 2" from the bottom.

I stamped "Thanks So Much" with my favorite dark dark black ink, Altenew's Obsidian Black Pigment Ink (you need to let it dry a bit, but you can also use clear embossing powder over it and emboss). For this card, I also cut under the sentiment with the same Stitched Borders 1 die. Then a pasted the cut off poppies onto the inside of the card.

The Happy Birthday sentiment came from Simon Says Stamp Black Eyed Susan stamp and die set. For this card the cut off piece of the poppy paper was glued to the front card panel.

Thank you for stopping by and coming on this journey with me for the Beautiful Blossoms Challenge. Come join us - we'd love to see you!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Fall Basket

Hi all! It's almost Fall and I couldn't resist a colorful basket of fall goodies on a cool stencil for the Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge for September 2023.

To begin, I used 3 large sheets of watercolor paper, brush with water each sheet and then dropped in watercolor: one in oranges and yellows, one in purples (1/2) and reds (1/2) and the third in greens, browns and gold. I let dry overnight.

Using almost all the dies from the Pretty Pink Posh Fall Basket Dies I die cut them in the appropriate watercolored paper. Really fun to put the basket together.

The background is a stencil from Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz, THS032 Flourish Layering Stencil. I used oranges to ink blend through the stencil. Such movement!

Below is my favorite shot of the card. I wish I could pick up the sparkle in the photos.

Here's a look at the inside:

Thanks for stopping by, grab a stencil and come play along! We'd love to see your work!!!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

SheepSki Designs for Paper Funday

Welcome my friends to September 2023 Challenge for the Paper Funday.  I choose SheepSki Designs' Forget Me Knot Digital Image. I loved it for its simplicity.

The digital image was printed onto Taylored Expressions 118 lb. Watercolor Paper on the smooth side with a digital printer. Nice heavyweight paper and pure white.

I wanted to make 2 cards - One in all blues and one with rainbow colors. I used 3 watercolors set interchangeably: Altenew's 36 pan watercolor set, The Stamp Market Color-Crush Watercolor Palette and for shine - Fine Tec Iridescent Colours.

I tried to pick up the watercolor shine under the floral images, but it's not really coming out well. Subtle greyish-green.

Here's the rainbow card and used my favorite blue from The Stamp Market set for the background. Here is the set with all the lovely colors!

Glad you could join me today and thank you, as always to our generous sponsors, SheepSki Designs and Fred She Said. Let's see what you got!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Beautiful Blossoms Aug 2023

Hello friends and welcome to my blog for the August 2023 Beautiful Blossoms Challenge.  I loved the sunflowers and yellow-blue theme of the inspiration photos and pulled out a digital stamp I have from Mo's Digital Pencil called Flower Jar. If you have not visited Mo's Digital Pencil website you are really missing out! Such wonderful ageless designs.

If you follow me you know my routine with a digital image:

1) Using Microsoft Word Insert Picture onto a blank page and manipulate to the size, etc. I want.

2) Print this with a laser printer onto Ranger's Tim Holtz's Distress Watercolor Cardstock - this time on the rough side. 

3) Watercolor with my Silver Black Velvet #8 round brush. This time I used a new to me watercolor set by Mungyo -  48 colors and a great variety. I swatched them first before I used them to see how they work and their color. These work so well for my lunchtime coloring - very easy to travel with this set. Also not very expensive and seems to be a great quality. Shout out to Dawn from W Plus 9 for introducing her followers to this great set.

Nothing new about this design - it is one I often use. Cut the watercolor image with a circle die, preferably one with a bit of texture. The back ground was made with Impression Obsession's Houndstooth background stamp. I'm sorry I can't tell you which teal is the background. I tried about 10 different colors and liked this one the best - might be an old My Favorite Things ink pad.

I almost always use a die to cut the background - anything with some design to add to the edge. A sentiment die cut and some rhinestone bling from my stash finished off the card. 

Here is the second card I made. Similar but different edges. I thought I try yellow for the sky instead of a blue. The digital stamp is from Lili of the Valley Digi Stamp Sunflower. This is one of my most favorite shops. Her designs just appeal to me.

Hope you enjoyed my beautiful blossoms for this month! Thanks for stopping by let's see your gorgeous work!!!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you c and lick on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

HLS Stencil Aug 2023

Hi friends! It August 2023 and time for Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge where Anything Goes! I made a thank you card with Pink and Main Hummingbirds (retired). We have hummingbirds in our yard and they are just the sweetest little things!

I started with MFT Stamps Basket Weave Stencil and Twisted Citron Distress Ink. I cut the panel with Waffle Flowers A2 Lacy Layers Dies. I love those dies, they have a stitched die and then a really pretty lacy edge die in various sizes. I glued the edge border to an A2 white card base and then use the same stencil and ink to fill in the center - darker in the center and fade out to the sides.

The images from the stamp & die set I had in my stash and had colored them years ago. I love when I can use up bits and bobs.

The inside had one more bit I had left and a nice sentiment from the stamp set. Thanks so much for joining me to day and come check out our challenge!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Paper Funday August 2023

How can it be August already? Where has the summer gone? For our August challenge at The Paper Funday Challenges I chose Baby Clothesline from Pattie's Creations. Why? My daughter is about to open a thrifted baby clothes shop and I will be selling baby cards there and this one is so cute! 

This cutie was printed on Taylored Expressions 118 lb. Watercolor Cardstock with my laser printer. This paper is a bit more heavy weight and works perfectly for watercoloring. I paint during lunch at work and keep my 238 dot Daniel Smith Watercolor cards, Altenew's 36 pan watercolor set and The Stamp Market's Color Crush Watercolor Pan Palette right in my desk drawer at work. Also, in my drawer is my Faber-Castell Collapsible Water Cup. Lastly, I carry with me a small rectangle box from my stash with uncolored images to watercolor and my favorite Silver Brush Black Velvet Round No. 8. Keeps everything nice and flat.

The sentiments on the outside and the "Super Cute" on the inside was one stamp from the Oh, Baby! Stamp set from My Favorite Things Stamps. I did stamp surgery and cut it apart.

My favorite blue for the sky is from The Stamp Market Watercolor Set - teal blue .

Thank you for joining me today and come check us out at The Paper Funday Challenges. Lots of inspiration there! And thank you always to our generous sponsors for the month, Pattie's Creations and StarStampz!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Beautiful Blossoms July 2023

Hello Hello my friends! July in North Carolina is really heating up and it's almost better to stay inside and just enjoy the views outside.

We are ready for a new challenge at The Beautiful Blossoms Challenge and I was inspired by the flamingo! Here is the mood board - remember flowers are to be the focal point.

I started with Sizzix's Tim Holtz Colorize Thinlit called Gladys. Isn't she sweet and a little sassy with the watercolored flower (from Sizzix's Thankful Bicycle by Jen Long) covering her center! She was fun to put together and not too many fiddily bits. 

The background (My Favorite Things Roses All Over 6" X 6" red rubber background stamp now discontinued) was stamped on Ranger Ink's Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Card Stock for I thought I was going to watercolor the background. Once I put Gladys on the background of roses I decided I just liked the black and white.

The sentiments are from a retired Paper Smooches set called New Beginnings 2. It is one of my favorites.

Here you can see the watercoloring of the rose. I always use Altenew's Obsidian Black Pigment Ink with a clear embossing power for a nice black line. 

I made 2 Gladys', but one has no flowers so this is not part of the challenge. Just thought I show a different version of our sweet girl.

The background for Gladys # 2 is Altenew's Mod 3D Squares Embossing  Folder.

The sentiments come from My Favorite Things Tickled Pink Sentiment set, now retired. Too bad, for it has lots of great sentiments for a flamingo!

I am also submitting to NBUS, for I have not used Gladys or the Tickled Pink Sentiments before.

Thanks for joining and we look forward to seeing what beautiful blossoms you can create!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.