Treasure Sunrise Roses with Simon Says Stamp

 

Well, its been about 6 weeks since I’ve created for myself!  A lot of things have happened in the last few months including a big career change back into a church Pastoral role and our son got married last weekend.  A lot of my creating has gone to doing little bits and pieces for their wedding.  I honestly thought I might have lost my creative spirit.  It’s hard to start back up again isn't it?  

When I’m lost for inspiration, I always go back to what I know, and that’s my love of colouring.  I pulled out this stunning set from Simon Says Stamp called Beautiful Flowers and its coordinating die.  I inked it in Toffee Crunch Memento Ink for a no line look, and coloured the image with Copics, and a bit of coloured pencil for details.  I have some Sunrise Roses in the front flower bed which I used as inspiration for this design.  They come out of the bud in deep coral shades and then fade to apricot and the faintest peachy blossom.  

The image is so beautiful and large that I went with an A6 sized card for the design.  The background is first inked on the card base with SSS’s background stamp Overlapping Drops, and then the next layer is ink blended with Distress Oxide ink and then run through the SSS Pincushion Plate Die, where I left all the holes in the die so it just brings texture.  I’ve added in some ink blended die cut leaves for more tone on tone texture.  

The sentiment, from the stamp set is embossed onto a vellum strip.  Hope you enjoyed!  

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Treasure Sunrise Roses with Simon Says Stamp

Favourite Tulips with Honey Bee Stamps

 

Hi there!  Of all the flowers out there, I think tulips are my all time favourite.  I love their colour, shape, and how they usher in Spring with vibrance.  I decided to pick up the Lovely Layers:  Tulips Honey Cuts from Honey Bee Stamps because the dies are so realistic and give you 3 options of size of bloom to play with, and cut multiples layers of the flowers for wonderful realism.  

Coral coloured tulips are some of the ones I most gravitate to, so I used a few shade of coral cardstock to cut the layers, then ink blended on the layers to give added depth.  While also adding in a few textural details by adding coloured pencil in the die lines.  I also added in some bluebells from the Lovely Layers:  Wildflowers Honey Cuts, because they make a great contrast in colour to the coral tulips, and their petite size adds extra interest.

The background is ink blended with Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink, with water splatters, and I cut a small section of white lattice for the bottom section of the card for texture.  

The sentiment is foiled and is a Spellbinders Let’s Celebrate Sentiments Better Press set.  

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Favourite Tulips with Honey Bee Stamps

Slimline Tulip Spray with Crafty Meraki

 

Hello!  Today is another fun Hop on Instagram for the newest Meraki Genesis Release at Crafty Meraki.  There are ways to win, so please join us on this post on IG starting HERE.  For the Hop I created this slimline beauty with sprays of tulips in sunny shades.  I have been having a lot of fun with the new Press Plates!  This one is called Love Like No Other, and I pressed it with green outline ink and used the coordinating Crafty Meraki Layering Stencil Set and coordinating Dies.  The stencils are really gorgeous as you can see, and the vibrant colours are so perfect for these blooms.  

I placed the tulips on an ink blended background with water splatters, and then added touches of sparkle with the Strip Suite - ZigZag Zoom Dies cut from sparkle paper,  as well as the sentiment foiled with Crafty Meraki’s Handmade Love Hot Foil Plate (an essential for great scripty phrases).   

Just a few copper coloured sequins add that last detail to tie it all together.  Thanks for joining me today!  

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Slimline Tulip Spray with Crafty Meraki

Purple Watercoloured Poinsettia with Crafty Meraki

 

Feeling delighted to bring you a beautiful floral today!  I’m guesting with Crafty Meraki this month and their Countdown to Christmas.  This beauty uses Crafty Meraki’s Blooming Noel stamp set and coordinating dies.  I stamped the image multiple times, embossing it in silver.  Then I cut it out with the die in layers, watercolouring the leaves and petals with Daniel Smith watercolours.  I LOVE watercolouring, just don’t often take the time to do it. 

Here you can get a bit of a better picture of the layers.  I’ve added foam dots between the sections so it has lots of dimension.  

The background is created by inkblending Blueprint Sketch and Wilted Violet Distress Inks, with some splatter to give the feel of bokeh.  A pretty shimmery strip is cut with Crafty Meraki’s ZigZag Zoom Die set.  

The sentiment uses Crafty Meraki’s Handmade Love Hot Foil Plate and silver foil, and for some bling I’ve added Sapphire Night Dew Drops from CM.  Sometimes a card comes together even better than you had hoped, and I really enjoyed creating this one!  Thanks so much for dropping by!  

 

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Purple Watercoloured Poinsettia with Crafty Meraki

Jeweled Christmas Florals with Power Poppy

 

We are snuggled up inside today because of what the National Weather Services calls “a major snow event”, where a good 8 - 10 inches, or 25 cm fell in the past 24 hours.  I have thoroughly enjoyed it - but I’ll admit, I wasn’t doing the shovelling.   So, tonight I’m in the mood for Christmas!  I pulled out this beautiful image from Power Poppy called Ultimate Poinsettia Digital Stamp set. Marcy always had the most beautiful arrangements of florals for any season, and this one is one of my favourites with the poinsettia and anemone flowers, plus berries and dusty miller greenery.  

The image is coloured with jewel toned Copics, with finishing detailing done with coloured pencils.  I’ve die cut the image out of the box style with the tiny dusty miller greenery in the lower corner peeking out.  The background is foiled in light lilac with a Spellbinders called Glimmer Monoline Stars.  

The sentiment is embossed on vellum with the Power Poppy set,  Joy to the World Bouquet. I ink blended Blueprint Sketch ink on the vellum to coordinate with the purply-blues.  

A few pretty rhinestones give extra shine, and I accented the sentiment and corner with silver die cuts from Spellbinders Christmas Bird Poinsettia Die.   Appreciate you stopping by! 

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Jeweled Christmas Florals with Power Poppy

Billowing Peonies with Copic and Pencil from Altenew

 

Hello Again!  I’m popping in today with another beautiful set of Billowing Peony cards from Altenew which I coloured with a combination of Copics and coloured pencil.  As I mentioned the other day, this image is just huge, so I could create two slimline sized designs with one image.  

Here is a quick snap I took of the flowers after colouring, you can see its over 8 inches by 7 inches on my grid.  I cut it diagonally so that a part of both flowers was in both halves.  

For this first card I stencilled the background with the Halftone Stencil from Altenew, and then added some splatters of white acrylic paint and an interior die cut frame.  The image is popped up so it really has a sense of dimension.  

The lovely sentiment is stamped in white, and a few enamel dots accent.  

For the second card I ink blended a background with Wilted Violet and Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide ink and then used Waffle Flower’s Sweet Plaid Texture Die.  

Simple details finish off this design with enamel dots and a sentiment from the Altenew set.  

Makes for a beautifully dramatic set of floral cards!  My favourite!  

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Billowing Peonies with Copic and Pencil from Altenew

Billowing Peonies with Altenew

This May I was chosen as a winner of the Inspiration Challenge at Altenew, and was delighted to be able to pick up this stunning Billowing Peonies combination set.  I’ve been eyeing it for a long time!  The set itself is the largest set I’ve ever owned at 8 1/2 x 11 inches.  Filled with gorgeous peonies and lovely sentiments.  It’s so large that I could create two full A2 cards with it, and I’m playing along with the July Inspiration Challenge.  

This time I chose to use the coordinating stencil and ink blend with Distress Oxide inks.  Here’s what the image looked like after stencilling and die cutting: 

I chose to go with yellows, oranges and corals for the July Inspiration Challenge.  Ink blending especially with Distress Oxide inks really gives it a powdery soft finish.  

Firs up a partial cut of some of the blooms on this design, layered over top of a diecut background of soft green plaid.  

The encouraging sentiment is embossed from the set and a few enamel dots accent.  

For this second design, I layered the die cut flowers over top of a scalloped edge buttery yellow background to mimic the flouncy edged petals.  

See what I mean about gorgeous flowers??  I’ve accented it similarly to the first card with and embossed sentiment and enamel dots.  

Later this week I’ll show off other ways I’ve used this set with different colouring methods.  Thanks for dropping by today!  

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Billowing Peonies with Altenew

Happy Birthday Pardner - A Western Scene with TCP

 

Howdy Pardner! It’s been ages since I’ve created a scene, so I thought it was high time to get to it!  I pulled out two adorable digi images from The Cat’s Pajamas called Happy Trails Set and the Western Set.  

For this adorable Old West scene, I arranged all the background elements on my computer to give the illusion of sandy hills in the desert and then printed it onto Copic cardstock.  Then I used my multi-liner pen to join the hills together.  

Next I masked the hills and cacti and used a retired TCP Cloud stencil and ink-blended the deep blue sky in with Distress Oxide ink, with bright white clouds at the horizon.  

Then I was able to bring some life to the scene with Copic colouring.  Starting with the background hills and Saguaro cactus, gradiating the colours to give perspective and distance to the hills. adding in pebbles and rough ground in the foreground. I coloured the cute cowboy and campfire separately, fussy cut them out and added them popped up to the scene, along with the ink blended sentiment, even right down to that hangry looking buzzard.  

Finally, I cut some strips of Kraft coloured cardstock, ran those strips through a woodgrain cover plate and swiped them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Once I cut the corners of the frame to look like a picture frame, I then added a few vintage brads to accent to the corners. 

 What a hoot! I hope you’ve enjoyed this old west scene! Here’s a peek at these adorable sets:

Here’s a peek at the sets I used. 

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Happy Birthday Pardner - A Western Scene with TCP

My Role Model with MFT

 

Hello!  Today I’m popping in with our kids’ Father’s Day card for their Dad.  Since he sometimes peeks at my cards, I didn’t want to post it before the day.  Our kids are beyond blessed to have a Dad who is so loving, supportive, wise, sacrifical and hardworking.  100% they know they are loved and he is proud of them.  He is a leader and a servant heart and loves the Lord.  I am so grateful for him, and I know they are too.  

So this superhero themed card and the role model sentiment were perfect for him.  I was using a new set to me from MFT called Super Human and the coordinating dies.  These little guys are so adorable!  I coloured this little guy dropping in to save the world with Copics in my husband’s favourite colour - purple.  It was his HS and College colour and he still gravitates toward it.  

The background city scene uses another MFT set (Birdie Brown - retired now). I embossed the city in silver, and ink blended the sky in purples, adding in sparkle pen for stars.  I’m also playing along with this week’s MFT Sketch Challenge.  

The foiling uses a Spellbinders Foil plate called Hypnotic (seems to be retired), and then added an interior frame with a scalloped rectangle die from MFT.  

The sentiment is embossed for more silver touches, and now it’s adorable and heart-felt!  

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My Role Model with MFT

Blossoms for Mother’s Day with Waffle Flower

 

Hello!  I just had a card sale for local friends and realized I didn’t have a lot of Mother's Day or Father’s Day cards, so I decided to add a few to the stash and started with these beautiful die cute blooms from Waffle Flower called  Painted Flowers Layering Die.  These have a really expressive beauty to them with lots of texture and layers.  I added some ink blending details on each petal, and then after I had glued/or put foam dots between the layers, I also added in some details with coloured pencil.  

I layered them on cardstock that I had ink blended with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink, splattered with water, with a little die cut circle as the “wreath” anchor.  I cut an extra blossom with the dies and chose to make a coordinating tag to go with the card.  It’s always nice when you can add something extra like that for gift packaging. 

It has a really fresh look with the pretty colour combination.  The sentiments are actually really old wood ones I had in my stash from Stampin’ Up!  I thought their simple fonts were a lovely touch for the designs.    Thanks for joining me today!  

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Blossoms for Mother’s Day with Waffle Flower

Nostalgic Irises with Honey Bee Stamps

Not long after we were first married and were living in the US, we bought our first home from an elderly woman in our Church.  She could no longer care for the yard and all that went with it, so when we first moved it I had A LOT of work to do on the yard.  Years of neglect of the flower beds had to be dealt with, but over and over I found wonderful surprises pop up.  One of them was a stunning burgundy iris with the deepest wine shaded petals I’d ever seen.  It’s one thing I miss greatly from that home.  

So, I had the BEST time recreating that Iris with the new Lovely Layers: Iris -Honey Cuts from Honey Bee Stamps.  This die set is so detailed it will delight you.  I cut all the layers and pulled out some of my distress inks to ink blend colour throughout the petals.  Our original iris didn’t have as much warm orange, but it worked on this design to help create a sense of dimension.  

I think there are about six layers of the petals stacked up on each other, and I’ve glued or popped up the layers in sections to really get that 3D look.  I splattered some watered down Lunar Paste for some shimmery shine. 

The golden Spellbinders frame is cut in several layers from Kraft cardstock and then I’ve used Lunar paste to “gild” it in gold.  The plaid background coverplate is from Waffle Flower - Sweet Plaid.  It’s perfect for some textural touches.  

The foiled sentiment is from Spellbinders Slimline Confetti Background with a lovely script.  And then a few gold sequins sprinkled add some accent.  Thanks for joining me today!  

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Nostalgic Irises with Honey Bee Stamps

Slimline Daffodils with Power Poppy

It’s mid week!  And it’s almost Spring!  I’m really enjoying our increase in light each morning and evening!  It’s put me in a sunny mood, and there’s nothing better than daffodils to create more sunshine.  These beauties are from Power Poppy and are called Daffodil Bouquet.  I think they are fantastic mixed in with some tiny grape hyacinth, it’s a personal favourite combination I have planted in my front flower beds.  

The colouring for the image comes with Copics, and finished off with coloured pencils.  I say it generally because I use a mix now of Prismacolors and Polychromos pencils.  

The background was another fun experiment with ink blending and a stencil in an ombre fashion using Distress Oxide inks.  A little splatter of water addes some interest, and the sentiment is both stamped, and then white gel pen is added in the letters to define them against the ink blended background.  

I chose to go with no embelishments on this one, and just let those fussy cut flowers shine.  

Have an incredible day everyone!  I hope the sun shines on you beautifully.  

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Slimline Daffodils with Power Poppy

Faux Embossing with Stencils and SSS

hello!  After a week in CA for work, I’m ready for Spring! Winter is still sticking around here, so I created a little splash of Spring leaves with this pretty stencil from Simon Says Stamp called Autumn Cascade, but it makes just as lovely a card in other seasons.  

I chose some Distress Inks and ink blended the stencil, also adding in some coloured pencil definition.  Then to give it a bit of extra pop, I got out my light table and embossed it! 

All you need to do is place the coloured image face down over top of your stencil (precisely), and then the light table shining through allows you to use an embossing tool to press the images through, giving you some light embossing.  For a clean and simple design like this, a little touch of depth goes a long way.  

It’s such a pretty touch!  I also added coordinating die cut leaves, and a circle and sentiment from Concord & 9th’s A Bit of Paradise die set and the Short and Sweet Dies.  

Ready for a sweet hello to a friend! 

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Faux Embossing with Stencils and SSS