colored pencil

Long Overdue Thanks.

May 14, 2018

Good morning!

Confession. I am shockingly awful at sending out cards. Like, I am terrible at it, regardless of the occasion or recipient. You can be assured that if you’re my friend and I’m intending to send you a birthday card, it will invariably be 2-3 weeks… months… late. It’s the thought that counts, right? I hope… Anyway, I started this project weeks ago after attending the Daily Marker 30 Day Road Trip in St. Louis with the absolutely fabulous Kathy Racoosin. Our sponsor for the day was Marcella Hawley of Power Poppy Stamps… and boy, oh boy, does that sweet lady have some raw, unbridled talent, not to mention the fact that she’s just one of the nicest people I’ve had the pleasure to meet. I (finally) finished this card last week, and I have grand intentions of sending it to her… but it might be so long before she receives it that she forgets who I am haha! I used one of her beautiful stamp sets to create this bouquet: Peony Muse.

I started by stamping the Peony Muse stamps using white pigment ink on very pale blue card stock (this is Bazzill Icy Mint) in a pretty bouquet in the center of my card front. I then used my Polychromos pencils to add color.

I am always so inspired by the color combinations and beautiful floral arrangements in the Rifle Paper Co prints (I know I’ve talked about this before!), and one of their prints has bright, cobalt blue leaves. I am a big fan of unusually colored foliage, so I thought I would try something new for this project.

I’m not going to lie, the coloring on this card took me quite a few hours… over the course of several different days. Not something I wanted to mess up or cover up, so I opted to use a simple, dimensional die cut “thanks” using one of the beautiful sentiment dies from Simon Says Stamp cut from Ellen Hutson’s Slate Gray card stock.

Power Poppy has a new release, with some absolutely GORGEOUS new florals in it… I am salivating. Can’t wait to color up some new peonies!! Keep your fingers crossed that I will remember to send this card to Marcella for helping to host such a wonderful event…. so grateful for being able to attend! Hope you have a marvelous day!

Honey Bee Stamps Birthday Release, Day 3!

April 28, 2018

Good morning! I’m back today with another post for the Honey Bee Stamps Birthday Celebration! Honey Bee is turning three, and to celebrate we have a massive release to share with you over the next several days! Today, we are sharing sneak peeks of some some adorable lambs, sweet little bunnies, and neat standalone dies that are super versatile! (You can see all of the details on the Honey Bee Blog!) I love the storybook feel of the illustrations for the bunny series, especially with some no-line colored pencils… So precious! (I know they’re supposed to be a little sassy, so I love that you can completely change the feel with the coloring medium you choose!) This new set is called Heaven Sent, and it’s just so darling. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by die cutting one of the new Scalloped Stitched Square dies from some dark gray card stock. I stamped the darling little bunny-in-a-onesie image from the new Heaven Sent stamp set using white pigment ink on the dark gray card stock, then heat embossed the greeting from Heaven Sent using white embossing powder. I also added a few little stars using white pigment ink as well. I colored the little bun bun with my Polychromos pencils… doesn’t he just look so cute?! You could easily customize this card to be gender specific with all of the little extras included in the Heaven Sent stamp set.

I mounted the scalloped panel onto a 4.5″ square card base. Perfect for a baby shower gift card or to include with a gift bag!

Well, that’s all for me today. I hope you’re enjoying all of these sneak peeks and inspiration with the new stamp sets! This release is so. Much. Fun. Be sure to stop back by tomorrow for even more Honey Bee release inspiration! All of these products will be available for purchase at midnight on Monday, April 30 (or very early on May 1).

Reverse Confetti- final ‘Fetti Friend post!

April 25, 2018

Good morning! I’m here this morning with my last guest post as one of the ‘Fetti Friends for the month of April. (sniff sniff!) I have so enjoyed playing with the beautiful stamps and dies from last month’s Reverse Confetti release, but (as you’ve probably noticed) Tall Blooms has won my heart. Flowers make my heart go pitter-patter anyway, and these particular illustrations are so lovely… classy…. unique with their long stems and collection of foliage. Sigh. I wanted to create a pretty chalkboard for my final project as one of this month’s ‘Fetti Friends using the beautiful God is Good set and some of the pretty blooms from Tall Blooms.

I began my project by masking and stamping one of the flowers and some foliage using white pigment ink onto black card stock. I used some creative masking with the flower to remove the stem so that I could create a swag above my greeting. The nice thing about using colored pencils over white pigment ink is that you can kinda fudge your masking lines… if its not perfectly masked, you just color over it and nobody is the wiser! I colored my images using my Prismacolor pencils. I added the sentiment from God is Good beneath it using white pigment ink, as well.

After I had created the main components of the design, I added a few details using my T-square, white gel pen, and white colored pencil.

Well, that’s all for me today! I hope you’ve enjoyed another way to use that beautiful Tall Blooms stamp set… it’s definitely become a staple in my craft room! Thank you so much to Jen and the fabulous folks at Reverse Confetti for having me as a guest these last couple of months. It’s been such a joy to work with these fabulous products! Thanks so much for visiting, and have a marvelous day!

Guesting with Wplus9!

February 27, 2018

Someone pinch me. Am I dreaming?

No, I’m not.

I’m a guest on the Wplus9 blog today!!! *Insert all of the squealing and jumping up and down here.*

I have four cards up on the Wplus9 blog today, plus a video. I hope you’ll indulge me and head over there to check it out. <3

Hero Arts Spring 2018 Catalog Blog Hop!

February 15, 2018

Good morning!!! Today we have a special blog hop celebrating the new Hero Arts 2018 Catalog! All of the gorgeous stamps, dies, and other goodies that you probably saw sneaks of at Creativation are now available in the Hero Arts shop! I have a couple of pencil projects to share with you today using some of the absolutely fabulous new goodies in this catalog, so let’s get started! (Be sure to stay tuned till the end for information on the generous giveaway!)

~All of the products that I mention in the card descriptions are linked at the bottom of the post!~

For my first project, I created a pretty, springy little scene with the darling Color Layering Rabbit (I prefer to call him bun-bun, but to each his own.) I love that the Color Layering sets have both the layered stamping as well as the outline options, so you can stamp OR color! I chose to stamp the outline of this little guy onto some white card stock, then color him with my Prismacolor pencils. I die cut him out with the coordinating Frame Cuts, and also die cut one of the b-e-a-yootiful new Trellis dies from some Woodgrain paper. This super detailed die is just gorgeous and cuts beautifully!

For my bun-bun’s backdrop, I decided to stamp the pretty new Color Layering Nasturtium in shades of pink and aqua in the corners of my A2 card base, as though they were draped gracefully over the top of the trellis. I added some blue “sky” by lightly blending around the edges and towards the bottom of the A2 panel. After I had adhered the bun-bun, trellis, and a strip of Pool Layering Paper (for some “grass”), I stamped the greeting from Make a Fountain using Intense Black ink.

For my next project, I couldn’t resist using one of the absolutely stunning floral stamps that was included in this release. (That magnolia?! Holy moly. Must. Color. Soon.) For today, I thought I’d play with the Flowering Nasturtium Wood Block stamp.

Honestly, using wood block stamps is relatively uncharted territory for me. I have always preferred clear stamps because of their precision and being able to see better whether I’m getting a clear impression. Well, turns out I just wasn’t using the right wood block stamps. 😉 I wanted to challenge myself a little, so I thought I’d do a color with which I have little experience: yellow. For some reason, I immediately gravitate toward pinks and purples, but nasturtiums in nature are in the red and yellow family, so I chose a peachy-sunset yellow for my palette today, and I’m kinda loving it!!

To start, I stamped the Flowering Nasturtium using Soft Yellow ink twice onto some of the new Radiant White card stock. I chose Soft Yellow because I wanted to do some no-line coloring, and the Soft Yellow lines fade nicely into the background of a colored image. I colored my images with my Prismacolor pencils and blended them with my blender pencil, then die cut them out using the coordinating Frame Cuts dies.

For my card base, I chose a very subtle background, clear embossing the beautiful new Floral Mandala Bold Print background onto a white top fold card base. Just enough texture to add some interest to the background for my flowers. I arranged the flowers in a swag in the bottom left corner, trimming and turning them until they achieved the shape I wanted, and adhered them with both dimensional foam adhesive and regular liquid adhesive. I also added a pretty sentiment from the new Layered Topiary set onto a strip of card stock, then mounted it with foam adhesive. The final touch was adding some sequins to fill in some bare spots and add some more texture.

We will be giving away three $50 shopping sprees, drawn from comments left across all blogs in the hop. Please be sure to leave your comments by Thursday, February 22nd at 11:59pm PT. The more blogs you comment on, the better your chances of being chosen to win a gift certificate!!! Your next stop is the absolutely fabulous Janette Kausen. Happy Hopping!

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