floral focus

VIDEO: Using Vellum to Soften Your Background!

June 21, 2023

Hi friends! I am over on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel today with a video using two of my illustrations: It’s A New Day and Floral Focus! When I was illustrating these two sets, I actually intended for them to be paired together; you can see that the blooms and foliage coordinate! These were released awhile ago, but I haven’t found an opportunity to pair them together until now. The Floral Focus background stamp is a very detailed image, and I love pairing super detailed images with heat embossing and vellum… it reminds me of lace. I still wanted to have some soft color, so I used the coordinating Floral Focus Stencils to add some subtle color on the panel behind the embossing.

You can watch the video above or on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube Channel by clicking HERE.

I started by heat embossing the Floral Focus background stamp on an A2 panel of vellum using white embossing powder. I adore the effect that this technique has, creating an elegant, delicate, super feminine look. The coordinating Floral Focus Stencils are a super quick way to add color to the stamped image, but they also have very handy tick marks in the corners of the stencil which, when centered over an A2 card panel, allow you to create a colorful background without even having to stamp the image! I used Peach Fuzz, Coral Reef, Meadow, and Emerald City inks from Pinkfresh Studio with the stencils; you can see in the video that the stenciled panel alone would make a pretty background by itself! I wanted to soften those colors a bit, though, which is where the embossed vellum overlay comes in. It helps to make the colors more subtle without getting rid of them completely. I love the effect!

Next, it was time to do some watercoloring. You can see that I used this particular flower from the It’s A New Day stamp set for the Floral Focus background… I love having multiple options to create a coordinated look! I heat embossed the images from It’s A New Day onto some Fabriano Artistico Hot Press watercolor paper using white embossing powder to keep the embossing cohesive between the elements. I used my Karin Brushmarker Pro markers to add color to the images in coordinating shades of peach and emerald. (If you’ve been struggling with Karin markers, I share a few tips in my video on how to get good results with them!) Once I had finished watercoloring the butterfly ranunculus, a bud, and some foliage, I die cut the images with the It’s A New Day die.

Vellum can be a little tricky, because most adhesives will show through the semi-transparent paper, so before attempting to adhere the vellum panel, I first arranged my floral die cuts and a die cut sentiment created using the Wonderful Sentiments Hot Foil Plate and coordinating dies. I adhered the die cuts to the vellum panel using foam adhesive, then flipped over the panel and hid my super strong double sided tape behind the solid die cuts. I carefully placed the vellum panel over the top of the stenciled panel to make sure that the patterns lined up properly. The final touch was to add a few Bubblegum gems for some sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

Mental Health Awareness Instagram Hop

May 8, 2021

Hi there! Today, I am taking part in an Instagram hop to help increase awareness of mental health and normalize mental health issues. So many of us struggle with depression, anxiety, and a whole host of other potential issues, but to talk about them can be quite problematic. I myself have been lucky to only experience mild anxiety, especially during this past year, but some of the people closest to me deal with severe depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, manic depression, and other difficulties on a day to day basis. Letting my dear ones know that they are not alone, that they are loved, that I hear them and see them, and that they are important are some ways that I can support them through dark days.

Hello and welcome to our Mental Health Awareness Hop, where we strive toincrease awareness and decrease the stigma associated with mental illness.We will share our mental health journey, facts and resources on mental illness, and beautiful, inspirational cards! We hope that together, we can end the stigma and talk freely about mental health. After all, 1 in 5 individuals have a mental health condition, so chances are you know someone who is struggling with it. We invite you to share your mental health journey using the hashtag #NotAlone so that we can all support and encourage you! So many sponsors have generously contributed a gift for the winners of this hop!

For my project, I chose to do some no-line watercoloring with one of my new sets from Pinkfresh Studio: It’s A New Day. When the outside world is troubling me (or when my kiddos are overwhelming my senses by being rambunctious kids), I can always turn to watercolor to try to bring some peace to my brain and calm the constantly turning mental and emotional wheels. I stamped the butterfly ranunculus images from It’s A New Day using no-line coloring ink onto some Arches cold press watercolor paper. I then used my Sennelier watercolor palette to add some shades of coral, pink, and red to the images, as well as some details using handmade metallic watercolors from Etsy. Once I’d finished watercoloring, I used the coordinating die to die cut the images.

For the greeting, I white embossed the one-piece, multi-greeting stamp from Pinkfresh Studios called Celebrating You. I thought this sentiment was perfect to remind those close to me who might be in a dark place that they are beloved by me, by many. I die cut it with the coordinating die (conveniently leaving several leftover sentiments to be used on future projects). I also die cut a frame using the Essentials: Pretty Frames 2 die from some more of the same deep coral-pink cardstock that I used for the greeting.

I also stamped a subtle, tone-on-tone background using the Floral Focus stamp set (designed to work cohesively with the It’s A New Day stamps), again on the deep coral-pink cardstock. I adhered all of the die cuts to the card front using lots of foam adhesive, adding some iridescent gems for sparkle.

There are lots and lots of prizes generously donated to the Instagram hop, so please be sure to look at the information in my Instagram post. Leaving a comment here on my blog will NOT enter you in the giveaways! (I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I just don’t want anybody to be left out of the giveaways if they are trying to enter them!)

I’m proud to take part in this hop, and I’m so honored that I was asked to do so. I think that we can all stand to be a little kinder and more understanding of each other, and caring about our fellow humans’ mental health is a great way to start. Everyone has their own struggles to deal with, and we should all care for each other and try to lift each other up. If you are struggling, I am sending you the biggest hugs. Thank you so much for reading this far, and have a marvelous day.

Pinkfresh Studio March Release+Giveaway!

March 29, 2021

Hi there! Today, I am especially excited to be hopping along with Pinkfresh Studio for their March release. You should have arrived here from Dilay Nacar, and your next stop is Heather Hoffman. This release is full of fantastic, innovative products (the kind that we’ve come to expect from the designers at Pinkfresh) and…. Pinkfresh is releasing another of my illustrations! I have to say: it’s one of my all-time favorites that I’ve ever drawn! Floral Focus is a detailed A2 background featuring butterfly ranunculus and more traditional ranunculus flowers, with some big, beautiful leaves and just enough blank space! I am in love with these new-to-me butterfly ranunculus. They’re so big and fluffy and totally great for coloring, because there is plenty of room on the petals to really work the shadows and add lots of depth.

Floral Focus is designed to cover an entire A2 card front and made of deeply etched red rubber. I used my Misti to stamp the image on some Neenah white cardstock with some no-line coloring ink, then colored the image using Copic markers to create some ethereal pale lavender butterfly ranunculus and deep mauve ranunculus. (I’ve listed the specific colors above.) The Copic colors in the lavender ranunculus are a bit unorthodox, but I find that if you blend enough and work the colors, they will blend nicely to create a really unique shade!

Once I had finished coloring the image, I wanted to maintain focus on the pretty flowers, so I kept the rest of the card fairly simple. I trimmed the edges of the colored panel slightly, then mounted it on a full size A2 panel of deep maroon cardstock. This dark mat coordinates nicely with the deep maroon shadows in the smaller traditional ranunculus blooms.

For the greeting, I die cut the “hello” from the Phrase Builder Hello die set using some more deep maroon cardstock and some heavyweight vellum cardstock. I also white embossed a greeting from the Simply Sentiments Hello on a strip of the same maroon cardstock, both of which I popped up on the card front using foam adhesive. Finally, I added a few iridiescent gems from the Essentials Jewels set from Pinkfresh Studio for a hint of sparkle.

For my second project, I wanted to feature the Floral Focus Layering Stencils that are designed to work with or without the Floral Focus stamps! I began by stamping the image from Floral Focus onto some white cardstock using Ocean Breeze ink from Pinkfresh Studio. I then used only the inks from the Island Oasis ink quartet to finish blending all of the layers using the Floral Focus Layering Stencils. I love how totally different the illustration looks with the non-traditional aqua color palette!

In order to soften the super graphic and colorful background a bit, I die cut a vellum panel using the Slimline Ornate Banner die set using some heavyweight vellum, then used my score board to score about 1/8″ from the top, which I then folded over the slightly-smaller-than-A2 stenciled panel in order to hide the adhesive. I also die cut from some pale aqua cardstock one of my all-time favorite dies from Pinkfresh: Essentials Ornate Oval Frame, which I mounted to the vellum panel, again hiding some adhesive behind the solid die cut.

For the greeting, I used the Phrase Builder: Sending dies die cut from some deep teal cardstock, which I also used to mat the floral stenciled panel to create a nice contrasting frame. A few iridescent aqua gems from the Essentials Jewels set finished it off.

Now, Pinkfresh is sponsoring some wonderful giveaways to celebrate their latest release!

–We will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel. (They will also be giving away the release on their Instagram page during the Instagram hop, so keep your eyes peeled on Instagram for that!)

–We will be giving away a total of TEN $25 gift cards (also note the change here) along the hop. As per usual with blog hops – the winners will be picked from the comments.
Pinkfresh Studio will pull the winners & post them on April 5 , 2021 on the GIVEAWAY PAGE. You must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks.

Your next stop is Heather Hoffman. Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!