no line coloring

Simon Says Stamp Dear Friend Blog Hop- Day 1 + Giveaway!

May 20, 2023

Good morning! It’s the weekend… hooray! It’s an extra wonderful weekend, because the new Simon Says Stamp Dear Friend release is live, and we are hopping along to inspire you with the fabulous new products! You should have arrived here from Lisa Addesa, and your next stop is Tina Smith.

I am super proud of the fact that I have two new illustrations included in this Dear Friend release: Peony Background and Blissful Bouquet! (I have shared some inspiration using Peony Background HERE.) I love a good bouquet stamp, because how easy is it to stamp and go without having to worry about masking or die cutting each individual piece, but I also love the versatility and freedom of a good bouquet builder. I designed the Blissful Bouquet set to create lush, fluffy bouquets, with uniquely-shaped foliage, sprigs of “filler” flowers, and two large centerpiece blooms- a peony and a dahlia. I have a pair of projects to share with you using this new stamp set, so let’s get started with the details!

I love challenging myself with no-line coloring, but sometimes no-line coloring can be made even more challenging if the images are extremely small. I made sure to size the images in this set so that no-line coloring would be a bit easier! I die cut and stamped a ton of the images from Blissful Bouquet onto Hammermill cardstock (which is awesome for alcohol marker coloring!) using Hero Arts’s Contour Ink, my preferred ink for no-line coloring, then sat down with my Copic markers and went crazy coloring.

I very rarely use yellow or orange while creating, so after my homage to pink and purple on THESE cards, I thought I would switch things up and play with yellow and gray! I love the combination of yellow and gray; it’s so unique and modern, and can be great for masculine cards, but when paired with florals, it can be beautifully feminine, as well. The dahlia is such a sunny yellow; it practically glows!

Once I had finished coloring my images, I die cut a vellum circle using the circular Thin Frames Die from Simon Says Stamp. I ran the circle die cut through my die cut machine inside the Terrace Floral 3D Embossing Folder, which creates a beautifully subtle textured effect on the translucent vellum. I die cut a super pale gray circle frame and adhered it to the embossed vellum die cut, creating an area around which I could “ground” my floral images.

Next, I trimmed another panel of pale gray cardstock down to slightly smaller than A2 sized and mounted it on a full size white A2 card front, leaving a white border around the edge. I arranged the Blissful Bouquet floral die cuts around the embossed vellum circle and adhered them to the circle, then hid foam adhesive behind the solid die cuts so avoid marring the translucent vellum. I die cut a pale gray So Happy For You Both greeting and added it over the vellum circle, as well as a silver heat embossed “congratulations” from the Blissful Bouquet stamp set. The final touch was to add a few iridescent, pale gray pearls to add one last bit of shine and elegance, perfect for a wedding card!

My second card features a festive floral shaped balloon card created using the Blissful Bouquet and the Balloons dies from Simon Says Stamp! Who wouldn’t want a beautiful balloon decorated with flowers and a fluffy silk bow? I kept my no-line coloring an elegant, feminine palette of vivid mauve, jade green, and periwinkle blue. That big fluffy peony bloom makes my heart go pitter-patter. I used Copic markers for these images today, but I can’t wait to try no-line watercoloring with these pretty blooms!

I die cut the sentiment from a panel of coordinating mauve cardstock using the Scripty Happy Birthday die, cutting it twice from the same cool rose colored cardstock and layering the die cuts together to create a dimensional die cut. I also die cut the largest balloon of the Balloons die set from some iridescent white foil cardstock. I arranged the flowers in a swag around the base of the balloon, leaving the bottom bare so that I could tie a silk bow around where the balloon would be tied after filling it up. The iridescent coating on the white foil cardstock is difficult to capture in the photograph, but it picks up the colors of the flowers and foliage beautifully.

After I had added all of my die cuts to the front of the balloon, I created a shaped card by slightly offsetting that same largest balloon die on an A2 card base, allowing the edge of the balloon to overlap the folded side of the card. I adhered the full size, decorated balloon die cut to the card front, creating a festive, elegant, uniquely shaped birthday card!

My last card features the utterly adorable new Caring Thoughts stamp set! I am so smitten with the storybook illustration style of these critters, and the sweet little scenes make it super easy to stamp one or two stamps and have a scene ready to go! I stamped my darling bunny with the butterflies onto some Fabriano Artistico Hot Press watercolor paper using Contour Ink, then used Karin Brushmarker Pro markers and a damp paintbrush to pick up the color from my glass mat. I prefer this method of picking up the scribbled color from the glass mat to putting the marker directly to the watercolor paper, because this allows me to control the vibrancy of the color a bit more. I can easily dilute the color on my mat, but it is much more difficult once the concentrated color hits the watercolor paper. I added a few black pen lines (the eyes, the whiskers, the details on the butterfly) that got a bit lost in the no-line watercoloring. I die cut the finished vignette using a fluted oval die from Spellbinders.

To accent my sweet purple butterflies, I decided to watercolor some coordinating purple flowers. I die cut the Blossom Vine dies from some more Fabriano Artistico Hot Press watercolor paper, then used Karin Brushmarker Pro and my damp paintbrush to add vibrant lilac and bottle green to the die cuts.

I arranged the oval bunny die cut with the flowers on a white A2 card front using foam adhesive. For the greeting, I stamped the “hello” from the Caring Thoughts using Obsidian pigment ink, then clear embossed over the top of the stamped image to create a crisp black sentiment strip. I also trimmed down one of the greetings from the Reverse Bold Hello Sentiment Strips and adhered it beneath the “hello” with another double layer of foam adhesive. I love how the bunny looks like it’s nestled amongst a field of pretty purple blooms!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for some fun giveaway information:

We’re giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop from the blog comment section. Winners will be announced on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday the 24^th of May. The winner can email Simon Says Stamp to claim his/her prize.

Here’s the full hop list, in case you get lost:

Simon Says Stamp Blog <<YOU ARE HERE!

Emily Midgett <—– you are here!

Today is only Day 1 of this fabulous hop; be sure to check out the Simon Says Stamp Blog for more inspiration from Day 2 tomorrow morning! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Introducing Bibi’s Hummingbirds from Spellbinders!

April 11, 2023

Hi there! I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend! I am so excited to share these projects with you today… My friend Bibiana Cameron reached out to me a few months ago and asked if I would be interested in helping introduce her new Bibi’s Hummingbirds collection from Spellbinders, and I immediately said yes! I loved working with her gorgeous Bibi’s Butterflies collection last year (you can check out that post HERE), so I knew the new Hummingbirds collection would be just as gorgeous. It certainly fulfilled my expectations! I have two super saturated cards filled with details to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

I created a set of cards featuring a bright fuschia purple and teal color scheme. I was inspired by hummingbirds that I found on Pinterest; hummingbirds come in such a wide variety of colors, and the iridescent sheen of their feathers can make them virtually rainbow-colored! Each of these cards features a different technique to achieve the vibrancy and richness I desired. Let’s get started with the details!

My first card features the Hummingbird and Lily dies. One of the attributes that I enjoyed most when working with these dies was the ease of construction. The die cuts have areas of debossing that show you exactly where the different pieces are to be adhered so there’s very little guesswork in determining where they are to be placed! I die cut all of the elements for the Hummingbird and Lily from white cardstock, then used blending brushes with a variety of inks from Pinkfresh Studio. (I will link all of the inks below in the link list.) To keep the purple and teal from becoming muddy, I simply made sure to keep a band of very light blending between the two colors. The blue in the teal and the red in the purples meld together nicely in that lightly blended area to create a lovely fade between the two contrasting colors. I did use some alcohol markers on the foliage of the lily to enhance the shadows and the shape, as well as to add some little dots on the petals of the flower.

To create a ground for my flower and hummingbird scene, I die cut the Essential Four Petal Labels from some Teal Topaz cardstock. I then used the same turquoise inks that I used to ink blend on the hummingbird to blend around the edges and create a dramatic background for my bird and flower. I also die cut the Scrolled Punch & Pierce Plate from some Blue Spruce cardstock and backed it with a panel of Waterfall cardstock to allow lots of contrast, showcasing that beautifully intricate design of the cover plate. I adhered the blended label die cut to the pierced cover plate panel with some foam adhesive, then added the hummingbird and lily die cuts with more foam adhesive as well as liquid adhesive, creating a double layer of adhesive in some spots.

For the greeting, I heat embossed one of the lovely Hummingbird Sentiments on a rectangle of Blue Spruce cardstock using white embossing powder. I popped it up with some more foam tape, as well, nestling it amongst the bird and flower. The final touch was to add some iridescent yellow gems to the stamens on the flower and some iridescent black gems to the eye of the hummingbird. I love that you can create your own custom colored cardstock with a few ink pads, blending brushes, and white cardstock!

My second project features the utterly delightful Delicate Floral Hummingbirds. Instead of using ink pads and ink blending, I decided to utilize my OLO markers to create stunningly dramatic images. I die cut all of the components of the Delicate Floral Hummingbirds from plain white cardstock. I then used the OLO Teal Markers and OLO Purple Markers (carried in Spellbinders’s store) to create these lovely, incredibly vibrant hummingbirds. I’m not an ornithologist, so I’m sure these birds are far more vibrant and imaginative than real hummingbirds, but I love how beautifully the bold purple pops from amongst the turquoise foliage background! These contrasting colors would at first thought not blend nicely together, but I was able to blend the lightest purple and lightest teal markers together to create a seamless blend between the color families. I also did some “glazing” on the tail feathers with the medium purple marker, first coloring the tail feathers with the dark teal markers, then adding some swipes of purple and blending it out with the teal markers, leaving the tiniest hint of purple along the tail feathers. I also added some shimmer to the birds using a sparkle pen, though it is difficult to tell in the photos.

To slightly simplify the coloring for the large, intricate foliage on the background (this is a 5×7 card, in case you were wondering! The Delicate Floral Hummingbirds set is so big and gorgeous!) I first colored the entirety of the foliage die cut with the lightest aqua marker, then went back in and added a few details to the individual leaves with some darker markers, blending the color out with the lightest markers. Once I had finished adding color to the foliage background, it was time to add the colorful birds, flowers, and individual leaves using liquid adhesive. The purple colored images pop so beautifully and dramatically from the aqua background!!

To create a coordinating background for the intricate die cut images, I trimmed down a panel of 5×7 Teal Topaz cardstock. To add some interest to the flat colored cardstock panel, I again blended the dark teal inks around the edge, also adding the tiniest bit of dark, dark blue ink around the very edge. So dramatic and interesting! I adhered the die cut background to the blended cardstock panel using foam adhesive to add lots of dimension and to keep it from blending into the monochromatic background. I heat embossed and trimmed out another greeting from the Hummingbird Sentiments and popped it up with some more foam tape. I added the stamens to the flowers, cut from some White Glitter Foam, as well as a few iridescent white gems. Such an intense, vibrant card with eye popping color and shimmering details!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! The new Bibi’s Hummingbirds collection features such a beautiful variety of products. I hope you will check it out! Thank you so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

More Artistic Dahlias Inspiration + Pinkfresh Studio Instagram Hop!

March 28, 2023

Good morning! I am back again today with another card featuring my newest illustration for Pinkfresh Studio: Artistic Dahlia! The Pinkfresh Studio washi tape suites are some of the most unique and innovative products on the market, in my opinion; there are so many ways to customize the images with the stamps and stencils in addition to using the pre-printed washi tape that is like an endless supply of stickers. For my project for the Instagram Hop (happening now over on Instagram!) I used the Artistic Dahlia stencils to create some pale pink dahlias with bright blue filler flowers and minty green leaves. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by stamping the one-and-done Artistic Dahlia Stamp on some white cardstock using Misty Coast ink, a super pale gray that provides just enough outline to allow me to see where to place the Artistic Dahlia stencils. I used the new Blending Brushes to blend Soft Lilac and Candy Violet ink to create some cool pink dahlias, Slumber, Blue Jay, and Sapphire inks for the filler flowers, and Mint and Meadow inks for the foliage. The super pale gray ink combined with the detailed layering stencils creates an almost no-line look! I die cut the finished blended floral clusters out with the coordinating once-and-done die.

For the background, I wanted to create a super soft patterned background, and the color palette for the floral clusters reminded me of a super preppy outfit that I had in high school… what could be “preppier” than argyle? I used the Slimline Argyle Stencil set with Soft Lilac and Slumber inks to create this soft argyle pattern on my slimline card base.

To create a ground for my floral clusters, I die cut one of the new Rounded and Braided Rectangle dies from some heavyweight vellum. I included lots of little bits of filler flowers and foliage to accent the larger bouquets in the Artistic Dahlia suite, but the larger floral clusters are generously sized and can stand on their own without much assistance! I adhered the two largest clusters at the top and bottom of my vellum die cut using some foam adhesive, then added another layer of foam adhesive behind, creating a double layer of foam tape. I adhered the die cuts to my argyle background so that it had lots of height and dimension. I stamped one of the beautiful greetings from the Artistic Dahlia stamp set using Sapphire ink, then die cut it with one of the sentiment dies included in the coordinating die set. (I love how delicate these sentiment dies are!) Finally, I accented the cool color palette with some Iridescent Clear Drops. I think they look like drops of dew!

Well, that’s all for my project today! Pinkfresh Studio is hosting an Instagram Hop with even more inspiration using the new March Release, so be sure to head over to the Pinkfresh Studio Instagram Page to get started hopping! There are tons of prizes available, including the entire new release!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Simon Says Stamp Just For You Blog Hop-Day 1!

March 17, 2023

Hi there! Simon Says Stamp is celebrating their newest Just For You collection with a two-day blog hop, and today is the first day full of tons of inspiration using the amazing new products! You should have arrived here from Heather Ruwe, and your next stop is Alberto Gava. It never ceases to thrill me to see one of my illustrations come to life as a stamp set, and so it is super exciting for me to see my new Herb Labels set in the Simon Says Stamp lineup!

I designed the Herb Labels set to create customized labels for your herb garden, but since I’m a cardmaker, I wanted to make sure that there were some sentiments to create cards, as well! I added several punny sentiments, and while puns are not my normal jam, I have to say… these make me chuckle. I kept the fonts simple and classy, and I really am enjoying using them! They work for so many occasions, too…. “Mint to be” would be perfect for a wedding, engagement, or just an I love you card; “eat, drink, and be rosemary” would work for a wedding or for the holidays; “tis the seasoning” works for a holiday card; “you’re kind of a big dill” would work for tons of occasions-how cute would it be for a Father’s Day card?! (You can see another project using the herbs and other new release goodies HERE.) I had such fun creating these, and I couldn’t resist using my favorite sentiment on the card below. Let’s get started with the details!

I adore the look of colored pencils on colored cardstock, and red and kraft are just *chef’s kiss* together! I stamped my tomatoes from Herb Labels onto some Sand cardstock from Hero Arts using white pigment ink, which is the ink that I prefer to use when doing pencil work on colored cardstock. I then used colored pencils to add several shades of red and green to the tomato vine. I love how vibrant these colors are on the muted kraft cardstock.

I die cut the large label image from Herb Labels from some more Sand cardstock, then heat embossed the frame outline and the sentiment with white embossing powder. The white looks so crisp on the muted brown cardstock! I popped up the penciled, die cut tomatoes on the tag using foam adhesive, so that they look as though they’re hanging from a vine in a garden

When creating a card with a simplistic color scheme, I like to add lots of texture to the background, as well as lots of height with different levels of foam adhesive. To create the card base, I ran a full size A2 card front of the Sand cardstock through my die cut machine using the Spun Glass Embossing Folder from Simon Says Stamp. The repeating pattern and subtle texture were perfect for my somewhat monochromatic card front. I also popped up a white glitter die cut frame around the edge, which I cut using the A2 Thin Frames die set. I haven’t snipped my dies apart, instead leaving them as one solid die, so that when I run it through my die cut machine, I get a ton of frames in various sizes and widths and can just save the rest for a rainy day! I added the tomato label to the embossed, framed card front using foam tape, creating lots of height and texture.

My second card features the beautiful, scripty new Easter Blessings die. I have had the utterly lovely Dandy Floral Embossing Folder + Die set out on my desk for such a long time, waiting for the perfect project on which to use it. As soon as I saw the gorgeous font and generous size of the Easter Blessings die, I knew they would work beautifully together! The large flower on the Dandy Floral Embossing Folder reminds me of one of those ruffly, specialty daffodils, and what is more reminiscent of Easter and springtime than a daffodil?

I ran the Dandy Floral Embossing Folder through my die cut machine with an A2 piece of Arches cold press watercolor paper inside. I find that the Arches cold press works beautifully with these detailed embossing folders, sturdy enough to hold up to the deep embossing but also retains some of the texture that is important for (my own personal style of) watercoloring. After taping down the panel to my watercolor board, I used Daniel Smith watercolors to add lots of vibrant color. After laying down my initial layer of color, I always like to go back a second and sometimes even a third time to enhance shadows and add more vibrance. The heavy duty watercolor paper allows me the flexibility to go back in and add more pigment and water without worrying that it will start to pill or disintegrate. I find that a paintbrush with a nice, crisp point is crucial for watercoloring these embossing folder images, just as it would be for any no-line watercoloring project.

I wanted the greeting to be simple, elegant, and stand out nicely on the vibrant background, so I die cut it twice from plain white cardstock and once from the same white glitter cardstock that I used for the frame in the previous project. I adhered all of these together using liquid glue, creating a dimensional die cut. The extra height allows the greeting to stand out a bit from the super textured, colorful background, while the sparkle of the glitter cardstock adds some opulence and shimmer! I adhered the dimensional die cut to the colorful card front using plenty of liquid adhesive. I find that liquid adhesive, rather than a tape runner, works best when adhering die cuts to super textured papers. A few Milk Glass gems helped to add one last touch of sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my projects today. I have a couple more up my sleeve to share with you, but I will save them for next week!

To celebrate the Just For You release and the blog hop, Simon Says Stamp is offering a fun discount:

Use code GREEN to receive $7 off with a purchase of $40 or more! This promotion will expire 3/19 at 11:59 pm EDT.

They are also giving away a $25 coupon to every stop on the hop, selected from the comments section. The winners will be announced on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday the 22nd of March. All winners must email Simon Says Stamp to claim his/her prize, so be sure to check the blog next week!

Also-I will be attending the Simon Says Stamp CREATE event next month in Columbus, Ohio! I will be working in the Hero Arts booth and meandering around seeing all of the crafty goodness and crafty friends. There are some crazy talented instructors teaching amazing Create It, Take It classes, and tons of awesome shopping opportunities. You can find out all of the information HERE. Will I see you there?

Your next stop on the hop is the ridiculously talented Alberto Gava. And don’t forget to check out the enormously talented hoppers tomorrow on Day 2 of the hop, as well! So much inspiration-you won’t want to miss. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Video: No-Line Watercoloring and Faux Hand-lettered Stenciled Sentiment with Pinkfresh Studio!

March 15, 2023

Hi there! I am up on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel today with this pretty-in-purple card. I received a lot of positive feedback about the stenciled/faux watercolored sentiment from THIS post, so I thought I would show you how I created it in this month’s video! You can check it out below:

Or click HERE to see it in HD on YouTube.

In case you can’t watch the video, I will share a few of the tricks that I used to create this project!

One of my favorite things about the Pinkfresh Studio dye inks is that they are dye based, so they work beautifully for watercoloring! I used Soft Lilac ink for both the blended, stenciled sentiment from Circle Florals Stencils, as well as the outline of the You’re the Best stamped images.

To start, I simply blended the Thank You sentiment from Circle Florals Stencils onto some watercolor paper using Soft Lilac ink and one of the new Blending Brushes. Because the ink is dye based, my Daniel Smith watercolors glided over it super smoothly. I began by using my slightly-more-than-damp, clean paintbrush to add clean water directly over the top of the stenciled sentiment, then while the paper was still wet, dropped in some amethyst purple watercolor. The damp watercolor paper allowed the watercolor to bloom beautifully, creating that gorgeous, artistic watercolor look that we love so much! Tip: a paintbrush with a nice, sharp point is crucial for this technique as well as no-line watercoloring. The crisp point allows you to get a smooth, sharp edge on your images, thus allowing the definition of the original image to remain.

I die cut the finished sentiment with the Circle Florals Dies. I love that there are dies for nearly all of the sentiments included in the stamp and stencil sets! The entire suite of products works so beautifully together.

I had also stamped the delicate, simple flowers from You’re the Best, again using Soft Lilac ink on some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper. (The Fabriano Artistico is a nice, bright white, not too creamy or yellowed, but still with great texture and movement on the watercolor.) I used the same vibrant Carbazole Violet watercolor from Daniel Smith to add beautiful purple color to the flower. The key with no-line coloring is to make sure that the wet sections remain separate so that they don’t bloom into each other and muddy your crisp edges, which will cause your image to lose its definition. I worked in three different layers, adding a base layer of purple, going in for a second layer to deepen shadows and clean up the edges of the petals (tip: long brush strokes are your friend for crisp, smooth edges), then a final layer of the same Carbazole Violet mixed with my favorite Indanthrone Blue on a few of the petals that were tucked behind each other. I made sure to allow the topmost petal to have the lightest, brightest white highlights to show that it was the top petal and closest to my light source. I die cut the finished floral swag with the coordinating dies.

I had previously hot foiled the Geo Arch hot foil plate onto some beautiful lavender cardstock using purple foil (tone-on-tone hot foil is basically my most favorite thing ever besides coloring), but it was an A2 panel and I wanted to create a mini-slimline card front (3.5″x6″). I trimmed it down to 3″x4.25″ so that it would fit nicely in the center of a mini-slimline card front, then matted with an ever-so-slightly larger piece of dark purple cardstock, which I mounted on my mini-slimline card front. I also die cut a small white Art Deco Frame. I wanted to have at least 3 elements of white on my card front: the card base, the white outline on the floral and sentiment die cuts, and now the white frame. I adhered all of the die cuts using foam adhesive for lots of dimension, then added a few Glacier gems for one last touch of shine!

Well, that’s all for my project today. We are working on the March release from Pinkfresh Studio, and it’s so beautiful! I am especially excited to have another design coming out this month… it’s one of my favorites! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

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