Colouring 101 - Beautiful Blendabilities

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a fabulous weekend.  My hubby and I got to have our belated Valentine's celebration last night with dinner at one of our favourite local restaurants.  The perfect way to end the weekend :)
Today I have my final post in my series on colouring.  I'm all about the Blendabilities today.  Since these awesome tools were released last spring I have used little else to colour my stamped images.  It was good to go back to my blender pens and water colouring for this series, as it has reminded me just how wonderful each medium can be, depending on the look I want.  So, here are some projects using my beloved Blendabilities:

Birthday card featuring the Bloom with Hope stamp set with sentiment from Blooming with Kindness

For this one I stamped the flower images from the Bloom with Hope hostess-exclusive stamp set using Memento Tuxedo black ink.  I coloured them using the Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight assortment Blendabilities sets. I used Old Olive for the leaves and stems.  The background layer of Basic Black is embossed using the Pretty Print (retired) TIEF. 

The sentiment is from the Blooming with Kindness set and is heat embossed in gold and die-cut using the Apothecary Accents framelits.  The wee butterfly is punched from gold foil card stock using the Bitty Butterfly punch and embellshed with rhinestones.

.Here is another project featuring the Blended Bloom stamp.  I kept the same Calypso Coral colour scheme as on the projects from my previous posts in this series so that you can see the difference in the colouring media.

Thank you card featuring the Blended Bloom stamp with sentiment from Sassy Salutations

I stamped the Blended Bloom image in Memento Tuxedo black ink and coloured it using the Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight Blendabilities assortments.  The sentiment, from Sassy Salutations is also stamped in Tuxedo Black ink.  The edge of the panel is embossed using the Delicate Designs TIEF and embellished with some ribbon from the Best Year Ever Sale-a-bration Accessory pack.

So now the question is:  Which colouring media do you like best?  In case you missed them, here are the previous projects using the Blended Bloom set for easy comparison:

Coloured using a Blender pen and ink pads.

Coloured using an Aquapainter and ink pads.

Leave me a comment telling me which one you prefer...I'm interested in hearing your opinion.  Have a great week!

Blooming Birthday Wishes

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend.  The weather here was simply marvelous...certainly felt like spring was in the air...long may it last!
Today I have a card I designed for my upcoming Brides, Babies and Birthdays Card Buffet.  It uses one of my favourite stamp sets:  Blooming With Kindness:

Soft and pretty birthday card featuring the Blooming With Kindness stamp set and the Emboss Resist technique.

Isn't that pretty?  This was inspired by a design I saw on Pinterest and I just knew I had to give it a go.  I used the Emboss Resist technique to get the white flowers...it adds a lovely sheen to the design as well, as the clear embossing powder is glossy when set.  Here are some quick tips in case you want to try recreating this one:

• Stamp the flower in Blushing Bride on Whisper White card stock.  Then stamp the other flowers using Versamark and heat emboss using clear embossing powder.
• Sponge all over with Blushing Bride ink.
• Sponge the edges with Primrose Petals ink.
• The sentiment is stamped in Primrose Petals.
• The butterfly is die cut using the Beautiful Wings embosslit.

For some reason I forgot to take a picture of the inside of this one.  It isn't all that exciting anyway...I just stamped the flower again in Blushing Bride and omitted a sentiment.  Sometimes it's nice to have space to write your own special message to the birthday girl!

Blooming Thanks

Monday again!  Why do they always seem to roll around so quickly??  The weekend just flew by!  Not much time for stamping this weekend but I do have a project to show you that I created a while back. 

Thank You card featuring the Blooming With Kindess stamp set

Pretty simple, huh?  But still pretty, I think.  I started by staming the flower in Wisteria Wonder ink on Whisper White card stock.  I then stamped the sentiment in Elegant Eggplant and sponged the edges in Wisteria Wonder.  I layered that on a piece of Lucky Limeade card stock, off-setting it.  I embossed the background with the Vintage Wallpaper TIEF and matted it on a piece of Elegant Eggplant card stock which I then adhered to my  Wisteria Wonder card base.  I adhered the matted focal image with dimensionals and added th pearls.  Easy peasy! 

If you haven't yet registered for my Family Canvas class, but  sure to do so by the end of the day.  Click the Upcoming Classes and Events tab  at the top of the page  for details.

Only two more days till the retiring lists post...be sure to stop by to check them out...there is a lot that is leaving, based on what I saw in the sneak peek on Saturday evening.  Thanks for stopping by...hope your Monday is a happy one!

FINALLY!! Time to stamp!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, surrounded by loved ones.  We had a fantastic celebration, pretty much perfect in every way.  My only regret is that I didn't get any stamping time in on Christmas Day...too busy preparing a 22 lb turkey!  I did, however, find time to get down to play with my Spring Catalogue goodies yesterday afternoon.  I have to admit it did take a while to get my Mojo working again after such a long time away from creating so I turned to one of my favourite online challenge sites for inspiration.  I'm actually just in under the wire to enter over at Pals Paper Arts, so I'd better get this post done!  Here is the sketch:


And here is my take on it:

Thank you card for PPA149 featuring the Daydream Medallions and Blooming With Kindness stamp sets as well as the Sycamore Street DSP (available FREE beginning Jan. 22nd)

I really didn't think Stampin' Up would be able to top last year's fabulous DSP offering for Sale-a-bration, but this year's is even better!  It has both vintage and modern images in a terrific combination of colours.  Here, I combined two of the more vintage patterns with the geometric hexagons and I love the way they work together.  The other new product I absolutely love is the new large rhinestones.  They are just awesome and I couldn't resist adding one to the centre of my bow for just a hint of bling!
Stay tuned...I'll be back tomorrow with more projects featuring new products.

Blooming Thanks

Today I have a simple card for you that I put together a while back.  Have a look:

Simple Thank You card featuring the Blooming with Kindness stamp set

I absolutely adore the Blooming With Kindness stamp set!  It is so beautiful and includes both the gorgeous floral image and several sentiments in lovely cursive script...perfect for someone who is new to stamping and wants lots of versatility from a stamp set.  Plus it is really reasonably priced at only $20.95 for Clear Mount!

In designing this card I wanted to keep the focus on the image, so I kept it quite CAS.  I added a little strip of Comfort Cafe DSP that I embossed using my Square Lattice TIEF and embellished with a bit of Crochet Trim.  It really looks like a strip of specialty ribbon, rather than paper!  I added a Naturals Designer Button threaded with a bit of Linen Thread to complete the look.  Simple and quick, yet elegant!

On another note, this is just a reminder about my Bloggaversary Blog Candy Giveaway.  To enter just leave a comment on THIS POST before Friday, August 17th.  Good luck!

Kindness for the Players

Well, I survived getting yet another year older...hard to believe I'm THIS old!!  Many, many thanks to all who left kind wishes in their comments on my big day.  It was so nice to have my cyber-friends wishing me well.  I was chatting with an old friend from my university days on Monday when she called to wish me a happy birthday.  We realized that next May will mark 20 years since we graduated together!!  How the heck did that happen?!?  Neither of us feel any older and she certainly doesn't look older (that's what not having kids will do for you!), yet almost 20 years have passed since we walked the hallowed halls of Queen's University (GO GAELS!). 
Anyhow...enough waxing nostalgic!  On to some stamping!  I finally got a chance to play tonight after all the birthday hoopla died down.  I headed over to one of my favourite challenge sites,  The Paper Players, to get my mojo working.  This week's challenge is a simple sketch that left itself  open to SO many possibilities!  I pulled out one of my new, as yet uninked, sets from the new catty.  First, here's the sketch...

 

...and here's my take on it:

Thank you card for PP101 featuring the Blooming With Kindness set with sentiment  from Lovely Little Labels

Lots of fab new product on this one!  In addition to the two stamp sets, I used Comfort Cafe DSP and Natural Composition Specialty Paper.  Peeking out from behind the flower is a doily cut with the Delicate Doilies Sizzlet.  The flower itself was cut with the new Floral Frames Framelits and I cut the decorative edge on the blue layer behind the DSP using the Finishing Touches Edgelits.  That gorgeous ribbon is the new Stitched Satin...so love that stuff.  (Are you impressed...I remembered all those names without looking at my catty!!).  To stamp the flower I first inked it with Summer Starfruit and then tapped my More  Mustard marker randomly all  over.  The result is a subtly shaded flower.  To soften it, I sponged it all over with Crumb Cake ink.