Amaryllis Just Because | ft. Wplus9 and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Before my father passed away, he took a keen interest in botany. I'm not saying he went all out and had a green house or anything like that. But he did like to try growing things from seeds. Apple seeds, orange pips, a little maple, those sorts of things. I think he liked the feeling you get when you see something you have nurtured take form.

His favourite, though, were Amaryllis. He would get the package of bulbs and take such care in removing that dead skin that forms, and planting it, and watering it and watching it grow.

I got this stamp right before he passed away, and afterwards I could never really bring myself to use it. It hurt too much. Even now, as I'm writing the screen blurs from tears. I can't even explain how much I miss him. How much I hate that my girls probably won't remember him. Too much of a downer today? I'd apologize, but today it's about expressing the emotion behind the art.

To begin, I prepped to pieces of Bristol smooth cardstock with my powder tool and stamped the Amaryllis from Wplus9 in VersaMark ink on the smaller piece. I heat embossed with white powder and then stamped the Amaryllis greeting below and repeated the embossing.

I took the floral blossom and stamped that with VersaMark randomly on the larger piece to create my own patterned paper and heat embossed that with white powder as well.

I then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to add a bit of colour and pulled it out with my size 4 Prisma waterbrush.

Once those were both dry, I popped the smaller panel up on foam tape and adhered it to the larger piece. Then I added a piece of green patterned paper behind that for a nice border and to tie the green from the leaves into the rest of the card.

Finally I mounted it all on to a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me over on the right side bar. You can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card if for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

STAMPtember - Stamp It

Try Stamping on Tuesday

Late for Mother's Day | ft. Wplus9 "Beautiful Bouquets: Dahlias"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was going through a lull when Mother's day and Father's day rolled around, so today I have a card that I had given to my mom for Mother's day way back in May. Seems so long ago, now.

To begin, I stamped the image from Wplus9 using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I turned the panel around and then stamped it again. I wasn't concerned about the overlap because it was going to be covered by the cross piece.

I then coloured the image using Copic markers. I wanted something very delicate, so I started at the base of each petal with a very light pink, then pulled it up with an even lighter shade. While it looks like the entire petal is coloured, the ends are actually left completely white, this lends a softness to each petal. I used very light greens for the leaves.

For the cross piece, I stamped the letters using CTMH's "Framework Alphabet" and used the same pinks to create an ombre look. I matted the cross piece with some gold glitter paper and adhered that directly on to the main panel. I had considered popping this up on foam tape, but in the end I decided to just have it flush against the panel.

Finally, I added a scattering of iridescent sequins and adhered the panel to a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right sidebar. If you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and tap "View Web Version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Floral Thoughts Mini Series 6 | ft. Wplus9 "Beautiful Bouquet Dahlia"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Like most stamp sets in my collection, I first saw this one on Pinterest and fell in love. The moment I saw it, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. So into the shopping cart it went.

I wanted to create a warm and happy card and chose my palette accordingly. Interestingly, and it didn't even occur to me until right now, there is no glitter on this card. The embossed greeting is shiny, but other than that there is zero shimmer.

Mind. Blown. Right?

To begin, heat embossed the image in white onto 140lb coldpress watercolour paper. 

I then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to colour it in. These pens are pretty much my go-to for colouring right now, and my absolute first choice when it comes to watercolouring. I cannot get enough.

Typically when I am creating a piece that will make it to the blog (because some don't) and moreso when it will be entered into a challenge, I write all the supplies and colours down so I can reference them during post. I have been led to believe that the paper for this post was stolen by a certain sweet-faced 4 year old that I caught in my craft space. Basically that translates to me not having a list of colours for you. 

The blue halo around the image was created by wetting the area with clean water and dropping in Tumbled Glass Distress ink.

The greeting from Clearly Besotted's "Sunshine and Smiles" set is heat embossed with gold. 

I then mounted the panel on a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge:

Anything Goes

and 

Time Out Challenge #60