Hollyhock Bouquet

In most cases, I create cards with the end in mind, or at least a vague idea. Such was not the case with this card, which grew to be quite tall!

ImpressionObsessionHollyhocks

My inspiration for this card comes from Dina Kowal. She’s both a designer for Impression Obsession, as well as a member of their design team. She shared a card recently combining the Hollyhock and Mason Jar dies.

I cut white cardstock with the Hollyhock die several times,  and colored the flowers with Copics. I’ve never colored die cuts with Copics before, but I have to say it’s certainly easy and you can get the colors you want! I used the Mason Jar die to cut a piece of patterned paper that I colored with a Copic to add shading along the sides. I added a shadow under the mason jar with an Amuse Studios set. The sentiment comes from the Hero Arts “All Occasion Messages” set. The sentiment says “Hello Friend.” I simply cut it in two, as I find myself frequently needing a little sentiment to fit onto tiny tags (this tag was cut with a punch). The background paper is Strathmore 140lb coldpress watercolor paper. For this card, I wanted something off-white with a little bit of texture. I buy the Strathmore paper in a big pad and cut it down to size.

Supplies:

You’re Swell

There’s something about the warmer weather and sunny skies that makes me dream about spending days on the water. Now, I don’t happen to own any watercraft, but the idea of setting sail is appealing nevertheless!

PaperSmoochesNautical

I crafted this card with Paper Smooches stamps and die cuts, as well as the Memory Box Wave stencil. I dry embossed white cardstock with the stencil, and then, with the stencil held in place, applied a combination of blue inks.

I’m linking my card up with this week’s Paper Smooches Sparks challenge – “Anything Goes.”

Supplies:

Just Cut Tulips

I’ve been watercoloring with Distress Inks a lot lately – stamped images, die cuts, whatever I can find that will take the ink.

IOTulips

You have to give a little visual leeway with this card in terms of whether the tulips are really in the watering can (that right-hand tulip leaf is sticking out!). I got to this design the long way round. At first, I planned to put the watering can, which is cut from Strathmore 140 lb cold-press watercolor paper and colored with Broken China and Vintage Photo, directly on top of the stamped and colored tulips. But when I watercolored the cast shadow, it was a mess. (I’ve subsequently practiced painting cast shadow bases!)

The dry-embossed card base, with the circle cutout, is my design fix for the poorly painted cast shadow. By the way, the Bazzill 100 lb. cardstock is becoming my go-to supply – even dry-embossed and holding the watercolor panels, it’s standing strong.

Supplies:

Penny Black Sunshiny Hello

Today I’m sharing a card created with two new Penny Black Stamp Sets – Sunny Hello [#30-230] and Petal Power [#30-225]. It’s pouring here in the Pacific Northwest, but I’m imagining a sunny summer day!

SunnyFlowers

I stamped the flower and stem from Petal Power after coloring them with Distress Ink markers and lightly spritzing the surface. I began in the lower right corner, masking my stamping as I went, next to the flower on the left, and then to the flower on the top right. I finished the panel with Distress Ink applied with a sponge dauber. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment from Sunny Hello – there are some wonderful sentiments in this set!