Thinking of You! PTI MIM!

Happy Wednesday!  I am playing along with PTI Make It Monday Challenge!  This week the challenge is No Outline Watercolor!  Watercolor?  Really?   I think water coloring is my least favorite things to do in the craft room.   Now, a challenge I am all about, so let me tell you what I did.

First of all, I am trying really hard NOT to put a flower on everything I create this summer.  It is so easy to grab those flowers, though.  I searched through my PTI sets and realized the vast majority are flowers.  No shock there.  I decided that if I were to water color anything it must be a landscape.  So, I found this well loved set Masculine Motifs and knew I just had to at least try the tree image.  I tried to make the trees look more summer than winter by adding color to create leaves.    I added some layers to try and make the whole thing look finished.   I added a sentiment from Vintage Picnic Sentiments another "old" PTI favorite.  

All in all, I know I will NOT earn any accolades for my water colored landscape, but I did at least try and participate in the challenge.  Not my favorite card, but not my least favorite, either.  LOL!  I think I do need to try water coloring more.  I did find it very calming to play with ink and water.  


Thanks so much for stopping by!

Betty

Flower Inspiration!!!

It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge!!!! Thanks so much for all who played along with us last week. This week Dee Jackson is hosting the Timeless Tuesday Challenge. Flowers, flowers everywhere!!! Whether they are stamped, silk, real, punched, fabric, dried, crocheted, or clear, if it looks like a flower it is a flower!!! So, this week your challenge is to use flowers!!!! Be sure to check out the Flourishes Newsletter to get all the challenge information.

For my card I chose to use the newly released Signs of Spring set. I wanted to focus on only one flower. I am loving bold color combos lately. I am using some Prism medium blush red, certainly celery and black. I love this large flower that comes in the Signs of Spring set. It is big enough to work with an is a true stand alone on a card. I watercolored my flower. I actually followed Christine Okken's watercolor tutorial that was on last week's Flourishes Friday Focus. WOW!!!! It was a fabulous tutorial. I am quite pleased with my effort. I actually left some white space....lol!!!! I must confess, though, I did used some copic markers to get some of the deeper color saturation areas. Practice! Practice! I love this quote by Monet that is in the set. To finish off my flower card, I used a piece of basic gray urban prairie dp that I cut using a border punch. I added two urban prairie glazed brads, and some black satin ribbon. The ribbon and basic gray products can be found at the Flourishes store.

Be sure to visit the Friends of Flourishes blog team's sites

to see what each created using flowers.

Becca Feeken

Cindy Haffner

Dee Jackson

Silke Ledlow

STAMPS

Flourishes Signs of Spring

INK

Black staz on, blush blossom, cameo coral, certainly celery, copics

PAPER

Certainly celery, black, strathmore watercolor paper, Prism medium blush red, Basic Gray Urban Prairie dp

ACCESSORIES

MS border punch, Basic Gray Urban Prairie glazed brads, black satin ribbon, CAD, foam tape

Celebrating Judy and Home!!!!!

This card is for SCS Feature Stamper Challenge (FS101). Congratulations, Judy (Jaydekay)!!!!!

What a gallery!!!!! WOW!!!! I was blown away with so many beautiful creations it was hard to pick just one. The card I chose is HERE.

Judy created a mosaic background and used Flourishes,llc I Love Roses set. I also did a mosaic, but I incorporated the Flourishes Harlequin stamp set to create my mosaic. The card I created is also for the Flourishes "Celebrating Home" challenge (FLLCJAN) going on to celebrate the new stamp releases this week. For more information about this challenge, check out the Flourishes Newsletter. I kept the same colors, but added some tempting turquoise to coordinate with my vase. I used a mosaic look...instead of creating it, I stamped mine, then sponged on the tempting turquoise. I used a photo corner punch with a cuttlebug swiss dot texture instead of any cording. I used a layered oval sentiment instead of the circle one.

I stamped my background using the harlequin image in black staz on. I used the diamond shaped accessory piece to stampe my diamonds in brillant blue. I sponged tempting turquoise on the edges and some softer sponging in the center. I colored in between the lines with a blue marker. I added some ballet blue to a sponge and created some shadoww in some of the large diamond areas. I stamped my rose and leaves onto Strathmore watercolor paper. I outlined the rose in real read and old olive for the leaves. I used my aqua painter to blend the colors. I kept adding more red to the rose as I wanted a very vibrant looking red rose. I cut out all the pieces and edged the sides with black permanent marker to create a finished cutting edge. I added dimensionals to each leaf and several to the rose. I arranged my pieces on the card. I kept my card simple and only added a swiss dot cuttlebugged photo corner and the oval sentiment. What do you think?

STAMPS

Flourishes,llc I Love Roses, Harlequin & Accessories set, and Siberian Iris(for sentiment)

PAPER

gp white, black, old olive, Strathmore watercolor paper

INK

black staz on, tempting turquoise, brilliant blue, ballet blue, real red, old olive

ACCESSORIES

oval punches, sponges, aqua painter, cuttlebug embossing folder, dimensionals

Festive Flourishes Friday! and Blog Candy!!!!

Don't be so "blue" this holiday season! Join us for week three of the Festive Flourishes Friday Challenge! The theme is just as it sounds ~ "You'll be doing alright with your Christmas of white but I'll have a blue, blue Christmas!"Grab your favorite Flourishes stamp set and dress it up with a dose of blue! It doesn't have to be a Christmas card! Any style will do! Remember, you can join into our challenge at any time and, if you make up past challenges and complete all four - your name will be thrown into the hat for a free stamp set of your choice! Link your card to the Flourishes Newsletter or your SCS gallery. Don't forget the keyword FFFC3 on Splitcoast! Of course, we'd love it if you added the FLLC keyword too so that your work shows up in the company gallery!

Kandi (kandicejo) pm'd me with a link to a rose that does LOOK TEAL!!!! How exciting!!!! Thanks a bunch, Kandi!!!!
http://www.jamievoetsch.com/images/070711145149_Blue_Rose_Against_Blue_Sky_LG.jpg

Bluebird come fly away with me!!!! I went with a blue and teal combo. Still keeping with the blues!!! I used taken with teal and some DCWV Pearlized Metallic luxury stack in soft hues of blue. So, this card has a sheen. I think I created a new color of rose, but I really wanted a soft teal one....lol!!!! I used a fiskars edge punch, some stickles, and pearls to add some detailing. I finished it off with some touches of pearls in the corners to match my papers pearlized sheen. The ribbon really does match in real life.

You can visit Julie’s Festive Flourishes Friday Blog Team weekly roundup over at the Flourishes Newsletter, and also visit these Friends of Flourishes blogs to get the complete Flourishes Friday scoop Becca Feeken, Christine Okken, Cindy Haffner , Dee Jackson , and Kimberly Crawford. Also, introducing Silke Ledlow as the newest Friends of Flourishes. Two of the friends have BLOG Candy!!!!! You will not want to miss out so hop around and find out who!!!!

STAMPS
I Love Roses, Birds in Vines
PAPER
taken with teal, DCWV, Strathmore water color paper
INK
black staz on, taken with teal, old olive
ACCESSORIES
Nestabilities, stickles, oval punch, halfback pearls, fiskars border punch, ribbon, aqua painter, blender pens

A ROSE by any other name....

A Rose by any other name........must be a Flourishes Rose!!!!! It is Flourishes Release Wednesday. The three Flourishes, LLC sets released today are Thinking of You, Lace and Trim, and I Love Roses. The set I have that I was able to play with is the Rose. It is a great set with many great size roses, a rosebud, and stems wtih leaves to color. I love all the wonderful sentiments in this set, too. As many times as I have looked at the Flourishes Elements set, there is one stamp in that set that always reminded me of a vine so I mixed these two sets together to make a climbing rose.

Blog hop to all the designers to see what each have created with these new sets.

Julie Koerber

Cindy Lawrence

Faith Hofrichter

Latisha Yoast

Laura Fredrickson
Christine Okken
Jan Marie Caruso
Sharon Doolittle
Cindy Haffner

I love running roses and how the leaves always seem so huge and the rosebuds are just hanging full, then all of a sudden......they start to bloom. It truly is beautiful. For my card, I stamped the vine in versamark on watercolor paper then embossed in gold. I stamped several rosebuds and leaves as well in versamark onto watercolor paper, then embossed them all. So, while this card may not show all the shiny gold, it is very shiny. I was trying to capture the card colors and all that gold was too shiny for a picture so I had to angle my card just so to get a little more dull cast....lol. I colored the rosebuds and stems with blender pens. I cut every rose and leaf out and place along the vine. I played around with the arrangement for what seemed like forever because I love order, but nature is varied. I added some soft sky with an aquapainter around the vine edges to create some shadow. I did not really want to do anything else to distract from the roses so I left the card background plain. What do you think of my running roses?

STAMPS

Flourishes I Love Roses and Flourished Elements

PAPER

Real red, gold shimmer, mellow moss, strathmore watercolor paper

INK

versamark, real red, pretty in pink, mellow moss, always artichoke, soft sky

ACCESSORIES

red organdy ribbon, gold cording, gold domes, oval punch, sponges, aquapainter, blender pens, reinkers, gold ep