Flower Power!

Hello and good morning!

Today's card is another floral one since yesterday's card put me in the mood to color flowers again, this time a hibiscus.  I've been wanting to color this image for the longest time, and the technique I used lends itself perfectly to stamps like this.  That technique is the Copics "flick" technique from each end of the petal in two different colors.  For this flower I used R24 (red) and YR04 (orange), plus greens for the leaves, which are separate stamps that I masked for this image.  I then colored the background with blue chalk.

How's THAT for in-your-face color?  I was inspired to go bold because these flowers typically come in bold colors.  I've met very few shy hibiscus..es?  Hibisci? 

The interior of the flower is green flocking, and the stamen is gold glitter.  The sparkle is gorgeous in real life.

The bee is a die cut from the SB Fanciful Flight set, and I applied gold Perfect Pearls to him for some metallic shine.  The sentiment is heat embossed.

I used Dew Drops on the red and green papers, and I already had light green ones on hand but only bright pink as well, so I colored them with Copics R89, and voila, red Dew Drops!  Gotta love alcohol ink.

Here's a peek at the inside where I've used some of the scraps left from the front designs. 

That does it for this simple card.  It's pretty straightforward (can you believe no ribbon, bows or extra flowers??), but of course it took all day yesterday as, once again, I had to fit the crafting in when the baby slept.  (The new puppy for those just coming on board.)  Thankfully she took several small nap-lets.

Thank you so much for taking the time to join me.  Here's wishing you a lovely day full of crafting and anything else that makes you happy.  As for me, I think I'll try a shaped card next.  Hope she takes longer naps!

Happy crafting!

Supplies:

Stamps: Hibiscus (There She Goes Stamps); Make a Wish Quotes (Fiskars)
Ink: Versamark; Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: X-Press It Blending Card; Basic Black (SU); Sugar Rush (Basic Grey)
Extras: Dies: Fanciful Flight, Labels Eighteen (SB); Circle Stax 1 and 2 (Dienamics); black ep, Perfect Pearls, Copics, glitter (Art Institute), flocking, chalks, Dew Drops, dimensionals.

Challenges entered:

Alota Rubberstamps #101 - Multiples of 3 (dew drops, 3 patterns designer paper)
Incy Wincy Designs - Pop It Up
Love To Create #53 - All That Glitters
Crafty Cardmakers #85 - Blooming Images
Timeless Tuesday #208 - Use Red
Creative Card Crew #30 - Birthday
City Crafter #147 - All That Glitters
Frosted Designs - Be Bold
Allsorts #194 - Things With Wings


SSS 198 - Sketch with Spin (Birds and/or Bees)

Pansies

Hi and good morning!  

Today is the day I get out in the yard and start planting the zillion pansies I purchased last week.  262, to be exact.  Last year I only planted 96 and was so tired of planting them by the last 5 or 6 that I practically THREW them into their holes.  Imagine what nearly three times that number is going to be like.  Yikes!  Guess I'll do them in shifts and not try to get them done all at once.

I've been away from my craft room for far too many days, and yesterday was no exception.  I had an emergency dentist visit, then I went to vote, then my DD surprised me by hanging out all day, so we crafted at the kitchen table.  I made "bow charms" which I will be showing in future cards.  So planting my pansies in shifts will be good - it'll allow me some time in the afternoon to "play cards."

Today's card fills several challenges, which are listed below.

It was fun, and since I wasn't worried about trying to simplify it (Simplify? What's that?), I managed to knock it out in a couple of hours, though I wasn't trying to beat the clock or anything.  I've mentioned before that it seems to take me forever to make a card because there are so many things I want to do, but this one was very easy.  

I started with Whisper White CS for the base and Night of Navy for the first layer, which I embossed using the SU Snow Burst ef, then rubbed my Versamark inkpad over the raised images and dusted on Perfect Pearls.  I LOVE the snowy effect that gave the navy layer.  The patterned paper is from Echo Park Paper Co.'s Winter Wishes.

The image is from Flourishes Snow Days stamp set and was stamped with Versafine Smoky Grey.  I cut it out using a Dienamics Oval die and backed it with an Oval Doily die cut.  Then I used a Spica glitter pen on the blades and The Rubber Cafe's Puffies on the pompons for dimension, on top of which I sprinkled a little Dazzling Diamonds.  The little bit of coloring was done with Copics.

I added two layers of scalloped borders topped with a layer of silver ric rac, though because of the main image and the greeting, most of those three layers are covered up!  The snowflakes were die cut with the Dienamics snowflake die and centered with a rhinestone, and the three glittery brads at the top are Candi blanks which I colored with a navy SU marker and covered in Art Institute glitter (cornflower).

And that, dear friends, is today's card.  I hope you have a lovely day, and I will see you again tomorrow.  For me today, it'll be a girl and her pansies.

Happy Crafting!

Challenges entered:

Oozak Challenge #8 - Winter Vibes
Alota Rubber Stamps Challenge #94 - Blue and White
TSG #180 - Dress Up Your Coloring
Anything Goes Challenge 79 - Anything goes
Creative Card Crew Challenge 23 - Silver and Blue
SCS WT399 - No Fall Colors
RRR Challenge 59 - Winter Holiday and Ribbon
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge #132 - Use ric rac
Creative Inspirations - Inspired By: A Sketch (shown below)
Pile It On #45 - Make It Sparkle
FOSTV#45 - Anything Goes

and last but not least,

SSS183 - sketch