Copic Poppies

Hello! It's been a while since I've posted - I've been busy cleaning out the stamp room, and the computer has been in use during blogging hours. But this week the stamp room got clean enough to stamp this poppy image (Hero Arts), and colour it while watching tv. I tried out some new things I learned at the Intermediate Copic class, things like shading and shadows and different colour families. I am still no expert on shadows and shading, but will claim that my main source of light comes from some direction, and then random other sources of light and shadow may also come into play depending on the backstory of my image. So, for example, here, the sun is coming from more or less above, except for the parts where there was a child playing with a flashlight, and another part where another child was casting shadows. You see, if you can imagine a light source, you can imagine all sorts of things. (You are beginning to see why I have not yet been plucked from Copic obscurity and brought to design team fame and glory.)

Anyway, coloured up the poppies while watching Strike Back and seeing Sgts Scott and Stonebridge shoot their way out of this week's (seemingly) certain death. Not normally my sort of tv, but Sgt Stonebridge is extremely easy on the eyes and they do a cliffhanger every week that brings me back. We are on Story Arc #51 of Plot #3 and it's only 5 episodes in. I tell you, not much time to dither between YR31 and R02 or you will lose the thread completely. Oh yeah, it's the hunk shooting his way out of a sticky situation. So far the main difference between episodes seems to be which country he is shooting his way out of and which babe his sidekick is tomcatting around with. So far it's been India, South Africa, the Sudan, and Kosovo (or brainbox, blondie, Irish exhibitionist, doctor, journalist).

Oops - got a bit side tracked there. Back to the card. I masked off the poppies (just the flowers) and stamped the background music (Cornish Heritage Farms scrapblock) in Antique Linen distress ink. I also sponged in some Linen and Vintage Photo around the edges to soften the white paper (too stark). Decided a poppy should be popped up and coloured up another one. It's trimmed to 4"x5.5" so I could have a strip of red fleck down the side (I believe the paper is called poppy fleck - meant to be!). The sentiment (Papertrey Ink) is heat embossed in black, and the accents are Cello Glitter Ritz (Art Institute). Clearly I am a philistine since when I ordered it, I thought it might be clear glitter, as in cellophane. It's a lovely rich brown, as in cello the instrument. Edited to add: Copics used for poppies: YR31, YR02, R22, R08, E19; used for stems: BG93, YG93, YG97.

In non-stamping related news, my five-year-old washed the dishes tonight. She loves being helpful, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. She did a great job. I did the sharp knives and really grubby/heavy things, but she did all the little lunch containers and things like that. I was so proud of her!

Thanks for stopping by.

Inkurable Stampers September Challenge

Hello! The September challenge at Inkurable Stampers is to use eyelets (link here). I had my new Twinkling H20s out, so I made another ATC, this time using a Hero Arts stamp embossed in gold. Once it was embossed, I painted it in shades of warm gold and brown with some magenta highlights (Golden Nugget, Desert Clay, Harvest Sol, Raspberry Wine). I matted it on some burgundy linen cardstock, and embossed the edges in gold. Then stamped "inspire" (Darkroom Door) on a torn strip of the same linen paper and attached it with eyelets. The finishing touch was to add some Gala Glitz (Art Institute) to the flower (little gold balls, and shards of gold glass). I really must get some gold Gala Glitz. I'm tired of winkling out the gold pieces out of my teal jar....

Thanks for stopping by!

Twinkling ATC

Here's an ATC I made for the Creative Imaginations Luminarte Raffle described here. Basically, you send in your ATC and cross your fingers.

I recently picked up the newest sets of Twinklings, this ATC uses all the colours from the Autumn Brilliance set: Mystique, Harvest Sol, Spanish Moss, Raspberry Wine, Golden Nugget, and Desert Clay.

I started by stamping the leaf (Fred B. Mullett) in an Adirondack multicolour ink on some 130 lb cardstock, and clear embossing it. (versamark + Adirondack then e.p.) Then painted on patches of the new twinklings, admiring each -these colours are wonderful! Then, ironed away the clear embossing powder and stamped on the tree quote (Quietfire Designs) and embossed it in black. Added some leaves stamped with twinklings, and some crackle effect (Stampendous cube) in black India ink. Added a maple leaf brad from the stash, matted on some black cardstock, and called 'er done.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sympathy Card Revised

My bold move paid off! I like this revised version better than the original here. A minor tweak, but one of the big things we learned in the Intermediate Copic class on the weekend was how to give yourself constructive criticism. Basically, you pretend (a) it's not your card and (b) the person who made it is immune to criticism, in fact revels in it, begs for it, and always wants more. (A and B are usually mutually exclusive, so this is a hard lesson to learn.) My first round of constructive help was to gussy up the card, since I just had the seniment panel and gold bits. No leaves or frame. It just needed a little something else. This is for the church bazaar so I wanted to keep it easy to mail, so that ruled out adding a raspberry bough or similar embellishment (as if! ha!) and of course I couldn't add ribbon to a card to save my life. So fussy little vellum leaves remained an option. Not too bad. The only problem with being your own critic is you don't have all those great ideas for fixing things that other people do. The up side is you're never so mean you can't take it.

Botanical Sympathy Card

Hello!

I stole a bit of stamping time tonight after a long day and it was nice, very nice. I tried out some Fred B. Mullett stamps to make a sympathy card. They are a great background, and conveyed the sort of restful background I was looking for. I used two stamps, Wild Raspberry (the one with multiple leaves) and Lil Salal Leaf, using an old Adirondack multicolour inkpad (Winter Sky). The colours seem to have mostly run together in it, but it does date back to my early days of stamping, so I don't really mind. The colours are still beautiful and a little varied so it doesn't look like just one colour. I embossed the Lil Salal leaf a couple of times on vellum for an accent using Peridot embossing powder. This was the same e.p. I used for the sentiment (by Quietfire Designs). I sponged around the edges with Weathered Wood and Pine Needles. I felt it needed more, so I added a frame and the strip of metallic paper. I have just now ripped off more of the gold paper so it will fit in the frame (do I live on the edge or what!) and it does look better, though I will have to join the frame lines, which will be a risky manoeuvre at best. Wish me luck! (If you hear an anguished groan, you'll know it didn't work.)

Thanks for stopping by.

Birthday doodle birds

Hello! Here's a birthday card I made that was inspired by birds I saw on the blog Stamping Mathilda here. If you would like to make your own doodle birds, here is a link to the tutorial on
Delphine Doreau's blog. They are really easy to do, just have fun! I drew these on Papertrey white cardstock using a Copic Multiliner, and coloured in with Copics. I was at the Intermediate Copic class on Saturday so I am all revved up about my Copics right now. I wish I'd used my 130 lb cardstock from Heather since the Copics bled right through the PTI stuff. I lined the inside of the card to hide it, but I had been hoping for a one-layer card. I didn't have time for Stickles to dry since I was delivering this to the birthday girl right way, so I used Sakura glitter pens. Clearly I didn't wait long enough for those to dry as the keen-eyed observer will see where the red one smudged on the crown. I also accented the birds' eyes with the black Sakura glaze pen. The stamped "happy birthday" is from A Muse. I loved doing these blobby birdies - so much fun! And there will never be another birthday card just like this one. I am going to enter this card in the Simplicity One-Layer card challenge here.

Funky Christmas

Hello and happy long weekend! It's Labour Day weekend here, and we are enjoying the time off work, but it's not quite turning out how we pictured. I guess that's what happens when you're a grown up! Free time gets eaten up with responsibilities. Oh well, I still found a few minutes to stamp. The lovely Jennifer McGuire surprised me with a RAK gift of stamps (thank you!) and here is something I made with one of them.

The main image is a Hero Arts stamp, inked with Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink (Lime Pastel) and then embellished with several colours of stickles. Basically I selected all my shades of light green, gold, and red, with some burgundy too and dotted all the dots. (Though by the cold light of day, I see I missed some.) Then, the next day when all those dots are dry, I matted it on gold, then burgundy. The card base is olive green (Kiwi Kiss from SU I think), stamped with a funky snowflake stamp from Sunshine Designs (available from Heather's Stamping Haven) stamped in more Lime Pastel. I ran some Poppy sparkle paper (part of my treasured hoard now that it is discontinued, just like my Kiwi Kiss unfortunately) through the Big Shot using a dotty Tim Holtz folder. A strip of burgundy linen added a bit of oomph to that panel and I also matted some burgundy on the gold too, for some depth. The card was feeling like it was missing some depth of colour to anchor it, apart from the burgundy stickles. I can see cranking out a few of these for Christmas - quite fast and easy. I've made a similar card for Jennifer as a thank you, and will post it later. This is a fun stamp - outside my comfort zone for sure, but it's so quick and easy and I love the results. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend!

PS I'm entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog Hop - theme "Anything Goes". There is some great blog candy for the lucky winner. Now I'm off to do some hopping!