Four Seasons

When I picked up yet another piece of Always Artichoke the other night (I guess because it is one of the colors of the month, along with Cherry Cobbler), I said, enough is enough!  I challenged myself to make four non-Christmas cards.  It's 85 degrees out and not even Halloween, for heaven's sake!  Why am I crazy for Christmas already??  Will I start making Valentines at Thanksgiving? 

 I mentioned before that I make up challenges for myself, not unlike art class assignments.  Use Color X and Color Y.  Use three different textures.  Etc.  Rather than make four "winter" cards, which was my first thought, I decided they needed to represent the four seasons.  I tried not to do my typical cherry blossoms in spring, flowers in summer, leaves in fall, and pine tree in winter options.  Here's what I came up with.

Spring

Since the Always Artichoke was already in my hand, I started with this card.  Spring means lots of green, and I added touches of faded purple to hint at the burst if color to come.  Also, I like purple and green together.  Mostly SU on this card, although the flowers are from a*muse studio and are embossed in a light lavender. The background is a wheel that I unmounted and turned into a flat stamp.

Summer

This is a simple card!  In fact, I've made a similar card with kids before (although I had to cut out a lot of the SU "Up, Up, and Away" balloons for them).  The "fields" are CASEd from a convention swap that used a similar embossed layers as the base for a large flower.  The clouds are punched from the Cupcake Builder punch, another technique I've seen elsewhere.  Not one drop of sponging, and voila, a quick and cheerful card for birthdays, get well, and maybe even bon voyage or retirement?

Fall

Needed my sponging back, and this card shows it.  I also used the spritzer, background stamps, heat embossing, crimping, etc.  All SU stamps, and I even added some glitter to the butterflies!  The crimped portion was also background stamped with Hello Doily to add more depth.  A little more somber than the other season's cards, but autumn does come with a sense of loss (at least for me, and especially with the baseball season's recent conclusion).

Winter

I love snowmen.  Have hundreds of them, and just about every snowman stamp I ever see ends up in my stash.  This one comes from Flourish, and he's watercolored.  I used some VersaMark stamping for the watermarked background, and the mittens have some flocking on them!  Simple but cute!  It could be a holiday card, I guess, but it would also work for a December through Februay birthday, although it seems to me to want to be an invitation to a "snow day" party. 

P.S.  No sponging here either! 

Other Thoughts on Snow

We're planning a snow day for the Girl Scouts, but that means several hours of travel for us to guarantee the white stuff!  It's strange to think of kids who don't know how to make snowmen.  When Erika was three, we had a wonderful snowfall on December 21.  Her mom decided they would make a snowman, and asked me to take some pictures.  I followed them outside where Linda began tamping snow into big plastic containers.  It took me a while to figure out that she was trying to make a snowman like a sandcastle!  Oh, those California girls!  ;-)

My other good snowman story comes from last year when we had measureable snow again (it's an event here).  Erika actually had a snow day from school during which she went outside and built a very nice four-foot tall snowman (using the correct method).  When her dad came home from work, he wanted to take a picture of her with her snowman.  While she was posing (holding the snowman's twig hand, I have to add), he asked her what his name was.  She replied, "Snowy."  Brian said, "Snowy?  Why not Frosty?"  Erika replied, "Frosty is a registered trademark, Dad."  Love it.  Now if I could just get college students to understand intellectual property laws. 

Challenges

I really do think challenging ourselves is important to nourish creativity.  But now I'm back to red and green as I duplicate the SU "Beautiful Season" card recently seen in the Lllam Blog Hop.  I already swapped about 40 of them at Jill Olsen's Fall event, I made another 20 for the llama Christmas swap,  and will be making 40 more for Dad to send as Christmas cards.  That makes an even 100, so I guess I really got my money's worth out of that set!  ;-) 

Llama Holiday Hop!

Do the llama hop -- AGAIN!  I’m so excited!  It’s time for the Llama Holiday Hop! You probably arrived here from Marsha’s "Here a Llama" blog. Marsha has another blog that she regularly updates with great projects to create for yourself, to make to sell, or to teach, but this is her special Llama Blog Hop blog.   If not, you can always go to the Llama Blog Hop home page and start at the beginning, or just go around in a circle. 

In our online world, which we affectionately call “The Pasture,” my fellow llamas and I frequently remark, “I love the llamas” or “Llama love to you” (even the alpaca in our group).  It sounds silly, but this group of Stampin’ Up!  demonstrators has truly become a close-knit bunch.  Many of us check in to the watercooler (our other name for our virtual home) first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and even in between!  We all get along so well, even when we disagree.  (Tee hee.)  The llamas are truly a great bunch of ladies, I’m so glad they are my friends, and we’re thrilled to share some of the fun with you.

The menu today is “holiday” cards, and, for me, there’s only one Holiday (with a capital H):  Christmas!  I love Christmas, I love decorating for Christmas, and I love making Christmas cards.  It’s the one time of year I let myself bling-it-up a little with glitter and rhinestones.  :-)   I make many, many Christmas cards every year, but they’re all for someone else to send.  I haven’t sent a Christmas card myself in many years!  But I’m sooo glad others do because it means I can make them.  All supplies in this post are Stampin' Up!

The first card I’m sharing is going to be my Dad in North Carolina’s Christmas card, so I’ll be making at least 40 of these.  It’s a fun watercoloring project, especially using the Aquapainter with the Stampin’ Up! Watercolor Wonder Crayons. The bird is a Black-Capped Chickadee.

 

Stamps:  Beautiful Season, Bells and Boughs, Easy Events

Ink, Etc.: Black StazOn, Crumb Cake Classic, Soft Suede Classic, Watercolor Wonder Crayons

Cardstock:  Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Ivory Naturals

Punches:  Large Oval, Scallop Oval

Embellies:  Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Silver Mini Brads, White Gel Pen, 3/16” Brads – Brights

The next card is my favorite, but I don’t think I’ll be making 40 of them.  Maybe 10?  The minute I saw the Christmas Lodge stamp set in the Holiday Mini Catalog at convention, I knew it would be mine.  Love it!  In a previous post, I explained that the house reminds me a bit of my Grandmother and Grandfather’s house in New York where I grew up, and that I think the house probably reminds everyone of a great old house.  This card has lots of stamping to create the background, and then uses two of our great edge punches for detail.  It has a little fussy cutting, which makes me extra happy.  I love fussy cutting!  The card also has lots of texture, lots of bling, and still has the vintage look.  You can't see all the Dazzling Details on the roofs, the railings, and the ground in the photo, but they're there!

You’ll notice that the basic color palette is the same as the previous card (and the next one too).  I like Christmas cards in all colors, but I absolutely love to use the traditional red and green.  I have a hard time using that combination any other time of the year (too Christmasy, I tell myself), so I like to get full use of it during the proper season.  And yes, you are correct, I did actually buy the personalized address stamp, Snowy & Bright, from the Holiday Mini JUST to get a smaller version of the Bright Hopes snowflake.  There’s really no excuse for me, is there?  Sigh.  At least the llamas understand.

  

Stamps:  Bright Hopes, Christmas Lodge, En Francais, Snowy & Bright, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Wonderfully Worn

Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic, Crumb Cake Classic, More Mustard Classic, Soft Suede Classic

Cardstock:  Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso

Punches:  Scalloped Ribbon Punch, Scallop Edge Punch

Embellies:  Always Artichoke Seam Binding, Antique Brads, Basic Jewels Rhinestone, Dazzling Details

Jeez, six stamp sets on that one card? 

The next card was one of October’s club projects.  I also made a blue and silver version with a wood grain background, but I wanted to stay within my color palette for these posts.  I’m so glad we have embossing powder in Wild Wasabi and Cherry Cobbler.  Yum!  And isn’t it fun to use markers to color different parts of stamp like on this sentiment?  Looks harder than it is – and yippee for that!  Dying the baker’s twine?  Not quite as much fun, and, for me, quite messy.  If I didn’t have to be SUO (Stampin’ Up! Only) for this blog hop, I would have found some already dyed red.  ;-)  This is as close to CAS (Clean and Simple) as I get!

Stamps:  Delighful Dozen, Bright Hopes, Jolly Bingo Bits

Ink, Etc.: Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write Marker, Cherry Cobbler Ink Refill, Crumb Cake Classic, Garden Green Stampin’ Write Marker, Soft Suede Classic, Versamark, Wild Wasabi Stampin’ Emboss powder

Cardstock:  Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla

Embellies:  Always Artichoke Seam Binding, Baker’s Twine (white), Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, 3/16” Pewter Brad

Well, those are my three projects for the hop.  But I wanted to give you one more, a sort of a lagniappe (layn-yap) as they say in Cajun country.  A lagniappe is a little giftie, not expected or demanded, like a candy at the end of a meal.  This is a little 3 x 3 card (and you know how I like those) that was just too cute not to share. 

Yes, there's more fussy cutting, but I actually cut these while at the North Carolina beach in June!  I stamped a whole bunch of images to use as convention swaps before I left.  Then I packed my paper snips, one tin of Watercolor Wonder Crayons, my Aquapainters, and one of the little SU collapsible tabletop trash cans available only to demonstrators.  It didn’t take up any room in my luggage, and I kept me happily engaged every night as I colored and cut.  I didn’t end up using the bells for a swap, so I have dozens, ready to go.  I used three stamps from three different stamp sets on this little card.  I love mixing and matching stamps from different sets, and these 3 x 3s are perfect for a gift tag or a note on a colleague’s desk.  So much goodness in a tiny package! 

Stamps:  Bells and Boughs, Easy Events, Nature’s Pace

Ink, Etc.: Black StazOn, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Watercolor Wonder Crayons

Cardstock:  Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Ivory Naturals, Marina Mist

Embellies:  Crystal Effects, Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write Marker

Thanks for joining us.  I hope you enjoyed your visit to my stop on the blog hop.  Next up is Michelle’s "Southern Creations" blog, where she always has something unusual and pretty to share.   Remember, you can always go back to the Llama Blog Hop Home page if you lose your way.  And, I know it’s early, but Merry Llama Christmas to All! 

Christmas is Coming!

Christmas is closer than you think.  It's never too early to get started on Christmas cards.  Although our temperatures are still in the 90s here in sunny Southern Utah (can you say Trick or Treating in shorts?), with all the planned activities in the coming months, I'm jumping directly to Christmas in my cardmaking.  Not that there's anything wrong with that!

I have two cards to share with you today, both of which will be taught on Friday night, but I also want to remind you of the upcoming Llama Holiday Blog Hop.  Go to the Llama Blog Hop hope page (http://stampinllamas.blogspot.com/) anytime after noon Eastern time on Saturday, October 22, and join in the fun.  I promise lots of great "holiday" projects (and not just Christmas, either) and a peek into the llama life we lead online.

The first card features an a*muse studio set, Winter Wood, that I fell in love with.  Love the '20s font on the sentiment, and I love the retro, slightly homespun, sort of Scandanavian look of the deer and the trees.  There are a couple of non-SU items (Martha Stewart holly punch, Inkadinkado splatter stamp), but the card also features the Stampin' Up! Woodgrain background stamp and SU ribbon.  We'll also do a cool (maybe I should say "hot"?) customize-your-brads to-match-your-project technique.  ;-)

If you're coming on Friday night, bring your adhesive and paper snips as always, and if you have any of the following they will be useful:  paper trimmer, VersaMark, heat tool, SU Woodgrain background. 

This card is a bit easier because there's not one single drop of sponging!  Wow, that is so hard for me.  I basically have to hide all the sponges or tell myself I have an allergy and can't touch them.  But it gives a clean look and is much faster to create.  This card features two sets from the Stampin' Up Holiday Mini, the Warmest of Wishes hostess set and the Stitched Stockings stamp set and matching punch (and yes, again with the Woodgrain stamp).  Everything here is SU, but I'm not sure whether the snowflakes in the background are *current* SU or not.  I have a big container of snowflake stamps and old and new are all intermingled.

I'm off to spend the rest of the day in Policy Prison (Yes, it's Policy Thursday).  Can't wait to see you on Friday!

"Rock Me on the Water"

The Girl Scout horseback riding adventure had to be cancelled because of rain tonight (and the accompanying lightning and flash flood warnings).  Ah, monsoon season in the desert.  I don't know if the precipitation led me to thinking about water, but I went with an ocean theme for tonight's cards.  I've been humming the vintage Jackson Browne song, "Rock Me on the Water" while working on these cards tonight.  At least the song is apropos for two of the cards. 

This card is for Friday night's club.  It uses Watercolor Wonder washes for the background, a bit of paper piecing, and some simple embossing.  Yes, there's a little fussy cutting, but cutting along an embossed edge is always easier.  Mostly SU, although the sand dollar is an Inkadinkado stamp.

This is the second card for club.  The main images are from Stampin' Up!'s The Open Sea stamp set, which I love but find hard to use sometimes.  There's something about the proportion of the images that doesn't always work for me, but it's a good challenge!  This card has a layered background (large map stamp and retired SU crackle background).  The club members will also make the faux metal compass.  Faux metal was one of the techniques that really entranced me when I first started stamping.  I thought pushing that snowflake stamp in the hot, multi-layered silver embossing was magical!  Hopefully the club members will get the same kick out of it.  Although there's quite a bit of stamping, the layers on this card are all background.  The focal image is a single layer, which is really unusual for me. 

  

The final card I made tonight isn't for club (oh my, they'd *kill* me!).  It's just me playing around.  I wanted to pair a retired SU sewing machine stamp with the dress form from Established Elegance, and one of the stamps from Delicate Doilies seems to want to join every feminine card lately!  The background on this is a bear -- Bella Toile, random stamping of the flourish from Creative Elements and the roses from Elements of Style, topped by Sanded in Crumb Cake and some light, delicate sponging to fill in some spots.  Not for the faint of heart, I tell ya!  The postmark isn't SU, but I'm thinking the one from Nature Walk might have been better (I just found this one first).  The doily is embossed in Silver Pearl embossing powder, which is awesome.  I even used a scrap of the ship's manifest from The Open Sea that I had lying around.  The "dream" sentiment is retired CTMH. 

Rock Me on the Water is from the classic, self-titled Jackson Browne 1971 debut album, often called Saturate Before Using because the cover has a portrait of the singer made to look like a Desert Water Bag.  What's a Desert Water Bag? 

Only one of the best things ever invented!  It's a canvas-like bag (I think it's actually made of flax, but it feels like the jute on the first two cards in today's post) that you soaked overnight in water then filled like a canteen.  The water didn't all leak out because the fibers had expanded, although the bags did drip.  You might ask, "But what is it for?" 

Well, when travelling across the dry and desolate desert highways of the American West in your classic car in the old days, you hung the Desert Water Bag from your hood ornament so you would have cool water available for the inevitable radiator overheating that would occur.  Evaporation from the outside of the bag as you sped down the highway kept the water surprisingly cool!  It worked very much like the evaporative coolers (swamp coolers) used to cool the houses out here for many years.  And yes, you could drink it, although it has a specific (but not unpleasant) taste.  In those days, after a few days travelling around the back roads of the Southern Utah / Northern Arizona desert, cool water is a lovely treat, especially when the nearest ice is 70 or more miles away. 

I still really like almost every song on Browne's album, including "Jamaica,  Say You Will,"  "Under the Falling Sky," "My Opening Farewell," and the fantastic "Doctor My Eyes."  But tonight's theme song is "Rock Me on the Water," so let's close with one of the lyrics:  "I'm going to leave you here and try to get down to the sea somehow."  Hope to see you at club on Friday night. 

3 x 3s = Little Gems Find Homes

There's a little game I play with myself sometimes.  When I'm designing cards, I often stamp, color, and cut out more than one of an image.  Then I end up with containers full of stamped, colored in, cut out, and ready-to-use-but-no-where-to-go little gems. I let my niece, Erika, go through these and pick out the ones she wants to use in her art.  But, being a girl of definite personal tastes, there are some she doesn't want.  ;-)

Of course, like all cardmakers, I also end up with bags full of scraps, bits and pieces of cardstock, patterned paper, backgrounds, etc.  What to do with all these small scraps of goodness?  Every now and then I spend some time making 3 x 3 cards out of those "elements."  The rules of the game are simple: 

1.  I must use something I have already stamped, either as a background or focal image.

2.  I must use scraps.  I cannot cut into a new sheet of cardstock for anything other than the 6" x 3" card base.

That's all.  I can use any stamps (current or retired, SU or not).  When I'm making these little cards, I rarely make more than one the same, although the same element may be used in more than one card.  It's kind of my own "use it up" challenge, and it is good design practice. 

Here are a few 3 x 3s that I created last night.  There is no patterned paper in these cards.  Everything started with blank cardstock.



The flowers on the left are from Fabulous Florets (SU),
and the big butterfly is retired SU.  




These use current Stampin' Up! sets: 
Elements of Style, Nature's Pace, and Nature Walk,
as well as the lamentably retired Sanded.

 

Some of the collage elements are SU, as is the Agricola circle
on the right which is from Established Elegance. 
The bee is one of my favorite stamps from a VERY popular
Stampin' Up! set:  Nature Walk.  I colored and cut out
hundreds of these little bug-gers (get it?) this summer.

The last one refused to be photographed with any other card! 
It was probably just the gold embossing, but this little card
did not play well with others.  Focal image:  Retired SU

The 3 x 3 cards can't be sent through the mail, but they are perfect for tucking into a present, using as a tag on a gift, or leaving on someone's desk at work.  And they are excellent for homeless little gems. 

Tomorrow, we are taking our Brownie Girl Scout troop horseback riding.  My brother has two or three horses (depending on the day), so the girls will all get a chance to ride.  Actually, they'll be led around the arena with the horse on a lead, but there will be big smiles nonetheless.  Wish me luck!

Last of the Swap Tags

Here are the last two tags I sent off in swaps today.  I enjoy making these tags so much, I may have to seek out more swaps!  Seriously, I think some would make nice tree decorations.  As if I need more of those.  I have hundreds (no, tell the truth) thousands of Christmas decorations and the last time I put up a full size Christmas tree in this house was ... (drum roll, please) ... NEVER!  Yup, I've lived here for 10 years and have yet to open a box of Christmas decorations.  I've decorated other people's trees, but not my own.  I'm sure I have some wonderful treasures awaiting discovery.  Someday. 

The Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini catalog is my favorite each year.  I love all the Christmas images, and I love making Christmas cards.  Yes, I'm ready for some different colors by the time January rolls around, but I really could "do" Christmas designs all year.  My paternal grandfather used to make his Christmas cards every year.  He drew the designs and inked them, then had them professionally printed (no photocopiers or home printers in those days!).  He would then use markers to highlight specific portions of the hundreds of cards he and my grandmother sent out each year.  I have a few of them from his later years, and I think they're great.  He varied the style substantially each year, and even did interesting trifolds, gatefolds, etc.  I'll try to get some pictures to share. 

Grandpa also made interesting tags for all his gifts.  They were often little cards, not unlike the 3 x 3s we make today, and frequently had little rhymes or riddles in them, giving clues as to the contents of the gift.  What I'm trying to say is I come by this Christmas card and tag stuff naturally.  It isn't my fault.  Really. The first tag  kind of reminds me of my grandparent's house, which had been in the family for many years.  It had a big porch and bay windows and balconies like the stamp image, but their house was much more in the Queen Anne style.  I think the image is interesting because it probably reminds everyone of an historic house ...

On to the last two tags.  All supplies Stampin' Up! All images copyright Stampin' Up!



Stamps: Christmas Lodge, Delicate Doilies
Inks: Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso,  StazOn Black
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso
Punches: Decorative Label, Scallop Trim Border, 3/4" circle
Other: Dazzling Details, Watercolor Wonder Crayons,
White Gel Pen, Bronze 3/16" brad

Stamps: Jolly Bingo Bits, Stitched Stockings, Warmest of Wishes
Inks: Cherry Cobbler, VersaMark
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Naturals Ivory
Punches: Stocking Builder, Scallop Edge Border, (see note below)
Other: Basic Pearls, Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Very Vanilla Designer Velvet Ribbon,
3/16" Gold brad

I think the Warmest of Wishes tag turned out to be my favorite.  I'm thrilled to have found a good use for that sentiment.  We received that Holiday Mini hostess set as a special giftie at convention, which was very nice, but it was not my fave.  In fact, I probably wouldn't have purchased it on my own.  It's cute, but wasn't high on my list.  Until now.  The "Warmest of Wishes" sentiment is fantastic.  Great font, excellent styling, works with traditional or modern designs.  Love it!   Who knows?  Maybe I'll even fall for the silly Trick or Treating owl next.  But probably not the strangely configured NO-EL, which always reminds me of a joke my departed friend Dale used to tell when he did his incredible Santa act every year:

Question:  How many letters does the alphabet have at the North Pole?

Answer:  25.  There's no "L".  Hahahahaha.   

Anyway, I have a confession about that tag.  (What?  Another confession?  This is becoming tedious.)  I used a retired punch, again.  The ribbon is threaded through a slot punch that retired a few years ago.  And this time it wasn't an accident.  That's right; I deliberately used a retired punch.  A previously posted tag with a retired punch really was an accident.  But this time I needed a slot to put the ribbon through, and I am not allowed to use a craft knife without supervision.  Seriously.  There are two potential outcomes when I pick up a craft knife:  personal injury or a broken craft knife.  I don't think I've ever used one without one of those consequences, so it's best if I stay away.  Therefore, the retired punch.  But I'm sure it won't be the last time I use a retired product.  Unlike many demonstrators, I don't sell off retired stamps or punches.  I keep them, in an ever growing collection of paper crafting tools and supplies.  Just because Stampin' Up! needs to move on to newer products doesn't mean I have to abandon the orphans!  And someday there will be boxes filled with stamping supplies, hanging out with the boxes of Christmas decorations.  It's kind of a nice story, in a way. 

Thanks for stopping in. 

Let's All Do -- The Llama Hop!

At last, it's here!  As I explained in an earlier post, the llamas are a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators who became friends.  We built a pasture, we swapped, we chatted, we met up at convention -- and now we're blog hopping!  Have you ever seen a llama hop?  Well, you have now.  ;-)
Welcome to the first ever Llama Blog Hop!  You should have arrived here from Holly's "Gotta Have Stamps" blog (http://gottahavestamps.blogspot.com/).  Holly is one fun-lovin' llama, isn't she?  If you want to start at the beginning, just go to the Stampin' Llamas blog and follow along. 

Starting at the beginning (which is, I hear, "a very good place to start") is a fine idea on this hop because we divided up the 2011-2012 Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog, and the hop follows along in order. I was happy to have the chance to demonstrate a couple of the fantastic sets from the Hostess section.

Stampin' Up! has always had fantastic hostess benefits, but they are even better now.  Hostesses can spend "hostess dollars" they earn from all purchases on anything they want from the catalog, which includes specially-priced hostess sets only available with hostess dollars.  I don't do workshops, but my club members love when it's their turn to be the hostess.  It's like that old TV show, Supermarket Sweep -- you can run through the catalog selecting anything you want!  And, once the order reaches a certain level, there are 50% off any one catalog item.  Woo hoo!

Now, on to the good stuff:  the pics!  All supplies Stampin' Up!, and all images copyright Stampin' Up!. 

My first sample highlights a wonderfully versatile set, "Simply Soft."  There are three line-art flower images and three "filler stamps" to put the color in the flowers.  As much fun as 2-Step Stampin' is, I love to watercolor.  I use all kinds of media to watercolor:  Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Watercolor Pencils, Classic Ink Refills, etc.  I use the Aqua Painter to apply them all, even though I have boxes full of fancy watercolor brushes!  I really like watercoloring on the "naturals" paper.  It 'holds' almost as much water as actual watercolor paper, and it is more softly colored.  

Stamps:  Simply Soft, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, StazOn Black
Cardstock:  Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, Naturals White, Not Quite Navy, Soft Suede
Punches:   Lace Ribbon, Word Window
(Ooops!  Pretend that is the Decorative Label Punch -- I just realized I used a retired punch!!)
Other:  Baja Breeze Seam Binding, Silver Mini Brads, Twill Tape,
Watercolor Wonder Crayons, White Gel Pen

Here's a detail of the flowers so you can see that I mixed two shades of watercolor using Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, and Not Quite Navy crayons, medium and dark, applying the medium first, and then came back with White Gel Pen squigglies to highlight the top.  I did the same with a mix of Always Artichoke and Old Olive for the sepals and stems.



The next card I have to share is from a great set called "Faith in Nature".  There are lots of great samples using this set, but I wanted to try something a little different.  The combination of embossing powders and watercoloring is so much fun to do; it's almost foolproof.  And embossing still seems like a bit of magic to me.

Stamps: En Francais, Faith in Nature, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Versamark
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, So Saffron, Soft Suede
Punches:  Modern Label, Word Window
Other: Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding,
Mini Clothespins, Watercolor Wonder Crayons,

Here's another close up so you can see how "messy" color mixing can be effective.  I like to swish some Crumb Cake watercolor behind the images to set them in. 

OK, it's confession time: I did a bad, bad thing with these Hostess Sets.  And that's the real reason I selected them for this hop -- I need to atone.

One great benefit to being a Stampin' Up demonstrator is that we get to purchase hostess sets from the IB&C before it goes live.  When our preorder period begins, lots of demos stay up until midnight Mountain time to get as early a sneak peek as we can.  Some of the llamas were chatting in the pasture as we waited, as we screamed with delight, as we made our lists, as we edited our lists, and as we submitted our orders.  With the new hostess program, it's no longer necessary to purchase Level 2 and 3 sets we might never earn.  My fellow llama, Joanne (you'll meet her later in the blog hop) wanted to buy some of the new hostess sets at full price, but I convinced her not to by showing her the math.  She really, really wanted them, but I talked her out of it. 

About a week later, when I was submitting my *second* preorder, I succumbed and ordered these two stamp sets at full price!  I felt terrible that I had given in after I wouldn't let Joanne order them!  Well, Joanne's a big girl and she knows that she can order anything she wants, but you know what I mean, right?  Anyway, I'm sorry for my lack of impulse control, dear llama-friend Joanne, and feel free never to listen to me again!  :-) 

Now it's on to the next stop in the Blog Hop -- Kathryn's blog "All that Scrap."  Kath is my neighbor to the north (about 4 hours north, but hey, things are father apart in the West), and she is a fantastic card maker.  I hope she has some of her great watercoloring in store for us.  Hop on to find out, and thanks for visiting!

Remember, you can always go back to the Llama Hop main page if you go astray during your tour.