30 Day Coloring Challenge

It's hard to believe we are already up to Day 7 of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge! I went WAY back in my archives to get this old Flourishes set - Snow Wonderful - and also dug out some long neglected watercolor pencils to color the image! I blended the colors with an Aquapainter.

I'm also playing along with the new Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

 

STAMPS: Snow Wonderful (Flourishes).

PAPER: Norland paper pad by Farm House Paper Co.; Smooth White by My Favorite Things.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black.

DIES: Blueprint 27 Die-Namics by MFT; Classic Keyhole Template die by Flourishes.

It was in the low 60's today, but they tell us the weather will take a nose dive tonight and we'll only be high of low 40's tomorrow! Guess it's time to bring out the heavy weight layers! :-)

                                                         Stay warm!   ~Wanda

Color Throwdown #538

Are you ready for some fabulous spring colors? Lynn has chosen mint, aqua, dark pink and green for the Color Throwdown Challenge colors this week and I had a hard time deciding what to do since I had multiple ideas floating around in my brain! Marcella Hawley designed the Tulips For Friends stamp set years ago for the now no-longer-in-business Flourishes company!  BUT...you can get a tweaked yet almost identical version of this tulip bouquet at Power Poppy. Check it out HERE (oops...I see it's sold out!). It is one of my all-time fave florals to color with Copics!

The plaid paper is from My Favorite Things' Plaid Patterns Merry & Bright 6x6" pad and the hot pink banner is Raspberry Fizz paper by Papertrey Ink.

STAMPS: Tulips For Friends (Flourishes); Bitty Banners (Reverse Confetti).
DIES: Stitched Fishtail Flags STAX and Stitched Circle STAX by MFT; Bitty Banners by Reverse Confetti.

For more inspiration, click on the design team links below:

•  Amy Rohl 
• Amy Rysavy 
•  Barbara Anders
• Broni Holcombe
• Jodi Collin
• Lisa Henke
• Lori Tecler
• Lynn Put  
• Vickie Zimmer
•  Wanda Cullen (you are here)

Just Us Girls

It's Color Week at the Just Us Girls Challenge blog and we've been asked to use prominently purple on our project. This isn't a color I gravitate toward often, but when I do use it, I like it - especially if it's paired with green!  I've been asked to create some Mother's Day cards for coworkers, so this old Siberian Iris stamp set - designed by Marcella Hawley for the former Flourishes stamp company - had a couple of sentiments that fit the bill.  

The inside has "Happy Mother's Day" stamped in Cockleshell ink by WPlus9 - the same ink I used for the Plaid Background stamp by Concord and 9th.  By the way...this plaid stamp is large and the only way you will get adequate inking is to repeatedly stamp it using a MISTI.  The image was colored with Copics.  Some of my favorite enamel dots are these flat black dots by Richard Garay (there are also white and gray dots in the same package).  I wish more companies went with flat rather than glossy dots (sorry...got off on a tangent there).  

Quote from 365 Days of Wonder:

APR 24 - "Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny."

                         --Carl Schurz

 

 

Color Throwdown

Hello everyone! It's Wednesday and that means there's a new Color Throwdown Challenge happening! Vickie is our hostess this week and has chosen red, green and white...a classic combo that really pops - especially with a little added black as a neutral. 

I knew right away I wanted to do some Copic coloring on this great floral image by Marcella Hawley - Tulips For Friends - from the former Flourishes company.  There is a current variation of the same image at Power Poppy that you can see HERE.

This word sentiment die by My Favorite Things is one of my all-time favorites!  I layered white over black so it would be more distinctive with this shadowed look.  The Plaid Background stamp by Concord and 9th was stamped about 5 times using Last Leaf dye ink by WPlus9 and a MISTI. This stamp is difficult to get good coverage with only one stamping, so a MISTI tool is a must!
  
To play along with us, please go to the Color Throwdown Challenge blog for all the details!  For more inspiration from the rest of the design team and our talented guest designer for April, click on their links below:
Amy Rohl 
Amy Rysavy
Barbara Anders   
Broni Holcombe
Jodi Collins 
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put  
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here) 
Hannelie Bester- April Guest Designer 

Quote from 365 Days of Wonder: 

APR 18 - "The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature."

                    --Joseph Campbell 

Color Throwdown

Another Wednesday means another Color Throwdown Challenge is up and running! This week, Amy Rohl is our hostess and she's chosen green, eggplant and white as our colors.  I decided to forego the use of shamrocks and went with this single tulip image from Flourishes 'Tulips for Friends' retired stamp set.

The card base was sponged with Seedless Preserves distress ink using Altenew's Watercolor Stripes stencil.  The next Stitched Rounded Rectangle panel (die by MFT) was stenciled with Tim Holtz' 'Bubble' stencil.  I then angled two frames (Reverse Confetti 'All Framed Up') and added the fussy cut image. The sentiment (from Reverse Confetti's Beautiful Banners set) was white embossed on black CS.  I dug into my button archive for this Rich Razzleberry button by SU.  

To play along with us, please go to the Color Throwdown Challenge blog for all the details!  For more inspiration from the rest of the design team, click on their links below:
Amy Rohl 
Amy Rysavy
Barbara Anders   
Broni Holcombe
Jodi Collins 
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put  
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here) 
Cheiron Brandon  - March Guest Designer

Freshly Made Sketches

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon and I'm chillin' in my crafty space! I wanted to play along with the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge and went with supplies that were still on my desk from a previous card I posted on Thursday. 

The Plaid Background stamp by Concord and 9th makes a lovely large gingham pattern, so I paired it with this pitcher of tulips - retired from Flourishes, although a very similar image can be obtained from Power Poppy.  I don't have a die for the image and didn't want to fussy cut, so I just die cut it with a stitched circle die and placed the horizontal strip behind it.  Hopefully, the challenge police won't come after me!  Haha!  The sentiment is from PTI's Mat Stack 3 Collection.  I used Copics to color the florals.

INK: Cockleshell (WPlus9); Memento Tuxedo Black.

Quote from 365 Days of Wonder:

MAR 4 - "How like an angel came I down."
                    --Thomas Traherne

Tulips for a Friend and Blog Giveaway Winner!!!

The Student Health clinic where I work is really blessed to have an outstanding supervisor/coordinator! Since she's celebrating a birthday this week, this card is for her.

I found a spring floral arrangement with purple and yellow tulips for her gift and knew I wanted to use this old Flourishes image from their Tulips for Friends stamp set.  Though Flourishes no longer exists, you can get an almost identical image from the same creator - Marcella Hawley - through her Power Poppy company.  Her redesigned stamp set is called Loving Tulips.  It's one of my all-time favorite images to color with Copics! The plaid background stamp is by Concord and 9th where I used WPlus9 dye inks - Cockleshell and Silver Lining. The sentiment is PTI's Direct Messages stamp set with matching die. The stitched edge die is also by PTI. The Stitched Circle and Stitched Rectangle STAX dies are by My Favorite Things.  I love mixing and matching products from a variety of companies! 😍

Now for the fun part of my post!  I had 7 comments on my 2/24/18 post and Random.org picked #5 as the winner.  Congrats to Marisa Ritzen...you have won the Reverse Confetti stamps and dies!  I'll be getting them mailed your way asap! 

Quote from 365 Days of Wonder:

 MAR 1 - "Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much."

                        --Blaise Pascal   

Inspired By All The Little Things

Whoa!! December is here already and the days until Christmas are numbered! It's time for another Inspired By All The Little Things challenge and we've got a "cool" inspiration photo to inspire you in so many ways!  I was inspired by the skating theme (my card started with this patterned paper with the skate border!), the pale blue colors, the furry border on the skates and the pompom. The pair of skates led me to use an old image with a pair of mittens and I added white Flower Soft detail to imitate the fur.  I love using this embossing folder that gives the illusion of falling snow and this sweet little penguin just had to have a pompom beanie to complete the scene. 😃  

I'm also playing along with the Paper Players challenge which has a great sketch this week (I did a flipped version of it and omitted the ribbon)!

STAMPS: Warm Winter Wishes (Flourishes), Winter Groves (Paper Smooches).
PAPER: Winter Fun 6x6 pad by Carta Bella.
INK: Blue Bayou, Baked Brown Sugar (SU), Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark.
MISC: Softly Falling EF by Stampin' Up; Stitched Oval die by Lil' Inker Designs; Polar White Flower Soft; Pure White embossing powder by Altenew.

We would love to see how YOU are inspired by this photo! Hope to see you in the gallery!

Inspired By All The Little Things

The weekend is here and for most people, that's a happy time!  For me, it means my 8 days of staycation are over and I head to work this afternoon - sniff, sniff!  Since many of you are off, I hope you'll take time to join us for the Inspired By All The Little Things challenge!  The colorful tulips in the photo are so gorgeous and I knew right away I wanted to color one of my favorite images with Copics. As is my norm, I stamped the image twice using a MISTI.  You can currently get the Tulips in Hobnail Pitcher image through Marcella Hawley's Power Poppy company (it was released a number of years ago through Flourishes). 

STAMPS: Tulips For Friends (Flourishes).
PAPER: Painted Blooms 6x6 pad by Penny Black; X-Press It Blending Card.
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black.
DIES: Stitched Basic Edges Die-Namics by MFT; Stitched Circle by Lil' Inker Designs. 

 

Color Throwdown

Happy Wednesday everyone! There's a new Color Throwdown Challenge...brought to you by our hostess Lori! She has a great color combo - light aqua, red, green and yellow - that was inspired by this lovely vase of tulips!  Since April has brought us lots of showers so far, I wanted to emphasize the sunny yellow on my card.  Though I used an older retired Flourishes stamp set (Tulips for Friends), you can currently buy this digital image by Marcella Hawley from PowerPoppy - Tulips in Hobnail Pitcher.  It's an all time favorite of mine to color with Copics!  I've had this beautiful tag die on my wish list for a long

time and it finally came back into stock at Papertrey Ink!  The sentiment is from Verve's Be Blessed stamp set.

It's a new month and that means a new guest designer.  We're thrilled to have the talented Jeanne Jachna joining us!  Stop by her blog - A Kept Life - to say hello!

Laura Volpes from A Bit of My Crafts is our guest star stamper this week.  Congratulations, Laura!

For more details on how to play along, head over to the Color Throwdown Blog and you'll find the information on the right sidebar!  You can also visit the rest of the design team's creations for more inspiration by clicking on the links below:

Amy Rohl 
Amy Rysavy
Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe   
Jodi Collins 
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put  
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)  
Jeanne Jachna - April Guest Designer

Friendship

How is it possible that it's Sunday evening and my 3 day weekend off is over already?! Squeezing in one last card for the Freshly Made Sketches and The Card Concept challenges, I went into my archives for some older stamps.  The background is SU's retired French Script background.  The sentiment (Flourishes' Tulips For Friends) and the florals (Flourishes' Garden Picks) are some old favorites.  After stamping on X-Press It Blending Card with Memento Tuxedo

black ink, I colored with Copics and fussy cut then popped the jar of florals with foam tape.  Patterned paper is from The Citrus Matstack by DCWV.

COPICS: YG00, YG01, YG03, BG11, BG15, YG95, G99.

It's time to let my bedtime oils kick in...lavender and vetiver in the diffuser...Tranquil roller bottle on my wrists and neck. 😴

Inspired By...All The Little Things #35

It's Saturday and that means a new Inspired By...All The Little Things challenge! I just love snowman images and I guess you can say I love snowman collections because you'll spot them throughout my house during Christmas and into January. I let out a big SQUEEE when I saw the inspiration photo and I did a double SQUEEE when I saw that Silke Ledlow was our special guest this week.  She's one of my early stamping idols and how ironic that I made my card before I knew she was guesting, because the Flourishes stamp set that I used was a blog candy gift that I won from Silke years ago!  

I struggled with photographing this card and simply couldn't capture all the glitter and shine that's there IRL.  I added Glossy Accents to the holly berries and fine carrara marble Martha Stewart glitter to portions of the snowman and to the snowflakes.  I think I sparkled for the next 24 hours as well - lol!  

STAMPS: Warm Winter Wishes (Flourishes).
PAPER: Cozy Christmas 6x6 pad by Simple Stories; X-Press It Blending Card.
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Always Artichoke (SU).
ACCESSORIES: Holly die by Reverse Confetti; Snowflake border punch by Martha Stewart; Stitched circles and rectangle dies by Lil' Inker Designs; Rhinestones (SU); Corner Chomper; Copics.

We'd love to see how YOU are inspired by the challenge photo, so get your creative juices flowing and join us!  You can link up your creation HERE.

I decided to share several photos of some of my smaller "cool friends" that are in my kitchen and family room...

 The little sign on the right says it so well...

"Some of my best friends are flakes" (grin)!