Blended Bloom

 

We said good-bye to Ft Lauderdale yesterday morning, dropped Ashley off at the airport, and headed north.  Our plans (I thought) were to drive as far as Brunswick, GA and stop for the night.  Pittsburgh was playing hockey (Stanley Cup play offs) at 8 pm and I had already scoped out a place for us to watch the game there.  Well, best laid plans .... or .... I should know my husband better!  When I looked up from reading my book, we were crossing the line into South Carolina!  We ended up stopping in a little "po-dunk" town that had 2 motels and a lot of fast food restaurants.  We did find a regular restaurant next to the motel for dinner but ended up sitting in the motel room to watch the game.  (Pittsburgh ended up losing in over-time.)  We are getting ready to get back on the road.  Next stop (other than gas) I hope will be Front Porch Restaurant for fried chicken.  That is definitely NOT on Weight Watchers but it is soooo good and I have been pretty good this past week even if I was on vacation. 

 

I wanted to share this card I made a couple of weeks ago that uses a single stamp that is retiring.  I am not sure if it is still available to purchase since I have not checked the Retiring List this week.  But if it is, I would recommend you purchase it!  I love it and don't think I have used it enough.  I stamped the flower on Shimmery White cardstock and used my Aqua Pen and the ink that I squeezed into the top of my ink pad (Watermelon) to color the flower.  For the darker areas, I used the Watermelon marker.  I cut the flower out and used dimensionals to pop it up.   For the background, I made a rectangle mask and used sponges to color the area in Tangerine, Old Olive and Marina Mist.  I stamped the swirl from Everything Eleanor in gray ink.  The "hello" is die cut from Basic Gray and glittered with my Stella Pen.  

  

 

 

Goodbye, Farewell - April Blog Hop with NC Demos

Welcome to the April NC Demos Blog Hop.   If you just arrived from Melissa's blog, isn't her Kleenex box cool?!!

Our theme this month gave us a lot of leeway.  We could choose cards that feature the retiring products, Mother's Day cards or Feminine cards.  My choice was retiring products.  I lost about 18 stamp sets not to mention several thinlits and punches.  Many of them did not surprise me since they had been around a while but I am still going to miss many of them! 

The first few cards I used a new technique that I had never done before - the Whitewash Technique.  There are several You-Tube videos that you can find to show the technique.  Basically, you stamp and emboss the image.  Next paint the image with the white re-inker (I used Aqua Brush.)  After that dries, add a little color to the image with a marker.  Then use your blender pen or Aqua Brush and blend the colors.  After it dries, you can go back and add a little more color as needed.

My first card uses Swallowtail stamp for the butterfly.  I also used the retiring DSP Typeset and the sentiment from And Many More (which is a great set for sentiments.)

The next two cards are made with Vivid Vases, a single stamp.

On this card, I also used the Curvy Corner Trio Punch which I love!

 This beauty uses three retiring stamp sets - Trust God, Everything Eleanor and the single stamp, Blended Blooms as well as the retiring Candy Dots.

Next I did a couple of cards using the blending technique with my sponges using Serene Silhouettes.

Next it was time for a little watercoloring.  I spritzed my Shimmery White cardstock with water and then using my Aqua Brush, colored Melon Mambo, Tangelo Twist and Daffodil Delight all over the card.  I cut another piece of cardstock using the Hexagon Hive Thinlit and adhere it on top of the watercolored piece.  The sentiment is from Feels Good.

 This is one of the cards we made in Stamp Club this month using the single stamp, Blooms for You.  The "seize the cake" sentiment is from the retiring set, Something to Say.

This final card also uses Blooms For You, Everything Eleanor (sentiment) and the Decorative Dots embossing folder.  This is one of the cards I made from pieces of the Paper Pumpkin April kit.

Hope you enjoyed my portion of the blog hop.  Continue along heading to Laurie Meir's blog next.

Below is a list of all the participants and their links:

Jo Anne Hewins

Michelle Irinyi

Melissa Kerman

Sharon Maranich

Laurie Meier

Sue Root

Karel Standish

Pam Staples

Frances Wagner

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Memorial Day

Did you enjoy your Memorial Day?  Ours was pretty quiet.  We went out on our boat Sunday and Monday.  The weather was very enjoyable - temps stayed around 80-81 degrees so it wasn't bad at all.  We stayed in a cove protected from all the jet skis, fast boats, etc., read our books and played a little backgammon.

I made this card today in honor of Memorial Day using the stamp, Blended Bloom.

Ashley left for her deployment this weekend but they haven't left the port yet so I have been able to talk and text her.  I'm not sure when she will set sail - probably in a couple of days.  They are doing training for a few days first.  She posted this picture on her Facebook page so guess it's ok to share here also.  This will be her home for the next few months - as she says, "her next great adventure."



She has been pretty lucky.  A couple of her girlfriends from San Antonio flew down with her.  They are there for the week for a promotion ceremony.  So Ashley has been able to have them come and pick her up for dinner tonight and spent the day with them yesterday.

Convention Gift

Convention time is getting close.  Marianne and I fly to Salt Lake City on Saturday .... EARLY!!  We have a 7 AM flight which means we have to be at the airport by 6 AM which means we'll have to leave home around 5:30 which means we'll have to be getting up at .... oh I can't even think about it!!  I am going to spend Friday night at Marianne's so that will cut a little bit of time for me.  Luckily, our first planned event is not until Sunday at 6 so we will have plenty of time to take it easy and rest.  We got this flight because it was cheaper than flying Sunday to Sunday.  I am almost all packed.  Today I will do a few last minute things, wash a load of clothes (so I'll have clean clothes when I return!)

Sunday night will be the Late Night Stampers Meet & Greet party.  We are supposed to take a handmade gift to exchange with someone (with the supply cost $5 or less).  Here is what I am taking:

 This is the front.  I bought the frame at Ikea's for about a dollar.  The DSP in the background is from the Moonlight paper stack.  I created and printed the rest of the pieces from My Digital Studio.

I decided I needed something for the back so I stamped the Hardwood stamp for the background.  The Blended Bloom flower is stamped with Momento Ink and colored with Blendabilities.

Exciting new products are in the Stampin' Up store!!  NEW arrivals include a fun Christmas stamp set that will be available in the new Holiday Mini Catalog BUT it is available to you NOW!!  Get a heard start on your Christmas cards!!

Watercolor Background Technique

Hope your weekend was a fun one!  We took my Mom out on the lake yesterday in our boat.  She really enjoyed it although she had her nose in her book the whole time.  She was towards the end of her book (For One More Day by Mitch Album) and couldn't put it down.  I am so happy that she is still able to read - large print books only but that is ok.  When we came off the lake, she wanted to take a bath in my garden tub.  She just loves that tub!  It's funny because I hardly ever take a bath and she would take one every day if she lived here.  The hardest thing is trying to get her in and out of it since it is so deep!  Then we met Angela, Marianne and Greg for dinner and had some yummy fish and shrimp!!  

I have been working all day today on my 80 swap cards for convention.  Let me just say, I'm sick of this card!  I thought I'd chosen a pretty easy card, but I realize it has too many layers - 3 circles and a Word Bubble that need to be cut out with Big Shot; a tiny heart that is punched out with the Owl Punch; plus tying 80 tiny bows with Bakers Twine!!  I have got everything punched, cut and glued together.  Now I just have to put the whole thing onto my card front!!

I took a break and made another card for fun today.  I had seen this card on another website and loved it.  So I made a few changes and ..... I love it!!

For the background, I sponged inks -  Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, Coastal Cabana - onto the Hexagon Embossing Folder and then spritzed it lightly.  I put a piece of watercolor paper inside and ran it through the Big Shot.  I stamped the Blended Bloom and used the Blendabilities to color it.  The sentiment is from the photopolymer stamp set, Endless Birthday Wishes.  It has been such a popular stamp set that is has sold out but Stampin' Up is going to restock and it will be available for sale again soon.

Blendabilities Blended Bloom

Have I mentioned yet how much I am enjoying using the Blendabilities markers?   You will see me using them a lot this year.  I know you want to order yours and I hope they will be available to you soon.  Here is the latest update from SU:   They are telling us that certain colors (the same ones currently available to demonstrators for pre-order) should be available to customers to order in late June or early July!  That is a lot better than August.  I believe the main reason for this delay is they want to make sure they have enough in stock to meet the demand that they anticipate.  These are the colors that should be available:

• Cherry Cobbler
• Coastal Cabana
• Daffodil Delight
• Old Olive
• Pumpkin Pie
• Rich Razzleberry
• Skin Tone Assortment
• Color Lifter

This card was made using the Daffodil Delight Blendabilities along with some of the Skin Tone Assortment and Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities for the centers.  The flower stamp is a new single stamp called Blended Bloom.  It is so fun to color!!  I used Stippled Blossoms for the leaves in Garden Green.  The watercolor marks were made using Pumpkin Pie and Smoky Sate ins and they are from the fabulous Work of Art stamp as is the sentiments.

All of these items will be available starting Monday, June 2 at noon MDT (2 pm EDT).  If you need a catalog, please let me know.

The last day for ordering Retiring Products is June 4 so if there is something on those lists you have your eye on, now is the time to order them!!