A Pumpkin Rose

Here's the card I made last night. A variation of a previous theme, but I still like it. Card stock is Pumpkin Pie along with Whisper White (and Shimmery White for the rose). Razzleberry Lemonade DSP was also used, along with some Crushed Curry polkadot ribbon, a gel pen, dimensionals, leaves cut from a Sizzlet die on my Big Shot, and the scallop edge border punch. I've been getting better results coloring these roses by using the more traditional watercoloring method - my colors are more intense this way. I had originally planned to use the yellow rose I made a couple of days ago, but it just didn't look good with the Crushed Curry I was planning to use on this card. I'll need to wait to make the card for that one as I don't have any Summer Sun card stock with me. Three more nights here on Moloka'i before heading back home. Hopefully I'll have a few more cards to share with you before we leave this beautiful spot! Mahalo for coming by today.

Which Version Do You Like Best?

I made this card last night, first with the Melon Mambo rose. After looking at the finished product, I couldn't help but think that a Rich Razzleberry rose might look better. So... I colored another of the pre-embossed roses I brought with me and colored another one in Razzleberry ink. The watercoloring isn't as good as my last Razzleberry rose (that'll teach me to watercolor at night, without good lighting, when my eyes are tired!). This morning I took some shots of it out in the sun on the lanai, which wasn't as easy as you might think as it's SUPER windy, and the sun kept wanting to pop back in behind a cloud. I laid the Razzleberry rose over the Mambo one and had to shoot quickly before the wind knocked it off and sent it flying. All to get a shot so you can let me know which color rose you like the best on this one! I'd appreciate your thoughts. Mahalo!

Too Busy?

I made some time last night to make a card using one of the roses I'd colored earlier yesterday. I had planned to keep it simple, using white as my main background, but it just didn't look right. I put the Old Olive card stock over the white, but it was still too plain, so I added the leaf image from Great Friend, since it matches the Sizzlix leaf die I planned to use with the rose (which I sponged over in Old Olive). I like the card, but wonder if it's just a bit too busy-looking. What do you think?

Card Recipe: Rich Razzleberry CS, ink & polkadot ribon; Old Olive CS & ink, Whisper White CS, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP, gel pen, paper piercer, scallop border punch, Great Friend & Fifth Avenue Floral stamp sets, Craft White & Crystal Clear EP for the rose.

Mahalo for stopping by today!

Two New Cards

After hitting the jacuzzi last night, I took some time to make a couple of new cards. The first uses the rose I colored yesterday morning. It's all Summer Sun ink in varying shades. The Crushed Curry just wasn't working for me - not enough yellow, so I'm glad I brought along a Summer Sun reinker. The rest of the card uses Razzleberry Lemonade DSP and several card stocks - Whisper White, Crushed Curry, Old Olive. Crushed Curry polkadot ribbon adds a nice touch along with the scallop edge border. The leaves are in Old Olive card stock, cut out at home with my Big Shot die cutter machine (LOVE it!). The rose was embossed back at home on Shimmery White card stock using VersaMark ink and detail white embossing powder.

My last card for today has a little bit of a different look to the rose. This also used the Shimmery White card stock, but I embossed it using Craft White ink and crystal clear embossing powder. The ink on the rose itself is Rich Razzleberry. See how the ink penetrated through the paper, giving the plum-like tones under the clear embossing powder? If you want white lines on your image, use a white embossing powder. If you want the lines to blend in a bit, use clear embossing powder. The image took on a pinker tone, but that's Rich Razzleberry paper with a scrap of Razzleberry Lemonade, framed with a piece of Razzleberry polkadot ribbon. The leaves were cut from a scrap of Old Olive where I'd used the Canvas background stamp in Old Olive on the paper, then never used it. I like the texture it provided on an otherwise monotone card. If I'd had some of the plum card stocks with me, I might have added it above the DSP, but since I don't have any with me, I left it as is. I rather like the m.onotone look of this one.

Mahalo for stopping by today, our last full day on the Big Island before heading over tomorrow to Molokai for a week. If we again have a wifi network we can use like we did there last year, I'll post whatever I come up with while staying there. Bye for now!

Roses Inspired by Deb

Back again, with more to share! Last night I made these two cards, again inspired by Deb over at ARTfelt Impressions. She used Crushed Curry for her rose, which turned out gorgeous. I've tried it twice on the Shimmery White paper - once with just Crushed Curry, then again with Crushed Curry and Summer Sun. Neither acheived the bright yellow tones that Deb got using watercolor paper. They looked great wet, but once dry, the tones were very subdued and bland. Not sure why. So, plan B! I used Rose Red and Regal Rose reinkers on these two, and I like how both turned out. Whisper White, Regal Rose and Melon Mambo card stocks were used, as was Old Olive for the leaves. Razzleberry Lemonade DSP was added along with two of my favorite Stampin' Up! ribbons. Doesn't look like I'm going to get in any stamping tonight, so nothing new to share for a few days. Thanks for stopping by today.

Watercolored Roses

Last night I decided to try the 'new' watercoloring technique that Patty Bennett recently posted on her blog, which I believe was demonstrated at a Stampin' Up! regional conference earlier this year. I stamped the rose from Fifth Avenue Floral onto Shimmery White paper using Whisper White Craft ink, then heat embossed using clear embossing powder. I spritzed the image liberally with water, and with an aquapainter, added some color (I used Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose reinkers). Mine didn't work as easily as the one Patty shows in her video tutorial, so when the water/ink was starting to dry, I pulled some of the puddled water/ink from one of the petals with my aquapainter and went back over a few areas of the rose to intensify the color a little. I think the problem was that I didn't get enough of an embossed image so I didn't get the channels as well as I saw on Patty's tutorial. Anyhow, I let it completely dry overnight, and after work tonight, this is what I came up with. I loved the shimmery striped paper Patty used from Taste of Textiles on some of her cards, so I did the same. I didn't want to copy her cards exactly, so I resisted the urge to look at hers while I was designing mine. The card base was stamped with Regal Rose using my all-time favorite, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, a technique I picked up from Kitty Caracciolo. After putting it all together, I'm thinking I should have either sponged Kiwi Kiss onto the leaves, or onto the Kiwi background. I think I'll try that next time around. Anyhow, it gave me a chance to use my oval scallop punch and Whisper White Organza ribbon. The sentiment comes from All Holidays and is stamped in Regal Rose. I think I'll offer this card to my stampers at my next stamp camp. Thanks for stopping by today!

Other Things I've Been Working On

A while back I purchased two projects from two great SU! demos. The first is Andrea Walford's Fifth Avenue Floral class. Andrea always has the cutest boxes for her card projects, and this one was no different! I made the cards late one night last week, and the box while hanging out at our local coffee shop the next day. That night I got busy on the ever-s0-cute Tote-ally Awesome Tote by Becky Roberts. I haven't tackled the cards or other pieces for Becky's project, but I did manage to get the box done! I had thought about doing Becky's tote for my next stamp camp project, but it would take us the entire stamp camp time just to make the box! So, I think I'll keep this one all for myself. :)