The Majestic Grey Wolf…

My family has always had a tender place in our hearts for Wolves – there is just something about these majestic creations of the wild that we love and admire. When I first saw Whimsy’s newest Dove Art release, Wolf Head, I had to have it.

Then I saw and was inspired by Bev Rochester’s handsomely finished article on the Whimsy Blog page of September 7^th.  My stamp arrived yesterday and, of course, I could hardly wait to get going. The gentleman who will receive this over the weekend will be celebrating his 86^th birthday.

If you want more information regarding the Grey or Timber Wolf, there is an interesting article on https://animalcorner.co.uk/animals/grey-wolf/ .

Materials:

Whimsy Stamps, DA1124

Concord & 9, Woven Background

Ranger’s Distress Oxide, Black Soot and Hickory Smoke

Cardstock by Neenah and Elizabeth Craft

PrismaColor Pencils – Black, Yellow and Pumpkin.

I had a great time making this card. Hope it might give you an idea about making masculine celebration cards.

Till next time, May God Bless You…

Poppy Flower– 

Thank you for stopping by today. As you may know, during the past few weeks, I have been refreshing my card-craft supplies and have fallen in love the the Dove Art stamp collection through Whimsy Stamps.The stamp used for this article is called the Himalayan Poppy, DA1013. The Himalayan Poppy is, in reality, blue! (See descriptive notes at the end.)

However, having never seen the Himalayan, I went with the poppy colors I am more use to seeing, an off red/orange.

For this project, I used:
                                                                                                  

White Card Stock – from Staples (top layer and base card)

Middle layer – Neenah's Stardream Collection - Onyx 105lb.

Inked Impression: Memento Tuxedo Black – no embossing

Prismacolor Colored Pencils – start lightly applying the color, then, build up to a deeper intensity, then using a blender stick, blend:

·         Canary Yellow

·         Crimson Red
·         Goldenrod
·         Green Ochre
·         Marine Green
·         Raspberry
·         White

Hope you will give this a try - just relax and have some fun.

Till later,
God Bless




Special Note: 
The Himalayan Blue poppy flower, Meconopsis, is one of the most prized in the poppy flower family for its true blue colored blooms. This member of the poppy flower family is particularly sensitive to temperature changes and therefore can be difficult to grow. Found mostly in the Scottish highlands and Himalayas, they have been successfully grown in Alaska and coastal Washington. Their optimum temperature range is 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Old Water Mill…  

This summer has been a time of reorganization for my craft areas (that seems to be a continual chore) and expanding upon some of my creative goals. During my “reorganization,” I realized that I have a large collection of inks, paints and colored pencils that I have not used in a while. So, I set a new goal … utilize those products.

Recently, I started collecting some of the beautiful Dove Art stamps from Whimsy Stamps. (See my July 31^st posting). The Water Mill (DA104) is one of my latest additions. Did you know that the use of Water Mills goes back long before the rise of Rome?

Materials –

Whimsy Stamps: The Water Mill (DA 104)

Elizabeth Craft Designs: Soft Finish: White and  Dark Chocolate

Dies: Dashing Squares

Chameleon Pencils:  Avocado and Spanish Olive

Rembrant Polycolor: Olive Green and Brown Ochre

Faber-Castell’s Pitt Pastel: 151 Helioblue-Reddish, 165 Juniper Green, 179 Bistre. 185 Naples Yellow, 273 Warm Grey IV

Prismcolor: Limepeel, Green Ochre, Cool Grey 90%, Orange Mineral, Blue Slate and Dark Green

Memento: Tuxedo Black

Krylon: Workable Fixatif (1306)

US Art Supply: Artist Blending Stump

Hope you will stop by again.

Till  next time – God Bless

Extracts from:

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

The Bridge

I stood on the bridge at midnight,

As the clocks were striking the hour,

And the moon rose o'er the city,

Behind the dark church-tower.

I saw her bright reflection

In the waters under me,

Like a golden goblet falling

And sinking into the sea.

How often, O, how often,

In the days that had gone by,

I had stood on that bridge at midnight

And gazed on that wave and sky!

      *******

And forever and forever,

As long as the river flows,

As long as the heart has passions,

As long as life has woes;

The moon and its broken reflection

And its shadows shall appear,

As the symbol of love in heaven,

And its wavering image here.

      *******

Fell in love with this stamp when I first saw it. It reminded me of a fantastic, romantic park we visited a few years back.

The stamp is from Whimsy Stamps, DA1004, Bridge Over Water, from their Dove Art collection. After much consideration, I elected to use all Chameleon Color Tone alcohol inks which produces such a smooth and well blended finish.

Chameleon Color Tone: Warm Yellow, Taupe, Olive Green, Cool Gray 5, Neutral Gray 4, and Lagoon.

Well, that is it for today.

Till next time,

God Bless….

Per August 12th Spotlight notification :

Today’s Flower…

Hello and welcome. As you may know, my passion is creating, and sharing with you, my hand-made greeting cards. It is my custom to try to consider what a person might enjoy and create a card with just that person in mind. Today’s recipient loves the color purple so…

To my delight, Heartfelt Creations recently introduced a new series of dies in their Sweet Peony collection. For this card, I selected their Large Sweet Peony Die.

One of the many advantages when using 0.6mm foamiran from Whimsy Stamps is that I was able to cut two layers of Purple Foamiran and two layers of Lilac Foamiran at one time. (I have cut as many as six layers with no difficulty.)  To make my life easier, I use the Gemini die cutting and embossing machine by Crafter’s Companion.

To enhance the petals, I blended Memento’s Sweet Plum to the outer edges of all the petals. To give you a great visual demo, please visit Monika Weclewski’s video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EyKwC68SP8. Monika is such a talented flower maker, I enjoy her demos.

That beautiful background paper is from USArt Quest called Indian Batik Marble, Forest Green. I love working with this type of paper and because of its texture, will often use it to create some of my leaves. There are dozens of colors in this exciting paper line – you may want to check it out.

To set the flower off, I added a fantastic laser-cut chipboard piece from 14 Craft Bar. Their collection of delicate chipboard art forms is fantastic and well worth a look-see.

Hope you enjoyed Todays Flower and will stop by again.

For now,

May God Bless You and Yours

The Same but Different…

Those of you who know me, know how I love creating dimensional flowers. But I have to be honest with you. In the beginning, I did not think I would ever be able to create anything that looked even close to a flower. I watched and studied the videos and tried to determine what I would need to make it work with just one hand. After searching on line, I ordered a few dies from Susan’s Garden (from Sizzix and Elizabeth Crafts) and Heartfelt Creations. I struggled and tossed out probably my first 2 dozen attempts. I do not like feeling defeated.

This quest for creating was about the same time I discovered the advantages of the alcohol- based Chameleon Pens.  In their August 2016 Newsletter, they featured an article by flower designer, Susan Tierney Cockburn (Susan’s Garden). That article really impressed me beyond anything.  I cannot explain why but it did. My flowers were becoming my passion.

I am still excited to create flowers from quality papers. However, a year ago, I discover the art of 0.6mm foamiran. I fell in love with that little softer and more realistic creation. There are actually times the foamiran feels like a real petal. Like the paper, the foam accepts a variety of coloration mediums. The shaping process is a little different but the assembly is similar. 

For me, I have found that I need the various metal dies to create the petals. I tried to master hand cutting but I will not go there!  I now have a nice collection of name brand dies and unbranded dies. Because of my physical situation, it is easier for me to work with the medium to larger designed dies.

The flowers shown on the two cards in this article, were actually cut with the same larger 4pc die set. I used white and an ivory colored 0.6mm foamiran for each then blended sage on the one’s petals and teal on the other.

If you would like more instruction regarding the process, just leave a message and I’ll send you more detail.

Well, it is almost time for Easter, so I had better get going and creating!

Till later my friend,

May God Bless You and Yours.