The Storied History of Pink & Green - Blog Hop & Giveaway

Pink and green might actually be the reason I'm employed full time in the crafting industry.

I've stamped since I was a young teen. I was one of the people of my generation that embossed first over a gas stove. I, of course, do not in any way endorse or support crafting with actual fire anymore, but back in the olden days, we were less risk-averse, and also, heat guns hadn't been invented yet.

But if you fast forward to 2001, I went to a Stampin' Up! workshop where the demonstrator rolled two rollers over a white lunch bag, and we all lost our danged minds. The rollers were Posy and Vine, and the inks were Pink Passion and Green Galore.

There was actual screaming coming out of our actual faces.

She tied some organdy (gags me now) ribbon on it and called it a "wow bag." It was a wow, alright.

I've loved that lime/hot pink combo ever since, but it's evolved a bit now that I watercolor and color with colored pencils.

Two things in nature make excellent use of this combo - prickly pear cactus, and succulents.

So I have succulents for you today. I did these on vacation. I had picked up some Mi Teintes toned grey paper, which I love to use with pencils, and I stamped this image from Technique Tuesday in Fadeout ink. I like to use a coloring glove when I color, because pastel paper will absorb the oil from your skin and you can get prints on your paper, which would be sad after spending time coloring an image. When I got home, I trimmed the paper with this stitched edges die (a staple in my crafting diet), and matted it on Melon Mambo, cut with the same die. I mounted that on some woodgrain cardstock - and guess what I found?? The site that carries this cardstock also has matching WOODGRAIN ENVELOPES! Those are on their way to me! WHEE!

The sentiment die is also from Technique Tuesday. I've longed for a die that just says "hey" - pretty much my favorite thing to say. The matching stamp set is beautiful too.

The image is colored with these pencils.

Technique Tuesday Dies, Sweet... [ ELH ] Technique Tuesday Greenhouse Society... [ ELH ] Technique Tuesday Greenhouse Society... [ ELH ] Technique Tuesday Dies, Magnolia... [ ELH ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] My Favorite Things Die-namics,... [ ELH ] Blick Studio Artists' Colored Pencils... [ BLIC ] 10710-2013 - Canson Mi-Teintes Pads -... [ BLIC ] 8 1/2 x 11 Tindalo Brown Wood Grain... [ PPR ] A2 Tindalo Brown Wood Grain... [ PPR ] Melon Mambo 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock by... [ SUP ] Whisper White Cardstock - Thick [ SUP ] Sizzix BIG SHOT EXPRESS Gray and... [ SSS | CST | BMS | ART | SBC ] Coloring Glove - Anti-Smudge [ AMZUS ] Derwent Battery-Operated Eraser [ BLIC | AMZUS ] Ipoint Orbit Pencil Sharpener, Turquoise [ AMZUS | BLIC ] Global Art Classic Leather Pencil Cases [ BLIC | AMZUS ] Staedtler Mars Plastic Erasers [ BLIC | JGG | AMZUS ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Multipurpose Liquid Glue (110755) [ SUP ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | SBC | MFT ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Bone Folder by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ] Multipurpose Liquid Glue by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ]

This card is part of a fun blog hop with my friends at Technique Tuesday and My Sweet Petunia. I adore Bev and Teri - they are long time buddies and great people. If you have not met Teri Anderson, I highly recommend it. She's sweet, hilarious and has the most beautiful, soft voice I've ever heard.

If you leave a comment on all the blogs in the hop, you will be entered to win one of two prizes - $50 shopping sprees at these two sites! Leave your comments by Monday, May 28th at 11:59 PM Central Time to be eligible. Winners will be announced on the My Sweet Petunia and Technique Tuesday blogs on Tuesday, May 29th.

So here are all the hop stops - enjoy! I have another card in this hop - you'll see it when you get there. :)

Teri Anderson

Ilina Crouse

Latisha Yoast

Jeanne Streiff

Daniela Dobson

Kia Gibson-Clapper

Kymona Tracey

Ceal Pritchett

Heather Hoffman

Giovana Smith

Emily Leiphart

Stephanie Severin

Jill Hawkins 

Susan Wymer

Amy Kolling

Chris Dayton

Dana Joy

Lydia Fiedler

My Sweet Petunia

Loveyameanitbye.

You are a Rare Find

My grandfather was, among other things, a gemologist. He passed that on to my mom, who often had a rock tumbler going when I was little - I can vividly remember it running, and seeing the magic of a stone that was "polished" by just smacking around against other rocks. If this were a different sort of blog, you'd be reading about how there is a life metaphor in there, somewhere.

I loved Hank's obsession with "rocks" #theyremineralsMarie on Breaking Bad - because those "rocks" were so much easier to study than the monsters he was chasing. It was such a well done part of the show.

As a very young child, I could identify semi-precious stones, and the child's delight in seeing a smooth piece of malachite or lapis or bronzite is fired right up again every time I gaze upon my Daniel Smith Primateks, which is a part of the Daniel Smith line that has pigments made from actual semi-precious stones like these. (For those of you in my watercolor split group - split H contains most of the Primateks.)

So there couldn't be a better match than some Daniel Smith and this beautiful new Geode bundle from Concord & 9th.

I brought this on vacation with me - I literally had hundreds of pounds of supplies with me this time for some reason - and I had so much fun painting it. I used both Primateks and iridescent/duochrome paints from Daniel Smith - duochrome turquoise and Aztec gold - but you can really only see the iridescent on the sentiment here - but it is in the geode too.

I embossed the stamp image with white embossing powder first, and then painted it over a few days, adding darker colors as I came back to it. Speaking of embossing, have you tried the new embossing ink from Inkon3? It has an extremely firm pad, and so your stamp doesn't mush down into it and get messy, but it's a very juicy embossing ink. I think you'd love it - it's very different, and I have probably five different embossing inks.

Then when I got home, I die cut the sentiment from the bundle from black cardstock, and painted the Aztec Gold watercolor on it.

The geode sparkles are this fun clear glitter. Both the geodes in this set have matching dies. I cut mine out after painting before adding it to a white card base.

Geode BUNDLE - Concord & 9th [ C&9 ] Avery Elle COARSE GLITTER G1801 at... [ SSS ] Juicy Clear Embossing & Watermark Ink [ INK ] PW111 Ultra Fine Embossing Powder |... [ HA ] Duochrome Turquoise - Daniel Smith... [ BLIC ] Iridescent Aztec Gold - Daniel Smith... [ BLIC ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes... [ BLIC | ELH ] Fabriano Artistico 140 lb. Cold Press... [ AMZUS ] Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock by... [ SUP ] Whisper White Cardstock - Thick [ SUP ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | SBC ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART | SBC ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Multipurpose Liquid Glue by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] Heat Tool (Us And Canada) by Stampin'... [ SUP ] Sizzix BIG SHOT EXPRESS Gray and... [ SSS | CST | BMS | ART | SBC ]

The sparkles are so much cooler in real life - but as we all know - cameras are thieves of sparkle, like raccoons or crows. :)

You are a rare find, you know.

Loveyameanitbye.

Here's Looking at You, Kid!

I was at a retreat with my sweet friend Tifany last month, and she was nice enough to give me a few of the stamp sets she released today. Probably mostly because I squealed and whined and generally begged for them. She's a mom, and she homeschools her kids, so there's only so much whining she can take. Never understimate my ability to spot a weak moment to get a stamp set! :)

But in reality, I love her style - it's just like her. Sweet, whimsical, funny and smart. I have not laughed as hard in a long time as I did with her over those few days. She's also one of those people who knows how to give herself completely over to a laugh, which is one of my favorite qualities in a person.

My process for this simple first card took a few steps. First I stamped the foxes from Flopsy Forest Friends in Fadeout Ink on watercolor paper, and then masked them with masking paper. I also masked the ground with Post-It tape. Then I stamped the wheat images over them in Mustard Seed Distress Ink, leaving the stamp on the MISTI. Then I used a wet paintbrush to spread the ink around. With Wild Honey, I then overstamped the yellow watercolored ink. I repeated this across the image. Before removing the fox masks or the tape, I painted a little bit of blue in between the wheat stalks.

Then I just removed all the masks, and listened to a podcast while I painted the foxes.

I'll do anything to procrastinate prepping for my retreat next week, I tell ya. This stamp set is so cute - remember my Flopsy Birds card? This set is its cousin - Flopsy Forest Friends. I LOVE how she always has sets of two critters that can face each other - it's so sweet. This image is all one one stamp, but many of the other critters are separate, so you can make all sorts of scenes. Adorable.

Ink Blot Shop Clear Stamp Set FLOPSY... [ SSS ] Ink Blot Shop Clear Stamp Set BILLY... [ SSS ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad... [ SSS | JGG | BMS | ELH ] Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad WILD HONEY... [ SSS | CRF | BMS | ELH ] Tsukineko VersaFine Clair NOCTURNE... [ SSS | ELH ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes... [ BLIC | ELH ] Fabriano Artistico 140 lb. Cold Press... [ AMZUS ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | SBC ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART | SBC ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Multipurpose Liquid Glue by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock by... [ SUP ] Whisper White Cardstock - Thick [ SUP ] Avery Self-Adhesive Removable Laser... [ AMZUS ] Post-it Labeling and Cover-Up Tape ,... [ AMZUS ] Paper Snips (103579) [ SUP ]

Then I moved on to the ADORABLE Billy Silly Goat set. I really would love to have a goat, but I think our HOA frowns on it. Dictators! I think Splotchy would love to ride around on a goat. I'm basing this on how much he rides around on our shoulders. 

I stamped the hay bale first in Fadeout Ink. Then I stamped the goat - and I didn't bother to mask because I knew the ink would fade out, so I didn't have to worry about the images being stamped on top of each other. Then I just painted him, using light flicks with my brush on the hay and on his fur.

The sentiments for both cards is stamped in Nocturne.

Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] Tsukineko VersaFine Clair NOCTURNE... [ SSS | ELH ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes... [ BLIC | ELH ] Fabriano Artistico 140 lb. Cold Press... [ AMZUS ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | SBC ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART | SBC ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Multipurpose Liquid Glue by Stampin' Up! [ SUP ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock by... [ SUP ] Whisper White Cardstock - Thick [ SUP ] Ink Blot Shop Clear Stamp Set BILLY... [ SSS ]

Now to send these off, I also used one of her new sets that's designed just for mail art. Mail art was one of my first stamping loves, and I used to (inspired by Nick Bantock) decorate envelopes for the LETTERS I used to send before I started making cards. A lot of us wrote letters to each other in college. I'm officially old. 

I still maintain that it's way better than a text, so don't start with me. Even though now I've practically forgotten how to hold a pen, I long for the days of letters about daily life. 

Anyhoo - I used one of the many cute borders in the Envelope Mail Art stamp set to stamp the paper airplane. Then I just lined up the other three stamps in the MISTI and stamped all of them at once. I used an ice blue and a white Blick Studio Pencils for quick coloring. I LOVE my Studio Pencils - these are an excellent quality, affordable pencil. I picked them up in Columbus last year and I find myself reaching for them every time I do a colored pencil card. 

Ink Blot Shop Clear Stamp Set... [ SSS ] Studio Katia A2 NEENAH DESERT STORM... [ SSS ] Blick Studio Artists' Colored Pencils... [ BLIC ] Coloring Glove - Anti-Smudge [ AMZUS ] Derwent Battery-Operated Eraser [ BLIC | AMZUS ] Ipoint Orbit Pencil Sharpener, Turquoise [ AMZUS | BLIC ] Global Art Classic Leather Pencil Cases [ BLIC | AMZUS ] Staedtler Mars Plastic Erasers [ BLIC | JGG | AMZUS ]

You can see the rest of her fun goodies here for her May release.

She's an awesome mom, friend, teacher and a sweet girl. I love being able to call her a friend - buying stamps is a bonus! 

Loveyameanitbye.