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Monday, February 26, 2018

Luck of the Irish - Blog Hop & Giveaway

HOWWW is it almost St. Patrick's Day? That seems nearly impossible, but it's true.

This is one of my favorite stamping holidays, even though I am not generally fan of the color green. Pretty weird for an Irish chick, but there it is. I have thought about this a lot, and I think it's because it's such a pleasing color in nature, but in every other format, it's horrible and unnatural looking. So the greens I like tend to be very acidic, bright, yellowy greens, because they don't look like a terrible failure to recreate the complex color of an artichoke, or a blue spruce, or a rose leaf. I'm weird, I know - but I'm being honest. I'm outside a lot, so I see a lot of true, natural green, and to come inside and see it in a cardstock is sort of disappointing, if that makes sense.

So strangely enough, one of this year's favorite colors for me is Lemon Lime Twist - because it is that perfect, bright, almost neon green that is bright, happy, and goes with everything. Kelly green makes me want to hurl :). So when I do St. Patrick's Day cards, I like them both bright and nuanced, which is what I hope I did with these stunning shamrocks from Heffy Doodle.

The stamp set I used is adorable! You know I like to transform stamps to double their value, so I challenged myself to make an elegant card with a very UBER cute stamp style. Did I do it? I used the magical fadeout ink to stamp the shamrocks, masking them so some are behind others with my masking paper. Then I painted them with Daniel Smith watercolor, shading them with a deep purple, which is my favorite way to shade foliage. The panel behind the watercolor is my favorite paper, because it has a beautiful floral pattern in Lemon Lime Twist. I added a few gold highlights (New Gamboge), for a symbolic pot of gold tribute. The sentiment is from the stamp set as well. Sadly, my Iphone ate the video for this card.

Want a fun fact about the shamrock? The shamrock has been registered as a trademark by the government of Ireland! It's true!







Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink
[ INK ]
Heffy Doodle LUCKY FRIENDS Clear...
[ SSS ]
Heffy Doodle LUCKY FRIENDS Dies hfd0022
[ SSS ]
Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors
[ BLIC ]
Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes...
[ BLIC | ELH ]
Stewart Superior Memories India Ink...
[ AMZUS ]
Fabriano Artistico 140 lb. Cold Press...
[ AMZUS ]
Fresh Florals Designer Series Paper...
[ SUP ]
Whisper White Cardstock - Thick
[ SUP ]
Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock by...
[ 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 ]

Today I'm a guest for a blog hop with Heffy Doodle and My Sweet Petunia - and you can win prizes! Two lucky commenters will win one of our prizes today - a $50 shopping spree at www.mysweetpetunia.com and a 25 pound shopping spree at www.Heffydoodle.com - you must leave your comments no later than Sunday, March 4th, at 11:59 PM Central time and winners will be announced on Tuesday March 6th, on the Heffy Doodle and My Sweet Petunia blogs.

Have fun hopping and may the luck of the Irish be with you!

Loveyameanitbye.

55 comments:

  1. Your card is exquisite! I love the purple highlights behind the #onlygreen lemon-lime twist.

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  2. Love your card and the way you colored the shamrocks! Love this stamp set

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  3. Super cute card! Loved the way you did the masking! Thanks for the fun fact too!

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  4. This is a lovely card, such awesome painting. I shall try reaching for dark purple next time I need a shadow colour.

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  5. Adorable card! Thank you for the inspiration!

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  6. Total sweetness! Going green is always the best thing to do!

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  7. Your card is adorable. I feel the same way about how fast these first two months have flown by. How CAN it be almost March already?
    But, I have to disagree about the color green. I LOVE green colors - all of them! My family used to tease me that I only joined the Army so I could wear green everyday.

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  8. Love your card. Too bad there isn't a 4-leaf clover in there!!! Thank you for the opportunity to win.

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    1. There is in the set - I just didn't use it. :) Thank you!

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  9. So pretty. Love the softness, the green, and simple design. A lovey giveaway. Thank you for your inspiration!

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  10. What a great C & S card....love it!!!!
    Paper Hugs,
    Jan

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  11. How fun! These clovers look great with this paper. Such a great card!

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  12. You did it! I knew you could! :) Pretty card!

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  13. Love this card with the clovers, the background and the watercoloring is lovely!

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  14. What a lovely bright and cheery card! Love the simplicity and clean look. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  15. I have a granddaughter who at age 11 still designs a 3D box for the leprechauns to come visit. She goes all out. She is also my little who can stamp perfectly! This set is perfect for the both of us!!

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  16. Great sentiment to remind those who you love!

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  17. Awesome card! I hate your phone for eating the video:-))

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  18. My two favorite colors, purple and green! I love them together. I love how you made the shamrocks your own, I forget that stamps can be altered. I haven't found that many stamp sets out there for St. Patricks Day, I like this one.

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  19. I am not familiar with this company but want to check it out.
    Your card is amazing, love the colour blends you achieved.
    xx Karen

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  20. I do believe that you did take a "cute" stamp set and made an elegant card!

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  21. Hey, you need some love and appreciation from Ireland for this beauty! I love, love, love your card - I know what you mean about achieving natural shades of green, but this is perfect!

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  22. Love the coloring on your shamrocks! Pretty card!

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  23. A super cute card Lydia. Another fun fact about St. Patrick's day: IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! LOL

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  24. Your card is beautiful ! Please tell your IPhone for me that it's not polite to eat any video - LOL ! I would have loved to see your coloring technique and the creation of the card.

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  25. Oh, wow!! I really love your card! Thank you for sharing!

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  26. So. Dang. Cute. Lovely coloring as always!

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  27. I like the simplicity of your card.

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  28. Clean and simple design, but so so pretty! Wonderful coloring work!

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  29. I love the sentiment - with the use of the Shamrock. I love this colour green or greens. :O)

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  30. Stunning card - such a simple design, but so effective. Your colouring is amazing!

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  31. Nice CAS card.. I always struggle with all the white space... your card works very nicely!! :D

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  32. love the design of this card - thanks for sharing:)

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  33. You achieved your goal--beautiful and elegant.

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  34. Fantastic coloring love everything about your card it is pretty!!!! Thanks for the inspiration!!! 😊😊😊

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  35. I love that you used the shamrocks as a focal point! Beautiful card

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  36. This card is so beautiful! Truly stunning, those little clover leaves are just s perfect focal point for your sentiment and the simple background of white really highlights your beautiful coloring. I just love it!

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  37. Gorgeous colors!! Please do a video using the yellow/green with the purple shading again soon, I would love to see it in action. :)

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  38. Beautiful card, love the colours you have chosen

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  39. Very pretty and
    love the row of
    Shamrocks.
    Carla from Utah

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  40. Your clovers leaves are colored gorgeously!!

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  41. I think you created a fantastic elegant card! No wonder that background paper is your favorite; it really does draw out the light green tones of the shamrocks. And I love how the purple shading worked. It's just lovely. Thank you so much for sharing and participating in this hop, even though your phone ate your video.

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  42. Wow, loved the colouring of the clover leaves. It is really stunning!!!

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  43. *Thud* That no line colouring is so awesome, Lydia! Lovely design!

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