An Ode to Hollyhocks - Inkon3 Blog Hop & Giveaway

Are you a gardener?

One of the many things I love about Santa Fe is the flowers in the spring.

To have really beautiful flowers like they do there, the soil temperature has to drop at night, which ours never does. (Dropping down to 90 degrees doesn't really count).

This spring when we went, the hollyhocks were blooming in profusion - that is one of my favorite flowers, but I have to visit them in other states, so I did.

They come in all different colors, and they actually grow fairly tall and are a pretty sturdy plant - they were springing up out of teeny cracks in the sidewalks there and it was just a joy to see.

So of course I had to have this new hollyhock stamp! It's a nice size for watercolor, so I used my Daniel Smith and some Fadeout ink to bring it to life. (Colors used: Quinacridone Rose, Quinacridone Magenta, Burnt Umber, Carbazole Violet, Permanent Yellow Deep, Raw Sienna,  Green Gold)

Now, I did cheat a bit on the flower centers and stray from the artwork a bit - I just kept mine very flat and simple.

I added the most detail to the large flower in the center, and left the others a little lighter and less detailed just to draw your eye there. I kept the colors pretty limited, which I like to do, and I used the small sentiment from the hollyhock stamp set in black in the corner.

Hollyhocks 4x6 Clear Stamps [ INK ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] Blackout Waterproof Detail Ink [ INK ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Escoda Versatil Brushes [ BLIC ] 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 ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | ART | BLIC ] Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, 0.88... [ ELH ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ] Ink Off Stamp Cleaner [ INK ]

Now the cool thing about Fadeout ink is that it was designed to grab that watercolor pigment when you start painting and emphasize the stamped line. Then over time, it fades out completely.

Here's a terrible cell phone photo of how it grabs the paint. See how easy it is to see the lines?

Then it just fades over time.

Pretty cool stuff. She also has a great black hybrid ink for both alcohol and watercolor, AND she has a new cleaner that will remove staining from your stamps, as well as a cute purple cleaning towel. 

Her team is having a blog hop today and invited me to join them to celebrate her new release - how could I say no? Here are the designers in the hop today, and if you comment on each blog in the hop, you'll be entered to win one of two $25 shopping sprees at Inkon3. 

Anthony Macaluso

Cheryl Hoogenstyn Becker

You are Here >> Lydia Fiedler << You are Here

Kristin Courtney

Kelli Cool

Ink on 3

Ilda Dias

Dana Kersey Joy

Courtney Miles

Have fun hollyhoppin'! :)

Loveyameanitbye.