Creative Confetti: Sketch it Out!

Hello all and happy Tuesday! Being that so many of you love a good sketch, it's time for another one! Are you ready as I reach down into my bag of tricks and throw out this week's Creative Confetti???

HOW TO PLAY: It's as simple as following the sketch below! And, to give you a little creative license, feel free to change shapes or flip the sketch any which way. It's doesn't matter as long as we can "see" the sketch and feel your inspiration! 

Here's a peek at this month's sketch!

And here's a look at my creation! 

This is an oldie but goodie that I created a while back using Power Poppy's Climbing Clematis digital stamp set.  I share because I know that it is always nice having a sample to set your sights on to "see" the little sketch in action!

This card is really pretty easy peasy! I used diecut shapes to get literally every cut. The sentiment is also from the Climbing Clematis digital stamp set and the paper is a mix of Stampin' Up and some scraps from my decorative paper bin. I had a blast coloring this image and really love the vibrant colors. I used my Copic markers, of course, and reached for B60, B63, B66, RV00, G20, G21, G24 and G28. The butterfly was colored with Y35, YR04 and YR07. The whole image was highlighted thanks to RV0000 and R00. Then, when all was said and done, I did accent the little fluttering butterfly with some white gel pen and some sparkle gel pen as well!


Here's a close up for y'all!

And that, my friends, is it! Want to join me this week? Simply create, post and then link up using the linky below! As we always say, if you get those fingers inky and play along, each and every link is an opportunity to win a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop! Woo Hoo!

So, the reason why I didn't have time to create a new card is because July 15th was my daughter's Sweet 16!!! We were a little busy honoring the special day. Funny story -- for her birthday she wanted to go to one of the diner's in town. Why, you ask? Because on the menu they have what's called the "Vacation Breakfast," which consists of a huge slice of chocolate cake AND a chocolate shake - basically you pay for a food coma. Here's a little picture of her face as this beauty was arriving at the table!! LOL!

Ahhhh to be young and not worry about calories! ;-) Well, my sweet stamping friends, I hope you play along with me this week! Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time!
~Julie 

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Star Spangled Hues!

Hello you color lovin' peeps! Today's Hues to Use is going to give a nod to the ole red, white & blue on this eve of our nation's Independence Day! It didn't take long to find a photo in Marcella's IG stream that would be a good fit, so here's your inspiration so you can get cracking -- just like those fireworks that are about to be set off in skies all across the nation tomorrow night! 

If you know Marcella, you know one of her intense loves professionally is typography. She loves how the words fit on a page. She loves the curves of different fonts and how they all meld with each other. She loves the graphical punch you can create with words alone! So, it's no surprise that on one of her family jaunts, she snapped a pic of this sign, simply because she loved its flair! By the way, you'll find the Flash Cafe in Saint Genevieve, Missouri! 

HOW TO PLAY: Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! All you need to do is use these shades of red, white and blue on your card or creation and then link up your project below for all to see! 

And now, drum roll please, it's time to meet our next ab fab guest hostess of the mostess for this week's Hues to Use! After reading a little bit about her, get ready to be WOWED by her creation using our patriotic color cues! 

"Hi there! This is Kim. I live in San Diego, CA where the weather is pretty nice year round and we enjoy beautiful beaches all along the coast. I am "mom" to a bunch of awesome grown kids. My baby just graduated from high school this year. I work from home with my own business and love every minute of it. In my spare time, I enjoy a good movie with my family or spend whatever time I can at the beach. 

KIM'S CREATION

When I thought about the colors for this challenge and the Climbing Clematis digital stamp I chose, I looked up this flower to see the variety of colors the climbing clematis comes in. I opted to go with red for the flowers and work the blue and white around it. I used various shades of red and chose to keep some of the flowers at the top a bit lighter for light/contrast. I added some red, white and blue sequins to add some sparkle --- after all, it is for celebrating the 4th of July.

Thank you, Julie, for the opportunity to play along with this fun challenge!

Oh. My. GOSH! Don't you all just love that bold red on the crisp, clean and very white backdrop? Yes. Yes. YES! I absolutely do. I think this is a stunning creation and love the addition of the little sparkly sequins. I might need to CASE (copy and steal everything) this card I love it that much. Thanks so much to Kim for sharing her incredible talents with us! We should point out if you want to see more of Kim's work, it's just a hop, skip and jump over to her place on the web -- Lily Patch Stamps! 

Now my sweet stamping friends, it is your turn to take these patriotic colors for a test drive! Let's see what you've got! After you do, don't forget to link up your creation and share! We absolutely love taking a gander at your color inspired works of art!


Until next week!
~Julie

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspire Me Monday: Shaped Card with Kathy Racoosin

Note from Marcella:
After you check out Kathy’s gorgeous post below, scroll down to see our newest digital download from the Instant Garden, and get links to our designers’ cards!

 

Hello Friends, How are you today? I am delighted to be back for another installment of Inspire Me Monday!  :) Have you heard about The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge? I am the creator of the challenge and we are in the middle of the fourth challenge. I have found that crafters like to have permission to color & to have the freedom to NOT create a card. Just to color for the sake of coloring.

Today I wanted to share a little bit of both. Let’s start out with this beautiful stamp set called, Orchids Rock. When I am coloring something every day I find myself reaching out of my comfort zone. I might use an unusual color combination or color a background that I might not normally go for. Case in point my coloring today. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this background but, I went for it. Let’s just say it looks artistic? I like the color combo but, I think next time I will square off the background. Lots of dots with the Copic markers and a white gel pen softened the harsh background but, I enjoyed doing it and that’s what’s important here. 

The orchids were super easy to “blend” with the colors I chose. I hope this mini tutorial helps you out if you aren’t comfortable blending colors. 

 I have been having printer issues and was finally able to print this beautiful digital stamp set called, Climbing Clematis (I printed the digial flower on 80 lb neenah cardstock).

Our printer is pretty basic and I didn’t have any problems with the ink on the paper smearing. Whew! My big decision of the day was to color this beautiful print over the course of a few days & frame it or cut out the flower to make a shaped card for the post today. 

That’s the beauty of digital prints .... they can be enlarged! I printed the Clematis again and cut out both flowers. I used a black marker along the white edges to give my card a polished look. The back of the card was scored and glued on to colored flower.

Thank you for letting me share with you today and I hope you take some time to do something you enjoy.

Hugs, Kathy

P.S. If you are interested in the coloring challenge it's never to late to join in at The Daily Marker. 

Keep Climbing with our new Clematis digi

Hello and thank you for coming by to check out our newest digital introduction, Climbing Clematis!

It’s a busy Labor Day weekend so I’m going to cut to the chase with this one, so you can get over to our designers’ blogs to soak up the beauty of possibilities with this illustration and sentiment.

I can wait to share some of my adventures with Clematis in the garden, as they really are magical plants, and their twisty tendrils and starry seedheads just as fascinating as the flowers themselves. Pretty sure the butterflies agree with me!

I think these ladies have created cards that will send you into the happiest of tailspins — so let’s go take a tour! For today we have some of our beautiful Bloomies AND an enchanting Instant Gardener to showcase Climbing Clematis. Feeling so grateful to be able to share this loveliness with you today:

Cindy Lawrence

Christine Okken

Cheryl Scrivens

By the way.... both Cindy AND Cheryl had a birthday this week! Wishing a Happy Birthday and a big weekend of fun and family and all the good things in life to these two special gals!! xoxo

Have a fantastic weekend, loving wishes to ALL OF YOU!