Celebrating Greenery

You may know that Greenery is the Pantone color of the year for 2017. The folks over at PowerPoppy (I love their flower stamps) are doing a Let's Go Green challenge this month to celebrate the fresh color. What a better subject than a green leaf with dewdrops glimmering on them?

Dewdrops is a lesson in the Kit and Clowder Elements of Nature class and so I got out my Prismacolor colored pencils and got busy. It was like magic, how with just a bit of shading and adding of highlights, that circles came to life to form droplets. I was so pleased with the result.

To complete the card, I used a green Paper Studio cardbase and layer a patterned paper as well as a cardstock layer that I had embossed with a woodgrain embossing folder. I added the image and a sentiment in opposite corners.

I think the celebration of fresh green came together very nicely.

General supplies:
Strathmore Paint Pad watercolor paper
Cardbase from Paper Studio
Green patterned paper
Green cardstock
Momento Tuxedo Black ink
Sentiment from PowerPoppy's In Praise of Sunflowers stampset
Heart from Hero Arts Acts of Kindness stampset
Darice wood grain embossing folder
Prismacolor pencils

Resist technique with embossing power

I have seen many people do the resist technique with clear or white embossing powder and I really wanted to try it out with a flower image. So the other day when I received PowerPoppy's "In Praise of Sunflowers" stampset, I decided that the single sunflower was the perfect image for this experiment.

I used my DIY stamp positioning tool to stamp a letter size page full of flowers. I stamped and embossed and stamped and embossed as it was difficult to see where I had stamped with the clear ink on white cardstock.

Then I cut the page into 4 notecard size panels and did each one a different color combo. I have Momento dye inks in the dew drop size and using my DIY blending sponges, I was fascinated how the flowers popped off the page when I applied the color.

I then cut the panels down with the second size stitched rectangle die from my Gina Marie Design stitched rectangle dies set and applied each to a card base. I added a sentiment to each card by embossing with white powder on black cardstock.

I love the results and will definitely do this again.

These cards were also entered into Day 20 of the Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge

General supplies:
White cardstock for card panel and cardbase
Black cardstock cut with Silhouette for sentiment
Versamark watermark ink
White embossing powder
PowerPoppy "In Praise of Sunflowers" stamp set
Hero Arts "Acts of Kindness" stamp set
Stampabilities "Card Phrases" stamp set
Momento inks

Berries and feathers

So how do berries and feathers go together? When they are in the same image and one ends up practicing the light and shade of each to create a dimensional look.

Not only did I try new techniques here with this image, but also new paper. If you have read my previous posts, you will have noted that I am still in search of a good paper that does not cost me an arm and a leg. I found a pad of paper at my local store called Paint Pad and it is a Strathmore product. The price was very right and so I decided to try it. The paper is smoother on one side and more textured on the other. For this project, I used the textured side and it was so amazing to work on.

The tooth of the paper held the pencil pigment well and I was able to blend with my usual pencil to pencil technique.

This image is from the Kit and Clowder monthly classes - March 2017.

I also entered this image in the Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge - Day 18.

General supplies:
Strathmore Paint Pad watercolor paper
Digital stamp from Kit and Clowder March monthly class
White Gelly Roll gel pen
Large paper stump
Prismacolor pencils

Lilies

Today I have another coloring post to share with you. Again, this one participates in two challenges - the Kit and Clowder Elements of Nature class challenge and the Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge. I colored lilies.

These flowers are done with my Prismacolor pencils and I again used Watercolor paper. I had previously done a test on watercolor paper and really enjoyed how many layers I could lay down to get such a vibrant color. So I wanted to try it with a more detailed image. I love the result.

Thank you to inspiration I received from another colorist in the Kit and Clowder Facebook group, I used the texture of the toothy paper to produce a rougher background. I applied only two layers of color and did not flatten the tooth.

I will definitely be experimenting some more with watercolor paper and my pencils.

General supplies:
Master's Touch 4 x 6 watercolor paper for card panel
Digital stamp from Kit and Clowder Elements of Nature class
Prismacolor pencils

Two Challenges

Today you get to see a first on various levels. This is the first time I have tried coloring up a horse and this is my entry for the first day of the Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge and the first time I am participating in this challenge.

This is a lesson from the Kit and Clowder All About Animals class and I colored it using my Prismacolor pencils. It was a very interesting transition on the horse from the smooth fur that is the horse's face to the hairy mane.

I love chestnut horses in real life and so that was the reasoning for using this more reddish/orange coloring on my practice round here.

I am participating in two challenges with this image. The first one is the Kit and Clowder All About Animals class challenge and the second one is the Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge.

General supplies:
Canson XL Drawing 70 lb for the colored image
Prismacolor pencils