Calla Lilies...

I love Calla Lilies, known as Arum Lilies in some parts of the world. Their beautiful elegance is timeless.

The class chosen for the June Kit and Clowder Elements of Nature challenge is the Calla Lily class. Since I had already done that class in the original white, I decided to ask Google for some reference images of Calla Lilies in other colors. I found that the selection was endless and the choice was difficult.

My first one is a multicolored lily that shows off beautifully strong colors of pink, white, yellow and green. I opted to color the image on Kraft as I do love how pencil coloring pops on the natural background.

My second one is an elegant white lily with a dark, rich purple center. Again I colored it on Kraft colored paper to help the colors pop.

I mounted the images onto white cardbases but did not add sentiments that this time. I will do that when I use the card so that I can apply the appropriate wording for the occasion.

General supplies:
Strathmore Toned Tan sketch paper for the colored images
Gina Marie designs stitched rectangle die
Calla Lily digi stamp from Elements of Nature class
White cardbase
Prismacolor pencils

The bug challenge

I am sure you are wondering - What is a bug challenge??

That is this month's challenge over at Power Poppy. The challenge is to create a card with any sort of a bug on it and so here is my entry.

This card is a showcase of both the things I love doing, coloring and sewing.

The flowers are gerberas from the Kit and Clowder Elements of Nature class. I did them on Kraft paper as I love how pencils pop on Kraft. I cut the image out with a stitched rectangle die and adhered it to a bright yellow cardbase.

I decided to add a butterfly as my bug, but not as a colored image. The butterfly is an embroidered lace embellishment that I made myself. The wings are a mother-of-pearl organza and the stitching is done with Sulky embroidery thread. I adhered it to the card with Glossy Accents so that it will not go anywhere.

The card is completed with a "hello" sentiment that I cut with my Silhouette machine on black cardstock.

I am also entering this card into The Flower Challenge #9 'Anything Goes' challenge.

General supplies:
Strathmore Toned Tan sketch paper for the colored image
Gina Marie designs stitched rectangle die
Glossy Accents
Black cardstock cut with Silhouette for sentiment
Gerbera digi stamp from Elements of Nature class
Cardbase from Paper Studio Simple Basics collection
Organza and embroidery thread
Prismacolor pencils

Coloring a succulent

One of the lessons in the Kit and Clowder Elements of Nature class is the coloring of a succulent.

This is really a practice of transitioning two very different colors into each other and applying depth to the fleshy leaves with shading.

I had printed this image out a while ago while I was still using the Canson XL Drawing paper and so it was also interesting to use it again for this image. I most definitely prefer the toothier paper that is the Strathmore Paint Pad for laying down layers of color.

General supplies:
Canson XL Drawing paper
Berry digi stamp from the course
Prismacolor pencils

Berries galore

I had so enjoyed coloring in my new Twilight Garden book, but doing a double page spread did take some time and so I decided it was time to get back into the classroom.

This time I opted to complete the Berries lesson in my Elements of Nature course that I am doing with Kit and Clowder.

I love, love, love how the strawberry came out. Who knew that strawberries have so many little seeds on them when you just pop them into your mouth?? But adding a little dimension to each one, makes the strawberry look quite real.

The cherries were more difficult - they needed to be shiny and yet not look metallic and so that needs a bit more practice.

So now what next? Another pic in my book or a lesson in the classroom???

General supplies:
Strathmore Paint Pad watercolor paper
Berry digi stamp from the course
Prismacolor pencils

A coloring book

Here I am again with a new post. It has been a while and you will soon see why. Instead of coloring stamps, I decided to indulge in the Twilight Garden coloring book. It is full of beautiful floral illustrations by the Swedish artist, Maria Trolle and you know that I love to color flowers.

This book is printed on good quality paper and I found it to be wonderful when working in it with my Prismacolor colored pencils.

Obviously, I had to start out with a two-page spread and I just love that some of the images have a black background.

I drew some of my color inspiration from Chris Cheng's YouTube video, including the red flowers, the leaves and the critters (though I did not include the white dots on the butterfly, I preferred it without).

I started out with the red and yellow flowers.

On the remaining two flowers I could not decide whether to make them orange or blue. Hubby was not much help in making a decision, so I opted for one of each.

This made the vibrant butterfly stand out nicely on the blue flower.

I completed the image by doing the greenery, the birds and the snail and adding water drops to the whole image. Since this month's Kit and Clowder Elements of Nature technique class challenge is the dew drops lesson and I had already done that image, I will be entering this one.

Prismacolor pencils
White Signo Uni-ball UM-153 gel pen

Daffodils on a note page

It has been a while since I have been able to share a creation with you. Life interfers with crafting at times as all you crafters out there know. But it was good. I got a special visitor from across the seas and I designed Peter Bear.

I have discovered PowerPoppy as I have told you before and this project is my contribution to the April monthly challenge.

The challenge was to use one of three sketches as inspiration for the project.

I used sketch 2 and used an image from PowerPoppy's Daffodils stampset. I stamped the image onto Strathmore Paint Pad watercolor paper and colored it using my Prismacolor colored pencils. I added the notepad page to a cardbase and then added the colored image which I had cut out with my Silhouette Cameo.

This is to be a card for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day and so I added the word "Mother" to the front using Concord & 9th's Perfectly Penned stampset and added randomly placed hearts with Memento Rose Bud ink. The sentiment is completed on the inside of the card with a personal note.

Since this month's Kit and Clowder Elements of Nature challenge is also Daffodils, I will be entering this project there too.

General supplies:
Strathmore Paint Pad watercolor paper
Cardbase from Paper Studio
White notepad page
Momento Tuxedo Black ink
Momento Rose Bud ink
Concord & 9th Perfcectly Penned stampset
PowerPoppy Daffodils stampset
Prismacolor pencils

Rainbows and unicorns

Do you know the feeling of just making something by the skin of your teeth? Well that is what happened with this coloring project.

I participated in the Kit and Clowder Facebook group coloring challenge with the cute image of a girl on her unicorn kindly given by Craftin Desert Divas and started the coloring last Sunday, but was not able to get back to it until today. And it closes tonight!

Using my favorite coloring medium, I did the image with my Prismacolor pencils. I again used my Strathmore Paint Pad paper and drew heavily from the horse lesson that I had previously done in the All About Animals class. To make the mane sparkly, I added some Wink of Stella.

The background is done with Momento Ink blending on regular white cardstock. I cut the inked background with a stitched rectangle die and applied it to a cardbase. I fussy cut the colored image and glued it to the panel. The simple sentiment is heat embossed in white on black cardstock and adhered with foam tape to pop it up a bit.

I enjoyed doing this brightly colored image. Bright colors have always inspired me - I love them. Since the unicorn is pink and pink is the color of Craftin Desert Diva's April moodboard, I entered this project into their challenge also.

General supplies:
Strathmore Paint Pad watercolor paper
Cardbase from Paper Studio
White cardstock for card panel
Gina Marie design stitched rectangle die #2
Black cardstock
Versamark watermark ink
White embossing powder
Wink of Stella Clear
Prismacolor pencils
Momento inks