Hues that Give Thanks!

Hello fine folks! It's that time in the week when we spin the color wheel and see what "Hues to Use" for our creative endeavors! Since this week brings a special holiday here in the States, I thought I would cue up a charming little photo from Marcella's IG Feed that truly shares the mojo of the Thanksgiving Holiday! Take a look at the shot below and *try* not to lick your computer screen! I know it will be tempting, but please try! ;-) 

To play along, all you have to do is use these rich shades of pumpkin, latte and cocoa in one of your creations! Then, don't forget to link it up below and share with us all! We LOVE to see your take on our weekly trio of colors! 

With that treat, I get to usher in yet another! We have a fabulous guest designer who's making this trip over to the Power Poppy blog from the eastern half of the states. Say "hello" will you to......

Hi, my name is Julie Gearinger and I live in Frederick, Maryland with my wonderful husband of 34+ years and two beautiful kitties, Angel and Victoria. Since childhood, I have been artistic and was always drawing and/or painting- my mother would have to pry me away from my artwork to help with the housework- lol!!

In 1999 I attended my very first stamping home party and was immediately hooked! I love the fact that with stamping, we can create something beautiful that will encourage others in addition to sharing with them how they can be artists as well!

I started my blog Stamping with Julie Gearinger in 2010 and have enjoyed being on several Design Teams over the years. I feel so honored to be the Guest Designer for this challenge at Power Poppy and hope that --- after you see my card -- you'll be inspired to join us!

JULIE'S CARD

I know, many of you may cringe at the thought of digital stamps and feel that digital images are too intimidating, but trust me, they are so easy to use!! You can import them into photo editing software (I generally use the retired Stampin’ Up! My Digital Studio™ program or Word) or you can use another word processing program. You can enlarge or reduce the image, flip it and/or crop it, then print it out on cardstock, watercolor or other paper. Then you just color as you would a stamped image. It is so easy to create different looks with just one image plus another major benefit for me is that they do not take up space in my stamping studio :-)

This week’s "Hues to Use" neutral palette is perfect for so many different types of cards and with the celebration of Thanksgiving this week here in the States, I decided to use the main image from the Olive and Oak digital stamp set and the sentiment from the Bittersweet Wreath digital stamp set.

TO CREATE THIS CARD:

1). Open an 8 ½” x 11” document in your word processing/photo software program, import or insert the Olive & Oak image into the blank document (I enlarged it a bit) and import the sentiment from Bittersweet Wreath into another area of the document. I positioned them both on the same page but made sure I had enough room to cut out the main image panel and that the sentiment would be the correct size for the 4 ¼” card (again, this is what I love about digital images!!). Print the images using black printer ink onto white cardstock. FYI- you can use watercolor paper or other colored cardstock as well – just as long as your printer will handle the weight. I tend to use an 80lb weight white cardstock that has a very smooth surface.

2). Use a water brush with antique linen distress ink, watercolor the entire image. Use a heat tool to speed up the drying and continue to color the image using watercolor pencils, distress ink and markers and shadows with a water-soluble graphite pencil until you are satisfied with the results. I also used an alcohol marker for the background (to try to achieve an antique paper look). Use a stencil with antique linen distress ink to lightly stencil in the background.

3). Die cut the image with a rectangle stitched die, mount onto rust cardstock, trim close to the die cut edge and mount onto espresso cardstock. Create the photo corners using a square punch from rust cardstock and trim the edges for the photo corner. Add the chocolate brads in the corners and mount the entire panel onto a piece of rust cardstock.

4). Using a tutorial from Splitcoaststampers for an easel card (see tutorial here), I cut a piece of espresso cardstock to 4 ¼” x 11” and scored at 5 ½” and 8 ¼”. I folded on the score lines to create the easel.

5). Hand trim the sentiment to approx. 3 ¾” wide, watercolor with the antique linen distress ink and watercolor pencils for a wash over the sentiment panel and stencil around the edges with the same stencil as used above for the main image panel. Mount the sentiment onto rust cardstock, trim and mount onto espresso cardstock, trim and mount onto rust cardstock again for the layers.

6). On a separate piece of espresso cardstock (approx. 4 ¼” wide by 5” tall), add the crochet lace and chocolate ribbon. Wrap the ribbon ends behind this panel and adhere the panel to the lower portion of the easel card. Mount the sentiment with dimensional foam (this is the part of the card that will help keep the easel portion open).

7). Adhere the front panel onto the small flap of the easel card, test out the easel movement to make sure that it will work smoothly.

8).To finish off the card, add shimmer to the main oak leaf with a clear shimmer pen.

Stamp Sets: Olive and Oak, Bittersweet Wreath (both digital stamps from PowerPoppy)

Ink/Mediums: Inkjet Printer- Black Ink, Tim Holtz® (TH) Antique Linen Distress Ink, TH Gathered Twigs Distress Marker, Stampin’ Up! (SU!) Markers- Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Rexel Derwent® Watercolor Pencils-#53 Sepia, #57 Brown Ochre, #62 Burnt Sienna, #64 Terra Cotta; Derwent® Water Soluble Graphite Pencil- HB Light Wash; Spectrum Noir™ GV1 Alcohol Marker & Clear Glitter Pen

Cardstock/Paper: Whisper White, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso (all Stampin’ Up!)

Accessories: Big Shot™, MFT Stitched Rectangle STAX Dies, AquaPainter™, Ivory Crochet Lace, Chocolate brads, 1” Satin Ribbon from my stash

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by! I hope I have inspired you today and that you will be able to join us for the Power Poppy “Hues to Use” Challenge! Thanks again for the honor of being your Guest Designer for this challenge! Hugs and I hope you have a very blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas!!

Well, thank YOU Julie! You created an absolutely gorgeous easel card that is picture perfect for this time of year. The richness in color truly brings on the WOW factor! We were lucky to have you this week! Remember folks, the "Hues to Use" Challenge is a weekly color challenge that's never ending -- meaning you can create using that color palette any old time and link up whenever your heart desires! I invite you to travel back in Hues to Use time and see what color combos we've already played around with! Then, link up your creation! We also use these linkies to pick future guest designers! All the more reason to play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by! Get those fingers inky & link up your colorific creations below!
~Julie

An InLinkz Link-up