Hello there. I’m giggling to myself as I type this blog post. I’m truly tickled inside and feel as if I’ve just been let in on a huge secret. Except that a lot of you guys already know about this thing. This THING! This invention, this wonderful invention by a woman named Iliana Myska. I’d heard of it, yes, I’d heard stampers gushing about it. But you see, I hadn’t ever looked into using one ... because my darlings, I don’t think of myself as a stamper. I always drop the darned acrylic blocks. I don’t seem to get the ink all the way on the stamp. I get impatient trying to line things up. Didn’t think of myself as a stamper. Nope. I’m a person who designs stamps. I love to color in stamps. But I’m not a stamper.
Well. There goes that.
My world >> Changed.
My mind >> Blown.
Meet Marcella Hawley >> Stamper.
Yes, I made this card with a MISTI. Ok, so it isn’t really a card like you’re used to seeing, but you know, use your imagination! Let’s call it a postcard.
Today my ENTIRE Bloom Brigade design team is blog hopping with the entire MISTI team — you heard that right. We’re joining forces to show what you can do with your Power Poppy clear polymer stamps and a magical MISTI. My card obviously shows beginner level stamping but the teams will spark adventures all the way to advanced stamping levels, and we’re sharing all kinds of things you can do with a MISTI and its accessories.
If you leave a comment on ALL of the blogs in our hop today, you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of two $25 gift certificates from Power Poppy, as well as entered to win a MISTI (either the original or mini, winner’s choice!) from My Sweet Petunia.
MISTI Winners will be announced on
this page of the My Sweet Petunia blog on April 14th. Power Poppy Winners of (2) $25 gift certificates will be announced here on the Power Poppy Blog on April 14th. How. Cool. Is. That.
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On to my project. You guys are gonna flip, because guess what, I did my first tutorial. Sort of. You know me... new recruit stamper and all. I am not able to share photos of my stamping room or my case of Copics. Don’t have either of ’em. So my tutorial begins where I find the most inspiration: In the garden.
First, my loves, we get inspired to MAKE! Walk out into the garden, take a deep breath, and soak everything in. Ignore the weeds that need pulling, vines that await staking, the fall leaves you haven’t cleaned up yet, because that’s just depressing and we’re trying to get in a carefree, crafty mood. If you don’t have a garden, you can rummage through gardening magazines, or even easier, peruse flower photos on Pinterest or Google Images. Me, I have a wedge-shaped garden out back that’s about as large as an actual piece of pie, and I’ve crammed it full of plants. Fortunately, some are even blooming right now.
I chose a stamp set to use today that was introduced three years ago THIS WEEK. It was Power Poppy’s very first introduction. The stamp is called
Springtime Love, and it features loads of spring flowers in a charming roundel, including the ones pictured above, Celandine Poppy. I snipped a stem of these golden woodland beauties, along with Virginia bluebells, purple Akebia vines, and Daffodils. (Several of the daffs were actually in vases in my refrigerator... that’s where I keep them because they last there for weeks! I cut all of these from my folks’ garden last weekend.)
The next step (if you have a garden or a generous gardening neighbor, or a floral department at a nearby grocery store) is to make a little bouquet with your snippings. This is purely for inspiration purposes. I like to have fresh flowers nearby, it makes me happy. And if you do this step early in your cardmaking process, it makes for a colorful photo when you snap a picture of your final product later on. Just watch....
This is my craft table set-up today! It’s the kitchen counter (in case my design calls for olive oil or needs whisking, I’m totally ready). We have my new best friend, the Mini MISTI in the lower left corner. I used Fluid hot-pressed watercolor paper for my cardstock, since I’m fixin’ to use my paints. The paper actually comes on a waxed block, and you have to extract the sheet with an X-Acto knife so you can use it in the MISTI.
The
Springtime Love clear stamp is on deck! Stay tuned friends, I have a special giveaway at the VERY END of this post related to this set, in honor of Power Poppy’s 3rd Birthday.
So here’s the thing with this MISTI business, even ding-dongs like me can get the crispest impression ever. My stamps are so very detailed, this basically ensures that you can hold all my stippled dots and the critical lines and illustrative details even in the very center of a large stamp. And if you do happen to stamp an incomplete image, you can just put more ink on the stamp and stamp it again — without the dreaded double-image dramarama!
I would go through step-by-step how you do all of this, but I think all of you guys get it already. I know that because I had to watch a tutorial online so I could figure out how to do it, and there are TONS of good ones! And I’ll wager that some of the other folks on this hop have some great tips!
Peeking under the MISTI hinged lid! Eeeee!!! Insert giggling here, because that’s what I was doing as I lifted it up to see how it turned out...
Thumbs up for the perfect impression! You can see every tiny dot from my original illustration — which is in part because we use the highest quality photopolymer to make our stamps, and my manufacturers are sooooo careful to hold all the detail. They actually apply a special “Marcy treatment” — a unique step in their process that ensures that the stamps match my original artwork, because I am very persnickety about that. The other part of the perfect impression is stamping with the MISTI — I’ve never had a more complete, evenly stamped image when using a block. I mean, it would look pretty darn good. But this looks STELLAR. And I didn't hurt my wrist pressing down on the acrylic block, or drop the stamp pad directly onto the paper like I may have done in the past. Not cool, mate!
For this card, I used a ColorBox pigment stamp pad in Chestnut, as I love to use a shade that’s paler than black when I’m watercoloring, but still gives some depth. I also appreciate that pigment doesn’t seem to interfere with or bleed into my paints.
Next, I added a sweet little sentiment from
Burst of Kindness that fits perfectly centered below my roundel of spring flowers. I just love how you can place the stamp exactly where you want! This MISTI is killing me, it’s so neat-o! I’m stamping!
Oh lookee, I found a tripod in my son’s room and figured out how to use the timer on my phone. Not well enough to get my whole face in the shot, but since I don’t have on makeup and hadn’t really brushed my hair, perhaps this is for the best. Just showing you my little craft area on the kitchen counter. Note: Pretty bouquet! I told you it would come in handy. Also decided to eat one of the oranges. Another plus of working in the kitchen.
Painting away using the palette I’ve had since the early 90s, loaded with Winsor & Newton gouache paints and watercolors in all of my favorite hues, many of them mixed together to form shades that you can’t find in tubes.
I start painting this image with various greens, using the LIGHTEST washes of color. You can always add more color to intensify, but it can be challenging to take a step backwards to remove color. I snipped one of the flowers right off the poppy stem so I could really look inside and see what that center looks like for guidance on how to paint it.
Another tip for coloring in tiny areas of stamps like mine — use the best sable watercolor brushes you can find. This one is a Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Brush in size 000 (the smallest one they make, and my favorite size). They’re a bit pricey, but life’s too short to use cheap paintbrushes. Buy the good brushes and I promise, the accuracy of your lines will amaze you.
Continuing to add washes of watercolor/gouache to intensify the colors and add depth. Remember to leave areas white for the highlight areas. To color the Tulip in this stamp, I referred to a photo I posted on Instagram the other day (check it out @powerpoppy). Loaded the pic up on the ol’ iPad and set it right next to me so I could mimic it as best as I could. Often I’ll do a Google image search or flip through photos of my own travels to find color inspiration.
Remind me to get a manicure before I find myself taking photos of my hands next time, won’t you?
Et, voilà! I am pleased as punch with my simple card, and so grateful to have discovered the MISTI. Thanks for stopping by and reading my crazy long post. And if you followed my tutorial instructions, you now should have a small bouquet to keep you company!
Now... let’s roll to the NEXT BLOG in the hopping sequence. You know and love her, she’s the cleverest thing this side of the Mississippi: Lydia Fiedler! Be sure to visit all the blogs (we have a weekend coming up, so I hope you can fit it in!) leave a comment on each blog if you’d like to be entered in the GIVEAWAYS we mentioned above, lots of goodies to be scooped up by a few special winners.
