Inspire Me Monday: Bold and Bright

Hello and Happy Independence Day to my fellow American friends! The United States of America is 246 years old today! I hope everyone is having a happy and safe holiday!   

Today is my turn to share the weekly inspiration. And I am sorry that you are not getting a patriotic project! If you want to see some 4th of July inspired projects, do a search on the blog to see what we've done in the past! Instead, I am sharing some BOLD AND BRIGHT inspiration, perfect for summer-time creating!

I think some folks shy away from bold, bright colors and use more pastel or muted tones. I totally understand. That Copic R89 is DARK, am I right?! But once you embrace the concept of bold color, and bold color contrasts, you will see your work come live in a new and different way! 

Last time I shared a Work In  Progress (WIP) with you, using lots of bold color. (See that post HERE.) I finally finished it in time to use for our inspiration today!

I printed the flower wreath from the Peony Love Digital Stamp Set at approximately 7" x 7" onto textured, decorative paper and colored the image with Prismacolor Premiere Colored Pencils. (The sentiment in the center of the wreath is from the Geraniums Digital Stamp Set.)

I love all those bold reds, bright pinks, deep greens, and then the restful peach and yellow tones! This big wreath image was so fun to color, and boy did I wear out my red and pink pencils!

Don't be afraid of your dark, bold, bright markers, pencils, or paints! Use them! It may take some time to get the hang of the darker colors, but it IS only paper and ink/pencil/paint, after all. 

If you need more BOLD AND BRIGHT projects, here are some of my past creations using bold reds, bright blues and yellows, saturated greens and oranges!

This card is just a "punch in the eye" bold and bright masterpiece! I used the Tea Cake with Strawberries digital set, the gifts are from the Party Essentials digital set, and the sentiment from the Layer Cake digital set. To see how I put all those images together, see the post HERE. This image is colored with Copic markers.

Nothing says summer like in-season berries!

This is the digital image called Berry It. (The sentiment is from the Juicy Strawberries digital set.) Details HERE. Once again, I chose deep reds and greens for the image, using Copic markers.

Red is always on my list as a bold and bright color! But that electric blue! WOW! This is another Copic project. This image is Ferns and Fungi. Details HERE.

Fresh fruit is always in fashion for summer! This Aloe and Oranges partial image was turned into a card. Details HERE. I colored this with a combination of Copic markers and Brutfuner Wanshui colored pencils. 

And just because I didn't want to disappoint...

Here is some red, white, and blue! I used  Everything's Rosy digital stamp set and dark red and blue Copic markers for this one! Details HERE.

Thanks for joining us for Inspire Me Monday! Make sure to come back every Monday to see new inspiration!

Power Poppy Products Used:
Peony Love Digital Stamp Set
Geraniums Digital Stamp Set

Other Products Used: Prismacolor colored pencils, Authentiuqe printed paper,  cardstock

Inspire Me Monday: Coloring with ZIGs

Welcome to Inspire Me Monday!  I’m Allison Cope. Today I’ve gathered a variety of floral and other images stamps and were going to make a simple square card.  We’re going to be coloring in our images with ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Markers.

Come and join me at my desk and join along in the fun!

Click here for HD.

The gorgeous stamp sets that I used today included “Abundant Petals” (Maidenhair fern), “O Hoppy Day” (Wheat), “Succulent Singles” (2 Succulents), “Peony Muse” (Peony bloom & bud) and the “Cabbage and Kale” stamp set.

And here's a close up of all the different layers...

Thanks for joining me today!  I hope you enjoyed my card making process.  I'd love to hear what you think in the comment section below.

Happy crafting!

~ Ally ~


stamps: Power Poppy (Abundant Petals, O Hoppy Day, Succulent Singles, Peony Muse, Cabbage and Kale)

dies: Power Poppy (Abundant Petals Dies, Succulent Singles Dies,  Peony Muse Dies, Cabbage & Kale Dies), Catherine Pooler (Circle Dies) 
inks: Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps (Wicked Black), Catherine Pooler (Flirty Fuchsia, Sweet Sixteen), ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Markers 
sequins: Pretty Pink Posh (Sparkling Clear)
cardstock: Recollections (110# White)
other: Stickles (Star Dust)

Inspire Me Monday: Color Theory

Happy Monday everyone!  Welcome to Inspire Me Monday!  I'm your hostess Allison Cope and we're going to talk a little bit about COLOR THEORY!

Come and find out a little bit more about the fabulous color wheel...

Here's a quick look at the cards I used as my examples today...

Featuring Folk Heart and Short Stacks

Featuring Folk Heart

Featuring Peony Love and Potted Primroses 

Featuring Small But Mighty Affirmations

Featuring Folk Heart

Featuring Planning for Magnolias

Featuring Orchids Rock

Thanks for joining me today!  So the next time you begin to color your latest and greatest Power Poppy image, think about how you're going to use color to the fullest!

Happy coloring everyone!

~ Ally ~ 

Summer Has Arrived!

Hello all our flower lovers!  This is Rhea here today for Monday Inspiration.

How about this 8x8 framed wreath of Flowers with a touch of metal?

This digi is called Peony Love

I increased the size to be 7.75" x 7.75" so it would fit within the 8x8 frame.  I wanted to make it unique and happy.  As I was framing it the inside was missing something then I realized what it was.

It was a butterfly.  I searched for dies and had a couple picked out then I remembered I had metal!!!

What a way to make it even more unique.  

The colors used were:

YG13, 97, 99 and YG21 as a highlight on leaves

Pink Flowers:  V01 highlights, RV11, 52, 66, 69

Purple Flowers:  BV31, 43, 04, 08, C9

Yellow Flowers:  Y11 highlights, Y21, YR21, 23, 24, 27, Y28

Another framed piece for my Flower Wall.

Peony Love, the latest digital set from Marcella Hawley

Well, hello there! We’re so happy to see you today for the release of one of my favorite illustrations as a digital stamp set — it’s our “Digis on the 5s” for May 5th. Anyone who knows me knows my affinity for Peonies, and if you share that love, that passion, that .... dare I say, addiction .... then this set could be just for you! Plus, it’s highly versatile, because you get two images and two sentiments, all sized at a generous size that can be enlarged to easily make a frameable print, or reduced a bit to make an A2-sized card.

A little background from my garden, because that is the place from which so much of my inspiration springs. Every year when the peonies bloom, I am compelled to run out there and take photos of them in all their various stages of opening, it fascinates me, my good friends!

In my terrarium-like garden, where peonies have to duke it out for space with purple columbine, daylilies, ferns, celandine poppy, and lots of wonderful hardy geraniums.

Here’s a tender moment with Peony ‘Festiva Maxima’ and Geranium phaeum ‘Samobor’ — which just takes over everywhere, but it is so very precious and its variegated foliage is practically evergreen. We need plants like that in our Midwestern winters!

I’ve shared many of these images in the past, so I won’t go on and on about it, but here’s a snap I particularly like, featuring a number of Klehm Nursery peonies, that I’m holding over a field of wild anemones that are trying to take over my yard. (They are so darn sweet that I’m letting them...)

If you see above that I’ve mentioned Klehm peonies — and we know that I love, love, love the Klehm family and was involved with creating their catalogs for many years. Here is one of the first illustrations I created for the Peony section of the catalog, which I art directed, designed, and illustrated, in 1994. (Right now you can get your Klehm fix here at Klehm’s Song Sparrow — the BEST mailorder plants and the largest selection of hybrid peonies. This is an unpaid testimonial, they truly are the best people with the most unique and wonderful plants.)

I was having some fun with that lettering and the artistic tilt to the petals...  even though I had yet to ever grow a peony on my own, or to truly inspect one up close at that point.

Well, since the early 90s, I’ve come a long way, baby! Presenting: Peony Love, a luscious halo of blooming peonies in every shape, form, and fashion!

In this digital package, you’ll get a total of four images: two sentiments, the gigantic and highly detailed peony wreath, and then a small accent peony. Folks, the images are large enough to blow up and retain a lot of detail, but I have sized these larger so that you can really get in there and shade with your markers, pencils, and paintbrushes! Feel free to use the single peony on a card by itself, as a few of our designers have done. Or, spend an afternoon coloring the wreath and bring it into glorious, colorful life. Peony Love is one of my favorite illustrations of all time, and it was truly a labor of love to draw and stipple and assemble in my mind and on my drawing board.

Oh and hey! Since we have an international group of customers, we have a special ALTERNATE sentiment that is available upon request if you buy this set. You will automatically get “To the world’s most awesome Mom” — but if you put a note in with your order, you will also get “To the world’s most awesome Mum”.

Come and see some lovely examples of the possibilities of this set with our infectiously fabulous Instant Gardener Cheryl, and two bubbly Bloomies, Kathy and Christine!

 

Cheryl Scrivens

Kathy Jones

Christine Okken

Be sure to check back on FRIDAY for even more cards using this set! Thank you so much for coming by today, now I’d better run out to the garden and see what new peonies are opening up to share their gifts with us!