flamingo

TROPICAL VIBES

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My little flamingo was black embossed onto some watercolor paper, then watercolored. She has a few palm trees behind her in this little scene. I created a two-tone effect by using Green Tea Ink on the one stamped directly on the card front, and Matcha for the die cut popped up version. By trimming about 3/8-1/2” off the long edge of the card front, I could allow the palm tree to lean right and float over that edge, which is a fun way to give the illusion of more layers to the card than there really are. I felt the crown was apropos.

I used the same Cummerbund ink to stamp the water and then ink blend a little over top. Then, I just chose to embellish her simply, with some Stickles Diamond Glitter Glue on her crown and along the water—hard to pick up on camera, but love, LOVE that stuff! Such an easy, mess free way to add a bit of sparkle to any project. Wish it came in a jumbo size bottle!

For a pinky/peach vibe, I very lightly blended Grapefruit ink, followed by Orange Twist—with a VERY light hand. It’s very subtle and the eye picks that up more than the camera does.

Die cutting the Aloha from different colors of card stock from the palette I was working with and just popping them up, aligning them askew from each other is casual and fun—I love how the lettering allows the pattern in the background to show through.

A natural/rustic tassel made of my favorite twine was calling out to me for this design and I couldn’t resist; I think it really sets off the island/tropical vibe I was going for!

Hope these two designs sparked some ideas for you and thanks for stopping by!

"HEY, NOW YOU'RE A FLOCK STAR"

Disclosure: I include affiliate links to the products used in my projects and make a small commission when you purchase via those links, at no extra dimes to you. Thank you.

Flock Star , from the the July 2023 Essentials by Ellen Release , makes it super fun and easy to make an interactive card. Fans of the movie “Shrek” may recognize the opening song “All Star” by Smash Mouth, which actually inspired this particular combo. I’d never heard of the band until I saw the movie. Hence, the pun “Flock Star”. (snort)

The dies feature a debossed wing design on the body of the flamingo, making it easier to determine where to stamp whatever sentiment you want to use from the stamp set, so it will be revealed when the hinged wing is pivoted up or down. There’s also an additional wing, without a hole for the brad, if you want to layer another wing over top to conceal it. Options are nice, right?!

I gold embossed the sentiments (detail gold embossing powder), but it would also look great just with black ink. I just felt the gold was a nice touch because of the glittery gold card stock I used to cut the concealing wing. It’s popped up with a little foam tape over the pivoting wing.

I think I’ll be swooning over the Monstera Stencil for all eternity—when I was designing it, I really wanted it to have a uniquely hand-drawn or hand-cut look. You don’t want to know how many renditions I went through before I was finally satisfied, LOL! I have a tendency to obsess over things like that. OCD much? In any event, I love it SOOOOO much, so I’m going to cut myself some slack over the time it took to get it “just right”.

I’ve been practicing my ink-blending; I’m always so heavy handed but I really really want to achieve that lovely, delicate effect I’ve always admired by the talented Laurie Willison and I think I’m finally getting there.

One thing I also wanted to mention is this seriously cool, new Grip Mat by Waffleflower! I’ve been using it to anchor my paper down for stenciling and stamping!!! You can read about it on their site; they’re taking pre-orders for it now, if you’re interested. You can get a smaller one that will fit your Mini MISTI, too. I swapped out the foam layer in my MISTI platform and dropped this in, with the acetate grid they’ve designed to go with; I won’t have to deal with magnets/tape again. It truly is brilliant!!!

I have more samples to share with the products I designed for the release over the coming days. For now, you can hop over to Ellen’s site and check out the whole release HERE—it is such a lovely collection!

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to slather yourself in sunscreen when you’re enjoying the fabulous summer weather—it’s been gorgeous here!