Aloha!

Happy Day, Bloggin' Buddies!

I am so excited - we are headed to beautiful Kauai, the Garden Island. I feel sorry for all my family and friends who are grappling with freezing weather and snow; I wish I could take you all with us.

Before I go I wanted to share this tropical card that I made to help me get into the "Aloha Spirit".


This is an adorable tropical shirt stamp from the amazing Karen Lockhart. I took several classes from her and learned some great coloring techniques using Prisma Color pencils. She even signed this stamp for me! Karen is now retired and her company was taken over by Peggy Jo Ackley and is Pink Ink Stamp Company.

I left a space to add a sentiment, whatever I need in the future, at the bottom. Some tropical patterned and textured paper and twine set off this stamped image.

Thanks for the visit! I'm off to pack my grass skit and sunscreen.

Aloha,

Hope Times Three

A few weeks ago I attended a class at The Paper Garden in Sacramento, CA. It was taught by the amazing Peggy Jo Ackley of Pink Ink Stamp Company (formerly Lockhart Stamp Company). She taught us a bunch of different watercolor background techniques using Twinkling H20s and had us make a nifty little swatch book for future reference. Very cool.

I finally had time to give some of this a try. I have a difficult time with watercolor because I have serious control issues and I also hate messes!

I got out paints and some Twinkling H20s, created a big mess and gave it a try. Of the seven backgrounds I prepared, only five were salvageable.

I heat embossed one of my favorite current stamps by Neat and Tangled called Hope Anchors onto the backgrounds. I just love the message of hope and encouragement derived from Hebrews 6:19. I previously made several cards using this stamp for the friends we met when we went on a cruise with my sister-in-law's church.

Here are three samples. I used a Tim Holtz stencil on the green one to add some definition. To each I added a strip of glittery paper and some matching punched stars.

Hope you are enjoying the last vestiges of summer!
Thanks for the sweet visit & have a great weekend,