It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! I love the Christmas season. I love the songs, the anticipation, the decking of the halls and the baking. Most of all, I love the family time. There's food, games and the normal dysfunction that any family has, big or small. Regardless of any drama, we try to find time to be together and that's a good thing.

So, to celebrate this magical time, I have two different digi sets to share with you this month. The first is Simple Poinsettia. It is a gorgeous flower that comes in a variety of colors. My favorites are pink and red so decided to play with the beautiful digi in those two colors.

First up is pink. The pink poinsettia is colored with copics and popped up on a scored background. I love how it pops against the distressed edges of the blue white-core cardstock.

Here is the same Simple Poinsettia in red. It shines in a simple focal point on the bottom right side of the card. Some dribbles of gold shimmer paint and gold ribbon highlight the floral element. It's a fun way to dress up a card.

In addition to the floral goodness of the poinsettia, I adore snowmen! I have paintings and figurines up all year long. I couldn't make a Christmas post without using Heart Sings which is one of my all-time favorite images. It combines music and snowmen - my favorite things!

The beauty of digi images is that you can print them whatever size you want. The first is printed to fill the front of the card and the 2nd is printed with the sentiment to be a focal image on the card. It's awesome to have that flexibility. You could print the first of a size to fill a frame and make a print to hang in your living room. You could also shrink it down and make a tag for a backpack or gift. So fun!

I used copics to color up the images and had fun choosing the colors of the scarves and books. Aren't they fun?! The image makes me smile.

I encourage you to visit Pickled PotPourri Designs to find these and many other lovely digital stamps to use in your own crafty endeavors.

Featured Images: Simple Poinsettia & Heart Sings

Have a wonderfully creative day!
Seleise

You've Got Mail!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Family gatherings, wonderful concerts, fun decorations, yummy treats and all those fabulous cards with pictures and bits of news from the year. I just love it!

You've Got Mail was the perfect set from Pickled Potpourri Designs to capture the fun of the holiday card ritual. I printed it to fill the full card front, as a great benefit of digis is printing them at the size of your choosing. It's colored with copics and the flowers are in the red/green traditional colors for the holiday season. A mat of red makes the image pop and a 1/2" corner rounder adds some additional visual interest to the card.

 

And, the inside is simple and sweet with the same red mat which helps the sentiment pop. The rounded corners look awesome on the inside as well. Who wouldn't love getting a note in the mail like this!

I know it's easy with Facebook and e-cards to bypass the traditional mailed cards but there's nothing like getting a card in the mail. It's simply the best!  And, hand-made cards are even better!! 

Hope you add You've Got Mail to your collection. It looks great in spring colors and as you have seen here, dressed up for the holidays. 

Have a wonderfully creative day!

Seleise

Boo to You!

Halloween has a special place in my heart. My favorite costume was wearing a long dress and a plastic little bo peep face. We didn't have fancy costumes back in the day but I thought it was the coolest thing ever to have that mask that stayed on my head with a little elastic string. So awesome! :)

The other special memories deal with my home town. I'm from a really small town so we knew exactly what we would get at each house. One lady always made the best pink popcorn balls. One gentleman always gave full-sized candy bars. The custodian would hide out at the school and would always manage to scare us before we could scare him and then would give us fresh popped popcorn. So many great memories!

And, with that in mind, I wanted to share this card. I kept the coloring a bit rustic to give it a whimsical look for a fun card that invokes all those great memories of trick or treating back in the day. Make one yourself and send it to your favorite pal from your childhood to remind them of all the fun you had walking to neighbors houses to get all kinds of great treats.

Trick or Treaters  and More Trick or Treaters are two fantastic digi sets from Pickled Potpourri Designs that you need in your collection! These adorable Halloween images are great for cards and treat pockets and tags on candy bags and more. I decided to make a card and layer in the different images.

Here's the inside. Plenty of room to write your note. :)

Witchie Witchie is a sweet little witch that's another super cute image from the Halloween collection of images that you need to treat yourself with this month!

And, she's got an adorable matching kitty for the stuffed kitty that she carries around so I thought they all needed matching hats. This just makes me smile and hope it does you too!

Happy Halloween!
Seleise

Prismacolor Pencils and Kraft Cardstock

Happy September! This year is flying by! I recently planted iris bulbs as a friend generously gave me some beautiful iris to add to my garden. I can't wait to see what they all look like this spring. In honor of the fall planting season, I have a wonderful iris card to share with you. 

This is the beautiful Iris Fantasy image. It's colored up with prismacolor pencils on kraft cardstock. Yep. I felt the need to continue the kraft cardstock theme from last month. I just love how the iris pops on the kraft, don't you? And, I wanted the iris to be the star so kept the design clean and simple (CAS) so the iris would shine.

What do you think? Would you have added some texture to the background? I debated running a layer through an embossing folder. Maybe next time. This would make a beautiful notecard set as you could color the iris in a variety of colors. It's a gorgeous image!

Fall also makes me think towards the holidays. This wonderful little snowman from the Snowman Tent Card set makes me smile! And, look how awesome white prismacolor pencil looks on kraft cardstock!! I decided to cut the tent card apart and make an A1 sized card using both elements.

Isn't the inside cute with the sweater and mittens?!! Same color scheme as the card front to tie everything together. Wouldn't this be great to add to a cocoa gift package!

Pop by Pickled Potpourri Designs to pick up these fabulous images along with many, many more!

Happy Stamping!

Seleise

Hello Friend!

Skunks, flowers, and a dragonfly.  This one digital stamp has it all! I found this super cute stamp set in the Pickled Potpourri Online Store, along with a wonderful sentiment, found in another great set.

The digital stamp set is Shy Skunks, colored with Copic markers. 

Here's the image, when I got it colored:

I used some metallic gel pens on the dragonfly and decided not to color the skunk.  I though she was perfect just the way she was!

Here's the Shy Skunks made into a card, with the addition of one of the sentiments from the Forever Friends digital stamp set...

Pickled Potpourri Products used on this card:

Shy Skunks

Forever Friends

I hope you check this blog often for great inspiration from the Pickled Potpourri design team!

Deep breath

Do you have a friend who is struggling with a traumatic life event or kids activities wearing her out or just daily life keeping her down? If so, this card is for you. I think we all have times when the stresses are just too much and we just need to take a deep breath and let things go. And, sometimes we need a reminder to breathe. That's what drew me to this awesome digi on Pickled Potpourri Designs, Deep Breath.

I printed the images on kraft cardstock (don't limit yourself to just cream or white to print your digis!) and used prismacolor pencils to color - no gamsol blending - just good old fashioned color pencil coloring.

Here she is all dolled up in a lavendar dress with some clear shimmer drops on the image and more heavily on her crown.

Here's the aqua look with silver shimmer drops and some little tiny starfetti as well. The background is just distress oxide ink over a stencil. Love it!

This image would also be wonderful for a mixed media canvas or framed piece. Don't you agree?

Definitely consider adding, Deep Breath, to your digi collection. You'll be glad you did!

Happy Stamping!
Seleise

Sunflower Mini Gram!

Hello, everyone!  I hope you are finding time to enjoy the summer. We've had a cool, rainy summer, but the flowers are beautiful!  Just like the flowers on this Sunflower Mini Gram.

I printed the Sunflower Mini Gram on yellow paper, then used color pencils to color the designs on it. 

Here, I'm just getting started:

I love sunflowers, so this was very fun for me to color up!

All I need to do is write message on the other side, fold it in 3rds, seal the Sunflower Mini Gram, and it's done!

Pickled Potpourri has so many fun designs in their store, at very reasonable prices.  Please check it out for yourself!  Do you prefer rubber stamps?  Check out Red Rubber Designs instead. 

Florals - Perfect for Any Occasion

Happy July all! Seleise here. I'm still on a distress ink kick and guess what? I've added distress oxides to my extensive ink collection. I know... addict. LOL! But hey - they're awesome! And, they work fabulously with digital images to make fantastic projects. Are you ready?

First up - the fabulous Dahlia. As you'll remember, I used them last month with the regular distress inks. The image was a bit bigger and was perfect for a card front. This one is smaller and perfect for a tag or something smaller. So, how is this possible? One of the best things about digis is that you can size them to whichever size best works for the project you're going to make. I sized these down a bit and they were perfect for a tag.

The second project uses Grand Botanical colored with chameleon colored pencils over a distress oxide background on watercolor paper. Doesn't that make a lovely sympathy card? I made this flower a bit smaller as I wanted it to be a corner focal point. The flexibility of digis just can't be beat!

Hope you're inspired to give digis a try and hope you'll mix them with all types of different inks, coloring mediums, papers and more. The possibilities are endless! 

Today's featured digis are: 

Dahlia

Grand Botanical

See you in August! 

Watercolor Grand Botanical

I seem to be reaching for different watercolor mediums these days. This is Julie with you today, and I have a short tutorial to share, using watercolor pencils and a fairly dry paintbrush. 

I have two cards, both featuring the Grand Botanicals digi stamp. 

Here's a sneak peek, then the tutorial.

 

Here's how a did this:

Step one.  I started with the lightest color

then, I added a second, similar shade

last, the third color, which I blended slightly with a damp paintbrush

I made the leaves with 3 shades of green and some purple for contrast.

then, I did the same thing again, using shades of violet on the flower.  I fussy cut both flowers and all the leaves.  Then, I started creating cards.

Here's the first one, using the Grand Botanical digi stamp, Rose Sentiments and free Robyn digital papers.

Another card, using the same Grand Botanical digital stamp, Rose Sentiments, and free Robyn digital papers

Two cards, same products, but the look very different.  I love how that happens!  I hope you enjoyed your visit to the blog today and will come back often!

Distressed...

Okay - Confession time. I have just jumped onto the distress ink bandwagon. Is it too late to join the party? Hope not as a craft addict needs many toys. lol. They're perfect for bringing images to life with or without extra coloring.

With the following digi images from Pickled Potpourri Designs, the option to highlight these super images in a totally different way was so fun! You'll find three different types of cards below with this style to show the versatility of the digis with supplies you most likely already have in your stash.

My very first attempt to add color without coloring was with this super cute bear from Birthday Bear! I used Photoshop to put the balloon, bear and sentiment into one image. I love stamping but there are times that a digi is so much easier as you can place the balloon exactly where you want it in the bear's paw. That's always a challenge for me for one reason or another with traditional ink and stamps, even with positioners and stamp presses so this option is super fabulous for me! Love how the inks highlight the image and bring it all to life.

Here is the Dahlia all distressed and pretty. Love this pretty flower as it works so well for so many things from sympathy to birthday to journal covers and more.

And, while in the mode, Southern Window just begged to be part of the fun. Make up 4 or 6 of these, tie them together with a pretty ribbon and you'd have a lovely set of notecards for a hostess gift.

Each of the images has some shimmer on them as well but it's hard to get that to show up in the photo. It's another way to highlight and add some visual interest.

It's been a pleasure to get all distressed with you today. Looking forward to seeing you next month!

Featured Pickled Potpourri Images:

Birthday Bear

Dahlia

Southern Window

Botanical Thank You

It's Julie with you again today, and I've been working on thank you cards and using watercolor mediums.  I have a card to share with you today using the fabulous Pickled Potpourri Botanical Minis and artist crayons.  I also used some digital papers from the Pickled Potpourri shop for the designer papers in the background.  

Here's a close up of the image.  This is one of 4 that comes in the Botanical Minis digital set. The sentiment is one of many beautiful ones in the Rose Sentiment Digital Set.

The papers I used were Pickled Potpourri Distressed Black & White.

Botanical Minis

Distressed Black & White papers

Rose Sentiment Digital Set

I hope this card inspires you to try the fantastic digis  and papers at Pickled Potpourris Designs.  There is truly something for everyone in the store.