Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Ever Thankful


It's that time of year when we look back and reflect on our blessings. Sometimes it's nice to have a notecard or two on hand to thank some special people who have blessed our lives. The Thanksgiving digi, Be Ever Thankful from Pickled Potpourri Designs, is the perfect image to use on a set of notecards.


The first notecard is in green and the Thanksgiving hostess has red hair. This is colored in prismacolor pencils and I love the vibrancy of the fruits and veggies in the cornucopia, don't you?


The 2nd card is in orange and the hostess is a blonde. Everything else is the same. Isn't it amazing how different the same thing can look when popped on a different color? Fun!


I did have a bit of help while coloring. My dear, sweet, mostly ornery, Smoke Monster has not had enough time with me lately so she kept a paw pressed against my arm while I was working to make sure I wasn't going to leave her again. It was quite sweet and I was happy to have her nearby as she's not typically very cuddly.

So, back to the cards - you might be thinking that it's too late to order a Thanksgiving set but with digis, you order, get the image and start printing. It's that easy!

Check out all the wonderful digis at Pickled Potpourri Designs!

Featured digi: 

Have a wonderfully, creative day!
Seleise

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I love Christmas! I can't get enough of it and as I work on craft fair items, it takes over my being and I forget that we have Halloween and Thanksgiving first. Hee hee! Yep - I'm the one who is super excited when Christmas starts appearing in stores as it gets the creative juices flowing with all the possibilities of working that Christmas-y stuff in my creations. :)

In August I shared a Back to School card made with Seasonal Birdhouses and am back with another image from that cute set! This one is a Christmas birdhouse complete with a snowman, tree and some cute tiny birds. Isn't it adorable!!!


For the background, I masked off some clouds with distress ink for the sky and used some die cuts  to create snowy layers on the ground. A bit of clear glitter was used on the edges to create the sparkle that snow gets when the sun hits it. Glitter dots were added on the snowy layers by dotting with a glue pen and adding the glitter. I went back and forth about whether I liked the dots but decided to keep them.

The super cute birdhouse digi was watercolored with distress inks and that was super fun and fast. I cut a strip of cardstock to make a stand and then popped up the birdhouse on top. A bit of glitter was added to the snowman and birdhouse too to continue the sparkly, snowy scene. Isn't that fun!


Here's a close-up of the birdhouse. It's was my first time using distress inks for watercoloring but it won't be my last. I loved the blend-ability and the ease of using them to create the shading and layers. This was just on regular cardstock and I wasn't sure how it would take the bit of water and layers but since you barely need any water, it worked just fine. Can't wait to play some more with this technique!

Hope you have fun playing with this digi set! It's got lots of possibilities. You could hang this birdhouse from an evergreen bough, you could print different sizes and make a snowy birdhouse village, you could make a shaker card with glitter snow falling all around... you get the idea and that's just with the Christmas birdhouse! There are two other cute designs to play with too!

Check out all the great digis at Pickled Potpourri Designs


Featured digi: 

 Have a fabulously, creative day!
Seleise


Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Festive Bouquets


The days are getting shorter and the air is getting crisp which means fall is near. It's time to start thinking about the fall holidays and all those wonderful reasons to gather with family and friends. For those that aren't nearby, think about sending a card to let them know you're thinking of them.

Festive Bouquets is a great digi set to use to for those thoughtful cards. There are six images. The bouquet holders are a vase, boots and pumpkin and the bouquets are spiders, sunflowers and holly and berries. It's so easy to line up the images in Word to create a combined image and you can put any of the bouquets in any of the bases or you can use any of the images on their own to create borders or backgrounds or more.


I started with the vase and the spider bouquet. It's colored with prismacolor pencils in blues and purples. Some distress ink was added to create a background for the image and you can't see it in the photo, but there's clear Wink of Stella over the vase, spiders and spiderwebs to give it a shimmery feel. It adds to the spooky, mysterious feel of a spider bouquet.


If Halloween is not your thing, no problem. How about a lovely sunflower bouquet in a pumpkin holder? The image is colored with prismacolor pencils and a distress marker was used to ground the image. The fall colors really pop in a combo of orange and purple, don't you think? And, the image is so cheery - it would definitely bring a smile to a friend or family member. We have much to be grateful for so how about sharing the gratitude with those who have made your life better by being in it!

Thanks for popping by and be sure to check out this digi set and all of the other great digis at Pickled Potpourri Designs.

Featured digis: 

Have a wonderfully creative day!
Seleise


Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Life Happens

Happy Wednesday! I'm a day late in sharing but life happens and you have to go with the flow! It seems that everything happens at once and that's what keeps us on our toes. :)

So, what are some of the life happens moments right now? It's back to school time in Kansas and I just adore this image from Seasonal Birdhouses to celebrate that journey into the new school year. I spent the week-end helping my sister do back to school shopping with her four kiddos and have been watching my teacher friends post their classroom pics getting ready for the new year. I work on a college campus so the transition is happening here too and it's the last week of good parking. :(  But, there's a vibrancy that comes to campus when all the students come back and that's pretty awesome!

Getting back to business...wouldn't this be a great card for a teacher friend or a student who maybe needs a reminder of how awesome it is to learn things! The image is colored with prismacolor pencils, cut out and popped up on the front of the card. I just think this is an awesome image and has the potential for so many different projects. Cute, cute!


Here's the inside of the card. The school year is a journey and it's our choice to tackle that journey with happiness and hope for the future. What could be better!


As the anticipation grows for the young for being back with friends at school and settling into a routine, the other end of the life spectrum covers those who are facing different life challenges whether that is an illness or saying goodbye to loved ones. The next two cards are for those needing a pick-me-up and to know they're not alone in their journey.


I chose butterflies for these cards because butterfly images are super versatile and can be used for everything from birthdays to sympathy to get well to congratulations. Pickled Potpourri Designs has some awesome butterflies and these two are no exception. They are both colored with prismacolor pencils.

The top is from the digi set "Happiness" and the bottom is from "Today." The sentiment for the school card is from Happiness and the sentiment for the the top butterfly card is from Today. In the card below, the digi sentiment is from Nature's Greetings - isn't that a beautiful font! I think it compliments the image so well and I think either card would brighten the day of the recipient.


That's it for this month. Check out these and all of the other great digis at Pickled Potpourri Designs.

Featured digis: 

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Summer Boys


A boy and his frog... They love the creepy crawlies and I fall firmly in the camp of "I Don't like Spiders and Snakes..." Remember that song? Feel free to sing along. :)

This month features Summer Boys which is a super cute and fun set for those rowdy boys in your life. Or, for the moms of those boys as they'll appreciate these moments...when their boys are grown...LOL.


This month is all about the image. No bells, no whistles. Just straightforward coloring with prismacolor pencils and a card with no sentiment. Why no sentiment? For maximum flexibility to use for a "hi" or  "how ya' doing?" or "birthday" or whatever to bring a smile to someone's face. After all, what could be better than receiving a snail mail card out of the blue!

Check out this and all of the great digis at Pickled Potpourri Designs.

Featured digi: 
Summer Boys - 4 super cute images for only $1.49! 

Have an awesome day!
Seleise


Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Under the Sea - Shadow Box Card


"Under the Sea. Under the sea. Darling, it's better, down where it's wetter...under the sea." That's what I sing every time I think of this digi and now you will too. You're welcome.  :)

Before we jump into the finished card, let's look at the parts in the digi set, Under the Sea, used in this card. Prismacolor pencils were used to bring each digi to life. I've been practicing with my prismacolor blending and here are the pencil combos used.

 Purple fish

 Red-Orange fish

Sand

 Seahorse

Seaweed

Blue fish

Okay, now that we've got the underwater world created, let's move to the card. Have you made a shadow box card? I hadn't and it's so fun! And, way easier than you'd think too. Check it out.


It's an A2 card. This one opens on the horizontal. Take an 8-1/2" X 11" piece of cardstock and cut it in half lengthwise so the two halves are cut 4-1/4" X 11". You will need both pieces. With the first piece, score at 5-1/2" The front is simple because the inside is the focal point of this card. I had printed some extra fish so colored the same as their inside counterparts and layered them over some corrugated cardstock cut to mimic sand.

Let's stop and make the shadow box. Here are a few pictures to hopefully clarify the explanation. Let's go back to the card base that we just scored at 5-1/2". Cut 1/2" off of the back. The front will be 5-1/2" X 4-1/4" and now the back of that card base is 5" X 4-1/4'. Adhere your scene to the inside of the card.


Now, take the 2nd piece and score at 1/2", 5-1/2" and 6". Trim just a sliver off of the 1/2 flap. This will help with assembly. Pick whatever die cut window you want that will best show off your scene and cut the section by the 1/2" flap. I needed a big window for my scene but you could have a small window if you just want to spotlight a small image.


Use a strong double-sided adhesive and place on the half inch flap. (I would normally put two strips of tape but this is just a sample so didn't want to waste.) Lay that inside the card with the flap edge against the center scoreline and close the card. you now have it attached inside. Now that it's attached in the center, you just have to turn over the card and attach the back. Put adhesive on the back of the cardstock base (again, I'd use more adhesive if it weren't a sample) and fold the flap in place. Your shadow box is now complete.


It may seem like a lot of steps but you'll see that it goes together really quickly. It will take you way longer to color your scene. :)

Let's set up the inside by looking at the front again.


And, here's the inside:


Isn't this fun! The card folds flat but you open it up and voila! A shadow box!! And, the best part since it folds flat, it won't cost any more to go through the mail because nothing is popped up inside. The purple fish in the lower left corner is glued to the frame so it gives the illusion of being popped up and the rest is a flat image inside the box. I think getting a shadow box card in the mail would brighten anyone's day so give it a try.

By the way, the scene was created in Microsoft Word. I inserted each digi as a picture file, sized it to how I wanted it and kept adding digis until the scene was complete. No special software needed. All of these images were in one $1.49 digi set, Under the Sea! I didn't even use them all. What a bargain!!! Check out all the great digis at Pickled Potpourri Designs!

Featured Digi:

Have an awesome day!
Seleise

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

A Bird in the Hand...

It's always good to have a bird on hand, right? Bird images can add so much life to a card. They can be whimsical, cute, subtle, serious, somber, regal and more. With Seasonal Birdies, we're going to focus on cute! There are four images in the set and I picked 2 to represent the spring we've had so far here in Kansas.


As we venture from the cold, blustery days directly into severe weather warnings, we seem to have missed the glorious beautiful Spring days that we normally see in April. Ah well, we had one day so guess we can't get greedy! :) So, the first image shows the wintery bird resplendent in her cute polka dot hat and scarf. She's ready for that final blast when winter just won't quit!


She then loses the hat and scarf and trades it in for an umbrella so she can take on those rainy days when the skies just cut loose. Of course, in Kansas, wind comes right along with that rain so she'd have to be holding tightly to that umbrella so it didn't fly into the next county. :)


To give a bit of that rainy feel on the card, I added a bit of clear glaze to create a puddle at the feet and give the raindrops a bit of texture. Isn't that fun?! I forget to use glaze and you can do so many great things with it. It's great for gluing on embellishments too as it dries clear and is a strong permanent bond.


Here are the birdies together - all ready to brighten someone's day!


Thanks for popping by and hope you'll check out the digital images available at Pickled Potpourri Designs!

Featured Images:

Have a most wonderful day!
Seleise


Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Flowers!!


April is upon us and winter has not given up. We've gotten snow both of the first week-ends here in Kansas so I'm really dreaming about nice days and flowers and good times on the deck.

Since there's nothing more cheery than sunflowers, let's bring some happy, sunny thoughts with the Sunflower Mini Gram. How cute is this?!!! It's already set up to be a tri-fold so you print, color and fold. Easy peasy!


Here's the front.


Here's the back.


And, here's how it came together. I often write the colors on the bottom of the page as I go so I can look back and see what colors I used. I just play. I start in color families and then blend in other colors if I think it needs more beige or more blue or whatever. :)



Isn't it fun to see it all come together?!

At the same time that I colored the sunflowers, I also colored these beautiful Oval Frames. I added the Thinking of You sentiment from Elegant Greetings.


With these two, I cut out the ovals and put them on a card base. As you can see, I left just a bit of the white around the edge of the frame and flowers. The same copics were used as with the sunflower card and pink and purple were added too.


Here's the coloring progression.


Again, so fun to see it all come together. I see where I could have improved and think about what other color choices might work as there are so many possibilities.


So, after doing some coloring in copics, I decided to play with some watercolor pencils and a spectrum noir sparkle pen. I was inspired by a youtube video using the spectrum noir sparkle pen to spread and blend water-based markers and thought watercolor pencils would work also and they did! So fun and I will be making more cards with this technique.


Here's how they turned out.





Wouldn't this make a great gift?! Print the four images on one page - color them up, cut them out and you've got beautiful cards.


How about  a set in kraft cardstock?! Stunning! Same technique was used and it worked beautifully.


Here are close-ups.





And, the hardest part is showing the sparkle but here's an attempt.


I hope you've enjoyed seeing copics and watercolor pencils to compare the looks. I thoroughly enjoyed playing with these digis and love the possibilities.

Featured Images:

Thank you for popping by the Pickled Potpourri blog and look forward to seeing you next month! 
Seleise