Greetings....

 Now these are my colors! I love this color combo. It is from the new Bo Bunny Collection "Mama-Razzi2" 6x6 paper pad. I paired these colors up with another new set of stamps from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps. The set is called Spring Flourished Ovals Clear Set. You can see the set below, lots of combinations to mix and match with the multiple sentiments. Of course there is a Coordinating Die too!

 I stamped the image on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White paper using Memento ink. I hand cut this out. You can see I darkened the outside frame and added a little blue highlight around the inside of the frame. There is a coordinating die for this, I used it to cut out a small layer for the image. 

 I stamped one of the sentiments from the set in the top portion of the frame. I added some Copic color to the little whimsical flowers.

 This is the inside of the card. You can see I added another sentiment on the inside that is also in the same Spring Flourished Oval Set. 

Here's an up close of the front of the card. I added foam tape in between layers for dimension. Viva Clear Glass Effect Pen on the Flower centers for a little shine. I love the little lace border die that PPRS came out with! All my layers are created with Perfect Layer Rulers. The bow finishes it up for this card. 

• Stamps by Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps: CLR033 Spring Flourished Ovals Clear Set
• Paper: Bo Bunny 6x6 Mama-Razzi2 Collection, White. Kraft
• Dies by Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps: PPRS-D033 - Flourished Oval Die, PPRS-D034 Floral Border Die
• Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black
• Other: Bow Easy Tool, Ribbon by SU, Adhesive Brads, Tim Holtz Embossing Folder, Perfect Layers Rulers, Copics, Foam Tape, Viva Clear Glass Effect Pen

Impression Obsession - Summertime!

It's an Impression Obsession Thursday! The Design Team was given the theme "In the Air" to inspire our creations this week. So come on and join us for this fun challenge and a chance to win a $25 Gift Certificate to shop for some new rubber from IO. Find all the details on how to play along on the Impression Obsession Blog. 

Check out what everyone came up with today:

Daniela @ For the First Time

Dina @ Mama Dini's Stamperia

Jeanne @ Inky Paws
Jenny @ One Krafty Kat - you are here!
Julie @ Out to Impress
Kittie @ Kittie Kraft 
Laura @ Laura's Stamp Art Journal
Vicki @ Summerthyme Studio

 Sweet and Simple for today! The challenge was In the Air, maybe I stretched it a bit with the pinwheels... At first I planned on birds or butterflies, but then came across this fun image and felt like playing with it! I used paper from Basic Grey's Collection "Mint Julep" which is full of happy prints and coordinating solids. I paper pieced the pinwheels. The top solid layers are popped up with a little dab of silicone under each flap.

I added a white liner on the inside and a little bit of paper. I stamped the Summer Afternoon sentiment and added that inside. This would make a fun anytime card. Final card size is an A2. 

• Stamps by Impression Obsession: Party Pinwheels #H8953, Summer Afternoon #C3784 
• Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
• Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Basic Grey 6x6 pad Mint Julep, Kraft
• Other: Corner Rounder, Brads, Jute String, Misc. Button, Foam Tape, Bow Easy Tool, Perfect Layer Rulers, Dimensional Silicone, Spellbinder's Rectangle Nesties

Timeless Tuesday #220 - Blues and Greens

Welcome to my first post with Flourishes for the Timeless Tuesday Challenge! This week Broni is our hostess, and her challenge is all about using Green and Blue! Easy enough for a challenge, so grab some green and blue paper and a Flourishes set and play along! You can find all the details of the challenge on the Flourishes Blog!

Check out what the team came up with for

FTTC#220 Blue and Green Challenge:

• Ally Cope
• Broni Holcombe
• Deborah Anton
• Denise Marzec
• Katie Sims
• Judy Rozema
• May's Guest Designer: Iulia Pasca
• Jenny Gropp -that's me!

I was in the mood to color some flowers, so I found a set that would work with the challenge colors of blue and green....the very pretty Sweet Violets stamp set. I used the out of the box technique with the violets using a circle die. The white layer behind the image and the sentiment die both come in the Perfectly Pierced Classic Window Die Set. I love using piercing on a card and when the die does it for you, well I love it even more!  I hand cut additional small layers around most of the die cut pieces. 

Here are the Copics I used for the image. Flourishes does a fantastic job of grouping Copics together to make it easy to pick out some really great combinations. They have created a swatch book that has all sorts of great color combo suggestions. I used the greens from the Pistachio Collection, these have to be some of my most used greens, I just love the tone.

Here is an upclose. Of course I managed to work a bow in there! 

• Stamps by Flourishes: Sweet Violets Stamp Set
• Dies: Perfectly Pierced Classic Window Die Set #CD005 by Flourishes, Spellbinder's Circle Nesties, Spellbinder's Grand Labels One, Spellbinder's Grand Decorative Labels One
• Paper: Green DP is from Simple Stories 6x6 Summer Collection, Blue, Curious Cryogen White
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Brilliant Blue
• Other: Misc. Ribbon, Bow Easy Tool, Foam Tape for Dimension, Misc. Button

Some FUN news and a CARD!!!!

I have a card to share, but I first I have some really fun news to share!

I am thrilled to be joining the very talented and creative design team for Flourishes! 

If you know me, then you know Flourishes Stamps are some of my most favorite images to color. I'm super excited to be part of the team and share more Flourishes creations on my little blog.

I am part of the Friends of Flourishes Design Team, which means that each and every Tuesday I will be sharing a Flourishes card. And every Tuesday you can play along with the team. Each Tuesday will bring a different challenge and there is always a prize up for grabs too! There are two more talented ladies joining the team along with me.... Katie Sims and Judy Rozema. Please use this link to go the announcement on Flourishes and get to know my other new teammates.

 So here is a quickie card, made with Flourishes Stamps today, of course! I used the Tiny Flowers and Tags Set. It has all sorts of little flowers and sentiments that make perfect small tags. Today I just used the Daisy and one of the little sentiments. The small flowers and words fit perfectly in this little nine square die! I used Spellbinder's Lacey Squares to create the card base.

 I adhered the black frame to white card stock. Then I stamped the daisy and sentiment in the little squares. I colored the background in the little squares with Y32 so that the daisies would pop out white.  A tiny amount of G20 in the centers of the flower petals. Y35 is in the center. I used Perfect Layer Rulers to trim the white layer, I used the 1/16" edge.

Here's an up close. I added a bow, of course! And I added a little drop of Viva Clear Glass Gel Pen on the center of each flower. I used foam tape in between in some of the layers to add dimension. 

• Stamps: Flourishes Tiny Flowers and Tags
• Dies: Spellbinder's Lacey Squares Nesties, Art Gone WIld - Crafty Cutts Dies #CCD-011 Nine Square
• Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black
• Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Black, Yellow
• Other: Copics, Perfect Layer Rulers, 1/8" White Ribbon, Bow Easy Tool, Viva Clear Glass Gel, TIm Holtz Embossing Folder, Foam Tape

SSCB #11 - For the Guys!

Welcome to a new challenge for Serendipity Stamps! The Serendipity Challenge this week is all about cards for the guys. You can join along with us at the Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog. With each challenge we always have a gift certificate up for grabs to a random player. 

Check out the masculine cards the team came up with for this challenge:

Jeanne Jachna
Marybeth Lopez
Miriam Napier
Pauline Pollington
Anya Schrier

Jenny Gropp - you are here!

Cathy Weber

 I wanted to color up this Golf Bag and found that Spellbinder's Labels 21 was a good match to frame the image. 

 I airbrushed a little BG23 around the edges while the image was still in the die frame. I added a little piercing detail around the edges. I hand cut a skinny red border.

 A quick color on this image. You can see the Copics I used above.

 The Happy Father's Day sentiment fit inside just right! Every once in awhile it works out perfectly! 

Here's an up close. I added a few little black gems to embellish. It was hard, very hard, but I refrained from adding a bow.

• Stamps by Serendipity Stamps: Golf Bag #224F, Happy Father's Day #364E
• Ink: Versafine Crimson Red, Memento Tuxedo Black
• Paper: Red, Neenah Classic Crest Natural White (ivory), 6x6 My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline - Fiddlesticks paper pad
• Other: Spellbinder's Labels 21, Black Adhesive Gems, Foam Tape, Copics/ABS, Paper Piercing Tool

Blog Hop with Perfect Paper Crafting and Scrapbook Adhesives!

A NEW Blog Hop today! 

This week the Perfect Paper Crafting Team is pairing up with Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L. Both companies are giving away $50 Gift Certificates to random commenters! So hop around and leave a little comment love for the designers for your chance to win! The Hop ends Friday, May 11th at midnight. Winners will be announced Monday on the Perfect Paper Crafting Blog and the Scrapbook Adhesive Blog.

Here's the hop order:

Perfect Paper crafting/Laura Lynn 

Scrapbook Adhesives blog

Scrapbook Adhesives Blog will be featuring projects each day this week!

you are here -  Jenny Gropp

 Pam Sparks

 Eva Uyeunten

 Roxie Glaza

 Wendy Ramlakhan

I have several cards to share today. I put away the Copics for the day, just for the day, and only used pretty papers from Graphic 45 and adhesives from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L! I used Graphic 45 Collections to create with - Secret Garden and French Country. I had fun doing something different. Copics are my love, so it is a different approach when I'm just using paper. But I got on a good roll with it and really enjoyed myself! 

CARD #1

 For my first card I used Graphic 45's Secret Garden Collection. The center picture is from the Springtime 12x12 page. The background paper with the writing is from the 12x12 page Seed Fairy. The blue layer is from the 6x6 Secret Garden paper pad, of course I used the 1/16" edge on Perfect Layer Rulers to the get nice even layered mat.  I used Neenah Classic Crest Natural White to create the card base and cut out the Spellbinder's Floral Oval Die.

I tried out several different runners and they all worked wonderfully, but this E-Z Squares Runner was my favorite, and it's refillable too. This is the back of my background panel that went on the blue layer.

I used a Chestnut Roan Cats Eye to add a little brown chalk edge to the oval picture and also the the Seed Fairy writing panel. I used these little Photo Corners, of course also from Scrapbook Adhesives, to add a little corner detail.  You can see the sheet of the photo corners in the background, I cut off the backing piece so that I was left with only the top portion of the corner. Then I used the small foam squares, cutting them in half to   accommodate the small surface of the corner piece.

  

I wanted the corner piece to be a little more noticeable... a  little Swarovski Peach Crystal helped out with that! The corner pieces come in many different colors too! Check it out here!

Here is the inside of the card. You can see the card opens tent style, it is an A2 sized card. A little circle embellishment from the Secret Garden Banners Pack.

CARD #2

I went to the Graphic 45 French Country Collection for this card. I cut out the main image from the 12x12 A La Carte page. I had a second page to cut out the second sunflower that is popped up. I cut it out using Spellbinder's Resplendent Rectangles. I hand cut a skinny layer around the sunflower panel. The green layer is from the 12x12 Promenade Sheet. The yellow is from the 6x6 French Country paper pad. I love having matching solid papers in these G45 Collections. I used my Corner Chomper to round the corners and then used my Perfect Layer Rulers to create the mats. A chalked the edges of a coordinating Chipboard package and added that with a brad. 

I have three layers that are popped up with foam tape... Yes, that's black foam tape! I love this stuff! If you are using dark colors the black foam tape is perfect, you don't see anything noticeable in between the layers! They come in various sizes too. 

CARD #3

Here is my last card for today. I went back to the Graphic 45 Secret Garden Collection. The picture panel is from the 12x12 Springtime page. The blue and the peach layers were created with the 1/16" Perfect Layer Ruler and are both from the Secret Garden 6x6 paper pad. I used Spellbinder's Fleur de Lis Rectangles to create the card base. A few Swarovski Crystals brighten this card up around the edges!

I get a lot of questions about how to make shaped cards. So I'd thought I'd share an easy technique. I used Scrapbook Adhesive's Crafty Power Tape (High Tack and Translucent). You can see the shiny tape on the card stock at the top.  I then placed my nestie over it evenly and taped the nestie in place so that it would not shift.

This is it after I die cut the frame. You can see the tape at the top, the tape cuts easily with the die. Now I have perfectly placed adhesive on the top of the frame. All I need to do is peel off the top protective layer on the tape to reveal the sticky. I then scored  across the top of the card. NOTE - two rows of tape would have been better, right up to the score line would be ideal.  

The  Power Tape is translucent , so it's hard to see in the picture. I peeled off the tape and lined up a second die cut to match, no score line in the top. The score on the back panel allows it to swing open.

You can see how the card base came together in this picture above.

More foam squares on the back of the picture panel. Dimension adds so much more interest! Thanks for   checking out our hop today! Hope you enjoyed all the projects the team is showing off today! Remember the ScrapBook Adhesives Blog is showing projects every day this week!

 Here's the hop order again:

Perfect Paper crafting/Laura Lynn 

Scrapbook Adhesives blog

Scrapbook Adhesives Blog will be featuring projects each day this week!

Jenny Gropp - you are here!

Pam Sparks

Eva Uyeunten

Roxie Glaza

Wendy Ramlakhan

Impression Obsession - What I'm Thankful for....

I have two posts today, so if your looking for the Serendipity Stamps Blog Hop Post, please scroll down one post! 

It's an Impression Obsession Thursday! The Design Team was given the theme "I'm thankful for..." to inspire our creations this week. So come on and join us for this fun and easy challenge and a chance to win a $25 Gift Certificate to shop for some new rubber from IO. Find all the details on how to play along on the Impression Obsession Blog. 

Check out what everyone came up with today:

Dina @ Mama Dini's Stamperia

Jeanne @ Inky Paws
Jenny @ One Krafty Kat - you are here!
Julie @ Out to Impress
Kittie @ Kittie Kraft 
Laura @ Laura's Stamp Art Journal
Vicki @ Summerthyme Studio

 So to keep with the challenge theme... I used a friendship quote on the inside of the card. I am thankful for my friendships! People that live close, far away, friends that I talk to almost daily, some every few months... I am so lucky to have a wonderful circle of friends!

I have not done a coloring tutorial in a while so I decided I would step out my coloring process today. I used the image Five Roses. Here is the image... you can see there are five roses, but I only inked up the center three flowers for my card.

 I inked up the center three flowers and used a circle nestie to do the "out of the box" technique, allowing portions of the image to stick outside of the circle.

I used W00 to gently add a soft grey border around the outside edges. It is subtle but it was a little too bright white for me.

 I used Y26 for the first layer of color on the flowers.

I finished covering the flowers with Y21. This really didn't leave me with any highlights or  shading.... so I bactracked in the next step.

 Very rarely do I pull out the Blender pen... but I used it on this to gently remove a little color.

 After using the 0 Blender I went back and filled in the white areas with Y0000. This helped smooth out some of the blotchy areas where I used the Blender.

Next the green, YG97 was my first layer of color for the leaves. My green choices were based on paper I was going to use on my card... but things changed at the end and the green paper didn't make the cut, no pun intended!

I finished the green with YG93. 

I wanted to brighten the leaves a bit, a little yellow thrown in the mix does that easily.

I used the Circle Frame Die Cut as a frame, backing the window portion with yellow vellum. The rose circle will be popped up in the vellum window.

Above is the inside of the card. I used the sentiment Best Things.

Here's an up close of the front. I tucked a little embossed panel in the mix. All of my layers were of course done with Perfect Layer Rulers. Finished card is 4 3/4" Square and opens tent style.

• Stamps by Impression Obsession: J2441 Five Roses, C3639 Best Things
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black
• Dies: #DIE001-Z Circle Shaker Frame Die, Spellbinder's Circle Nestie
• Paper: 6x6 Simple Stories "Summer" paper collection, Kraft, Black, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
• Other: Copics, Ribbon from May Arts, Bow Easy Tool, Perfect Layers Rulers, Embossing Folder by Darice, Button by Basic Grey, Foam Tape