Flower Teddy + Floral Twist | Penny Black

Flower Teddy + Floral Twist

It's almost spring and flowers are popping up all over!   Do you love spring as much as I do?!  I love springtime color, new life in the garden, and I especially love to color florals.   You too?!  I thought so (she smiles).

Let's start off with a new Teddy from the Penny Black release, Timeless here!   He's called, Flower Teddy #30-543   Look at that sweet face!  Who can resist, certainly not I!

Products used:  Flower Teddy #30-543; Swirly Stitches #51-502; and Doodles #51-128

I used polychromos pencils as my medium this time.   I was very fortunate to learn how to use my pencils without mineral spirits from watching Arizona artist, Terry Medaris.   Terry comes to the Mesa, Arizona stamp show twice a year and demonstrates how he uses colored pencils.   I bet I stood at his table for hours while he colored and gave instruction.   Terry was the senior artist for Boeing in Tucson during his professional career.   He later taught art at Pima Community College in Tucson and then went on to share his art with the stamping community, and in many of Arizona's local galleries.

First I stamped Flower Teddy on Neenah Solar White #80 lb card stock in a good quality black ink.  I have a photo for you showing the process from beginning to end.

Lay down your color gently at first, then begin building the color up.  Doing this helps the color to fill in the tooth of the paper and provides a smooth surface.   Continue adding color for shadows, and remember to leave your highlights.  You can use your eraser to help if you get a little heavy handed.  Using your good eraser is a great way to provide highlights as well.

Once I felt Flower Teddy was finished, I trimmed him out (fussy cut) so I could pop him up with adhesive squares and provide dimension on this card.    Before I started working on the Timeless release I went through all my patterned paper and picked out those papers I felt would be complimentary.  I needed to "ground" my Teddy so I used some blue plank patterned paper in the background (you can choose your favorite paper), and cut out a frame with Swirly Stitches #51-502 (love that frame set!).   For my sentiment I used an older die-cut set from Penny Black called, Doodles #51-128    I cut it twice and stacked it.  I also cut the word down a bit to fit the space.  To finish the card I added some Tonic Nuvo drops in white.

My second card is going through the mail with one (1) stamp!  I know that's important to many of you so I wanted to mention it.  I did pop the panel up with some soft fun foam but it is still very light for mailing.

Products used:  A Floral Twist #40-676; Textures #30-240; and Grateful Sentiments #30-547

I used my Misti to gradually moved my stamp from the Textures #30-240 downward, then I colored A Floral Twist #40-676 with Tombows and stamped over the textures background.  I did that a couple of times to make sure I got good coverage.   Once I was done I used some gold Fine Tec paint for splatters.  I also backed the green card stock with some crumbled gold cotton paper (I love the texture it has) and embossed the sentiment, Thank You, from the Grateful Sentiments #30-547 set.  I finished the card with some flat enamel dots.  It has a very open air breezing feeling to me and is reminds me of the wild flowers that grow along the grasses in the dunes here in South Carolina.

Have a wonderful crafty weekend friends!