Lifetime of Happiness - PDO

Hi friends!  If you haven't gone over to check out the Polka Dot Orchard Etsy store, you should head HERE right now!  They have released several brand new digital stamp sets.  Today I'm sharing one of the images and a sentiment from the Lifetime of Happiness set.

I don't have any in progress pictures for you but there aren't a lot of steps involved.  Just lots of coloring.  My medium of choice this time was Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.  I'm a huge fan of purple so that helped me decide what colors to use!

Before I printed it out, I added a couple leaves to fill out the flower cluster.  Then I printed it onto Bristol cardstock.  The flower petals are colored with a combination of Dark Pink and Deep Violet.  I added the color in the places I wanted the deepest shadows.  I then used a water brush to spread out the color.  I used varying amounts of pink and violet in order to keep the colors from being too uniform.  For the flower centers I used Yellow, Yellow Green, Orange and May Green

The leaves were colored with a combination of Light Green and Olive Green.  Again, I used the water brush to spread out the color.  Once I was certain the colors were dry, I went around the outside of the images with Light Gray.  I used a generous amount of water with the water brush to spread it out.  After it was dry, I cut the panel out with a stitched rectangle die from Lawn Fawn.  I added foam tape to the back of the panel and adhered it to a white, A2 sized card base.  The card base is made out of Neenah 110lb Solar White cardstock.

I printed the sentiment out onto Neenah cardstock as well.  I trimmed it down and glued it onto a piece of green cardstock.  Then I trimmed it down to be a very thin border around the sentiment.  I added foam tape to this as well before glueing it down.

For the final touches, I added dots of Magenta Stickles, Hydrangea Liquid Pearls and Bottle Green Nuvo drops.

I really encourage you to stop by the Polka Dot Orchard store today!

Toodles!
~Kristina

Supplies used:

Neenah Solar White Shop at: SBC | EH	Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue Shop at: SBC | EH	Therm O Web Foam Tape Shop at: SBC | EH	Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper Shop at: EH
Hydrangea Liquid Pearls Shop at: SBC	Light Gray 91 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker Shop at: EH	Lifetime of Happiness - Polka Dot Orchard digi stamp Shop at: PDO	Bottle Green Nuvo Drops Shop at: SBC | EH
Magenta Stickles Shop at: SBC | EH	Yellow 50 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker Shop at: EH	Orange 70 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker Shop at: EH	Dark Pink 27 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker Shop at: EH
Yellow Green 53 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker Shop at: EH	Lt. Green 41 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker Shop at: EH	May Green 47 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker Shop at: EH	Olive Green 43 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Shop at: EH
Deep Violet 84 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Shop at: EH	Ranger Tim Holtz Water Brush - Fine Brush Shop at: EH

Penguin Love

While I know that June is not typically the month of "love", I have a friend who loves penguins.  She also happens to have a birthday this month.  I mean, not all birthday cards need to have cakes and cupcakes, right??  Besides, the Penguin Love set from Polka Dot Orchard has the most adorable penguins EVER!

This card design is fairly simple and would be easy to recreate.

I created a random pattern of hearts from the Penguin Love digital stamp set and printed it out onto a piece of Bristol cardstock.  Next I used foam blending tools to create a blended background.  The colors I used are Tattered Rose, Abandoned Coral and Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide inks.  I just kept blending until there was a smooth transition of color.  I splattered on some clean water and then dabbed it up with a paper towel.  I love the extra bit of detail that it gives.  I also cut it out with a dotted rectangle die from Elizabeth Craft Designs.  I went ahead and glued it to my card base using liquid glue.

Next I printed out the penguins in two different sizes, also on Bristol cardstock.  I then used Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to add the color.  I used light gray, gray, orange and brown.  The actual markers will be linked below.  I applied the color and then used a waterbrush to move the color around.  The cheeks and the heart are colored with Abandoned Coral.  I just squished it down on my glass mat and used the waterbrush to pick up color.

Aren't they cute?  I went ahead and fussy cut them both out.  I also went around the edges with a black marker to make it looked more finished.

I applied foam tape to the back of the large penguin and added it to the card panel.  I plan on using the little penguin either on the inside of the card or another project.  The Hello sentiment I used comes from the It's Your Day digi stamp set.  I also printed it out onto Bristol so my whites would match.  I trimmed it down and added a piece of gray cardstock to give it a very thin border.  I glued this directly to the card panel.

While I loved the card as is, I had some Liquid Pearls sitting out on my desk from a recent purchase.  These just happened to be colors that matched my project!  So I added Pewter, Coral, and Hydrangea to the center of the hearts.  A few of the hearts have Icicle Stickles.  For the larger heart that the penguin is holding I added lots of Icicle Stickles dots.  As well as a dab on each cheek.  I did add a couple dots of the Pewter Liquid Pearls by the sentiment.  

I hope my friend loves her penguin birthday card!  And I hope you guys enjoyed it too!

~Kristina

Supplies Used:

Neenah Solar White Shop at: SBC | EH	Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue Shop at: SBC | EH	Mini Ink Blending Tool Shop at: SBC | EH	Therm O Web Foam Tape Shop at: SBC | EH
Stickles - Icicle Shop at: EH	Stitched Rectangles Elizabeth Craft Design Shop at: Dies R Us	Abandoned Coral Distress Oxide Shop at: SBC | EH	Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper Shop at: EH
Tattered Rose Distress Oxide Shop at: SBC | EH	Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide Shop at: SBC | EH	Light Gray 91 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker Shop at: EH	Orange 70 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker Shop at: EH
Brown 60 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker Shop at: EH	Gray 70 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker Shop at: EH	Penguin Love - Polka Dot Orchard digi stamps Shop at: PDO

Let's Flamingo

Hey Gang!  It's my turn over on the Dies R Us blog today and I've got something a bit on the tropical side to share.  Come on over and check it out HERE.

See you over there!

~Kristina

Just for Dad

Father's Day is fast approaching.  Are you ready?  I'm over on the Dies R Us sharing a Father's Day card.  Come on over and check out the details HERE.

Hope to see you there!

~Kristina

America My Hero

Hey there my friends!  Today I wanted to share a card that I made using one of the brand new digital stamp sets from Polka Dot Orchard.  The set is called America My Hero and has 36 digital images.  You read that right, 36!!!  Seriously, this set is jam packed.  Perfect for 4th of July or military.  Or whatever you want!

I wanted to show that you don't have to spend a ton of time coloring to make a great looking card!  The only coloring I did was sponging along the edges.

The card is a standard A2 size made out of 110lb Neenah Solar white.  Then I cut a black panel about and 1/8" smaller on all the sides.  I printed the stars digital stamp from the America My Hero set three different times.  Once on red, once on white and once on navy.  Then I cut each piece down to 4" x 1 1/2".  I sponged around the red and blue rectangles with Unicorn White pigment ink.  The white rectangle I sponged with Faded Jeans Distress Oxide ink.  I then used Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue to adhere them to the black panel.

I combined two images together for the sentiment.  I used the Wendell Willkie quote with the sparkler image put behind it.  I faded the sparkler image out so it would be easier to read the quote.  I printed it out onto 80lb Neenah Solar white cardstock.  I then it cut it out with a stitched rectangle die from My Favorite Things.  I sponged around the edges with red ink that matched my cardstock.  Next I added foam tape to the back and added it to the card panel.

For the final step I added Icicle stickles to the "sparks" on the sparkler.  I tried to get a good picture of the sparkle but it just didn't work out.  There you have it!  I do hope you will check out the America My Hero digital stamp set from Polka Dot Orchard.  You can find all of the supplies listed below with a direct link to this stamp set!

Toodles,
~Kristina

Supplies used:

Neenah Solar White Shop at: SBC | EH	Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue Shop at: SBC | EH	Lawn Fawn Black Licorice Cardstock Shop at: SBC	Mini Ink Blending Tool Shop at: SBC | EH
Therm O Web Foam Tape Shop at: SBC | EH	Distress Oxide-Faded Jeans Shop at: SBC | EH	Stickles - Icicle Shop at: EH	Unicorn White ink pad Hero Arts Shop at: EH
America My Hero - Polka Dot Orchard digi stamp Shop at: PDO	Stitched Rectangles stax 1 My Favorite Things Shop at: EH