my Crafty Corner

Cards and other handicrafts made by Jean Straw

Sunday 21 September 2014

A Pair Of Poppies

Hi folks I hope you have all been enjoying the weekend. We have had a lovely sunny day here today after two rather dull ones.
I made this card quite quickly this afternoon because I wanted to enter the Butterfly Challenge where Mrs A, remembering the old Burl Ives song The ugly Bug Ball, wants us to include other flying bugs along with the butterfly. Now I must confess I am not all that keen on bugs so I don't have many stamps of them, however I remembered the bee which came as a freebie in a Crafty Individual order ages ago, and then a browse through my Chocolate Baroque flower stamps resulted in finding the ladybird. The poppy stamp is also CB from a set called Pretty Poppies. I stamped directly onto a white A6 folded card with black Memento ink. The colouring was done with Derwent Aqua Tone colour sticks, These are not pencils nor crayons but sticks of colour which as the name suggests can be blended with water. My sister Kate gave them to me last time I stayed with her because she didn't use them and I was beginning to feel guilty because I hadn't used them either. For the poppy flowers I coloured with them just like with pencils using first yellow lightly all over and a little brown where I wanted darker shading and then all over again with red and then blended the colours together with a water brush. The butterfly and bees were coloured in the same way with just a little Sakura clear stardust pen on the bee wings. I stamped and coloured just the butterfly onto a little snippet of card and cut out the front wing and stuck it over the original with silicon glue for a bit of extra dimension. When I came to stamp the ladybird I realised that it was really too big to go with the rest of the design so I decided to see if  I could make it with shrink plastic. I stamped it onto frosted shrink and coloured it with a red pencil and cut it out, a bit fiddly! I had fun trying to shrink it as it kept blowing away off the table as it was too small to hold down, it did get shrunk eventually and I fixed onto the card with a little Glossy Accents. The Best Wishes is part of another CB stamp.
I am going to enter this at The Butterfly Challenge - Ugly Bug Ball
I used a tiny snippet of card to stamp the butterfly wing and an even tinier snippet of shrink plastic for the ladybird so I'll take to Pixie's Snippets Playground as well.
This also fits the challenge at Stamping Sensations - Things With Wings.

Thank you for looking today and for your comments which are really appreciated
Jean .





21 comments:

  1. Well your fiddling around paid off, because this is such a pretty card! The little bees and ladybug all look perfect with those brightly colored poppies! Nice job on this one Jean!

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  2. This is really pretty Jean I love poppies huggles Sue xxx

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  3. Hi Jean,
    what a super card.
    I love the way you have coloured the poppies, and your little bugs.
    My you were brave with the shrink plastic.
    I haven't used that in yonks.
    I had a similar problem heat gunning some organza flowers yesterday as they kept blowing away.
    Lots of crafty love. Jenny L.

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  4. This is just lovely, and your blending & shading with this product worked beautifully to create such pretty flowers. This is an unfamiliar product to me, but it looks like you did a terrific job with it. Loved the tiny lady bug too. I've never worked with the shrink either, and I bet it was quite hard to get something that small to stay put as it heated. Your card is just marvelous! TFS & Hugs

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  5. I make no secret that I adore Poppies Jean and your crisp and elegant card is a delight and showcases the CB stamp beautifully.

    Thanks so much for joining us again at Stamping Sensations challenge.

    B x

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  6. More lovely poppies Jean. Well done for shrinking your ladybird. Some of my bugs were a bit out of proportion too. Yo did well with the aqua pencils, with some nice shading on the poppies. I never really got on with them, though I did use them until something I liked better came along! Kate x

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  7. Hello Jean

    Oh my word, your card is just elegant and so beautiful. Your colouring is amazing, and I love the little bugs!!!
    l
    luv
    irene
    xxxx

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  8. How beautiful Jean, a really lovely card.
    hugs Jacee
    Simply Paper Card Design

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  9. I love poppy stamps and this one is really lovely....and what a beautiful card you've made! Sounds like you had fun with the shrink plastic! x

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  10. Poppies always look beautiful, it a gorgeous card.
    Yvonne x

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  11. Stunning! A gorgeous image beautifully coloured too!

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  12. This is a lovely CB poppy stamp and the bees are the perfect size to go to go with the flower. I love your colouring Jean with the poppies a really pretty shade of red, and your fun with the shrink plastic was definitely worth it as the ladybird looks so realistic. A beautiful CAS card. x

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  13. Gorgeous card Jean, your colouring is beautiful, Cathy x

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  14. Jean, I'm completely blown away by this sensational card! It looks like a professional print of a museum work of art. Honestly. Your talent is remarkable!! Hugs, Darnell

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  15. Oh my Jean, such dedication. I love your card with your butterfly and especially the bugs. I was sorting through my stamps last night and came across that bee from C I. That I had free too. Thankyou or attending The Ball ith your lovely creation. Hugs Mrs A. Butterfly challenge.

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  16. What a beautiful card you have created Jean. That poppy image is stunning and the bees are gorgeous (I would say that being a Bee Keeper's wifie). I was working on poppies last night but hush hush for the time being. Yours is a stunner.
    Hugs
    xx

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  17. VERY IMPRESSIVE! Excellent coloring and beautiful images. This is worthy of a frame to hang on the wall or displayed somewhere. - Jim

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  18. Fabulous cardJean ,I love poppies and yours are so beautifully coloured, love the pop of blue with the butterfly, also love your "bugs" what a great idea to shrink the ladybird

    Thanks for joining us at Stamping Sensations

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  19. Stunning result Jean! And how beautifully the colouring worked - I did titter at you shrinking the ladbird. Great idea but very fiddly I expect.

    Hugs, Di xx

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  20. Definite work of art that one Jean. GORGEOUS xxx

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  21. What a lovely card, and I laughed thinking of you chasing the ladybird around :-)
    Debs xx

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