Hello Stamplings!
Goodness, we've gone through one tunnel already on the 2024 Train to the Future. Welcome aboard as we switch tracks to February and begin our journey through tunnel two! Wait. What? I think that imagery is too dark and there's enough dark, so we don't need to be going through tunnels. But it's definitely a bullet train again!
Speaking of journeys, if you read my last post, you know I'm on a journey to rekindle my joyful routine with this hobby. This is Week One of the month, so the letter is "I" for "Ink/Color Mediums," and I am featuring my crayon and chalk pastels:
Onefer in Pink
Twofer in Blue
(I can't get over how closely the blue chalk color matches the sky!)
These are the NBUS pastel crayons/chalk:
I bought the chalks on the right sometime around 2003. Ahem. Not realizing they are very similar, I bought the Jane Davenport aquapasteles a coupla years ago. They both work like watercolor pencils, which I also have. Ahem.
The NBUS flower and die are from "Bonny Blooms" from The Ton. The pink flowers were watercolored using My Favorite Things no-line watercolor paper. It has a smooth finish, but doesn't pill. At least it didn't for me, but I was economical when using my waterbrush.
The blue flowers were painted using Art Philosophy cold press watercolor paper. Although his little legs were a bit rusty and although you can't see it, Hammy was in his glory winking everything on both cards! After die-cutting the flower spray, I popped them up using dimensional tape and added the simple sediments.
I enjoyed using these products, but between these two and my two sets of watercolor pencils, it feels like excess, so I have started a new donation box.
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Phew! I followed through! Go me! Allow me to pat myself on the back! And if you join in, pat yourself on the back, too! I have created a Pinterest Board, so if you let me know in the comments that you are joining me, I can come see what you made and add your card(s) to the Board. Go you!
See you next Monday where I will feature dies/die cuts. That's redundant, isn't it?😂 Thank you all for your encouragement!📣
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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*
And, as always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and for taking the time to join as a follower!
*Life is too short!
Challenges
- Colorful Options; Krafty Chicks; Triple B (pink)
- Beautiful Blooms; NBUS; ATS&M (blue)
Gorgeous! Look at you go! Keep having fun with it. I can't wait to see what you create. Crafty hugs!
ReplyDeleteThose are two very pretty and colorful cards. And I love the color blue. Lucky you to have blue skies that match! LOL Once in a while we have blue skies here but mostly it's cloudy anymore. Way to use those old supplies once again and get back into making cards too. Have a good week ahead.
ReplyDeleteLove those flower cards !!!!
ReplyDeletegroeten Ineke
Beautiful coloring of the flowers.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great schedule and will get you motivated again. My favorite color is blue so I like that card so much, but I love the colors on the pink petals. The blending is beautiful and the colors are gorgeous. Terrific start!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Blooms beautifully coloured. They really look good with the embossed background, a great finishing touch
ReplyDeleteWay to go Darnell! Both of your cards are beautiful and I'm especially loving the 1st one with the pinks & oranges...such beautiful blending of the colors with the chalks! Can't wait to see next weeks post!! Hugs. :0) P.S. Hope those massive floods aren't near you?? Stay safe & dry!!
ReplyDeleteTwo beautiful cards and I love the blue sky too (if you were matching flowers to our sky today they would be grey!).
ReplyDeleteKath x
Two stunners Darnell...your colouring is superb..well done..cant wait to see what comes next! xx
ReplyDeleteFirst week down and what beautiful florals they are Darnell, beautifully coloured with your pastels using water and love the white embossed backgrounds with the leaf design..I am assuming that is dry embossing and not a coverplate die, but whatever it makes a brilliant backdrop to your fabulous flowers. I will try to join you each week in solidarity and I think your idea using I-D-E-A as the prompt is a brilliant one, and as it happens I do have a card which I am putting up today which meets this week's theme, and as it uses something new it will be appearing in the NBUS Challenge. x
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ReplyDeleteTwo stunning cards featuring Bonny Blooms, Darnell - love them both & the texture behind too!! Yes, amazing how the blue matches your sky (wouldn't match ours - more gray here!!). I'll have to get out some inks and play today - thanks for the inspiration!!
ReplyDeleteWell done. so far so good. I shall look forward to Mondays now. Love both these especially that lovely textured background and vibrant colours xx
ReplyDeleteD, I can tell I'm going to love your weekly I.D.E.A. posts - and to see you using some of the wonderful products you've treated yourself to! I've never used chalks, or pastels - they are gorgeous as your medium of choice for week 1!
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WOW! Both your cards are STUNNING, my sweet friend. The blending you got with the pastels / chalks if flawless. Gorgeous cards! So happy to be joining your self-challenge for the "I" in IDEAS this week. :) Love, Lolly
ReplyDeleteOh My...Beautiful Blue and pink blooms on both your cards, Dolly!!! I do hope to play:-) Your chalks turned out beautifully...Thank you so much for sharing. Love and Hugs...Nancy
ReplyDeleteTwo fabulous cards Darnell, I especially love the blue one. Thanks for another entertaining post. I always finish reading your posts with a smile on my face. 😀
ReplyDeleteLiz xx
I've just had a browse through your recent posts, Darnell and see that lots of congratulations are in order. Happy 53rd my friend and I hope you celebrated in style. Congrats on the refurbed playhouse too - it looks fabulous and I bet you use more of your schtuf now. Finally, congrats on this lovely twofer. I love how you blended the pastels and I particularly love the soft shades on the first beauty.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Hugs
Carol x
PS Thanks for sharing at ATSM!
Adorable both the cards, the roses look amazing with your water colouring! The embossed background is so beautiful too. Well done with your first scheduled week!
ReplyDeleteHugs
Beautiful colours, beautiful flowers, fabulous shading on the flowers! Way to go with sticking to your new plan and getting "I" done in the week it's meant to be done in.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoyed stamping and coloring these gorgeous flowers as much as I enjoyed seeing them! Two beautiful cards, my friend! I hope you are safe and snug from the terrible weather in your area.
ReplyDelete🩷🩷🩷 Your coloring is spot-on perfect! Love the addition of the textured white background! Thank you for joining us at the Colorful Options Challenge. Have a great week! 🎨🩷🌈Cheers, Makira
ReplyDeleteBravo on your week #1 creations! Two beautiful cards, Darnell. I especially love the coloring on the first one!
ReplyDeleteWay to follow through on your schedule! Not sure I'd be as faithful. Your cards are so pretty, too. I especially love the peachy-pink one. Looking forward to seeing your die=cut creations next.
ReplyDeleteThese are GORGEOUS Darnell. Top 5 for sure. Good on you for starting your inspiration posts. I love the idea of your acronym and might just play along.
ReplyDeleteYou Go, Girl! Congrats on the challenge, and the two beautiful colored cards. I do spy a bit of sparkle on the blue, yes that gorgeous blue that matches the sky, so congrats to Hammy too!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness Darnell these are amazing - I do hope making these cards rekindled some joy in your craft - and so happy to hear Hammy gave you four paws of help with the winking.
ReplyDeleteBlessings
Maxine
Two fabulous cards Darnell and a great way to kick off using that new Acronym of yours.I love using my soft pastels but I rather like to use them for larger scale projects, not that I've had mine out for years! They can get very messy as can I!!:)
ReplyDeleteHi Darnell,
ReplyDeleteyes well done for keeping to your schedule and posting such amazing designs.
Love the creative process on these gorgeous designs.
That stamp used is fabulous too and the backgeound looks stunning.
I also need a pat on the back as I have so far kept to my promise to myself to do more blogging.
Lots of crafty love and hugs from my house to yours. Jenny L.
These are amazing Darnell. Beautiful designs and amazing coloring!
ReplyDeleteWoo hoo. I got a notification of your blog post!! Just in time to see such gorgeous cards. I look forward to seeing more.
ReplyDeleteBoth cards are so pretty, Darnell xoxo
ReplyDeleteThese are both very beautiful, Darnell!! Wonderful coloring. And I will join you in patting your back. :-)
ReplyDeleteWow two beautiful cards Darnell. Your floral stamps are gorgeous and your colouring is fantastic. I love your backgrounds too. Thanks for joining us at Krafty Chicks challenge for our 'stamps' challenge. Hugs, Denise x
ReplyDeleteWell done! Love the cheerful cards. I think we'd all find we had duplicates and stuff we don't need but that won't stop us, I'm sure. This is a very good idea but you are good at good ideas! xxx
ReplyDeleteThese are stunning Darnell, your inking is fabulous and how fortuitous that the sky was just the right colour too!! xx
ReplyDeleteYou've certainly done a wonderful inking job on these cards!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous cards and coloring!
ReplyDeleteHip hip hooray! I'm so glad you got to color with your pastels, Darnell. The colors on the pink flowers blend so beautifully together and the blue does match the sky. I hope you'll use them again next month.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... aqua pastels sounds interesting. I'm not sure I've ever heard of watercolor chalks. I have to say your results are fantastic! Yay you for pulling out these NBUS chalks and going for it twice. Not only that, but you used a beautiful NBUS flower stamp as well. I'm excited about Mondays now. I actually was looking forward to your first Monday, and then I didn't even get a chance to come look. I'm here now, though, and it was worth the wait. I'll be back for dies/die cuts next week!
ReplyDeletegorgeous flowers Darnell, isn't it funny we buy new products and then realise they are same as our old ones :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, colourful blooms Darnell...the flowers really stand out against the gorgeous embossed background, two stunning cards
ReplyDeleteAnne x
Two beautiful cards with your pastels Darnell. Love how they turned out and especially the beautiful shimmer they look to have. To be honest, I not only buy crafty things that I already have, it also happened to me to buy a record that I loved and to discover once I got home that I already had it ! This shows that we are faithful in our choices 😜. Hugs xx
ReplyDeleteFabulous colouring on both beauties and the gorgeous texture is a great backdrop for these stunners. Thank you so much for sharing your pink sensation with us at Colourful Options.
ReplyDeleteMarie
So beautiful.
ReplyDeletewww.rsrue.blogspot.com
Two really beautiful cards Darnell the flowers are gorgeous with the embossed background and the colours stunning xx
ReplyDeleteYou've Made two really lovely cards!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous cards and beautiful coloring. Of course the blue one is my favorite. :) TFS
ReplyDeleteWOW! These are gorgeous my friend! Your coloring is perfect & Be-u-t-ful! Thanks so much for joining in the fun at our Triple B challenge! Good Luck and we hope you’ll come back often.
ReplyDeleteDarlene
DAR’S CRAFTY CREATIONS
Co-Owner … Can You Handle the Pressure, Double D, Four Seasons, Peace On Earth, Stencil Fun, Simply Clean & Simple, Two Old Bats, Triple B, Word Power
Fabulous cards, Darnell and kudos to you for pulling out long ago forgotten mediums. We sure have a lot don't we? I never bought chalks in a bar shape (only in a pan set) and one of these days I'll have to give them a go again. Thanks for always inspiring us...and for joining us at The Beautiful Blossoms Challenge this month!
ReplyDeleteWell, you're not only inspiring yourself but all your followers above and me too! Gorgeous cards! And what a stunning result you achieved with the chalk pastels/crayons! I'm wondering if those crayons are similar to the SU watercolour crayons which I have but had forgotten all about... Must confess I am trying very hard not to be jealous of your blue skies too. Vicky x
ReplyDeleteStunning cards Darnell, love the embossing and the gorgeous blooms. x
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers and embossing - great cards.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at the Beautiful Blossoms Challenge.
Helen x
DT
Me again!
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at Addicted to Stamps and More too.
Helen x
DT
Two wonderful watercolor cards, Darnell. Flower bouquets look amazing against the embossing background. Fantastic cards. Where is such a beautiful blue sky? I absolutely have to go there, because I forgot what the blue sky looks like. In Poland it is grey-brown...
ReplyDeletexx
The blue is devine! you are doing an awesome job, I need to do some purging at my place.
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