Aloha friends! Happy Monday?? Already!? I hope you had a really nice weekend! For lots of people it was the weekend to prepare the kiddos to go back to school. Wow, seems like Summer really is coming to a close. I was in the studio yesterday trying to shake off my crabby mood (because of this lingering cold) and I was looking for some inspiration. Well, I hopped over to the MFT Challenge Blog and saw the current Sketch Challenge, and that was that! Inspired! And I was cheered right up. Lost myself in stamping and coloring for most of the afternoon.
I think that I might be ready to move on to Fall crafting now. Fall is coming and that's my favorite season. Football starts in a couple of weeks… But, I wanted to make one last super SUMMER card using the new Polynesian Paradise Stamps and Dies from MFT. These beauties have been sitting on my desk for a week or so. LOVE. Seriously Torico knocked this set out of the park.
Here's my little hula girl saying Aloha to you!
I colored my images with the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers. These colors are so vivid, they were the perfect choice of medium for this project. I stamped and colored almost all of the images so I could have choices when it came to laying out my final card. Pretty much I'm obsessed with pineapples right now!! And see the hot pink pineapple background? That's a giant stamp too! OMG.
Can't get more preppy than hot pink and lime green! YUM. Here's a close up of my coloring I did on the flowers. I used the inks with a water brush first and let them dry. Then I went back in with the marker and colored over the top of the watercoloring. I think I like this new technique. I wanted the flowers to really pop. I took a white gel pen (MY FAVORITE ONE IS THIS ONE) and made little dots on my images.
Here is the sketch image.
CLICK HERE TO ENTER YOUR CARD TOO!
I made a soft blue sky background for my hula honey using some Broken China Distress Ink and a sponge dauber. For my sentiment, I stamped and white embossed on crisp black paper. Still loving that trend too! Most of the flower pieces are popped up with foam tape.
This card brings back such good memories of our vacation several years ago to the islands of Hawaii! When we were in Hawaii, we saw sooooo many different colors of Plumeria flowers. They are so dreamy and beautiful. And that scent is what I imagine heaven will smell like. I have never seen anything more beautiful. I can close my eyes and be transported back…. This particular color of plumeria was my favorite — yellow and pink on the same flower. I tried to replicate it with my coloring!
Here is the color I was trying to get! Is this not the prettiest thing ever? Can you smell it? I wish my computer had scratch-n-sniff! LOL.
I have a funny story to share with you about the Plumeria flowers. On our Hawaii trip I kept looking everywhere for Plumerias. Every time we saw gardens, or flowers or some pretty scenery I kept looking…and looking. How come I never saw any I wondered…. Then, one day, on Maui, we rented a convertible and went driving up the mountain. We were at a stop sign and I looked up to the sky. And, bam, right there over me was…. a Plumeria TREE! Yes, they grow on trees! The entire time I had been looking at the ground for FLOWERS! LOL. Oh gosh, I still haven't lived that down. We still chuckle at that one. And, of course, for the rest of our trip we saw them everywhere! We even found a Plumeria farm in Kona and they had set out a big cooler full of ice cold Plumeria leis with a can for money on the top. Let me tell you, nothing feels more wonderful than an ice cold floral lei around your hot neck! It's fun to remember these things. What are your favorite tropical memories?? I'd love to hear!
Have a fabulous week my friends! XOXO
