Believe Poinsettia Card

I am finally getting around to posting my card for the Penny Black at Allsorts challenge this month.  

The theme is Flower Power, so I went with this beautiful stamp from one of my PB oldies but goodies (Winter Glow 2808L).  

I inked the stamp with Tim Holtz distress inks, placed a piece of Strathmore vellum bristol in my Misti, and stamped the flower.  I started with a light shade, and gradually added darker shades to build up the color.  The Misti is great for this technique. 

When the image was dry (ok...so I hurried it along with a heat tool), I used a VersaMark embossing pen to add some gold embossing to areas of the image, then embossed it.  I also embossed the 'believe' (from a Fiskars small Christmas set).  

I am also adding my card to:  Happy Little Stampers Watercolor Challenge and Addicted To Stamps Challenge (Make your mark).

I added some extra shading and details to the poinsettia petals and leaves with my Prismacolor colored pencils.  With my Clarity brush, I added a light purple haze around the flower, then stamped some Penny Black background stamps (Letter Background, swirl, and swirl border) for interest.  Some spatters, a few crystals, and some gold cording finish it off.

My design team duties have been keeping me busy, so I haven't been as active here on my blog.  I was honored to be asked by SCS moderator, Lydia, to join the Dirty Dozen Design Team at Splitcoaststampers last month.  Can't believe I'm in my second month as a 'Dirty Girl!'  I love the community there, and have been enjoying getting to know everyone.  If you haven't been to the SCS site, do pop in and say hello.  Check out the amazing galleries, and the fun forums.  There are also lots of challenges available to join.  If you are not a SCS member, it only takes a minute to join.  It's a wonderful resource for inspiration and ideas.  And there are tons of free tutorials on the site!  Here is a link to my gallery.  The cards I've been making for the Dirty Dozen Design Team are in the Fan Club section.  You can find information about the Splitcoaststampers Fan Club HERE.  The rest of my cards are in my gallery.  My SCS identification is JustCallMeNana.  The 'my gallery' link above will take you there.

I also received an invitation to join the Technique Junkies design team a couple of weeks ago.  I have been busy, busy, busy getting my cards ready for my first post on that site in late November.  I hope you will stop by to check out the TJ blog and say hello!  You will love the stamp designs.  You can see a card I made a while ago, using TJ's stamps on my blog HERE.  And another one HERE.

Now that I have worked out all the techie stuff (I hope), I will be around here more often.  I miss my little Cafe!  I will be back to my normal posting schedule very soon. 

I appreciate you taking the time to stop by.  If you feel inclined, let me know in the comments if you prefer traditional Christmas colors or tend to go for the non-traditional, as in this poinsettia.  I love both, just depends on my mood!

Blessings,

lynda