Hands, Head and Heart: Day 2: Welcome Home, Love Conquers and Delightful Booms

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Day 2: Welcome Home, Love Conquers and Delightful Booms

Welcome back, everyone, it's Day 2! Today we are featuring Welcome Home by Beth Silaika, Love Conquers by Emily Loggans, and Delightful Blooms by our newest illustrator, Arjita Singh !! You know the drill, please leave us some comments as you hop, we love your feedback and each one gives you a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Gina K. Designs, there are 2 up for grabs! Winners announced after hops conclude.

You should be coming from Lisa's blog!

Please come see what I made with these lovely new sets....

First up, Welcome Home! All the little houses in Beth's set were so cute, I wanted to make a background with them, not exactly collage stamped but in rows to create a little community, just keep the bottom of each parallel with the mat's bottom edge to help ground them. I perched one tiny bird to go with the baby sentiment and a few hearts! Super sweet! Colors are GKD Barely There cardstock, Chocolate Truffle, Tranquil Teal and Passionate Pink. Very easy single layer card.

I'm glad she added an anniversary greeting, this would make a really nice card for my husband who is continually working on our nest. I'm the one on the left in Passionate Pink, natch! I used a life changing blender brush with the same pink ink to create a simple cloudy sunset, stamped the branch in Chocolate Truffle, then added my birds. I die cut one house from GKD Ivory cardstock (Welcome Home dies), stamped a heart, then "hung" it inking just part of the dotted trail stamp that goes with the birds to look like it's connected to the branch with a chain. Pop up with foam squares!

Next up Emily's Love Conquers! Wouldn't the world be a much better place if we could all write like Emily?? For now, we just have to settle for her stamps, and I am glad to do that if "settling" means embossing and stamping these babies in every color times infinity! I had to throw a butterfly on both, of course! The first I blended on some blue inks and dropped on a little water to create more texture, then stamped the sentiment a few times with Obsidian Amalgam ink and the Mini MISTI. I used the Beautiful Butterflies dies to cut out the images on both cards.

The next one I emphasize the LOVE in the greetings with the huge new LOVE caps die! These are the letters from yesterday's card, popped up over a butterfly background I collage stamped with Peach Bellini, Red Velvet and Passionate Pink inks on Warm Glow cardstock. I love using round (ish!) objects as a substitute for the O in LOVE on projects (or something pointy for the V like a heart) to add some whimsy, and this perching butterfly on her script greeting does not disappoint! I like how it was roughly the size of the letters, correct scale to blend seamlessly. Once again, sentiment is stamped with Obsidian Amalgam and the MISTI to get a nice crisp impression.

Finally we have Arjita's new Delightful Blooms! Didn't it follow if she could paint such gorgeous flowers, she could probably also draw a few (hundred) that would take our breath away? Oh, yes. It did! This set *also* sold out, so be sure to click notify me so you know as soon as it's back to place an order! My copy of this set just arrived last night so I only have one sample so far for today, but will share more later for sure! I just love the style of these flowers and fonts. It is has been such a pleasure and privilege to work with Arjita and get to know her personally, she is as kind as she is talented and unbelievably humble. I am so happy for her getting this well deserved opportunity to share more of her art with the world!

I wanted to show something easy to make that would still be very elegant. I like monochromatic cards for sympathy, it is soft and calming but not overly cheerful. I stamped this one of two GINORMOUS flower bunches in GKD Blue Raspberry and blended the ink same ink around the top with a Life Changing Blending Brush, no need to mask. The greeting is stamped in Chocolate Truffle ink a few times using the Mini MISTI. I used another die cut butterfly from the pile I made, always love chocolate with blues. Finish with a rainbow heart adhered with GKD Connect Glue. Cardstock ins Pure Luxury Ivory. The gentle reminder of a butterfly's life cycle I've found is great comfort to people who are suffering a loss, and of course once can't help but be cheered by beautiful flowers. I can't wait to color both of her floral images and do loads of other techniques, but I'm really happy with how this card turned out! Her illustration captures the beautiful simplicity and complexity of flowers, no doubt a result of the countless paintings she has expertly, meticulously and lovingly created.

Here are all the stamp sets and die sets showcased today: