Tiptoe through the Tulips!

Tulip time!!!
Don't you just love tulips?

I love this stamp image by Creative Play Stamps, it is simple and pretty and just the right size for making a big impression on your card. *Three Tulips* can be found here. I love that you can color the stamp with markers prior to stamping (as opposed to using a stamp pad). For these cards I decided to color directly on the stamps themselves with water-based markers, give them a good *huff* with my breath and them stamp them on smooth white paper. (**note: alcohol-based/permanent markers will not work with this method because they dry too fast).

I used Marvy Art Brush Markers because they are specifically designed to be used with rubber stamps in this way. They are juicy, sturdy, do not fray (even after multiple uses) and give a very clean image.

For this card I colored the tulips with Red #2 and then went over the shaded parts with English Red #28. It's easy to see the shaded parts on the stamp because they have a cross-hatch pattern, whereas the highlighted parts are solid. I then colored in the stems with Green #4 and then huffed and puffed on the stamp to moisten it. The stamped image turned out really crisp and clear. :) Afterwards I added *Eucalyptus* Stickles to the stems and *Christmas Red Stickles* to the shaded parts of the tulip. The round stickers are by *7 Gypsies* and the punches are by Fiskars. Papers by K & Co and Stampin' Up cardstock. All of these accessories can be found at Creative Play Stamps.


Here is a little darker version below, I did the same with the coloring except I used English Red #28 for the base with *Star Dust* Stickles on top of it, and then Black Cherry # 108 for shading and *Magenta* Stickles on top of that. I pulled out my new Martha Stewart flower punch and popped those up on dimensionals. The yellow and orange centers were made by punching out a little piece of cardstock and gluing them to the back.

You can't really see it, but since my little journaling frame by K & Co is not white but sort of cream colored, I sprayed the tulip piece with a little bit of ink to match. It was stark white so I wanted to tone it down a bit.
Here's how I did it --I made my own mini spray bottle using the Ranger *Mini Mister*. I simply filled it with tap water, then added about 5 drops of *Brushed Corduroy* reinker by Ranger and about a quarter teaspoon of *Perfect Gold* glimmer powder by Ranger's *Perfect Pearls*. You shake it up and spray away! The perfect pearls powder makes it sparkle just a bit, it's just great! I learned this technique by Jeanne Streiff at a local rubber stamping show in California in February.

-I was very happy that the sentiment *Hello* fit perfectly on the frame -- it's from the stamp set *Thinking of You* also by Creative Play Stamps, it comes in a sheet with 20 different sentiments and greetings such as: hi, best wishes, miss you, thinking of you, hello, just a note, etc... it's a great deal, you get so many on one sheet!

Lastly, I drew the stitching around the sentiment with a brown pen, and wrote the word *tulips* by hand. Papers by K & Co and Stampin' Up cardstock. I hope you enjoy looking at it!


For my third try I decided to go yellow/saffron colors. It was also a good opportunity to use my *Butterscotch* Adirondack color wash spray by Ranger!

So I chose Marvy Brush Art Markers Citrus Yellow #69 and Orange #7 for the tulips, with *Orange Peel* Stickles. I then took it outside and sprayed the entire piece very lightly with *Butterscotch* Adirondack color wash spray. Afterwards, I sprayed some more onto a piece of saran wrap so there was a tiny puddle and then edged it in the ink. I wanted all of these lovely shades of yellows and oranges to stand out and look artistic so I chose to do it in the popular *distressed* style. I like it when I can get a little messy and artistic!

Since I had my K & Co frames already out I decided to use this very pretty yellow one which turned out to fit perfectly across the card. The *Just a Note* sentiment seemed like an excellent match so I used that and hand drew the musical notes. It was stamped using *Aged Mahogony* Distess Ink pad. This sentiment can also be found in the stamp set *Thinking of You*. All those little dots on the edges are hand-doodled. I also decided to edge this piece with the Butterscotch spray as well. You can see it on the edges a bit. Papers by K & Co and Stampin' Up cardstock.