Color My World

Welcome to the first VC Rocks blog hop for the 2011 season! If you don't know what VC Rocks is, please check out the VC Rocks Blog for more info. If you come across a broken link or get lost along your hopping journey the VC Blog has a list of all the hop participants. Or, if you came directly to my site and would like to start the hop at the beginning, go to the VC blog to see who's first in line. :)

If you have been following the hop, you should have arrived here from Sharon's blog ~ Created By You What a great project.

The theme for our hop is Color My World. We were to design projects that used some kind of coloring technique. Not being a coloring type girl, very few of my sets are line art stamps or ones that lend themselves well to coloring; so, I was thankful we were able to use retired sets for this hop. I created three projects for the hop and the coloring techniques I used were with reinkers, markers and sponges.

This first card was SO quick and easy. I have always admired the CAS style of cards, but have difficulty making them myself as I prefer Vintage/Distressed. It has been sunny and really nice here the last couple of days, so I gave this card a "beachy" kind of feel in honor of the rain letting up.

Using a wet paint brush and reinkers in Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz and Crumb Cake, I color swiped a 3" x 3.5" piece of Naturals White cardstock. I then stamped the triple palm tree image from Balmy Breezes in Early Espresso. The word Dreams is from a sentiment in the Happy Harmony set. I used the Early Espresso marker to color just that word for stamping. The piece was then layered onto Baja Breeze with a Naturals White card base.

Stamps: Balmy Breezes, Happy Harmony (both retired)
Ink: Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzaz, Crumb Cake reinkers, and Early Espresso marker
Paper: Baja Breeze, Naturals White
Misc: Paint Brush


This next card uses my all time favorite color combo-Brown and Teal. For this one I used Baja Breeze and Early Espresso. I first inked the flower image from Embrace Life with Versamark and then with Early Espresso before stamping and clear embossing. By inking with Versamark first, before your color, and embossing with clear powder, you then basically have any "color" embossing powder you want.

Using the Baja Breeze marker, I then colored in the flowers to give them more depth and make them stand out as a focal point.

I randomly stamped the branch/leaf stamp from the set on the Baja Breeze mat in Baja ink. I then used the Weathered background stamp, also with Baja ink, over that. I finished off the focal point with Early Espresso grosgrain ribbon and stamped the sentiment in Early Espresso.

Stamps: Embrace Life (retired)
Ink: Baja Breeze ink pad and marker, Early Espresso
Paper: Baja Breeze, Early Espresso
Misc: Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Early Espresso 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon



My final project is a 6" x 6" layout that is definitely more my style and again uses the Espresso and Baja color combo.

I colored the Presto Patterns DSP with Baja Breeze and Crumb Cake using sponges. Next I spritzed it in a couple of places with Log Cabin Smooch Spritz, and then spritzed again with Frost White Shimmer Mist (made from Frost White Shimmer Paint). Finally, I sponged on some more Baja and also Pear Pizzazz. I colored the edges with Early Espresso and a sponge.

I stamped the butterfly from Clearly For You on Naturals White cardstock in Early Espresso. Then I colored it in with Baja Breeze and Certainly Celery markers and cut it out. I sponged the Vintage Tag with Pear Pizzazz and adhered the butterfly with a Pop Dot clipping it to the piece with a Mini Library clip. The pearls were colored with a green Sharpie marker.


For the flowers I used the Sizzix Bigz Die-Fun Flowers. I misted them with water and then crumpled them up. After carefully uncrumpling, I sponged the entire flower with Baja Breeze ink and then sponged the edges with Early Espresso.


I colored another pearl with the green Sharpie and placed it on top of an Antique brad for the center of the flower. I colored the edges of the Celery ribbon using a sponge and Early Espresso to give it a grungier look. To "ruffle" the ribbon I put down a length of Sticky Strip tape and then scrunched the ribbon together as I pressed it down on the tape.

Stamps: Clearly For You
Ink: Baja Breeze ink pad and marker, Early Espresso and Pear Pizzaz ink pad, Certainly Celery marker
Paper: Presto Patterns DSP, Baja Breeze, Early Espresso (textured)
Misc: Antique Brads, Jewels Basic Pearls, Certainly Celery Satin Ribbon, Sizzix Bigz Die Fun Flowers, Vintage Tags, Mini Library Clips, Log Cabin Smooch Spritz, Frost White Shimmer paint (made into shimmer mist), Pop Dots, Sponges, Sticky Strip, Sharpie marker


I hope you enjoyed the projects, but it's time to move on. The next stop on the hop is Angela's blog ~ Life with a Wiener Dog. Frankfurter is very cute and Angela's projects are pretty cute too. :)


Have fun!