919 Days Later

 Wow! 

919 Days since I have posted a Blog Message!

It is time to re-start sharing my love and passion for card crafting!

What I have been trying to learn and improve is

Watercoloring

Since as we all know last year the idea of a 

person to person class was not possible I was on the computer.

 Blogs, On-Line Card Class and Facebook.

I am still trying to get the blending of the watercolors a bit more perfected.

Below is a list of watercolors I have been practicing with:

Ink Pads

Distress Ink

Distress Oxide

Watercolor Markers

Marvy LePlume Markers

Zig Clean Clear Markers

Arteza Real Brush Pen

Watercolor Tubes

Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors

Mission Gold Class Watercolor

Windsor & Newton Cotman Water Colours

Windsor & Newton Professional Water Colours

Watercolor Pan

Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors

Fine Tec Pearlescent Colours

The card below I used Distress Inks!

I colored the stamp from Power Poppy Dahlia X using

 Distress Ink and Distress Oxide.

The comparison was that the Distress Inks were bolder in color.

Dahlia's are one of my favorite flowers in my garden!

Hello

One of the colors I am always drawn to is Orange!

Bright Orange

 Soft Orange

 Peach Orange

 Rusty Orange

Also, Denver Bronco Orange!

(Not a good year for my hometown football team!)

Card finished from Sneak Preview!

A few years ago I posted my Top Ten Flowers!

Now, number 11 - Geraniums!

ZIG Clear Color Real Brushes: 052 Bright Yellow, 070 Orange

The petals on Geraniums are so beautifully formed.

 The petals flow so gracefully in a pot.

Or scale down in a window box.

 The scalloped circled edge Die from Lawn Fawn

matched the look of the geranium petals.

As I begin the planning my floral garden

Geraniums will be on my list!

Of course in Orange!

Supplies:
Stamps - Geraniums Take Two - Power Poppy
Coloring - ZIG Clear Color Real Brushes: 052 Bright Yellow, 070 Orange, 043 Olive Green, 046 Mid Green, 302 Haze Blue,      
                                                                    075 Brick Beige, 901 Gray Tint and 068 Deep Brown
Dies - Lawn Fawn - Outside In Scalloped Circle Stackables, Taylored Expressions - Banner Stacklets 2,
          Technique Tuesday - Straight Talk Hello

New Year - New Beginnings!

It has been over a year since I have blogged.

I am going to call it my "gap" year!

A few things I did celebrate last year...

Spent the Summer with Taeko my Mother-in-law who I adore

Two little ones Zoey and Hank celebrated their first birthday

Have a healthy left foot after surgery - took 11 months

Lead Creative Living and STREAM team at the Oregon State Fair for a successful year

Most important...

Transition time! 

Time for myself, family and friends.

Some people call this retirement.

However not from exploring, learning and enjoying my bucket list!

Artist Bouquet from Power Poppy.
Colored with ZIG Clean Color Brushes.

At the top of my bucket list is Papercrafting!

I love to create Cards

Especially COLORING!

Sneak Preview - Time to sketch and embellish!

From Copic Markers, Watercolor Tubes and Markers, 

Colored Pencils, Inks and Chalk.

Simply...I love to COLOR!

Join me this year as I contiune to learn and grow my skills.

As I share them on my blog - bouquets northwest!

Yes, Christmas Tags!

What do you do with all of those tiny little 

stamps in the sets that we all have?

My answers - Tags!!!

Christmas Tags!

My niece Kate once made a scroll for 

each family member as our Christmas gift.

Ten Things I like about Aunt Elaine...

Number Seven read -

She always had the perfect present, in the perfect wrapping paper.

This has always been important to me...

presenting gifts beautifully wrapped!

Every November my sister Lori and myself

plan a day and shop for Christmas Paper and Ribbons.

I choose paper for the person that is receiving the present.

For three years I have been creating

Christmas Tags that coordinate to 

the wrapped package.

One of my favorites was the new baby tag!

In 2017 we are celebrating the birth

of three (3) babies to join our family!

My friend Janet gave me the sweet

little decorated person

made from clay.

This little person went on all the Children's packages.

For 2016 Christmas Tags 

I went back to the what I first loved about papercrafting.

Simply...stamping!

The stamps were used from many companies...

Power Poppy, Lawn Fawn, Technique Tuesday, 

Flourishes and Hero Arts!

As you can see I have many Christmas Stamps

I did not have the time to color.

During this year I am going to make time each month

to craft and color Christmas Cards.

Which gives me the time to think about what

Christmas means to me...

sharing, kindness and being thoughtful!

The Art of Display

Many years ago my career was in retail.

One of the favorite positions I held was an

Special Event Coordinator

I worked with our display team

It was such fun to plan our events and tie together the display.

From choosing the color scheme, tablescaping,

 floral arrangements and painted murals.

I loved that part of my retail career with Nordstrom!

Now that we are in our forever home

my roots took me back to

The Art of Display!!!

There is a wall that just spoke to me!

So... I created my Craft Display Wall!

First display is focused on what we have had inches of this winter

SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

The Christmas Blueprint Stamp from

Tim Holtz with Stampers Anonymous was perfect!

The 2017 Calendar I found at Paper Source!

Every month I will chose a stamp that

is appropriate for that month.

I have circled the Special Birthdays...

as a reminder for me.

The Frames and Display Boxes are from

Crate & Barrel and the Container Store.

Two of my favorite retail stores!

The Christmas Blueprints were perfect

since we looked at blueprints many times

while building our new home!

Patterned Craft Paper and Embossing Folder

were both from Carta Bella - Snow Fun by Steven Duncan!

Let it Snow!

Word for 2017!

Happy Anniversary

bouquets northwest - 7 years!!!

For the past 6 years I have chosen

one key word for an entire Year!

12 Months!

365 days!

Let's start by reviewing my past words -

2016 - Traditions

2015 - Nourish

2014 - Spontaneity

2013 - Dream

2012 - Imagination

2011 - Enjoy

Now...words that have a special meaning for myself

Kindness, Blessing, Abundance, Home,

 Discover, Compass, Believe, Present, Moment, Enrich, Significant

Out of all the words listed above one just feels right...

Moment

 Word for 2017!

There was a sentence I read the confirmed my choice

“Excellence is a combination of passion and focus. When you have passion for what you are doing and get your focus in the right place, everything else will follow. Embrace the moment.”

—  Terry Orlick

 I will take my passions and focus

embrace the moment whether they are -

magical moment

 quite moment

exciting moment

 special moment

Let me share a quite moment I had last week...

Portland Oregon had a deep snowstorm last week.

I woke up very early in the morning 

looked out the window and watched it snow...

so peaceful and beautiful on the evergreen trees in the golf course.

It was a quite moment just for myself!

As I begin the seventh year of 

bouquets northwest

Moments will be shared with you thru out the year!

,

Cyber Monday = Craft Coloring Day

How many people are on their phone, i-pad, 

notebook and desktop shopping?

Most of us!

First I read all the emails I received for Cyber Monday.

Oh my the amount of emails!!

Once I placed my orders Cyber Monday turned into

Craft Coloring Day!

Then next week it will be getting on the rain boots 

and Brick-n-morter shopping.

Tromping thru the water and leaves!

When adding the embellishments - ribbons, bead and trim

I have a choice to make... what ribbon to choose?

Love the Container Store for ribbons during the Holiday Season!

I slept on making the decision.

When I woke up I went with my first choice...

burlap and black with khaki trim.

So slightly on the sides!

I added a bit of Wink of Stella Brush...

one of my favorite tools!

Power Poppy Feeling Fall Stamp!

The leaves and buckle are glistening in the light!

Now, that it is officially the Christmas Season

what should I color today?

Check back and find out this week!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Kraft - Paper Source, Black - Bazzill

Printed Cardstock: Graphic 45 - Running Cats & Dogs Collection

Ink: Adirondack Espresso

Stamps: Power Poppy - Feeling Fall

Coloring: Copic Sketch Markers: R24, R27, R29, YR04, YR09, YR18, YR23, YR24, YR27,YR65,

                                                      YG93, YG95, YG97, YG99,W3, W5, W8, E81, E19, YR65, BOOO,Y28

Die Cutting: Spellbinders Small Classic Rectangles, Cuttlebug

Embellishments: Burlap Ribbon - My Stash, Black with Khaki - Container Store, Therm-o-web 3D Foam Squares

Tools: Fiskars Cutting Board, Tomboy Adhesive