Blooming Poppies Card

During Christmas break, I discovered a cool tutorial (via Pinterest) using vibrant colors and thick die cut poppies: https://pennyblackinc.wordpress.com/2015/04/25/masterpieces-with-mimi-bl.... I immediately purchased both poppy dies used in the tutorial. But then life caught up with me and I did not get a chance to actually pursue this tutorial until after I'd retired (January was a blur, my last day of work was 1/27). I'd also purchased a few other Penny Black floral dies and started on a framed floral first. I experimented with watercolor as that seems to be the medium used most often on the Penny Black blogs and tutorials. I then followed up on that project with a Copic version of the exact same die. 

I live in a very small space and find that Copics are less messy to work with and make me less nervous of having any "accidents" with shallow bowls of water around. So I followed this tutorial using Copics. The only error I believe is that I had already cut and glued 4x die cuts with watercolor paper (smooth side), so I used Copics on this paper and I feel I would be a more vibrant result with Neenah Classic Crest paper. I will have to make this project using the right paper and will post a compare entry. 

Having discovered that backgrounds are way faster to make using watercolor, I did that and liked how it came out alot. I wanted to simulate a partial frame, and initially what I had envisioned was the frame on the right behind the larger Poppy, but it looksed better on the left, it was more balanced looking with that arrangement. I used Lil' Inkers Designs dual sided square stitched dies. Next for the finishing touches, I really love the black glossy enamel of the seeds in the tutorial. I know, I know the seeds don't actually come out of the flower, but out of the pod AFTER the petals have fallen away, but I just love the whimsical look with the seeds in the petals, so I added them per the tutorial. 

One of the delays of this project was that I decided I MUST have Penny Black's Snippets and Happy Snippets to do these projects with. I ordered them mid - January. I LOVE them! The sentiment I chose for this project has so many meanings, first, it ties in with the seeds falling out, and the sentiment itself is vague enough it can mean anything to the recipient, a birthday, a significant achievement day etc. I plan to use it to give to my husband on Valentine's Day - It was on Valentine's Day twenty nine years ago that we got engaged! ACK, time flies:)

Sketch Markers used:

Poppies: YR04, YR07, YR09, R56, R89, E29

Leaves YG13, YR23, YG17

Zig Clean Color Brush Markers:

Background: Blue, Aqua, Grey

Seeds: Black Enamel Accents

I am entering this project in the following challenges:

• Come and get it Challenges - Happy Valentine's Day
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Try something new
• DIe Cut Divas - February - Use Red or Pink
• DL.ART Thankful Thursday Challenge #198 "PINK and/or RED "
• Crafty Creations Challenges - #334 Anything Goes