Flowers for Mother's Day

Happy Sunday and Happy Mother's Day to all of you Moms out there :-)

It's the fabulous Claire's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and she has a color challenge for us:

I have to tell you... this color scheme scared the heck out of me! :-)  they are such bright colors and the thought of putting pumpkin and strawberry together threw me completely.  So, imagine my surprise when I realized I had such fun working with them! Although my flowers might not be the most conventional - I still like how bright and sunny and cheerful they are :-)

I stamped the flowers onto a piece of Neenah Solar White card stock and got to work coloring them with the closest match colors I had in my Copic Markers.  I decided to go all out and make the card even brighter by putting the card front onto a bright base.  A very bright pink base to be exact.  

Here's a closeup of the pink, yellow and orange.  You can see that I tried to blend the yellow and orange

I tried doing this with the black outlined image and also without it using the no-line coloring method.  The results were pretty dramatically different and there was no doubt about the fact that I much preferred the black outlined version.  With that version the orange and pink just blended into each other and I totally overworked it. :-)  So, I went with this version

Here's my card:

I tried the card front on multiple card bases and the flowers only really came alive when I paired it with the Barbie pink.  I hope this card will brighten up someone's day :-)

If you are looking for some inspiration - check out the amazing work from our design team:

• Claire
• Joanne
• Laurie
• LeAnne
• Nance 
•  Sandy
•  Elizabeth
• Jan
• Annie

On a personal note:

Well summer arrived and it was wonderful.  For a couple of days.  Then she went away and Spring arrived.  BUT with those couple of days being so warm, we had a profusion of summer birds arrive at the feeders.  As I type, I am watching two Baltimore Orioles trying to decide who was going to take first dibs at the jelly feeder and the swallows are out in the woodland finding food.  The turkey is in the wetland displaying for all he is worth, whilst the females have their backs to him scratching for food :-)   I love this time of year.  After the brown and white of winter - the garden explodes with the colors of the birds.

We do have a problem in our woodland though.  The Emerald Ash Borer beetle has finally reached our little neck of the woods.  We are working with a specialist arborist to see if any of the Ash trees are worth saving.  About 65% of our woodland is Ash and we are hoping that we can save a few of them.  We've planted other trees, but they will still take a number of years before they reach full maturity.

The Crane's made an appearance for a few days in our wetland.

One evening we were lucky to catch the male making a half-hearted attempt at his mating ritual.

He flapped around and jumped a couple of times, and then gave up and went back to eating.  It was wonderful to be able to observe them doing what comes so naturally.  They really are magnificent birds.

Well, my home decor project is complete.  However, the video isn't.  I need to edit the video and don't have enough space on my MacBook.  It's 5 years old - almost 6 years old - and only has a few hundred MBs of memory left and it's causing me no end of grief.  I think I'm probably going to have to finally give in a buy a new one.  If I can get the video edited I will share it - otherwise, I am going to end up showcasing the home decor project without the video.

I'll be back later in the week with another card - and some more photos of our summer visitors.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Comments

[Elizabeth Stewart]

Jaydee...what fab flowers!

[Sandym]

Jaydee these colors scared me, too! I enjoyed working with them as much as you did, though. What a stunning floral creation, and I love the bright pink flower centers. As always, I enjoy seeing your wildlife pics, also.

[HJ]

I love your take on the difficult color challenge. Great job!! Thanks for the lovely pictures.

[Jan Clothier]

BIg, bold, bright and beautiful!

[laurie]

Your blooms are gorgeous Jaydee! You made the challenge colors sing...your card is beautiful!!

[Claire Broadwater]

Jaydee, you certainly rocked my color challenge! I absolutely LOVE this card! It would certainly brighten MY day! I love the gorgeous blending of your colors on these fabulous blooms! Barbie pink is always a winner with me!
Your visitors are beautiful and I do hope warmer days are coming your way! It is already almost 90 in ATL. I never complain. I am a hot weather kind of girl. I hope you have a wonderful week and good luck on your video. Can't wait to see your project! XXX