Sympathy Poppy

Cornish Heritage Farms is having a summer contest, one challenge each week for five weeks. The competition is out of this world already, but here's the fun part . . .if you enter a card each week for five weeks, you get a 25% off coupon for your entire purchase at their store. You don't have to win or be the best stamper, you get the coupon just for entering. How cool is that?Check out the details here. 

The first week is a coloring challenge. Lots of talented stampers have colored those intricate Thomas Kinkade stamps . . . um, I tried one once. Let's move on! 

This is a wee bit simpler. I decided instead of the more traditional red poppy to color this one as a California golden poppy. First I used my SU watercolor crayons in orange and pumpkin on the poppy flower petals. Poppy petals are very shimmery, so I overlaid the crayons with twinkling H20s in Mandarin Blush and Mango Mamba. I also used a black crayon, painted with an aquapainter, for the poppy center. And here is where my botanical knowledge leaves me, but you know the center of a poppy looks like hundreds of little black balls (pistils? stamens? something). I used black diamond stickles to recreate that look. The stems and leaves are colored in with crayons and I sponged the outside of the oval with chalk.

My daughter picked up on the symbolism of the black bird, she said she didn't like it, it reminded her of death. This is a sympathy card, that is what the bird is meant to represent, so I guess it works. This is an Autumn Leaves stamp that actually faces the other way, but I wanted it to face the poppy to keep the focus inside the card and not draw the eyes outside, so I stamped it on acetate and flipped it so it faces center. Notice I have the edges under the ribbon knot and the orange panel so the mini glue dots I used to hold it down are hidden. Thanks for looking. 

Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms Poppies, Autumn Leaves Round and Round

Ink: Graphite Black Brilliance ink

Cardstock: SU black, Garden Green, Certainly Celery, Tangerine, Summer Sun, Neenah solar white, acetate, someone's DP

Other: SU watercolor wonder crayons, SU chalks, Twinkling H20s in Mandarin Blush, Mango Mamba, dewdrops, Nestabilities, fiskars corner embossing punch, Martha Stewart edge/border punch, PTI lemon tart ribbon, gold pen