Fringed & Parrot Tulips with a Jumbo Tulip Thank You Card

Hello! In case you couldn’t tell from the title, today we’re going to focus on tulips. While in Indiana this spring, I saw fringed tulips, parrot tulips and other hybrid tulips for the first time and fell in love! Here are just a few my cousin’s wife has in her garden:

Ah, the beauties of the great outdoors! They’re such a delight to behold and reminded me of the Quietfire stamp that I used for the inside of my card:

Some people, life flowers, give pleasure just by being!

Inspired by those beauties, I used my Polychromos to color up a frilly jumbo tulip by Stampendous for my card:

FYI, the third largest frame in Spellbinders 5×7 Matting Basics B perfectly fits the inner rectangle area inside the pierced dots of the Bella Rose Lattice die, allowing for the white corners. The sentiment is embossed on acetate which I adhered with ‘Stacey Tape.’  The embossing on the tulip is a custom mix…

 

I mixed Stampendous Pomegranite Opaque with Fran-Tage Opaque Shabby White. I love the mottled look and the flecks of shiny gold!

Since the Serendipity Floral Butterfly wouldn’t fit, I cut off one of its wings (and used the pieces on the inside). To highlight the tulips in the wings, I added Nuvo Crystal drops to them. To finish off, I made a matching envelope:

 

Supplies used:

• Stampendous Jumbo Tulip and Jumbo Thank You stamps
• Spellbinders Chantilly Paper Lace Collection by Becca Feeken
  • Bella Rose Lattice Layering Frame
  • Lunette Arched Borders
• Spellbinders Card Creator 5×7 Matting Basics B
• Serendipity Stamps Floral Butterfly die
• Quietfire Design Garden Delights stamp set
• Tsukineko Versamark ink
• Stampendous Fran-tage Opaque Shabby White embossing powder
• Stampendous Merlot kit – Pomegranite Opaque embossing powder
• Inkadinkado black embossing powder
• Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils: Cadmium Yellow; Light Chrome Yellow; Delft Blue; Dark Red, Madder
• Tonic Studios Nuvo Crystal Drops – gloss red berry
• Tsukineko Memento dye ink – Tuxedo Black
• Recollections cardstock: white, blue; silver glitter & shimmering red
• Brutus Monroe Alabaster pigment ink
• SMS ‘Stacey Tape’
• Scotch tape runner
• Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue

I’m playing along with the following challenges – click on any one of them for more information on how you can join the fun:

• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Red, White and/or Blue
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Red White and/or Blue
• Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday June 2018: The Great Outdoors

As always, I thank you for the comments you’ve been leaving… it’s always a tread to read them!

-D.Ann

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Butterfly World Part 2 – Birds & Flowers

Hello again! I’m happy to be back and that you could stop by, too!

After a long break to try to let my wrist heal (perforated ligament and tendon inflammation), I’m slowly starting back. I’ll start with the rest of the pics from butterfly world. If you missed the first post featuring the butterflies, you can find it HERE. There are plenty of birds and flowers in the park, too! For those of us who are paper crafters, there’s loads of color inspiration! So go grab a cuppa something good, put on some classical music like they have playing throughout the park, and just enjoy the pics…

The skyflower aka blue trumpet vine (Thunbergia grandiflora)

These ground orchids (Epidendrum radican) are so cute!

This one is a jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) – I love hose shades of green!!

I must try a card the color combo in these orchids… brown, pink and pale yellow!

This vine is an Acanthaceae (Thunbergia mysorensis).

A bottlebrush bush (try saying that 5 times fast. lol!) aka Callistemon.

There is a huge variety of passion flower (Passiflora) vines. I don’t know how many of the 550 species they have, but it’s a lot!

They remind me of dancing ladies! And they go from these giant ones as big as your hand to the tiny ones, smaller than a thumbnail:

I love finding ‘faces’ in the bougainvillea flowers! : )

The aviaries are filled with canaries, finches, honeycreepers and more… most flitting around too fast for the lens to catch, but a few are otherwise occupied, like this cute parakeet couple and the peeping Tom. : )

The vibrant colors of the Macaws never cease to amaze me.

There is a Lorikeet encounter where you can feed them or just enjoy the amazing bright colors and shrill songs of these lovely parrots. (you can click on the arrow in the middle of the picture below to watch the short video.)

Lastly, one of my favorites… this gorgeous little shimmering hummingbird just sat there sticking his tongue out at us as if giving raspberry and saying, “Nyah, nyah I’m the most beautiful bird around and I know it!” (click on the arrow in the middle of the pic for the short video to play.)

That’s just a few highlights from this wonderful little park. And I didn’t even get the the museum. I hope you’ve enjoyed your tour!

I hope to start catching up now. I have several spring garden posts that I HOPE to get posted before next spring, but you know I roll in slow motion, so it may be a while. I seem to have a few cards backlogged, too. So there is more to come, Thanks for your patience! Hopefully you won’t have to wait too long.

-D.Ann

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Cup of Cheerful Columbine Card and Robin Eggs

Surprise! I’m back!! A lot has happened since my last post and part two will have to wait a bit longer. Meanwhile, it’s time for the 2018 Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Hop.

Although I haven’t had much time for crafting lately, I was excited to make up the new Power Poppy Cheerful Columbine stamp as it is a prefect reminder of a couple of the fun highlights of my recent trip to Indiana… My aunt’s columbine flower patch and getting a birds eye view of newborn baby robins!

This year the robins built their nest in my aunt’s garage window. They were very attentive to their family.

    

  

Here’s a video of the the first two newly hatched. They’re not the cutest, but still they’re amazing! (click in the middle of the pic to start the video):

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Newly hatched robins in Southern Indiana – one yesterday, one today and the third egg probably tomorrow. #Awww #robins #robinegg #babyrobins #robineggs #robinnest #robinsnest #newbornrobins #babybirds

A post shared by @ d.ann.c on May 7, 2018 at 12:14pm PDT

Aww!!

Columbines are one of my favorite flowers. Their little stamen bunches look like little balls of sunshine! Did you know the first official Colorado State Song was Where the Columbine Grow? For me, they grow in my aunt’s flower garden in Indiana!! I was happy that they had just started blooming when we were there. My aunt has several nifty varieties. Here are just a few:

  

 

   

That last one on the right is a Clementine Rose Columbine.

  

I chose these as a color guide for my card (they go the best with the MarkerPop challenge colors this month – see below):

What a sweet tea cup full of flowers! To give the flowers a sense of depth, I fussy cut them and a couple of extra plus the robin and an extra egg. I used flower shaping tools to shape them and foam dots to help hold their shape.

I added the little seeds stamp and filled them in with Liquid Pearls… there was even room to poke a seed in her beak. A little Wink of Stella gave some morning dew sparkle to the slower petals and cup.

Materials used:

• Power Poppy Cheerful Columbine stamp and little seeds
• Spellbinders Thoughtful Expressions Thinking of You die set
• Recollections cardstock: white, brown and Blig Bloom (peach)
• Memento Rich Cocoa dye ink
• Copic Markers: B02, 05, 21; C5, FYG1; G05, 09, 24, 82; N4; R20, 22, 32; RV63; V12; W3, 5; Y000, 32; YG17
• Ranger Liquid Pearls Coral & Dark Chocolate
• Pebbles, Inc. Chalks
• Martha Stewart Crafts Florentine Gold Microbeads
• Misc foam dots and pvc glue

I’m playing along in the following hops and challenges – click on any one for more information on how you can join the fun:

• 2018 Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Hop
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Inspired by a Song
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Use >1 Stamp
• Simon Says Stamp Work-It-Wednesday May 2018: Sunshine & Summertime
• Marker Pop Chellenge #136 Summer Fun

  

Thank you for stopping by today and for sharing your encouraging comments – I always look forward to reading them!

-D.Ann

p.s. Any ads you may see are posted by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

A Visit to Mounts Botanical Garden of Palm Beach County

Hello all! Those of you who are regulars here know that, in addition to crafting, I love photographing nature. Since many of my cards have flower in them, it’s also a great way to get color inspiration, too. We were fortunate to have some cooler days in March this year. After having missed most of the nice weather with that 3 month migraine, it was wonderful to get out and enjoy a garden again!

Mounts Botanical Garden of Palm Beach County, Florida is a 14 acre living plant museum divided into 23 themed gardens. It’s right across from the Palm Beach International Airport. For those of you who have been with me from the beginning, you may remember one of my early posts was of a visit to this garden. (Click HERE if you’d like to re-visit it. I’ve selected different flowers for this round). There is special pricing in effect as they currently have a special exhibition: Washed Ashore Art to Save the Sea.  It runs through June3,  2018. So, if you’re a member of the American Horticultural Society, you get a $5 discount off the $15 admission, instead of the usual free admission.

FYI, there is a main paved trail throughout the garden for easy wheelchair access, but to get close to many of the plants you’d have to go off-roading, which is tough.

Throughout the gardens are various sculptures of aquatic creatures endangered by marine debris and pollution. They are made of items collected from beaches by volunteers. This one, weighing in at 1600 pounds, is called Priscilla the Parrot Fish and she’s made of up toys, bottle caps, buoys, lighters, beer cans, a bowling pin, toothbrushes and fishing lures, among other things. Did you know that parrot fish feed on algae and take in coral in the process, which passes through their system undigested, coming out as sand? Think of this fish-produced sand next time you’re walking on the beach! : )

The botanical show opens in the parking lot with an arbor supporting the Variegated Chalice Vine (Solandra) with its huge, chalice-like flowers:

You know I can’t resist catching a busy bee hard at work!

This is the Vanilla Orchid which produces a seed pod which is fermented and dried into the “vanilla Bean” and then processed into vanilla extract. Wish computers came with a scratch-and-sniff feature!!

The cool thing about photographing flowers is that you notice things you might otherwise miss… I didn’t know there was another sweet little flower inside moss roses! Since it was in the edible plants section, it must be of the varieties that are fit for snacking.

Nasturtium flowers and leaves are also edible I have enjoyed them in salads.

I remember first seeing the Floss Silk Tree (Chorisia speciosa) in Paraguay. Commonly called the ‘Palo Borracho’ (drunken stick) as the trunk gets kind of a ‘beer belly’ as it matures. The silk was used in the past to stuff pillows. It almost looks like snow when it starts falling to the ground.

The huge spines covering the bark are pretty amazing!

Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) or velvet sage is so fuzzy you just want to pet it!

Rosy Camphorweed (Pluchea rosea) is another fluffy little flower…

A zebra longwing butterfly (Heliconius charithonia) slurping some sweet nectar from a firebush (Hamelia patens).

This nifty little shrub has various names… Cup and Saucer plant, Chinese Hat plant & Parasol flower (Holmskioldia sanguinea):

Yes, even in Florida we have stink bugs.

Did you know the Sausage Tree (Kigelia africana) is from the bigonia family?! This is the first one where I’ve been able to get close to the ‘sausages’. They run 12-39″ long, up to 8″ wide and weigh up to 26 pounds. The fresh fruit is poisonous and must be dried, roasted or fermented for human consumption. Can you spot the orchids?

So neat to see the three stages of the canna (not a true lily) all together:

What is it about hollyhocks (Alcea rosea) that make me want to pluck them and twirl them like dancing dolls in rich chiffon ballroom gowns?!

A busy bee thoroughly enjoying himself on this Jamaican Poinsettia (Euphorbia punicea).

Just like this little guy, I hope to BEE back soon with more fun posts! I hope you enjoyed your garden tour – especially those of you who are still putting up with that white stuff that ISN’T Floss Silk!

~D.Ann

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