Under Cherries

I was blessed with some really good fortune last month as I won a gift certificate from Ellen Hutson which I used to order Tim's new Flower Garden stamp set (it was love at first site).

My luck improved even more when Tim used this stamp set for the April Tag of 2015 and I'm so happy that I have one to use!

I stamped what I think is a cherry or apple blossom on some watercolor canvas that was cut out and pasted to a background made with Tim's Kraft Resist paper. 

I altered the paper background using paint and stamps.

My hand-lettered text was made with a gel pen and comes from this Haiku poem (translated by Asataro Miyamori):

Under cherry-flowers,

None are utter strangers.

Click to Enlarge

I have to say a word about Ellen Hutson because this was my first experience ordering from their site.

I really like their fast shipping policy. They strive to fill your order and ship it within one business day after you place it.

They use USPS Priority Mail so you get it in three days and it comes in a nice sturdy box so nothing gets smashed.

Thanks Ellen (for the gift) and thanks Tim (for what may be my all-time most favorite stamp set ever).

Sacred Objects

As my regular visitors know, I make a lot of tags. I don't always post them here because I'm not linking to a challenge and there's nothing special in the technique I used to warrant an explanation. Instead, I just file them away on my other blog, Manila Guerilla.

But this particular tag is kind of special. It will become Tag #100 on the MG site. I've read bloggers' posts when they reach an anniversary and it's only now that I can truly appreciate their mentioning it.

A milestone to be sure, when you begin blogging you often question why you should continue but after awhile the benefits begin to show. I like having a record of my work and a place to go to admire them. And it's easy to go back and revisit techniques that I want to try again.

But the very best part is the feedback and encouragement I've received and the friendships I have made.

I used to say, "I make a lot of stuff no one ever sees." Even though it was just to entertain myself, I began to question the validity without an audience. Since I enjoyed and was inspired by the work of so many others, I decided to jump in as well.

I can hardly believe how many of us are out there on the web sharing what we make. It makes me think that there are a lot more creatives in the world than anyone could have imagined.

So, with this post, I guess it's official--I am standing up to be counted and today it's one-hundred. In honor of the day, I want to celebrate by offering my readers an opportunity to receive one of my tags. Just visit Manila Guerilla and browse for the one you'd like then leave a comment here (make sure it includes an email address). I'll contact the winners a week from today (April 10th).

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Life is Good

Spring in the desert means the state tree, called a Palo Verde is in full bloom and covered with a blanket of tiny yellow flowers. Yellow is practically the only color you'll see anywhere this time of year and it's pretty but also rather monotonous.

So I guess that's my excuse for creating this tag inspired by the pastel theme at Simon's Monday blog challenge this week.

Using watercolor paper cut in the shape of a tag, I painted the trunk then used a variety of small flower and leaf stamps.

Most were tinted with watercolor paint along with the background. Some I left white.

To create the pastel shades, I mixed white with my colors.

The bunny was hand-drawn on scrap paper and pasted to the tag. This way, if I didn't get the drawing right, I could just start over and not worry about erasing marks on the tag.

To frame the tag, I ran some Black Soot around the edges and bled the color using a wet brush.

Polka dots were made with a gel pen along the deckled edge and a Remant Rub was applied.

There are lots of bunnies here in the desert and they feast on the flowers that fall from the trees but I think life is real good for a bunny under a pastel flowered tree.

Happy Easter!