For the Beauty of the Earth

If you are around about my age and spent much time in a Methodist church, or probably any church for that matter, these pictures are probably familiar:

Our Sunday worship opening hymn was always one of Praise and Thanksgiving; often one you knew by heart or at least knew it was in the front of the hymnal. And of course the hymn board with its large numbers indicated the number and order of the hymns. The hymn board was a good reason to get to the sanctuary early; book mark all the hymns and readings for the service so you didn't have to fumble around while the organist was already into the first stanza. (Or if you stopped for coffee and donuts you had the prelude during which to book mark the indicated pages.)

If you started your morning worship with "For the Beauty of the Earth", "When Morning Gilds the Skies", or "This is me Father's World", it was goingto be a great day!

I have always been partial to "For the Beauty of the Earth"; the references to nature, to family love, to divine love.

When I read the title of Beauty of the Earth as one of the new Designer Series Papers from Stampin' Up! in the Annual Catalog, what do you suppose was at the top of my first order? That DSP! Along with the stamp bundle of Beauty of Friendship stamps and Beautiful Trees dies. 

It there is a tree stamp or a leaf stamp, it/they are on my list! As Autumn is my favorite season I want to color and stamp and die and cut leaves in every shape and size and color. I am thinking Bumblebee, Cajun Craze, Rich Razzleberry, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow, Cinnamon Cider (getting a little hungry now) ... use the Stampin' Blends and watercolor pencils. Oh, and the reinkers with baby wipes: fold up a layer of four baby wipes, making a little ink pad if you will. Squeeze a few drops of fall color reinkers randomly onto pad; it will look like a giant mud puddle. Ink up a leaf stamp, or stamp of a tree canopy and then stamp onto your card or scrapbook page ~ magic! So many techniques for coloring...

I wasn't going to start in on the fall stamp projects until the end of the month, but a friend of mine just left for a week in the woods. She has a vintage log cabin in a state park and is planning hikes and lake meanderings and bird trails. I created a journal for her Walden-like experience.

I had been watching demonstrator Kelly Gettelfinger create journals and memory books from paper bags and Designer Series Paper. She even included the clear medium envelopes as photo pages. Journals, like any other kind of paper, call to me. You can find Kelly on Facebook: Always Stampin With Kelly Gettelfinger

So in the middle of several other projects I cleared a space on my work table, pulled up Kelly's video and started in on a journal with a recycled paper bag that I begged off a server in Panera Bread - recycled, brown and green, perfect.

The light and coloring here is terribly dark, sorry. This design from the DSP Beauty of the Earth is dark and rich in Mossy Meadow and Old Olive inks, with touches of Bumblebee. I also used a dark design from the Hydrangea papers which is now retired, as are the lovely stamps.

Tucked away inside in various pockets are journaling cards and photo mats crafted from Stampin' Up! papers and products, several are stamped with nature images. There are four clear envelopes attached by their adhesive flaps. She can add memorabilia or photos,  pressed leaves or journaling inside to display and document her adventure.

It was fun to create! I won't stop with just one. But, I also need to get back to those projects I pushed aside. And I really need to play with all of the elements in the Beauty of the Earth Suite. Check the new Annual Catalog pages 10 -11 for all suite items. In the beginning of the catalog, just like those joyful hymns in the front of the hymnal.

                                                                    Stampin' Up! images

If these products have your name written on them, you can certainly order right here on the blog, just check for Shop Now; or contact me and I will be happy to help you with an order. 

I have more fall ideas coming, so please stay tuned; if you have not subscribed to this blog, please do so. I would love your company.  

And if you know the tune:

For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,

for the love which from our birth, over and around us lies;

refrain

Lord of all to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night,

hill and vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon, and stars of light;

refrain

For the joy of ear and eye, for the heart and mind's delight,

for the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight;

refrain

For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child,

friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild;

refrain

For thy church, that evermore lifteth holy hands above,

offering upon every shore her pure sacrifice of love;

refrain

For thyself, best Gift Divine, to the world so freely given,

for that great, great love of thine, peace on earth and joy in heaven;

refrain

United Methodist Hymnal. Tennessee: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989

Words: Folliot S. Pierpoint, 1864

Music: Conrad Kocher, 1838, arr. by H. Monk 1861

Watercolor Tricks

After two attempts I was finally able to make a watercolor class with my fabulous upline. (My foiled attempts were because of dental work which resulted in a bit of discomfort.)

I purchased the watercolor pencils as soon as they were released last year. I just love playing with those pencils, along with aqua painters and blender pens. And there are so many stamps and papers that lend themselves to use with those tools.

In my class I learned two ways to lay down color for two different looks.

I think it is instinctual to color lightly with the pencils - fear of breaking the points and the well known rule 'you can always add color, but you can't take it away.'  So when I was instructed to color heavy, I re-colored several times.

The bottom, vivid image was stamped in Archival Black ink on watercolor paper and then colored with pencils - darker colors out to lighter on the tips of the petals. The object was to lay down thick color. Then, the image was spritzed with water, allowing that thick coloring to bleed. The result was stunning!

I will layer this on a slightly larger layer of Basic Black cardstock and then onto a card base of Rich Razzleberry!

Did you notice that small scrap of white paper in with my pencils, which I store in a  thin stamp case?  It was used as a palette - I colored, heavily, a circle of Calypso Coral. Then I used an aqua painter to pick up just a bit of the color - that light shade provided the perfect skin tone for the Beautiful You gal dancing in the water - top card! It really is just a kiss of peach - you'll have to take my word for it - try it!

I put down a circle of Bermuda Bay and again used an aqua painter to pick up the color and paint a thin shadow line around the gal - neat effect.

I am going to spend more time with these two techniques!!