I recently got the Stampin’ Up! Pleasant Poppies set; it’s a large background stamp but I cut it down to fit on a horizontal card front. I stamped the image in my favourite black ink, memento’s tuxedo black on whisper white paper. I then settled down to colour the image in using the blendabilities. My brother commented, seeing me sitting so peacefully, colouring away, that all those hours of colouring in primary school must have paid off. And maybe that’s one reason why it’s so relaxing. The same as when you were a child, you’re not thinking about anything except the colouring. Mindfulness is mentioned a lot these days. Be mindful when you eat, when you’re out walking and so forth. Well, grab some pens and start colouring. It’s a good way to get into the mindful zone.

The stems are coloured using a single old olive blendability whereas for the poppies themselves, I used all three of the cherry cobbler pens – dark, medium and light. I started with the dark pen and blended with the medium and then covered all of the poppy with the light one, blending as I went. I also used the colour lifter to lighten a few places even further. I matted the white on a a piece of cherry cobbler and then glued that to the old olive base.