Combining the arts!

Here's a different way of using rubber stamps to continue another nearly lost art. When I was a little girl, my grandmother taught me how to do embroidery. I love doing this, but never find the time anymore. Well, the county fair is coming up next week and one of the categories our club can submit entries is for an embellished garment. So, here was my chance to combine two of my favorite art forms--stamping and embroidery. For the images I used two different stamp sets--stitched exotics and wedding sweet. The color inspiration came from the current in colors melon mambo, crushed curry, and bermuda bay.



I went to wal-mart and bought a cheap $6 t-shirt and then using stazon I stamped the images on the t-shirt. Then using a single thread of embroidery floss, I embroidered this image around the collar on the front of the shirt. Then I added beads as an accent on each of the points and on the stamped dots. I love the way this turned out, but I have no idea what the judges will say. We shall see!

Here comes the bride...

This was a wedding card for a friend who just got married today. True to myself I finished the card 30 minutes before leaving for the wedding. :D It turned out pretty cool, though. In my humble opinion. Her wedding colors were royal blue and white. So I used brilliant blue and silver metallic cardstock. The background image is the brocade background and is bleached in (no ink--pretty cool, huh?) Then I over stamped in brilliat blue the En Francais background. The sentiment is from a sale-a-bration set and is embossed with silver. The ribbon is also embossed (do you think I like embossing? LOL) with iridescent ice embossing powder to give it a glittery effect and then some silver metallic embroidery floss is tied into the ribbon for accent.

Still thinking of you...

Here's another thinking of you card. It was just pointed out to me that I do a lot of these cards. Maybe I should dig out another sentiment. LOL. However, that would require actually digging in my stamp cabinet--Not a pleasant experience. I'll see what I can manage though. Anyway, this is another one for this week's VSN mini and the challenge was to use dragon fruit as a point of inspiration. Yes, dragon fruit is a real fruit. Look it up! It's colors are pink, green and black and white. The inside is white with little black seeds so it looks polka-dotted. So, here's my interpretation using only the colors in the fruit. The card actually has very little stamping on it. I used Martha Stewart punches for the border of the "filmstrip" and for the butterflies. The paper is all Stampin Up and the ribbon is a Martha Stewart ribbon from Valentine's day.

Actually, I did two different cards for this challenge since I wasn't sure about one of them. This is the one I wasn't sure about. I like the card, but it just seems to lack some interest of some kind. What do you think?

Thinking of you...salt technique resist

This was a fun one! It's another challenge card. The challenge was to use the salt technique for the background. I never seem to get really dramatic results with the salt, but this one was at least visible. I took the SU kind thoughts stencil and versamarked it onto a piece of glossy cardstock. Then I heat embossed it with white ink for a resist when doing the salt technique. Then I applied the colors and the salt. This is what I came up with. It pretty well stands on its own. So I only added ribbon and a layered butterfly for accents. The sentiment at the bottom is stamped in stazon timber brown. The colors I used are the new in colors melon mambo and crushed curry. Such vibrant colors!

VSN Mini time/Father's Day/Birthdays o' plenty

Yikes!! It's been a while since I've been on here. Sorry about that. I've been trying to get some very mundane house things accomplished and have had very little time for stamping. Tonight that all changes...I'm officially on a mini strike until after tomorrow. LOL. We'll see how long that lasts, though, with a three year old in the house. Anyway....tonight is a virtual stamp night mini over at Splitcoast. You all know how much I love to do those challenges and here we are again. This is a pretty lengthy post so scroll down to see them all as I update each one.

First up is a pull treat card. If you want to make one of these super easy favor things, the tutorial can be found HERE. It's supposed to have a candy bar inside, but I don't keep those in my house. The temptation would be too great to indulge so I don't even go there. LOL. For this, I used the new in-color Melon Mambo. OMG!!! I L-O-V-E this color. I wheeled the background on the base of the card first. Then I scored and assembled the pocket to hold the treat. Then I made the belly band out of pink pirouette.
The edges are punched with a Martha Stewart lace edge punch, and the stamped sentiment is a retired one from SU. Then I cut a piece of pink pirouette card stock to make a bookmark for the inside. On that I used a Unity Kit of the Month stamp for the image and then did poppin pastels for a very soft look. The sentiment is stamped in melon mambo ink. All the corners are rounded for durability. then I took a 1/2 inch circle punch to make a hole for the ribbon.

Now, for a non-mini related card. This one is a birthday card for a family member. It was super easy, super quick and so chic. I used SU's window sheets that were in the spring mini, cut them apart and layered two of them for this card. On the dotted layer I used staz-on black ink to stamp the sentiment. then on the top layer I used a rub-on butterfly from that same mini catalog. All this was layered on top of melon mambo cardstock. The photo corners were added last and they are pink pirouette and melon mambo.

Next up is a challenge card. It was to make a spiral pop-up on the inside of the card. This was so incredibly easy!!! The only tricky part is to make sure your adhesive doesn't overhand any of the spiral or else it will make your card stick shut. The tutorial came from this blog. This is a father's day card for my husband from our three year old. So the artwork is the three year old's handywork on a stamp I got from Hobby Lobby. It seemed appropriate for this particular challenge and card. I like the way it turned out, and I think the three year old will too once he sees it. LOL




And here's another birthday card. Yes, there are a few. We have a big family thing this Sunday to do Father's day and birthdays and there are a bunch of cards to make. LOL. This one was fun, and I used a set I've never used before because it intimidated met. Now I love it! This card uses the Wanted set from SU and It's Your Birthday sentiments. It was quite a bit of work, but I love the results. The fold for this card is called a trifold shutter and the tutorial can be found HERE. The front panel was assembled and then attached to the card front. I first cut the scrapbook paper and sponged the edges with chocolate chip ink. Then I made the creamy caramel panel using the various patterned stamps in the wanted set. They were stamped with creamy caramel, chocolate chip and versamark. With the versamarked stamps, I applied the poppin' pastels technique in greens and browns. Then the edges were all sponged with chocolate chip inks. On top of that is a piece of light yellow cardstock. I stamped the horse with versamark and chocolate chip inks three times without reinking in between. Then the horses were embossed with clear embossing powder. After that, the edges were distressed and sponged with chocolate chip ink, and I used Always Artichoke with a little emboss resist to get the foreground in place. Then I sponged chocolate chip again around the green edges.

For the banner on the top, I took a scrap of creamy caramel paper and wadded it up and then smoothed it out. Over that I sponged a little chocolate chip ink to get a leathery look. This was then stamped with the sentiment and attached to the card with brads. That completed the front of the card, and then the inside was decorated fairly simply but still continuing the paper and stamps from the front.




On to the next card. This one is a birthday card using a wish RAK challenge sketch that can be found HERE. It's a pretty simple sketch, really and I love the way this one turned out. I used two different background stamps on top of each other for the tags--leafy glade and canvas. Then the eagle was stamped in the new Soft Suede color from SU. Love this color! It's so soft and rich at the same time. Very crisp too. I used some of that same soft suede paper, kiwi kiss and so saffron and the bird is stamped on very vanilla. I used my nesties to get the circle layers, and the oval punch kind of helps break it up a bit.

For the final card, I used a stamp from Tractor Time and had my three year old color it. This is a Father's Day card, and it turned out pretty cute. I used the sketch challenge from mojo monday's blog, and it worked out pretty well for this card. The colors are garden green (I think), black and the new curry color. The DSP is a retired one I had on hand. I used large eyelets and antique copper hodgepodge for the hardware. I love the idea of having the kiddo color the image and I assemble the card. It really feels like the whole family contributed to the card. LOL

I Spy...

Well, I had a visitor this evening in my home. I like visitors. Really, I do, but some just are not welcome in my home! Most of the two-legged variety and a lot of four legged ones as well are welcome, but I draw the line at some things. Look closely at the photo. What do you see?


Cute little guy isn't he? Well, not in my house he's not! Imagine my surprise when I come walking by and see two eyes peering out of the dirt at me. I know, I know. I'm such a girl, but hey that's what the guys are for right? to get rid of the vermin!

Some nature photos for you!

Thought I'd share a few photos I took recently of nature around me.

It's VSN time again!

Well, it's time again for VSN. Hey, that rhymes! Anyway, there were a lot of awesome challenges, and as usual I didn't get to do them all. I did, however, get to do quite a few of them. So, this will be quite a long post due to the number of cards to show. So bear with me please.

First off, let me take a slight sidetrack and show you this adorable lion card that I cased from one of my uplines. One of my friends is expecting her third baby and we threw her a baby shower. This was my card for her. This adorable lion was so much fun to make, I may just make another to have on hand so I can remember how I did it! The lion himself uses various circle punches and scallop circle, one oval and a boho flower. All the edges were sponged with chocolate chip ink to give it some depth. I used a marker for the eyes and whisker dots. The flowers are from the hostess set Itty Bitty Buds and are stamped in various colors. Her favorite color is turquoise so I did use quite a bit of that as well. The green part in the foreground is gable green that was embossed with a cuttlebug folder. This card took a little time to do, but was well worth it for the end result.

Now, on to the first VSN challenge...Since the theme for this VSN was viva Las Vegas (or something like that), all of the challenges have a Vegas theme to them, but most of the cards do not really reflect Vegas--only the theme of the challenge. The first challenge was called "double down". The idea was to take a fun card design and make two of the same card. The imagery was to be something fun like food, vacation, etc. So I actually had to do this challenge twice. The first time my inspiration took me down a different road, and it didn't really reflect the challenge. Second time around, though, it worked beautifully.

Here is my first attempt at the challenge. I loved this card on its own even if it didn't follow the rules of the challenge. I kept it very simple in color scheme and imagery. The groovy guava strip on the front is wheeled with the Scandinavian wheel. Behind that is a piece of whisper white that is stamped with the heart from one of the Sale-a-bration sets in blush blossom. Those are layered on two different shades of green cardstock. On the strip of groovy guava I layered some green jewelry cord I had on had and threaded it through some stylized silver hodgepodge hardware a friend gave to me. The sentiment is from Sincere Salutations.



My second attempt at this particular challenge actually fit the challenge perfectly. I used some of my scraps from the first card to use for layering the cherries on this card. I was going for the triple cherries luck on the slot machine (now, I've never been in a casino and used a real slot machine, but I've played plenty of games with them in it, LOL). I used riding hood red for the reds in this card. To get the two colors on the cherries, I used my markers and colored the stamp and then stamped them down. then I punched them all out and layered on some more riding hood red paper. The black striped paper is from the Rockabilly DSP that Stampin' Up! currently has. I L-O-V-E this paper. The sentiment again is from Sincere Salutations.

The next challenge was to make a non-traditional wedding card meaning that we were to use bright, bold colors. So I chose to go with a military color scheme since I have a couple of friends with either military husbands or fiancees. The base of the card is brilliant blue that overstamped with night of navy using the Brocade Basics stamp set. The red is really rose red and I scalloped the edge. Then I used the She's All That stamp set and stamped it in night of navy on whisper white and layered it on a piece of rose red. It was actually quite a simple and fairly quick card to make.



On to the next challenge--Hitting the Tables. Here the challenge was to make a card using only red, black and white with no exceptions. Only those colors are allowed. Now, I love the concept of this card, but the execution could have been better. I'm just not sure yet how. The background is a Flourishes stamp and the sentiment and images are also Flourshes stamps. I love what the quote says, and since it talks about a staircase, I tried to make the main image reflect that. I also really love red, black and white as a color combo on a card. It's beautiful and elegant.




After this challenge came the "Late Night Snack with Elvis" challenge. This one was a toughie. There were color restrictions that were really cool, but difficult with the only musical stamp I could come up with. For this card we were to use Barely Banana or So Saffron, close to cocoa, and creamy caramel. There also had to be something musical on the card. Even though I love music, I don't own much that is music related as far as stamping goes. So my friend owns the Do the Hula stamp set and the hula girl has a ukelele. Voila! Something musical I can use on this challenge. LOL. So I used that set, the colors listed and some dazzling diamonds glitter to come up with this creation.

After skipping a few challenges due to lack of interest, time or whatever, I came to BINGO! The idea here was to use a grid scoring technique and some sponging on the card somewhere. I used the A Happy Heart Set for this card and I really like how it turned out. For the scoring, I used my paper trimmer to score at one inch intervals. Then I took a spong and sponged bashful blue in the background to give it a cloudy sky-like look, and it made the score lines much more visible. After that I used my markers to color the stamp in the center and then stamped that on whisper white. The dandelions were stamped with riding hood red to frame the tic tac toe board. In the lower corner I put the sentiment that was stamped and punched out and then layered over a night of navy scallop oval punch. That was put on with dimensionals.

The next challenge was a sketch challenge based on a slot machine. It was a pretty fun challenge, too. So here's my creation. I used the beautiful Flores Suaves set for this. The script stamp is used in the background on the so saffron paper. On the riding hood red paper, I used the script, the butterfly and the flower to make a collage sort of background. The bees make up the "slots" Behind them is a piece of creamy caramel that was stamped with the sanded background. I finished it all off with a piece of so saffron ribbon and a couple of square rhinestone brads. here is the sketch:











Moving along, the next challenge is called the "color of money". You guessed it, the challenge was to use all green. Inks, paper, embellishments, etc. all green. Only one neutral paper was allowed. My neutral was sahara sand, but I think I used nearly all of the greens, LOL. So, for this one, I used the Thoughts of Father stamp set. There are some beautiful images and I love to watercolor them. So that's just what I did. I made good use of the sanded background as well on this. The background is stamped with sanded and then I stamped the sanded background over the top of my finished image. For embellishment, I took a piece of hunter green and tore it after I embossed it with a Sizzix texturz plate. The sentiment came from the Good Friend set out of the current SU Mini catalog. I used the key tag punch to cut it out and a brad of the same color to attach it.

Skip, Skip, Skip. Oh, here we go. This challenge is right up my alley! Use as much glitter on the card as possible. I borrowed this set a long time ago and stamped some of these beautiful churches out. Now, one of my favorite all time images not matter what is of old country churches with steeples. There is just something beautiful about them to me. So, I took this image and added a little navy coloring and watercolored in a sky with navy. Then I added a little yellow to the windows for lighting. Now for the magic. I took my versamark and covered the whole thing then embossed with iridescent ice. Then I versamarked it again and put UTEE on top. There are two layers of UTEE on here. Then I froze it for just a few minutes and cracked it. The background on the navy is rolled with the snowflake wheel and then embossed with iridescent ice. The image is attached with silver brads.

On down the VSN road we find the "Bright Light City" challenge. The challenge here was to use the spotlight technique on a card. This has to be one of the simplest techniques I have ever done. So I used the Spring Song stamp set and its beautiful hummingbird image. I went with the colors reminiscent of my favorite hummingbird--the ruby throated hummingbird. I honestly believe the hummingbird is one of my favorite birds. The background paper is a wheel called Always in Bloom. I used Versamark to apply it to the background. The tag is attached with a rhinestone brad.

The last stop on the VSN tour is called "Tying the Knot in Vegas". The challenge here was to take inspiration from this provided photo and make a card. I loved the colors of the cake and the soft swirls, so I made that my inspiration and made my niece a birthday card. She loves anything princess so I knew I couldn't go wrong with this card. Snow white will not quite be the correct color scheme which I'm sure she will be happy to educate me in the proper colors of her dress. I used that heart stamp again to make a background for snow white. Then I sponged over it a bit to tone it down and have a more soft look to it. I used my nesties to cut it out and layer it. The added a blue strip underneath to anchor it. The white strip was punched with the eyelet border punch. All the edges of the scallop oval were sponged with ballet blue to make them stand out a bit more. I used my gel pen to add the dots. A piece of sheer blue and sheer white ribbon were added to the white strip for accent. They are tied in a knot with a rhinestone brad through them.

Whew! Okay, that's enough creating for one weekend. I hope you enjoyed looking as much as I did creating.

Blog Hop! Kit of the Month Blog Hop

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.” --Mary Anne Radmacher

Welcome to Unity Stamp Company's kit of the month blog hop. If you are not a Unity KOM subscriber, then why are you waiting? I love my kits of the month and the stamps are beautifully made. So come join us in the fun. If you've made it here from Jess's adorable blog, then you are right on track. For each of these cards and notepads, I used the April Kit of the Month, my personal favorite so far.

The first item is a note pad holder. I used elegant eggplant and pink pirouette cardstock. The image is stamped on some SU Designer paper scraps I had on hand. Then I used my markers to watercolor in the details. I stamped the sentiment on pink cardstock and then used the leaves from the bird as a background.








The second item is a card that involved a lot of paperpiecing. I used some scraps of SU designer paper to stamp the dress form, once on each sid of the paper. Then I cut it out and used the reverse side for the belt. The stand is cut out of basic gray paper, and the bird was stamped and cut out and then woven into the base of the dress form.








This one is also a notepad holder and uses a bit of emboss resist for the medallion on the front. I stamped the flower in versamark on pink pirhouette paper and then embossed with iridescent ice. Then I used a sponge dauber and daubed inks over the top to make it pop. The center is a rhinestone brad.



Thanks for stopping along the blog hop trail. Hopefully you found some inspiration. And now for the next stop along the blog hop, visit bloomingpink's blog and find some more inspiration. May you have a blessed day!

Happy Mother's Day and a couple of quotes for you on this day remembering the blessing that all moms are to each other and to their children. Will have more posts for you later in the week. don't want to spoil the surprise and there's another blog hop this weekend!!! It's a Unity kit of the month blog hop and I've been working on some special stuff. So be patient. In the meantime, let's ponder...

"When I stopped seeing my mother with the eyes of a child, I saw a woman who helps me give birth to myself. "


"A mother is someone who dreams great dreams for you, but then she lets you chase the dreams you have for yourself and loves you just the same. "

Cute make and takes!!!

These cute little 3x3 cards were part of a make and take that a fellow demonstrator did at a local business bazaar. Aren't they cute?! She used the Cute as A Bug set. The colors are baja breese, chocolate chip and old olive with a touch of real red. The hearts are from the three heart punch. Behind the image is a piece of striped baja breeze ribbon.


So then, there were a lot of leftover pieces to the make and takes. This demonstrator was kind enough to share them with me. I took them home and came up with all these little cards out of them, and then took them to a local nursing center to give to the residents there. for the image, I used the flower out of Soft Summer (I think that's the name) and the butterfly out of dreams du jour. On the inside I put a sentiment from Happy Harmony. Thanks, Hope. These little cards brought smiles to a lot of lonely faces.

I made another card today! It's coming back--slowly... Anyway, this is a card for a dear friend's birthday which is Saturday. I already gave her the card today (actually I made it while she was sitting there, LOL) so no worries about her seeing it early or anything. I used bashful blue paper for the base of the card and z-folded the card. For the front of the card, I scalloped the raw edge of paper and put a piece of DSP from the Walk in the Park (I think) set. The paper on the front is the reverse side of that pink paper used under the scallop.

Then on the inside I also put a piece of the pink side of the DSP. I took a piece of bashful blue and placed a piece of pirhouette pink on top of it. For the inside, I stamped a sentiment out of the friends set in the Spring occasions mini catalog. The butterfly on the front is from the same stamp set mounted on another piece of bashful blue. Then, because I was lazy and didn't want to find a corner punch, I took my scallop punch and mad the notches in the corners of the bashful blue square.

Choo Choo...

This is a card that I made today for a friend of mine little boy who will be turning one. There is almost no stamping on it. I used a sizzix extended sizzlit for the train. The animals are stickers from Martha Stewart. The lion sticker was cut apart to make it look like he was sticking his head out of the train. The piece of ribbon is also from Martha Stewart. The sentiment is from Just Rite stamps and is a pre-inked stamp. The patterened paper is a scrap of Stampin' Up DSP that I had laying around. I cut the card to be a 4x8 card. Around the outside I sponged pacific point. The train smoke is stippled in with a stencil brush. Turned out so cute! Such a simple card, too.

Robert Frost--One of my favorite poems

My commentary:  We have many things to do, but we should always take a break
and find the beauty in life.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

        -- Robert Frost

Oh my! it's been a long time since I've really done much creatively. Well, I have feeling that's about to change. The mojo is coming back!!!! I've sat down several times over the last couple of weeks to make something and nothing seemed to come to mind or to flow together. But, never fear, it's coming back. I feel it bubbling it's way to the surface, and, no, it's not gas! :D

It's been a slow month around here, and you would think that I could have accomplished alot. Well, it just didn't happen. Between being sick and too many yesses said over the course of the last year, my batteries are almost dead. Seriously. I've begun to learn to say no to people, slowly, and the charge meter is gradually increasing. Sometimes it's hard to believe just how hard I have to fall before I can truly learn a lesson. Been that way my whole life. I've always had to do and learn everything the absolute hardest way possible.

So over the course of the summer when a lot more of my responsibilities will be fulfilled and finished, I can honestly say life may find yet another version of normal for me--hopefully at a slower pace. Thanks to all my friends and family who have put up with me throughout this last year, and I offer my apologies to those who have been neglected in some form or fashion. That was certainly never the intention. I just kind of lost sight of my true goal and focus for a while.

But for now, as the poet said, "I've got promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep."

May the Lord above continue to bless each of you is my prayer for you.

It's been a while since I've posted!!! I'm still here. Just haven't had much mojo lately. It feels like it may be coming back, though. LOL so brace yourselves. :D

In the meantime, I have a couple of cards I've been meaning to share with you. The first one is an anniversary card I helped a friend with. It's very simple and elegant. I used chocolate chip paper, so saffron paper, very vanilla and sale-a-bration paper. The stamps are both old retired ones. The flower is from Long Stemmed and the sentiment is from Wonderful Words (I believe). The ribbon is some scrap that I had. The flowers are watercolored with markers in a very pale yellow and green. Just enough color used to add some accent.

The next card is for a challenge. SCS had mini pre-virtual stamp night challenge. I only got to do one of the challenges, but it was definitely a challenge for me. The idea was to use a circus element and inspiration on the card as well as the color orange. I had some retired DSP that reminded me of a circus tent (and it had orange) so I used that along the bottom of the card. The main image is from Costume Bears and is watercolored with markers. The accent papers are tangerine tango, pacific point, and bashful blue. The ribbons are bashful blue stripe the has been frayed, and a piece of pacific point tied in for accent. Along the top of the card, I used the Teddy Bears wheel in versamark. A fun card, though. I really enjoyed this one in spite of the orange (I am not a fan or orange, lol, in case you didn't know).

Unity Stamps World Record Inspirational Blog Hop

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

Hello all! What a day today is. It's the world record inspirational blog hop hosted by Unity Stamp Co. If you are just checking in here first and want to hop around the hop, please start back at Unity's Blog to find the very beginning. You won't want to miss the wonderful inspirations all through the hop.

The first card I have for you features a scripture that I really like, and helps me through those very trying moments of life. The sentiment is from the Something within set from Unity. The background flower is from the grab bag and the pieced flowers are from the February kit of the Month. The printed papers are Stampin' Up papers from the Sale a Bration campaign. For the flowers, I stamped the flowers that are actually part of a journaling stamp four times and then cut them out and layered them on top of each other. The brads in the middle are some I had in my stash. The metal flower embellishments are from Stampin' Up! For the paper ribbon I created, I used my Stampin' Up! eyelet border punch and my scallop edge border punch. The corners are rounded on the lower edge of the front of the card. The layers in the middle were cut using my Nesties (how did I ever live without these things!! LOL).

The next card uses stamps from the March kit of the month and little buggers. It was a very simple card, but fun to make. In the background on the blue paper, I stamped with bleach the flower from the little buggers set. The topiary was stamped and colored with blender pens and then cut out and mounted on with dimensionals. The main image was stamped and colored with markers and then layered on scraps of the blue background and a piece of SU sale a bration paper and then mounted on with dimensionals. Then I used the photo corner punch to punch out the larger corner from more scraps from the blue background to layer underneath the main image so it doesn't get lost in the card base. The DSP behind this is from the sale a bration papers from SU as well. The felt ribbons are from Creative Imaginations. I used the three brads to add a bit of interest here and to help hold on the felt ribbon.


This card was a color challenge posted on Thursday's Unity blog hop as a challenge. The idea was to use purple, black and white. I already had these flowers bleach stamped into perfect plum so I ran with them and here's what I came up with. The color combo is stunning and I'm not at all a purple person. It's an okay color, but it's not one I tend to use much. So this was a bit of a challenge for me for that reason. The white strip along the bottom was a scrap piece from a cuttlebug embossed piece I used on something else. The sentiment is actually from SU in the Fresh Cuts set, but it went perfectly with this.

Then finally, this card was a lot of fun to make, and a bit of a challenge for me. It was also a challenge on Thursday's Unity Blog hop to make a spring-themed card. The bird is from Unity and the set is called Birds of a Feather. It's a beautiful set and is so elegant. The white paper behind it is embossed with the Cuttlebug and then sponged around the edges to make it pop out a little more. The background papers are SU! They are the new designer series cardstock papers called Parisian Breeze. For the bird, I stamped it on watercolor paper and then added a wash to the bird so it would look soft and smooth. Then I took the aqua painter and really wet the edges of the paper. After that I sponged them with baja breeze ink so it would be very soft and not distressed looking. The hardware is SU's silver hodgebodge. The sentiment is from the Best Yet set by Stampin' Up!

These last two card were done earlier in the week, but I didn't have time to post until now. I hope you enjoyed looking at these and that you found some inspiration. Thanks for taking the time to stop and look around here on my blog. Before you go, please be sure to leave feedback. I love feedback, whether it be favorable or something I could do better, but please be kind and constructive. Thanks! Now, moving along in the hop, please check out Shannon's blog for some more stamping inspiration.

Blessings!

Tasha