Build A Bouquet Challenge

Getting my mojo back and playing along again today with Papertrey Ink's Anniversary Celebration. Today's challenge is to Build A Bouquet using more than one floral stamp set. For this card I've used Year of Flowers: Larkspurs and Botanical Silhouettes (Anniversary Set from 2010). I started with a base of Distress Inks in purples and greens, laying down color before I stamped in order to keep it loose and fluid. I then stamped the larkspurs and added the floral silhouettes in around them, an attempt to subtly suggest a riot of spring flowers going on in the background. I went back in with markers and colored the larkspur to give them more definition and pop, since they are meant to be in the foreground. Also added a bit of collage-feel to the background with Background Basics: Text Style and Fancy Flourishes. The sentiment is from Mega Mixed Messages.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend! Dreaming of spring.....

Papertrey DT Inspiration

Catching up with the first day of Papertrey Ink's anniversary celebration challenges.... this card is for the DT Inspiration challenge and combines the last color recipe and the second sketch:

I started out stamping the "sky" using Background Basics: Text Style in aqua. A strip of washi tape and some Dearest Jane patterned paper ground the houses, which were created using the Love Lives Here stamps and dies. The sentiment is from the same set, die cut with Spellbinders' Labels One die.

Getting those Valentines done.... just might get there in time this year!

Bagged and Tagged

Moving right along with the challenges for this weekend.... this little Valentine's packet is for Papertrey Ink's Bagged and Tagged challenge. I designed a little treat bag (the prototype for about a dozen more to come....) for my daughter to give out cookies to her friends. I started with a pre-printed dotted kraft bag and stamped circle hearts from Love Lives Here. The two tags are cut from Tremendous Tags and Tiny Tags dies - they make a bunch at once so it saves some time! The sentiment is from the Mega Mixed Messages set. A bit of twine and washi tape keeps everything in place. This went really quickly so I'm thinking of passing the task along to my daughter.... along with the baking of the cookies (it's so easy once they get to be teenagers!)

Jumping Back In....

Ok it's been a long time (no small exaggeration), but I'm jumping back into blogging with something a bit clean and simple. I'm playing along with the Papertrey Ink Anniversary challenges, and this card is for the Maile Belles Inspiration Challenge. It uses the 2010 Anniversary set Botanical Silhouettes, as well as Calendar Basics for the sentiment. It was inspired by the technique Maile used for this card:

I was also inspired by the fact that Maile's new series is all about watercolors - so I used a watercolor stamping technique of inking up the flower stamp with a couple different Distress Inks (Seedless Preserves and Worn Lipstick) and misting it with water. I then splattered some of the same inks onto the entire front of the card.

Special thanks to the Farm Girls (you know who you are) for giving me an extra bit of incentive I needed to get back in the stamping saddle again!