Hello Fabulous Fellow Stampers ~
TGIF!!! Yes Yes Yes!! It's been a yucky week! No way around it! And, the issue with my herniated disc stuff has taken about 10 steps backwards, so I've been running around to the chiropractor as we try to "put me back together" again -- LOL. Isn't there something about Humpty Dumpty in there somewhere??!! LOL 😉
Anyway - it's my off-Friday with a fun weekend ahead with my stampers for the annual Birthday Stamp-a-Stack. It's been very cold, so I'm looking forward to snuggling in, something warm in the crock pot, and some creative play time. Then my honey and I are planning to escape on Sunday to the Garden & Home Show at the Convention Center for a few hours. A few hours of sniffing Spring in the beautiful gardens, and dreaming about home makeovers -- LOL 😉
Today I want to share with you a couple of fun cards I created. And I want to talk to you a little bit again about taking your inspiration from all around you. A couple of weeks ago I did a Valentine card (HERE) that was inspired by an advertisement in a grocery store ad email I got.
Today's cards are inspired by an email I received some time ago - selling some real live cards - you know, those ones you buy in the store??!! LOL These are pretty simple cards and are "offered" through a Bible inspiration/devotional site I'm subscribed to.
When I saw these, I thought to myself . . . hey, I can design something similar that would be just as pretty (maybe better), and certainly wouldn't cost what a site like this would charge, right? I immediately was drawn to the large bold florals in these cards, and the coloring of the images. Let's take a look at what I came up with - and I hope you feel inspired today!!
I made a set of two cards, like my example above - but each of these cards is very different from each other - mainly in what I used to create them. I did, however, use my Stampin' Blends to do all the coloring on these images. These are CAS (clean and simple) cards with no layering - just stamping and finishing to the front of the card base.
This card uses the flower image from the Beautiful Day stamp set, stamped in Crushed Curry for a softer outline look - then colored with Daffodil Delight and Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends (the leaf is in Bermuda Bay).
The sentiment, from the Sale-a-Bration set - Heartfelt Blooms - is stamped in Versamark and embossesd with Gold embossing powder.
I finished off my roses with "dew drops" from the Glitter & Clear Epoxy Shapes collection.
This card was created from a totally different source - and it may surprise you . . .
These flowers are from the Petal Passion Designer Series Paper, and have been colored and fussy cut, layered on the card with some popped with dimensionals, or attached with glue dots, and finished off with pearls. This is so pretty - you wouldn't even realize they came from a paper rather than a stamped image . . .
In fact, I spent a fair amount of time this past week, just coloring with my Blends, this piece of the paper - isn't this gorgeous!!??!!
I had a lot of fun just experimenting with my Blends, creating different color mixes, and testing out ideas. This paper is perfect for this type of coloring!
And it's pretty easy to fussy cut these flowers out as well!!
So what do you think? Did we achieve as good a design as the store bought's? Or better? I actually love how these cards turned out - I almost hate to use them . . . LOL Do you get like that? Make a card and then don't want to send it!! Someone special will get these!!
Have a wonderful Friday and weekend ahead everyone! And stay warm!
Until Next Time . . .
