Imagine Yourself

I hope your Christmas was filled with blessings and peace!

For this card, I pulled out an older Unity stamp set called The Artist in You. It is a favourite of mine, because I love the sentiments and the botanical themed stamps that are included. I used a layout from a card I did a long time ago (way back in 2009!!) for my inspiration. This card turned out to have such a different, more sophisticated feel. I do love using sketch inspiration...

Initially, I stamped the sentiment and was going to add it to the card, but it was quite bland. I sponged around the edges, but it was still lacking. Then, I used the botanical stamps from the set and stamped them using the same ink I sponged around the edges. The leaves all but disappeared. I dusted off my distress ink markers and added a little weight to the image by darkening the lower edges of the leaves. I used a white gel pen to highlight the upper edges, making them look slightly frosty. It's been a long time since I've used many of these techniques and my creativity feels very much covered in cobwebs and it is sometimes challenging to decide what would be best to use in any given situation.

I love mulberry flowers and used one from Petaloo here along with a branch punch that took me almost 10 minutes to locate. Slowly but surely, I'm getting reacquainted with with all my supplies and remembering which drawer things are located in.

Enjoy the rest of the week!!

stamps; the artist in you (unity), vintage life background stamp (heartfelt creations)
ink; shabby shutters, antique linen, tea dye, vintage photo, walnut stain distress inks (ranger)
paper; butterfly garden (pink paislee), cashmere, rootbeer, walnut creme (bazzill)
accessories; ivory ribbon (offray), branch punch (martha stewart), adhesive pearls (making memories), mulberry flower (petaloo)

IHP - I Love You

This morning, it's sunny out my window after all the fickle weather we've had so I was inspired to create this sunny card.

I used some lovely pink floral pattern paper from the Sweetness paper pack from Pink Paislee to base my card on. This paper is so softly feminine that I wanted to use soft coloured ink and card stock. I layered pink silk ribbon over a white eyelet punched border, ivory crochet trim by May Arts, topped by taupe satin ribbon and a bow (LOVE my bow easy!!!). I love all the texture!

This sentiment is from Simply You by Technique Tuesday. First, I masked off 'I love you' and inked 'This is why' using pumice stone distress ink and then I reversed the mask and inked 'I love you' using frayed burlap. I cut the sentiment using large petite oval nestabilities and mounted it using small petite oval and large petite scallop oval nestabilities mounted using Zva dimensionals. I used a corrugated frame by jillibean to base the sentiment on and embellished it with a couple of ribbon flowers from Lavish Trimmings by Tim Holtz.

It's going to be a lovely day and this was a terrific way to start it. Have a banner day, peeps!


stamps; simply you (technique tuesday)
paper; sweetness (pink paislee), kraft (american elements), coconut swirl, walnut creme (bazzill)
ink; pumice stone, frayed burlap, spun sugar distress inks (ranger)
accessories; artisan elements (pink paislee), lg scallop, large and small petite oval nestabilities (spellbinders), bright rhinestone brads (sei), ribbon flowers (tim holtz), pink silk ribbon (creative impressions), crochet trim, satin ribbon (may arts), dimensionals (zva), bow easy