FABULOUS FLORETS MEETS NATURE WALK

Happy Royal Wedding Day All!

Okay, I was up at 4:30 a.m. this morning (yes, I overslept a little), to see probably my last Royal Wedding.  It was well worth the early morning, who doesn't love a fairytale.  I was sad and happy at the same time.  Sad that Princess Diana was not there physically to be with her son when he get married, and happy for the new bride and groom, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  Every once in a while you would catch a glimpse of Princess Diana in Prince William, as when he gave the shy sideways glance with his eyes looking up.  Don't you just love fairytales!!  And didn't you just love the beautiful hats worn by the ladies.  I always seem to buy new hats when I am in a new store or traveling, but then end up only wearing them once.  But I love them, and think we should go back to wearing them all the time (I'm ashamed to admit that when I was much, much younger, this was the highlight of going to church; to wear a new hat and see what others would wear). 

Prince William just kissed his new bride, so I guess I need to get going to start my day.  Seems kind of stupid but I need to take a shower and then put on clean pajamas so I can go to a PJ party tonight.  Yep, even old folks have PJ parties if they are a RubberQueen.  Thank you Ronda for keeping us young, and including a stamping night at the same time.  Tonight we will be doing 5 new baggie books to showcase the new 2011 Stampin' Up Summer Mini Catalog.  Woohoo, can't wait.

Here is a new card featuring a sneak peek at one of the new stamps in the Simmer Mini catalog, the Fabulous Florets Stamp Set.  What an easy stamp set to use, with bold and line stamps all in one set.  I also used two stamps (the bird and butterfly) from the current Nature Walk Stamp Set, which you can still get until tomorrow.  I stamped the green foliage in Old Olive Classic Ink, and watercolored the rest of the images using Stampin' Ups Wonderful Water Color Crayons before cutting them out.  My main crayon colors for the flowers were Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Cajun Craze, and Daffodil Delight.  The bird was done in the Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, and Basic Black Watercolor Crayons.  And finally the butterfly was done in Baja Breeze and Pacific Point Watercolor Crayons.  The first picture is my completed card that was done first.  Then I went back and decided to see if I could fix a Whisper White panel I had started on my first try, but got smudges on the foliage from my hand and threw away (don't you just hate when you do that!!).  Later I pulled it out of the trash and decided to see if I could salvage.  So the second card is my "fixed" version of my "throwaway"  -- I think it was worth fixing up.  My inspiration for this card came from a very old "store-bought" card that I had kept because I loved the flowers and bird  -- how about you???



My first card.

 

This is my "fix-up" card -- do you think it is good enough to send???

Some unfinished business:  the answer to my previous post:  baby mice!!!  How sick, sick, sick!!  She had to buy them for my granddaughter's pet snake's food.  And Tamie Ackerson thinks she has problems with all her pets!!  I will never look at a snake again without thinking about those baby mice. 

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog; and for those of you that take time to leave a comment, you make my day by giving me feedback and letting me know who belongs to those "numbers."   Sometimes I get comments from people named "anonymous" and I feel bad because I cannot acknowledge your comment.  So if your comment has the your name posted as "anonymous," I would love it if you signed your name and (if you like/can), provide your e-mail address, and blog address.  I love to visit the blogs of people who comment.

Sandi
(I thought the following verse appropriate to remember based on my fetish for hats.  I'll try to do better Lord.)

“Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel – rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” -- 1 Peter 3:3-4

TRY STAMPIN' ON TUESDAY #4 - MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD

Here it is Week #4 already of the Try Stampin' On Tuesday Challenges.  Boy has that went fast.  As one of the Design Team Members, I was very excited to do this challenge because I have wanted to use the "Nature Walk Stamp Set" every since my good friend Tamie Ackerson posted all of her samples using this stamp set.  I cannot believe I was able to wait this long, but wanted to wait until I had the right design so I could showcase the Watercolor Technique with "Stampin' Ups Watercolor Wonder Crayons.";  (Page 194, of the IBC).  I so love working with their crayons, even tho I find it a challenge, I think they are easier to work with for coloring then the pencils.  Plus, how awesome is it that you can coordinate your colors with all of SU's color collection (card stock, designer paper, ribbon, brads, etc.).  I have yet to find any other company that has this capability.  Yes, I am a total Stampin' Up geek, but I love their quality products and how everything coordinates.

Week 4 Challenge Design:



MY DESIGN: 

My take on a Mountain Bluebird from the Rocky Mountains Region.  Supplies Included:  "Nature Walk Stamp Set"; Marina Mist and River Walk Card Stock"; "Watercolor Paper";"Botanical Gazette Designer Series Paper"; "Marina Mist and River Walk Classic Ink"; "Navy and Tea Stain Ink"; "Marina Mist 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon"; "Stampin' Dimensionals"; "Watercolor Wonder Crayons"; "Aqua Painter"; "Distressing Essentials"; and "Cutter Kit Distressing Tool."

Please click on the picture to enlarge, as it is a little busy looking in this small picture (well it might be a little busy looking for some of you even if it is enlarged, but I love it!!).  And you will notice I couldn't go more than a week without doing another vintage.  Design-wise, I feel you have so many more options when doing vintage projects, what do you think?

You know the routine by now, check out CherylAnn's blog (HERE), to get more information on the challenge and to see the rest of the design team's samples.  We had an awesome group for the challenge last week, but let's top that this week. 

Good Luck!
Sandi
"Consider this:  whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." -- 2 Corinthians 9:6