Blog Hops with Heart - Photo Inspiration

When we first got the photo for this month's Blog Hops with Heart challenge, I stared at it for a long time trying to come up with something--anything--and just couldn't find inspiration. Maybe that's because I'm feeling pressure from writing deadlines, but it was killing me. Usually when my writing stalls I go to my craft room to give my brain something different to focus on.

Then, in desperation, I said to myself, "Fine, I'll go literal." (Yes, I do talk to myself on a regular basis.)  Here's what I came up with:

I used the color photo Amie turned black and white for out badge as my literal guide. I started with woodgrain paper that I dry-brush painted with some green acrylic paint. To get color variation, I smushed some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, and Mowed Lawn on my craft sheet and mixed some of the paint in with them as I painted. After letting the paper dry, I cut it into strips and layered them over top of a piece of New England Ivy cardstock I'd swiped with Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink. (The technical term is "direct to paper" but swiping is  more descriptive of the actual process.) I trimmed this down to 1/8 inch smaller than the brown mat at 4 x 5.25 and glued the two together.

Next I stamped a wreath in Cocoa ink. I chose the wreath from the retired White Pines set, but any wreath will do. I then cut another wreath using the Flower Market Cricut cartridge in Chocolate and retired Twilight. The spray and leaves are also from Flower Market and cut in Fern and New England Ivy. I drew veins in the leaves by hand. Once all the layers were glued together and glued to the card, I got out embellishments and went to town. I don't know about you, but I tend to collect embellishments faster than I can use them up. I think all of these save the blue enamel dot are retired, but I'm at the point where I need to move again (Army wife) so using lots is a good thing.

Our hop is short this month, but I'm sure you'll find lots of great inspiration.  This is an incredibly talented group of ladies! You should have come from Stephanie's blog, and now you're off to Jayma's blog. Have fun hopping!

Until next time,
Becca

Welcome Baby - Watercolor Whimsy

This week at Heart2Heart the theme is Whimsy. I needed a baby card, so I pulled out an older CTMH set called Baby Steps and my watercolors for this soft card.

I stamped in Antique Linen Distress Ink from Tim Holtz on water color paper then just painted to my heart's content. I did a light wash of blue for the sky, a wash of green for the grass base, and then pounced and splatted paint in various shades of green, brown, and blue green to add more dimension to the grass. After painting and drying, I ran it through a stitched die from My Favorite Things and mounted it on old CTMH paper. Why all the older supplies? Because I'm getting ready to move...it makes me dig into my stash of stuff to see what goes with me and what just goes.

Time to head upstairs and pound the keyboard for a few hours. Hopefully I won't have to delete everything I write at the end of the day. Yeah...some days (or, in this case, several weeks) are like that. Wish me luck!

Until next time,
Becca

Happy Mother's Day with Color My Heart

Have I mentioned how much I love the "Here for You" Workshop Your Way currently available through Close to my Heart (CTMH)? Maybe once or twice? Or a hundred times? Yeah...that's because I really love it. Really, really.  I used it again with a sentiment cut from Artiste for this Mother's Day card using the Peacock, Willow and White Daisy color challenge from Color My Heart.

I cut the sentiment at 1.25" tall three times and glued them all together. Then, I laid it on my card base to eyeball where I wanted to stamp the leaves in Willow. I used a combination of first and second generation stamping for the flowers, stamping some flowers directly on the card base and others on a separate piece of paper that I cut out and layered over top. The top and bottom border paper is included in the Workshop Your Way, but is also in the Some Kinda Wonderful paper pack. The only non-CTMH thing on the card is the lace which I adhered with Liquid Glass (aka the most amazing stuff on the planet.)

It feels pretty good to be this far ahead on cardmaking. These next two months are going to be crazy with two writing deadlines (followed by a third in August) and a move from Alaska to South Carolina starting in the first part of June.

Speaking of which, time to call my writing partner to iron out differences of opinion.

Until next time,
Becca