These Are My People Blog Hop

Welcome to the "These Are My People Blog Hop." You should have come from Darlys' blog. If you get lost along the way, go to Melinda's blog for a full list of this hop's participants.

Here's a close up of the top left cluster. All the images are from the coordinating sticker sheet. The only doctoring I did was to sponge some Saffron ink in the center of the flower.

I used the Pattern #34 from "Make It From Your Heart, Volume 3." I added the white background behind the Saffron photo mats. I cut them to 10x9 inches.

The only other change I made to the pattern as shown in the pattern is to change up the border between the Saffron and Bluebird patterned papers.

I recently went to the Grand Canyon with a fellow author friend. We did lots of research for her upcoming three-book series set there. We also had time to do some personal sight-seeing. It's impossible to capture the grandeur of this natural wonder. But my pictures will include several photos of us together because the best part of the trip was celebrating our friendship.

I think the combination of Bluebird and Saffron is perfect for Grand Canyon pictures.

Now here's a layout with an entirely different feel using this exact same paper pack plus one cut from the Artbooking Cricut cartridge.

In addition to the cricut cut, I added some sponging to the house rooftop and stamped the small flower from the coordinating "Love These People" stamp set on the bottom right and added sponging to it. Everything else is just paper and stickers from the These are my People" special.

Now you're off to Michele's blog. Be sure to hop all the way around to see everyone's great artwork with this fabulous special.

Until next time,
Becca

April SOM Blog Hop - O-fish-ally Awesome

Welcome to the April Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: O-fish-ally Awesome. You should have come from Kim's blog. If you get lost along the way, head over to Melinda's blog for a full list of participants.

I love this stamp set. I had a great time coloring all the little images then clumping together to create this deceptively simple card.

Here's a close up so you can see the shimmer on the images. I used both the Sapphire Shimmer Brush and the Clear one.

I started by stamping the images in black and coloring them with pencils. I then cut them out. I layered them, continuing to add as many as it took to create the collage. I didn't glue it down though, because I wanted to stamp the sand in Toffee ink first.

After everything was glued down, I flicked the shimmer pen over the top. I decided to add clear shimmer over everything except the sign.

Whenever I make a Clean and Simple card, I try to create as much interest as possible. On this card it was with lots of coloring. I used at least three colors on every image. On the seaweed, I used two colors of green and a bit of brown for the fun of it. Adding the shimmer was another way of creating interest without adding "weight" to the overall card.

FYI, if you decide to recreate this card, you'll want to stamp your sentiment on the sign before you color it. The waxy finish on the colored pencils will resist your ink.

Now it's time to move on to Michelle's blog. Keep clicking through to all the stops so you don't miss any of the fabulous inspiration from these talented crafters.

Until next time,
Becca