Spring!

Tell you what, I miss seasons here...here we have "rainy season" and "hot season". Nothing at all like the change from winter to spring...though during "hot season" my books and clothes don't smell as moldy! Here are my first creations with my newly aquired stamps...guess this is how I'm dealing with missing Spring in the Ozarks. :)

I'll share 2 cards tonight and then I'm going to bed...save the rest for another day! These 2 cards were made using some of my new stamps from smARTworks - these were really fun to work with! I love doing these little close-up wildflower scenes, and there are several sets in the catalog that are perfect. *Lots* of possibilities. I started by stamping the grass stamp multiple times till I got the effect I wanted. That ink is ... Versacolor? It's dark in here now and my 3YO is sleeping on the floor, so I don't want to turn on the light and look. The name of the color is Bamboo, I do remember that. I sponged along the bottom to fill in a bit. The flowers are inked using Colorbox Fluid Chalk inks - Pastel Olive, Pastel Pink and Citrus Yellow. I did cut the yellow flower off from the stem so I could angle it differently. I have a terrible habit of cutting my stamps up...one of the benefits of an unmounted stamp system...

Did a little shading with Prismacolor pencils. Is that ladybug too cute? There is a set of 3 different sizes, and he is the smallest. Perfect - life size! Who doesn't love ladybugs? I used my glaze pen on him so he's a little bit shiny. Cloud stencil for the sky, and the saying is stamped in Stazon Jet Black, only because I could reach it and it gives such a good crisp image.

The 2nd card is a 3" square. That is a fun little size to work with! The main scene was done at the same time as the other one...this card actually intended to look the same as the 1st one, but the sentiment stamped terrible, and crooked too, so I had to improvise, and trim a bit. :) The sentiment and the flower are popped using mounting tape.

That ladybug is one of my favorite ways to use a brad. Draw the little head and antennae first, then poke that little booger through, draw a couple dots with a permanent pen (oops - this one didn't get any dots!) and you have yourself a cute little ladybug. I needed some pink gingham ribbon, but I don't have any (RAK, anyone?!)...it needs something off to the right from the "grow". Oh, on both the cards I flipped the main panel over and scored 1/8" from the edge. For some reason when I'm not doing a lot of layering that makes up for it. Maybe it's just me.

That is a new watermark too - I haven't had a chance to post it yet, but it is available. I like the delicate, subtle flourish. That would be #20 if you want to request it. $3.00! How can you resist?

Thanks for checking in on me!