it's your day

 hello everyone!

I don't know where the last month has gone - xmas then new year then recovering, I guess. lol 

I have been making cards, well trying out new stamps anyway, but today I decided to do a challenge to get my head back in the game.

AAACards CAS game #181 presented a nice idea - use up to one-third of the card, with a summer in January twist.

Since it's actually summer in January here, I felt right at home. One glance out the window, and there's plenty of inspiration!  I must admit, I simply can't do snow, especially in January. Is it just me?

I recently received a stamp set which has cherry blossoms and I looove it.  Beautiful. Now I know cherry blossoms are traditionally associated with spring, but in early summer the petals start to fall so that's the idea I went with.

I think a subtle design and a subdued colour palette is relaxing - just the ticket in this balmy weather. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

Altenew stamp: Under the cherry blossom

inks: Altenew sea glass, dusk, pink diamond, memento tuxedo black

you are strong

 hello stampers!

Today I have a clean, green card. I was inspired by the big Melia tree in our garden which is covered in new bright green leaves at the moment and wanted to capture that dewy greenness (is that a word?). I used this week's challenge at CAS(E) this sketch CTS #402 as inspiration for the design.

I think this design lends itself to many interpretations, but I thought I'd stick fairly closely to the elements. 

  

The Forever Greenery DSP from Stampin' Up! has some lovely papers so I used some as the background and then layered some fussy cut leaves on top to make it like a bouquet. A little shaded spruce card cut into leaves and intermingled gives it some dimension.  I added a few dew drops for that fresh dewy look and finished it off with bright white twine.

Green and white I think is my favourite colour combination - so clean and fresh. I hope you can find the time to spend relaxing in a garden today.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

cardstock: whisper white, shaded spruce

ink: balmy blue, shaded spruce, Altenew Sea Glass

paper: Forever Greenery DSP

stamp: Stampin' Up! Loyal Leaves

be strong

Happy Sunday!

I was hankering for a little card making, having been too busy organising christmassy things the last couple of weeks...ho hum. So this afternoon I snuck off to my favourite room to do some creatin'!

The lovely people at CAS(E) this Sketch #401 had a retro challenge CTS #147 this week and it got me thinking. 

I thought some stencilling would be fun - as well as therapeutic - and ended up stencilling it all.  The flower element I had no problem with as I love to use garden themes and nature in my cards, but the elements at the top didn't really go with the nature theme...or did they? 

Never one to shy away from a challenge (pun intended) I thought I would use negative space for the top element. That way it is there, but not the focus - perfect!

I love the juxtaposition of leaves and geometric shapes. The colour of open sky, but the shapes of conformity. I tried to give a sense of movement both with the leaves gently floating upward, and with the windswept shape of the sky.

The message is simple - in this noisy world of self aggrandisement, my card hopefully serves as a little reminder that you can just be you and I can just be me. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

cardstock: balmy blue, whisper white

stencils: Altenew Foliage, Altenew Colour Block Triangle

ink: Altenew sea glass, balmy blue, soft sea foam, shaded spruce

stamp: Altenew sentiment strips