Monday, April 14, 2008

All Things Grow With Love



Ahhh... spring. I love it! My family and I enjoyed some absolutely PERFECT weather on a Friday/Saturday overnighter up to Baltimore's Inner Harbor: 70-75 degrees, sunny (even though the forecast called for showers), breezy. We had a great time at the Maryland Science Center and The Baltimore Aquarium (the 4D immersion theater was the best!). Then on Saturday, I even got outside for some yard work. Just enough to remember why we usually let the pros come do our spring clean-up. Sorry, but I'd rather pay the landscapers to clean up our landscaping while I play with my kids than pay a babysitter to play with my kids while I clean up the landscaping. (And I used to love gardening! Actually, I still do, just not the clean-up part.)

Anyway, I digress. With warmer temperatures and so much in bloom, I found myself reaching for a color that's a bit of a departure from my norm: purple. The beautiful papers in the Sprout collection by Memory Box** were my starting point. I paired them with a butterfly and sentiment from the Expressions stamp set by Inkadinkado. This card has all my current favorites: nestabilities, bling (Lavender Stickles on the butterfly and Hero Arts Gemstones under the sentiment), ribbon (grosgrain from SU; fibers from Stamper's Dream), piercing, and of course, lots of dimension.

A quick word about the Lavender Stickles, because I made a big personal discovery with these. I used to think I didn't need colored Stickles because I could just add sparkle to a colored image with one of the clear Stickles (Stardust, Icicle, etc. -- btw, does anyone know what the difference is between these, it seems like there are a LOT of clear choices). It's so NOT the same! Because the glitter in the colored Stickles is an actual color, it is much richer-looking once applied. I was actually preparing a nice little sample to show the difference, but alas, it wasn't dry and I just found it stuck to the bottom of my almost-1-year-old's foot. Maybe another time :)

I also have to tell you my layout came from a sketch I made from paper scraps lying on my desk. If I told you how much of my inspiration comes from my messy craft table (unusual color combos, layouts, ribbon placement ... pretty much anything), you might excuse me for not cleaning it up more often. So go forth, make a mess of your workspace (if it isn't messy already), and then look for your next layout!

**I got the Sprout 6x6 collection from Stamper's Dream. Michelle is out of stock at this very moment, but should have packs available again by the end of the week.

Stamps: Expressions (Inkadinkado)
Paper: Perfect Plum and Pale Plum cardstock (SU!); Sprout 6x6 (Memory Box) patterned paper
Ink: Perfect Plum craft; Onyx Black Versafine
Accessories: Lavender Stickles, Hero Arts Lavender Gemstones, classic and scalloped circle Nestabilties, 1/16" circle punch, dimensionals, sponge daubers, corner rounder, ticket corner punch, paper piercer, wide celery grosgrain, light orchid 1/4" grosgrain (retired SU!); fibers from Stamper's Dream

12 comments:

Libby Hickson said...

Very pretty - love the colors!

Alhambra Club said...

This is so pretty, love the purple and green combo, what a lovely card.

Julee (Vervegirl) said...

This is just gorgeous Amy! Love how you worked in the purple. My favorite clear stickles is Stardust - it has a really fine transparent glitter and seems to stay the truest in color when used on other colors and really enhances the color it's applied over. Frosted Lace is more opaque, and is good for snow and foam on waves, since it actually dries a little bit white. Diamond has a little bit bigger flecks and more of a gold hint to the glitter. There might be other clear ones, but those are the three clear ones I use, and Stardust is my absolute FAVE. In some of the colors like orange peel and lemon the glaze is actually dyed, not the glitter, so you have to be really careful when you apply it so it doesn't color your paper where you don't want it. Speaking from experience here! LOL! ;)

Lorien Clark said...

I recently found your blog and it is beautiful. I love your stuff! I am giving you the Arte Y Pico award. See my blog for the deets!

Heather said...

Beautiful card! Love the poppin colors, your layout and the row of gems under your sentiment! Just so beautiful!

jjcreations said...

Oh, this is gorgeous. I love the colours. Joan

Anonymous said...

All I can say is, "WOW"! I bought the stamp set because of this card! Who needs classes when we have Amy! :)

Unknown said...

Great card! Your combination of colors and designer papers is simply fabulous....and I LOVE what you did with those stamps!

reeree62 said...

I just love this card! So, so pretty! You inspire me, Amy! Also. I love your new hairstyle! Cute!

Anonymous said...

I really love this card. The colors are really pretty together. Good job!

Renee said...

This is so pretty with the purple! Love the butterfly :)

Jessie/knightrone said...

I just read Julees comment on the different colored stickles, who knew!!! This is just gorgeous girl!!! Love all the bling and sparkle!! Purple is my favorite color so this is really speaking to me!!LOL