Stampin! with Jaydee

 

Well, there were so many places to go with this challenge but, as I am desperate to see some spring colors and the bright yellow and white daffodils - I decided to go top to bottom on the left column:  yellow, die-cuts and flowers.

 

I started by stamping and die-cutting the flowers in various shades of yellow DSP.  I then added a couple of shades of Copic markers to add a little depth to the yellow.  

 

Now... what to place them on?  Mmmmm.... Soft Sky just didn't cut it.  Marina Mist was too dark..... and then I realized that the ONLY thing I could do, was to create masks for the flowers and color a piece of white card stock with two shades of Distress Ink.  So, I took my Ranger distress inks and the mini blending tools and set to work.  So, that blue background you see is actually blended inks!  I know it's hard to see it in the photo, but the background has more variation than a straight piece of cardstock could have delivered and it really is pretty when you have the card in hand.

 

Here's my card:

 

 

Now... the centers needed a little sumthin' sumthin'..... so I took my black Enamel Accents and added little dots to the centers to add a little shine and a tiny little bit of dimension.  Of course, I had to use my Lil Inkers Stitched Rectangle die to the focal panel to frame it.   After I stamped the sentiment onto the focal panel, I mounted it onto the card base with fun foam.   I am in love with this as a way to add a little dimension to the card and knowing that it will survive going through the post and not give me peaks and valleys that I get with normal dimensional tape or dots. :-)

 

The design team have created some fabulous cards for your inspiration.  I hope you will pop along to their blogs and check out their cards and then come back and join us and play along this week.

 

Ann Schach
Anne Marie Hile
Claire Broadwater 
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt
LeAnne Pugliese
Nance Leedy
Sandy Mathis 
Debbie Mageed
Karren Johnson
Shannon Jaramillo

 

On a personal note:

It might not have been very warm today..... around 40.... but the sun was shining and it was a glorious...and I mean... GLORIOUS... spring day!  We even managed to roll down the moon roof for a little while and have the sun beam down into the car - and onto our heads!  it was.... did I say this before?  GLORIOUS.   Now... all we need is some COLOR. :-)

The great thing about this time of the year is Spring Cleaning!  Now... I tend to do several "spring cleans" during the year, but none feel as good as the real Spring Clean done at this time of the year.  This week I noticed that I wasn't the only one doing some spring cleaning........

Georgina was out and about and madly cleaning out her burrow.  She spent hours going backwards and forwards cleaning out the old nesting material and bringing in brand new bedding.  She was so neat and tidy and industrious and I felt a strange connection with her knowing that we were both so happy that winter was finally on his way out of town..... and the sun would soon be warm and the cycle of life continued for another year.  It was amazing watching her.  

Once she had done some spring cleaning, she did exactly what I wanted to do..... found a nice sunny spot and just enjoyed it!

Soon, the ground will no longer look brown and she will have lots of yummy grasses and seeds to eat. All we need is a little rain :-)

The days have been filled with the sound of these guys as they begin the hunt for their nesting place getting ready for their females:

However.... the next morning.... Mr Winter decided it was time to show us that he wasn't quite done for the year and we woke up to this!!!!

Now... if this had been November, I would have been happy!  But... seriously.... the end of March... NOOOOOOO.....  Luckily, it was almost all gone by the end of the day :-)

I must admit, it is wonderful to be back in the world of the connected :-)  My Mac seems to be behaving itself and I haven't had an unwanted reboot since she came back from MacHospital!  So, I am hoping that I can get into my craft room tomorrow and will have some cards to post :-)   In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe: 

•     Card stock:  Neenah Solar White #110
•     Stamp:  Artful Flowers - Simon Says Stamp
•     Inks:  Ranger Distress Inks:  Peacock Feathers, Broken China - used for the background.      StazOn black used for the flower outline and sentiment.  Copic Markers used to color flowers
•     DSP:  from old stash
•     Tools:  Designer Flower dies - Simon Says Stamp.  Lil Inker Stitched Rectangle
•   Fun Foam as dimensional element under the focal layer.  I love this stuff!!!