Stampin! with Jaydee

Hi Everyone.

It's the fabulous Anne Marie's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and she has a theme for us.  

Ah... Spring... she is so far away for us yet.  We might be 18 days from the first day of Spring, but it's going to be a good 8-10 weeks before we see our first real green.  So, when I was in my craft room today - looking out over the wetland and our back garden... covered in over 3 feet of snow, I was finding it hard to imagine spring. :-)

However, the one thing that I know is that Spring will arrive.  With summer, and the wild flowers, I will be able to fill vases with fresh cut flowers.  That's what gave me the idea for my card tonight.

It's a pretty simple card.   I stamped the Penny Black "Tranquility" stamp onto Neenah Solar White #110 paper and colored it with my Caran D'Ache pencils.  I fussy cut around the right hand side, as I wanted to pop it off the background.  However, when I put it on top of a pure white base.... I just wasn't happy about it.

So, I brought out my blender brushes and used some Distress Broken China ink to add color to the base. Have you heard about these "magic" life-changing blender brushes?  they cost a fortune.  Well, I think they are around $50 for the set.  Too expensive for my taste.  So, I went looking around on Amazon.  What did I do before Amazon arrived?!!!   I found a very similar looking set, also ergonomically designed and they cost me a total of $16 and shipped free because I have Prime.  They blend beautifully, so long as I remember to have patience and not go straight to my card stock.All of the things that you would do with normal blending sponges.  However, the results for me are much better and I can get really soft finishes, too.  As I had stamped onto textured card stock, the blending allowed the texture to show up more that if I had left the card stock plain white

Once I was happy with the base, I added a little color to the panel with the flowers.  I mounted that layer onto the base using fun foam and added a little strip of silver glitter paper.  To finish up, I added some glimmer to the vase for a little sheen.  Here's a closeup:

I really love the texture from the card stock.

And here's my full card:

I hope you will join us and play along with Anne Marie's challenge.  As usual, the design team have created some fabulous cards as inspiration for you.

• Ann
• Claire
• Jaydee
• Joanne
• Laurie
• Anne Marie
• Su
• Wanda

On a personal note:

Yep.... it was cold again today.  It's going to break records for lows for this time of the year.  We are expecting below -30 again tonight.  Lou shoveled another 6 inches of snow off the drive-way again this morning.  But... when we awoke this morning the sun was shining, the sky was a clear blue sky and the world looked like a winter wonderland.  it really did look beautiful.  As long as I don't have to go outside, that is :-). So, I stayed indoors, did some Spring cleaning and then made some more cards for SendaSmile4kids.

I'll be back tomorrow with the remaining Mermaid cards - and might throw in a couple of pirate cards, too:-).  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

• Stamps:  Tranquility - Penny Black.  Sentiment:  Leaf Canopy - Altenew
• Inks:  Gina K Amalgam Black.  Caran D'Ache Pencils