Blooming Wonderful

The last few days I've been totally miserable.  Low grade fever, sore throat, runny nose, the works. And if that wasn't bad enough, I've been so cranky even I haven't wanted to be around me.  Tonight, I think I've finally come through the worst of it all.  My fever seems to have left the building so my body doesn't feel like it's been hit by a bus. I was even able to do a little creating which definitely tells me that the worst of this ickiness is behind me.

Since the weather has been so very delightful all winter, some of the early spring flowers are actually starting to bloom already.  Since I have a bit of a black thumb, nothing outside my house even resembles life.  Inside, however, we're blooming lilies!    I grabbed a punch, some cardstock and some ink and went to town.  I made a whole lovely bouquet of punch lilies.  They're so bright and happy, blooming just for me and you!

We'll be making these beautiful punch lilies as part of our make-n-take for Stampin' Bunco.  You're not signed up for Stampin' Bunco??  Head on over to our Meetup group and register today!

Whoooo loves ya, baby?

I've become totally addicted to Pinterest.  I can spend hours upon hours just cruising different boards and picking out new ideas and projects to try.  I was surfing last evening and found this Pin with these totally adorable little owls!!  I fell in love right away!

The base of the owl is made from the Pillow Box die for the Big Shot so he can hold a yummy little surprise.  His feathers were punched from the Sale-A-Bration designer series paper...which I totally love and it will make me really sad when I can't get anymore.  I had fun trying to figure out all the pieces and putting it together into my version of this cool project!

Just like the pin, I just might make myself an army of little rainbow owls.  They make me happy :)

Froggie gets some friends

Remember my little froggies?  Well, I finally got around to putting them on cards!  I have a hostess club meeting tomorrow night.  We have a card swap each month and this little guy is my February offering. I made a dozen of these cards which got my fingers a bit inky but I think they were totally worth it.

The background of the card is brayered and inked on Glossy White cardstock. I enjoy brayering on glossy at times because it can be a little more forgiving than just using Whisper White.  I wanted to be able to blend my colors a little more and I find that the glossy cardstock helps me do that.

The water is brayerd with Marina Mist and Tempting Turquoise with the water on the horizon being sponged Tempting Turquoise.  The sky was created by sponging on Bashful Blue with Marina Mist layered on the top.  The lily pad was sponged on using a large heart mat punched out of a sticky note with Always Artichoke and a Garden Green edge.

I say this everytime I brayer a background...I really need to get my brayer out more often! I hope you enjoy my little friends as much as I do :)

It's amazing what a little ink can do

Today was a great day.  I spent all day with some great stampin friends at our Punch Me Out, Valentine class. It was really a great time and well worth the time it took to punch ALL those little pieces, right girls?? I just love punch art and best of all...we're all ready for Valentines' Day now!  YEAH

I didn't really have an opportunity to make any fun punch creatures during the class. So this evening, while I was hanging out with my puppies relaxing to some Food Network, I decided to whip up a few little froggies.  After I finished the sample, it occurred to me that I should share the before and after because WOW...what a big difference a little bit of ink makes!

So first of all, this frog is super simple.  The punches I used were the wide oval (body), large oval (legs, head, belly), 3/4"circle (eye), 1/2" circle (eye), Punch Pack circle (eye), and one of the flowers from Boho Blossoms (feet).  The colors I used are Lucky Limeaid and Always Artichoke for the belly but I really think this little fella would look cute in just about any color.

But really check out the difference between the sample and the final product.  Holy wow!  What made all the difference with the finished product was a little bit of ink.  I used a sponge to add color around the edges of all the punches.  This really makes the individual pieces stand out.  Add a little smile and a sparkle to his eyes and voila!  Done.  You can hardly tell this is the same frog!

I know I often find myself pressed for time and I don't always take the time to add simple details.  But here, you can really see the difference some inked edges make.  So go ahead, add a little ink to your edges!