June Papertrey Blog Hop

I loved the inspiration photo for this month's PTI Blog Hop.  Those little shoes are so pretty, and the color combo is just clean and sophisticated.  I couldn't mess with something almost perfect, so I recreated the overall look of the shoes in my card.  I used the Watercolor brushstrokes set, some dies, and smokey slate and black inks to make this little beauty.  Hope you like it and continue throughout the day to hop around the blog hop.

Supplies:

PTI: butterfly dies (various), leaf die (Sending You), black button, best wishes from Lovely Labels, and brushstroke stripes from Watercolor set from Maile.  Can't remember specific names and don't have time to look them all up. Naturals white paper, canyon clay paper, ripe avocado paper.

SU!: smokey slate ink,  vanilla paper.

A lovely flower morning

Just thought I would post the gorgeous colors I have popping up all along my flower beds and my planters.  I love how Dawn McVey takes these beautiful pictures of her flowers and shares them.  I got inspired to save the intricate beauty of God's creation in my yard today so I can go back and look at them and have a moment of thanksgiving for His goodness.

 I love flowers.  I love their color, their form, their unique beauty, the way they bloom, everything.  If I could surround myself with them everyday I would.  Enjoy my photos and have a blessed day.

I have 4 of these loaded with blooms along the back of my house off the side of our screened in porch.

This is my lone light lilac colored hydrangea from the new plant I got last summer.  I hope I get some more blooms.  They are so pretty.

My annual geranium pick for my front planter.  Love that bright pink.

All of the above lilies are in my front flower beds.  They are hidden by my dwarf Japanese maple tree so I need to did them up and replant them.  My favorite is the dark burgundy one.  So lovely.

More geraniums in my front porch planter.  Sigh.. they make me happy.

I have a calla lily forest on the side of my house by the driveway.  They keep making more plants and I just love them.  So elegant and stately.  They keep when cut too.  

Mad for Plaid

I have my eye on the new PTI Perfect Plaid stamp set, but I wanted to see if I could create some pretty plaid patterns using what I already have.  I am really trying to be good at not buying new stuff, even though I have a shopping cart full of my wish list items.  I really like the plaid I made on the DAD card.  It turned out nice.  It was the second one I made.  The plaid on the bug car card was a little too much.  I will keep trying out patterns, but I sure do want that plaid builder set for the thin triple line stamp.   The Simple Stripes set just doesn't have that.

MIM #214: Using neutrals for background stamping

I played around with my stamps yesterday during a few free moments so I could try this week's MIM challenge.  The two cards didn't turn out perfectly or exactly like I was looking for, but they are pretty good.  I used soft stone and fine linen as my light neutrals, however, the fine linen is not as light as I would like.  Might have to try the tea dye ink and see if that gives a softer effect next time.

I liked this challenge as I always love Dawn McVey's subtle backgrounds she creates on a lot of her cards lately.  Enjoy!