Catching the Sun, Doing it Over and Tulips for the Table

I have so many projects to share with you tonight! I've had a busy weekend - but in between I've been stamping (of course!) to get the SCS challenges done.

First, just let me tell you that we saw The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde last night at the Lyric Stage in Boston. It is a really funny play written in 1895. Then today we went to the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, MA and had a guided tour of an exhibition called "Remember Me" - where there are everyday articles from the last 100 years donated by families that also include the stories of where they came from and who owned them attached. So lots of culture for me these two days!

Now on to the projects! This card was made for today's Inspiration Challenge which was guest hosted by my friend on SCS, Anne. She gave us this picture of a Sun Catcher to be our inspiration. You can see it below - but you can see it better here.

And here is the card I made based on the Sun Catcher.

I stamped my flowers and leaves on a piece of acetate with white Stazon Ink and then colored them from behind with alcohol inks. I thought this would simulate the transparency of the suncatcher. I found a great tutorial on this process by Sherrie Siemens on the Cornish Heritage Farms web site. I may add a sentiment to it later or may just use it as a general note card.
Stamps: leaf, Natural Beauty - SU, Flower: Stampendous
Paper: PTI White, bordering blue, acetate
Ink: Stazon White - Ranger Alcohol Inks - Cranberry, lettuce, wild plum, stonewashed, alcohol blending solution
Accessories: liquid applique, cuttlebug Folder Distressed stripes, vellum glue dots, aqua brush
Techniques: alcohol inks

This next card was made for a Double Dare Weekly Challenge I do with a group of friends on SCS.

Charlene gave us the challenge this week.

1. We had to pick a card that we thought after we posted it : what was I thinking?!!!

2. Change 2 or more things:I added a framing layer, changed colors and added butterflies.

3. Keep the basic sketch of the first card.

4. Use one color you rarely useI used Stazon Azure - first time I've used this Ink Pad and have had it for maybe a year??!!

My biggest 'whoops' on my first card, which is shown below, was stamping the background right on the card - I think it looks better and is a sturdier card if you stamp on a panel and then mount that onto the card.

Which one do you like better??

Stamps: Tree backgrounder: Cornish Heritage Farms, Sentiment: Wordsworth
Paper: Soft Sky, Basic Black
Ink: Stazon Azure, so saffron
Accessories: distresser, sponge, butterfly punch: Martha Stewart, dimensionals

And now my final project for today - the Origami flower place cards I've been promising to show you for the past few days!

Aren't these just the cutest things?? I made them for our dinner table for Mother's Day. They are origami tulips, leaves and stand. I got the pattern from a book called 'Minigami' by Gay Merrill Gross published by Firefly Books. I purchased mine at Borders Books and you can also find it on line at places like Amazon.com. They work up in a flash.

The stand has a little slot in the back where the stems just slip right in. I computer generated the names, punched them with the large oval punch and attached them to the front of the stand. I think these will look really pretty at everyone's place on the table tomorrow!

Thanks for checking in with me today - I made 10,000 hits today! and I am so very grateful to everyone for having interest in my 'stuff' here!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there - I hope you have a wonderful day with your families!

Today's Quote from Poor Richard's Almanac by Ben Franklin: "Well done is better than well said."

Stamps: none
Paper: Origami red, blue, purple, green, PTI White, unknown blue
Ink: none
Accessories: glue dots
Techniques: origami