Congratulations on your Engagement

My son is asking his lady to marry him.  I hope she says, "Yes!"  She has a small collection of snails -- not real ones - garden ornaments mostly.  She and my son also have a fist bump, that turns into a snail of sorts.
This is for them.

I recently took an online card class, Stretch your Stamps 2.  The teachers of this class offer amazing ways to really use the products you already have (at least I have -- as I am a bit obsessive about collecting products)  :)

One of the techniques is using your sentiment stamps with a stencil.  I used that technique here.  Now, I don't have a stencil of a hill or clouds.  But I do have cloud dies, so I used one to cut a cloud out a piece of hard plastic packaging.  And I free hand cut the hill out of the same material.  Then I use these as my mask; to stamp the sentiment and sponge around the cut-outs to give more definition to the shape.

The hearts stencil is from Heidi Swapp.  The snails are from Outlines stamps; a company that is now, sadly, out of business.  The sentiment is from a Paper Trey Ink set.

I watercolored the snails with distress inks, then used Wink of Stella for some sparkle.  I used crystal effects on top of both shells to give them a smooth shell-like feel.  I think you can see it in this close-up.

I am putting this into the following challenges:

1. Less is More - the theme is "Animal"

2. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Anything Goes"

3. Color Throwdown 

4. Clear it out Challenge - Anything Goes, Just use your Stash.  Since the snail stamps are quite old, I think this qualifies! I didn't buy anything extra for this card (I do have a lot of "stash".  

5. Try it on Tuesday - Use your Stash!  I also found the heart-shaped crystal floating around . . . and only one!  Perfect!

6. Crazy Challenge - Cute Little Animals.  Don't you just love the eyelashes on the girl snail.  I drew them on, they are not on the stamp.

7. All Sorts Challenge - use Masking and/or Stenciling.  In addition to the hand-made stencils, I also masked the snails, so they would be place better on the hills.

Thanks so much for looking and taking your time to leave a comment.  I love reading them.

Have a great day!

Thank You Bandaids

The back story for this card:
You may recall that I have a grand-nephew, Caleb, who was born very prematurely on May 7. He was actually considered a "micro-preemie" as he was only 1 1/2 pounds.  He is doing well, and just reached 5 pounds today.  His due date was yesterday.  He is still on oxygen, and not completely on bottle feedings yet, but getting there.  He is in an open crib.  We hope he will be able to go home by the end of August.

Caleb is still getting blood transfusions on occasion.  I made several of these cards, which will go to the people (friends and family) that have donated blood for him.

Now for the card:
When I create a card, I like to look for a sketch and a color challenge.

The colors from Cosmic Strawberry are a bright summery palette.  And I've wondered for days what I could make with all these yummy colors.    Collette makes amazing beautiful (and colorful) cards.  And she makes other things as well.  A beautiful doll for her Mom.

As it happens, another blog I follow, One Layer Simplicity, has a color challenge hosted by Susan Rahalia.  Actually several color selections.  One is very similar to Collette's :

I based my card on the sketch from Seize the Sketch .  I rotated it 90 degrees, and swapped the placements of the images and the sentiment. 

I'll also place this card into the Paper Pretties Challenge - THANK YOU . 

And I am "taking" an online card class: Stretch Your Stamps 2 - one segment is coloring lined images.  They have lots of new techniques.  

supplies: images: Paper Smooches; sentiment: Paper Trey Ink; coloring: watercolor using distress inks.  

Here is a photo of Caleb from last week.  It is so nice to hold a "baby-sized" baby.  He looks so sweet.  He's actually been giving the nurses a "hard time", being very fussy.  We've been taking turns going to the hospital to hold him.  Babies grow best while sleeping.  And he sleeps better while being held.  So we hold him, and comfort him.  And he gets better and bigger!

Thanks so much for looking and reading about Caleb.  I hope you are enjoying the summer!  

I do appreciate that you've taken the time to read this, and I love your comments.