Garden Silhouettes

This is a card I made for my neighbor friend who's father recently passed away.

There are two firsts here....this card was the first time I used the Garden Silhouettes stamp set (I made this card before I made the card I showed you yesterday), and it was the first time I had used my new Janome Sewing machine, and it showed!

My oh my, the stitching is horrible! I was just getting the feel of the machine when I made this card, so my stitches are SO crooked!

The base card is Kraft cardstock. You'll be so proud of me on this one because I stamped MORE than I scrapped! If you look closely, the background is actually one of the Garden Silhouette flowers stamped on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, randomly, with Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in Creamy Brown. I knew you'd be impressed that I actually had the capacity to limit my designer paper usage for once:)! To age this piece, I rubbed it the my Ranger Distress Ink in Tea Stain. On top of that, I stitched one of my last pieces of my Cosmo Cricket Autumn (make note to self: re-order some of this fabulous Gretel line from Verve Visual immediately!) designer paper.

For the main image, I stamped the same flower that I used for the background, only this time I stamped it with my Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan. Again, it's aged with the Ranger Ink. The sentiment, from the new Verve Visual Fancy Florals stamp set (which, by the way, you can pre-order right NOW for only $19.95....regular price will be $22.50. The stamps will ship out to you beginning 8/20!) was stamped with Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in Creamy Brown. I stitched around the main image using a straight stitch for a bit more detail. The final touch was adding a brown and white polka dot ribbon around the card. It really makes the whole thing pop, dont'cha think?

Well, Eldest Son passed his driver's permit test yesterday morning and I took him to drive the car for the first time last night. The good news is I'm here to tell you about it. Praise God! Whew. The bad news is it's tough being a driving coach. And SOOOOOOOOO scary! Being the smart mom I am (!), his first practice session was at the middle school parking lot! At first he wasn't too thrilled with the idea (of course, he wanted to be out cruising on the roads), but by the time he was actually behind the wheel trying to maneuver a figure 8 around two light poles (so he could get the hang of turning), he was SO THANKFUL I took him there first! Be still my heart. My teenage son admitted that I was right for a change! The parking lot is very large, with lots of opportunities to practice his right and left turns, braking, parking, etc, that by the end of the session, he was actually doing pretty well. He was cocky a few times, but as a boy, that's to be expected, I guess. He actually said to me last night, after we were back at home, "hey, why do my legs feel so funny?" I'm like "hello, you were NERVOUS driving the car!" (he was so adamant while he was driving that he wasn't nervous at all. Yeah, right.) We will continue to visit the parking lot for practice until I feel he is ready for the open road!

My little noggin' is thinking about having a contest soon here at Heartfelt Greetings! What do you think???? Do you like the idea of another blog contest? I've never really done one before, but something I made last night got the old wheels-a-turnin' this morning. I'll give it some more thought today, and then if I decide to to it, I'll announce it tomorrow morning. That will give me some time to come up with a fun prize idea! Be sure to check in tomorrow morning to see what I've decided, ok? I promise this contest will have you designing something I'm sure you haven't made yet, and I'm fairly certain there hasn't been another blog contest like it yet. You will not be making a card, an ATC or altering anything, but you WILL be making something with stamps and cardstock, and even designer paper if you so choose......have I peaked your curiosity yet? Woo-hoo, I'm getting so excited....I think this would be so much FUN!!!!

Hugs,
Amy