Gratitude

Hello!

Second post of the day, and I dedicate this post to GRATITUDE.  My points of gratitude are not in any order of importance, just as I have thought of them.

1. This post is a submission for One Layer Wednesday #60, which is over on Simplicity this week.  Which is my first area of gratitude.  Susan Raihala over at Simplicity continues to inspire me with her creations.  And she shares so much with the rest of us.  I truly love reading her posts and seeing what she has come up with each time she shares.  As well as telling me all about design, colour, texture, simplicity . . . she also shares little tidbits from her life, and I love that too!

2. I am grateful for all my visitors who take the time to look at my creations and then take more of their valuable time to give me some feedback via a comment. Thank-you all!

3. I am grateful for my followers. That you have placed me on your list of people you like to receive regular updates from is humbling.  Each new person who shows up brings me a smile and amazes me all over again that you would want to see what I have created or perhaps hear what I have to say.

4. I am grateful for my real-life stamping friends, Manda and Cassie, who both inspire me constantly with their creativity and their generosity.  About three years ago, Manda introduced me to Stampin' Up! products via a workshop.  Along with an instant addiction to all things paper and stamping, I also gained some wonderful friendships, and then a further addiction to blogging!

5. I am grateful for all those talented artists out there in blog-land who share their ideas and creations with me via their blogs.  I am constantly amazed at the beauty of all that creative work out there.

6. I have so many other things in my life that I am grateful for, but since this post is about stamping, I'll restrict myself to the theme of stamping in my items of gratitude. . . for today. . . LOL.  I just thought of more stamping-related things to be thankful for. . . I think I could go all day!

So on to my entry. . . Susan REALLY inspired me this week.  The rules: Make a card that layers ink. USE ONLY STAMPED IMAGES AND/OR SENTIMENTS. No masking, no sponging, no embellishments of any kind!

Wow! Seriously?  So off I went to experiment with this "quick and easy" style. . . and discovered that quick and easy is exciting!  I couldn't stop.  Added to the excitement of quick and easy was my new stamp set (thank-you Cassie!) from PTI - Botanical Silhouettes, awesome! The only thing that stopped me was that I had an appointment to get to. But I think I might get back to it tonight for some more fun!
My challenge entry is this one, mainly because it has more layering in the stamping (and here I say thank-you again to Manda who enlightened me recently about using acrylic blocks by themselves to stamp, I love the effect).

Colours used: Barely Banana, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Certainly Celery

And now for my other work from today, this was my first one (colours Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst, Night of Navy):

Then came this one (using SU Organic Grace, and colours Daffodil Delight, Certainly Celery, Creamy Caramel, and Chocolate Chip):

And my other one (using Ruby Red, Certainly Celery, and Chocolate Chip):

While I was working on the first card, my 8 year old daughter was working alongside me.  The whole reason we pulled out the stamps was to make Grandma a ThankYou card.  She asked me to share her card here with mine, so here is her lovley effort:

She's pretty clever, isn't she?

So what do you think of my flurry of one-layer cards?  Isn't Botanical Silhouettes an awesome stamp set?  I'm in love. I'll be heading over to PTI to order more of their fabulous sets sometime in the near future. So easy to use and gorgeous images.

See you again soon!

Michelle
xxx