The little things that make me happy here on Bliss Road~~Emily Keaton

Monday, January 2, 2012

Watercolored Carousel

So funny to read so many bloggers saying today that they were taking down Christmas decorations, catching up on laundry, and tidying/organizing. That's just what we've been doing here on Bliss Road today, too! We were relatively efficient with our chores, though, so I was able to get in a little paper therapy this afternoon.

I used some of my Christmas money last week and took advantage of a fantastic year-end sale at I {heart} Papers, treating myself to my very first Lawn Fawn, Paper Smooches, and Market Street Stamps. Finally! I've been waiting months {and months} to add some of these to my stamp collection. Now that my new goodies have arrived, the big question was where to start? I got some much-needed direction after reading about the Lawn Fawn CHA Winter 2012 Challenge. Without further ado, here is my card:

All images plus sentiment come from Lawn Fawn's Admit One stamp set. I embossed the images on watercolor paper and watercolor painted them using dye inks. There was a restriction for this challenge to use no patterned paper, so I kept it simple by sponging on some white pigment ink to make my own subtle cloudy sky background. The "sun" is part of the award ribbon image from the set. And the grass? So easy to make with some embroidery floss. (You can find instructions HERE.) I love that "Enjoy the ride" sentiment--it's so flexible. I could send this for a birthday, anniversary, even as a congrats card or just because!

I'm also playing along with Paper Sundaes Challenge #101: Out with the Old, In with the New (I used my brand new Lawn Fawn stamp set and some very, VERY old embroidery floss for my grass), The Kraft Outlet's Anything Goes Challenge (using kraft cardstock), and the Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge.

We really had a fabulous holiday this year. My hubby had a three-day weekend for Christmas and a four-day weekend for New Year's. He heads back to work tomorrow (boo-hoo!), but I have the kids with me for another day: their first day back won't be until Wednesday. They've been keeping busy building with Legos and K'nex, playing new Wii games, reading new books, and writing their thank you notes. And we have seen so many movies (here at home) together as family during their vacation! At last count, I believe it was nine: A Christmas Story, Judy Moody and the Not-Bummer Summer, The Santa Clause, Santa Clause 2, Santa Clause 3, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, Gnomeo and Juliet, National Treasure, and National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Needless to say, we've been plowing our way through lots of popcorn, too. Fun!

Thanks for dropping by to check out my little slice of bliss!
Emily

19 comments:

Glenda J said...

Super cute card! Great colours. Love that you treated yourself! I have to get any Market Street or Lawn Fawn... they are on my list. Happy New Year.

yyam said...

Ooh...this is so sweet! Love your little "scene" and that bit of trim "grass" - clever!

Happy 2012!

Marisa said...

Nice touch with the grass :) Glad to hear you had a wonderful time off. We did too. Hubby was home for 10 days and we made six puzzles, I read two books, we played Wii games, had jammie days and were downright lazy and homebodies for most of the time. Just what the doctor ordered :) Wake up time tomorrow is going to kill me LOL!

Tracy said...

Your watercoloring is just lovely and the simplicity of the card just makes that pretty image really stand out. Thanks so much for sharing it with us this week at The Kraft Journal!

Elena said...

so cute!

Pam said...

Congrats on getting some new stamps! Isn't it exciting to use them for the first time?! Your card is perfect for the Lawn Fawn challenge, love the colorful carousel!

Unknown said...

New stamps always make me happy and you put yours to very good use on this adorable and colorful card! Thanks so much for playing along with us at The Kraft Journal and for being one of our newest followers too! :-)

~Tammy~ said...

So glad you had a wonderful Christmas! Your card is just adorable! I don't own any LF stamps myself. Your coloring is amazing and I love that it really pops off the Kraft!

Colleen Dietrich said...

This is really picture perfect, Emily, in every way. The placement of everything, the coloring of the image, the sky, the making of the grass, the clever medallion-turned-sun....I love it! You should submit this to CARDS sometime.

Jessi Fogan said...

Oh, I love the grass! I'm going to have to go check that out :) And how clever to use the medallion for the sun! I'm curious to find out which PS stamps you picked...I covet them all, and just recently won a set (hurray!) Flexibility in sentiments is one of my favourite things too :)

~amy~ said...

This is waaaayyyyyy cute!

lisa arana said...

sooooo cute! It is the best to treat yourself to some new stamps. I had to wait a long time before I bought my first PS stamps too. I can't wait to see what else you come up with!

Jenny said...

This is so so cute. Thanks so much for sharing with us at Paper Sundaes this week.

Benzi said...

Oh, this is a cutie and I love your grass...better watch it, though. If it keeps growing, it'll have to be mowed. Ha

My hubby went back to work yesterday after being off three weeks. I don't think he was looking forward to it and I miss him.

Emily Leiphart said...

Gorgeous, Emily! LOVE the clean layout and the fun grass.

Christiana said...

Totally fab card! Love the bright colors, the blue ribbon sun, and the gorgeous grass trim. Nicely done!

Anonymous said...

Totally cute!! LOVE it!

Erin (Homemade Cards by Erin) said...

The kraft background really makes this stand out (and I love white inked borders, fabulous). And the grass... awesome!!!!

suszu said...

Love this card Emily, the bright and happy colours really stand out against the craft cardstock