WMS April Flower Show!

I've been keeping a secret I can now finally share.  A while ago I was invited to take part in a special 'Flower Show' blog waltz for Waltzing Mouse Stamps!  How cool is that?  I'm not great at keeping secrets for too long so I did tell a close friend or two - on the proviso they keep it a secret too of course!  I am so thrilled to have been asked and Claire is such a generous lady to share her success with so many - she has real heart and I so admire her for that. This has been a big year for me and she has made one of my dreams come true!  I cannot thank her enough.

And if that wasn't exciting enough I got to choose stamps to play with so I went straight for the new Folk Art Medallion set that was released last month.  But there's more - I get to feature along side some super creative talent, people I really admire so I'm doubly honoured to be taking part.

Okay so before I get to my project if you're joining us then you should've made it to here via
Anne-Elise.  If not just check out Claire's blog to start at the beginning.   Be sure to check through each and every one for some fabby inspiration.  Does it get any better than that?

Oh but it does, it does!  One lucky lady will get to win not one but five - yes I said FIVE freebie sets of their choice just for casing their favourite card or project and entering it into the blog waltz so you get to play along too.  Doesn't it just make you want to shout 'pick me, pick me!'  Check out Claire's blog for all the details.

Taheera
Debbie Olson
Meredith MacRitchie
Aneta
Kimberly Crawford
Emilie Chamel
Pauline Pollington
Anne-Elise
Suezie Howard (that's me don't ya know!)
JJ Bolton
Helen Berry

I got my creative juices flowing with a few smaller projects or two (which I will post later on).  I like to do this so I can get in the zone plus it gave me time to figure out what I really wanted to create for my first ever WMS blog waltz project.

And this is what I finally came up with.  I began by stamp doodling onto white card stock and created this elongated sentiment panel.  Next up I coloured it in green, flowers an' all and then went looking through my paper stash.  I knew as soon as I saw this paper from K & Co. that it was going onto my card.  A bit of machine sewing (which I simply adore!) a touch of pink and a scrummy black doily die-cut and it all started shaping up nicely thank you very much.

I gussied up my pink die-cut scalloped oval by stamping the teeny circle stamp from the Rescue Remedies set into each scallop.  I love how this changes up an otherwise plain die-cut plus I love any opportunity to add my favourite black gems to a project.

And if you stamp them all in a line and cut out carefully by hand you can create a fab scalloped border - just perfect for adding those black gems to as well.  Next I stamped up and cut out my flower & leaves using black ink on coloured card.  I have a fondness for black - it's just so striking against the colours I guess plus I'm sometimes disappointed with coloured ink so I tend to try out black first.  In fact whenever I get a new WMS stamp set I always stamp out every image on white paper with black ink to get a clearer idea of each one.

I can't take advantage of cutting files and so far I don't own the Nestie Labels 25 dies that compliment this stamp set (well not yet anyways) so all my cutting was done by hand.  I'm guessing many of you out there are much the same. Truth is I deliberated way too long on getting a Cricut and then missed my chance completely!

And since this is my first ever blog waltz for WMS (and I was determined not to let Claire down) I decided to create a further project.  Besides the more I played with these stamps the more I became inspired to just keep going.  Don't ya just love when that happens?

I taught scrap booking way before I ever taught card making so I love creating layouts. To me it's much the same as creating a card only on a bigger canvas meaning you can have way more fun.

I will even scrap pages without photos which then become gift pages.  I love to imagine others adding precious photos and enjoying them hung on a wall each time they pass by.  And call me a crazy lady if you must but when I coloured up the medallion image in red and green it just screamed Christmas at me and a page was born!  From the hand stamped floral background paper to the stamped chipboard button flowers and the mini flower die-cut journalling block I think it still meets the brief (even if it is minus the 'spring' element).  Hey!  There's pink and yellow in there and even a hint of blue if you look close enough.  LOL!

I chose to stamp randomly for my background using green and red ink onto pink Bo Bunny polka dot card stock which adds real detail in the background but still has a subtlety to it.

Next I created a scalloped edge using a large MS corner punch and then stamped the different images into each scallop.  Oh and of course I had some fun with machine stitching.  My sewing machine seems to be permanently out at the moment which is just fine by me.  And once under glass in a frame complete with a treasured photo this page will really come to life.

There are so many different embellishments throughout the page and I had great fun stamping up the chipboard buttons to look like flowers.  I don't yet know who'll be getting this page but I will be checking out my local charity shops for a 12" x 12" frame and crossing somebody off my Christmas gift list just as soon as I find the right one.

Okay so on with the waltz!  From here you should go on to
JJ Bolton
to continue the hop and don't forget to comment with some blog love along the way.  I'm off to check out everyone's projects for more inspiration myself!

Happy Blogging! (or should that be waltzing?) LOL.

Edit - Apologies for the delay - I set a timer on my post that was around 10 am  (yesterday was rather a heavy day for our family) so please excuse my tardiness!  Now I'm off on a waltz to check everyone out :-)

Enjoy!

Suezie