Grace's Garden

 Hi y'all.  Just practicing up on that Southern lingo I need to learn very soon.  Looks like the actual move will be made next week.  Yippee!  The logistics of this move are enough to drive me crazy - and I'm not even the one doing all the logistical planning.  I think I might be driving my dear husband just a little teensy bit crazy by now!  So glad he puts up with me all the time.  That must be love, right?

Ok, today's card is one that has clean lines and is done quickly.  I just love the simplistic look with no bling or doodads, but it really isn't plain.  It's made using Grace's Garden stamp set and the matching Garden Gateway dies.

The cardstock used is 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" Balmy Blue folded in half for the card base.  The next layer is 4 7/8" x 3 5/8" Basic Black cardstock, and the last is a 4 3/4" x 3 1/2" layer of Shimmery White cardstock.  Unfortunately none of the pictures I took could adequately show how pretty the Shimmery White cardstock looks on this card.  It's just lovely.

First off, I started with Balmy Blue and Garden Green inks and my Blending Brushes to get a soft background for the scene.  The colors were smoothed on in the center of the Shimmery White cardstock meeting in the middle to get a horizon line to work with.  It's amazing how nicely these brushes get such a soft color, but you can build the color up with more layers.  Just like magic!

Next I stamped the gate, kitty, and bird on Basic White cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I colored each piece with Stampin' Blends:  kitty - Light and Dark Smoky Slate, gate - Light Smoky Slate on edges, and bird - Light and Dark Balmy Blue.  After that each piece was die cut using the Garden Gateway Dies set.  When playing around with the pieces getting the layout where I wanted, I realized it needed some grasses to anchor the gate to the scene.  There are none in the Grace's Garden set, so I was on a hunt to find the needed grasses.  I found some that were the perfect size in the My Meadow stamp set.  (Don't you love how so many sets seem to have interchangeable parts that play well with others?)  Anyway, I stamped some grasses using Garden Green ink behind the corners of the gate, then stamped a few more  right over it after adhering the gate to the card.  This way it looks like it growing right around the gate posts.

The gate was attached using adhesive so it is flat to the card, but both the kitty and bird were popped up with Mini Dimensionals to make them stand out a bit more.

Oh, I almost forgot!  That little hello on the bottom was stamped with one of the four sentiments found in the Grace's Garden stamp set.  This is such a sweet set.  I used very few of the pieces and ended up with an almost minimalist look.  With the Shimmery White cardstock that was used, I didn't think it needed any extra bling or other embellishments.  

Hope you liked my card today.  Just wanted to say hello...  

I look forward to hearing from you, so be sure to post a comment.  It's nice to hear what you're thinking about.

Sharon

Just a little reminder about the end on Sale-a-bration.  Sunday, February 28th is the last day to get any free items you've been thinking about.  Don't want you to miss out.  If you'd like to place an order this month, please think about using the Host Code shown here.  As a thank you, I'll be sending out a little goodie to anyone that places an order with me this month.