You make my heart soar

 Hi Everyone.  Happy Tuesday.  I hope you are all having a great start to the week.

I got the chance to play along with two different challenges on Sunday.   Casethissketch has combined with Runway Inspired for a sketch with a twist.   In addition, casestudy asked that we CASE a crafter whose style we admired.

Let's start with the sketch and Runway Inspired photographs.  You can see the challenge on the casethissketch blog here.

I love the sketch and was drawn to the pinks and greys of the inspiration photograph, the texture and just a little hint of green. 

I thought for quite a while about who I wanted to feature as an inspiration for the casestudy challenge and thought about Shari Carroll.  Shari has showcases some of her wonderful cards on recent onlinecardclasses and I am always amazed by the amount of detail she can put onto a card and yet still keep clean lines.  Recently, I saw Shari create an Art Journal inspired card and was fascinated by the layers and products she used.  She inspired me to go looking for more information on Art Journaling so, I thought she was the ideal person to showcase as an inspiration.  You can check out Shari's creations here

I used some SimonSaysStamp woodgrain card stock for the base of the card to give me texture.  I then took two sheets of the SSS card kit paper and created two banner cut strips with a sunshine theme.  I then used Vellum and the SU scallop top punch to create a tag.    I used the pinks and greys from the inspiration photograph and, instead of using floral elements, I die cut two feathers and stamped the feathers in grey and pink.  I topped it all with a touch of silver elastic cord and a single green enamel heart dot.  I created the circular element on the side using SU heart embossed vellum.

 Here's my card:

 On a personal note:

It's still raining… and raining… and snowing… and raining.   We've had a lot of rain, but we have been spared the terrible storms that have ravaged parts of the US.  My thoughts and prayers go out to those families who have been affected by the storms.

As for us…. well, when we were looking at plots to build our house, we had debated whether to go for the wetland lot or a lakeside lot.  Based on the amount of rain we have had this week, and the fact that it is due to rain every day until Saturday, we might have to consider building a boat dock and an ark to house the animals!

You know it's been raining a lot in your back yard when the newest inhabitants are Green Teals!!!!  The wetland started off with a few puddles and all those puddles have grown larger and are now all starting to become one very large "puddle".  Take a look at the photograph of our WOODLAND area…. which, is generally dry!!!!

Can you see the puddles…well, they are hardly puddles… we've never seen water in the woodland before!

Now, let's take a look at the wetland area.  I know its hard to judge scale, but the nearest puddle is about an acre in size  = and it's still raining!

Wtranse have a couple of pairs of Green Teals, several Mallards and a pair of Wood Ducks that have taken up residence in the nearest puddle.  A variety of other birds come in and out during the day.  It's been amazing to watch the different birds that now visit us:-)

As always, thank you so much for your visit – and your comments.  Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe –

• Card stock:  SSS Woodgrain.  Vellum
• Stamps:  Feather Finery PTI
• Inks:  Strawberry Slush, Silver Encore SU
• Accessories:  Silver elastic cord (SU).