Live in the Sunshine

Hello!

I awoke this morning to a beautiful day filled with sunshine...and a fresh blanket of snow here in eastern North Carolina. Winter Storm Grayson deposited about 4 inches of lovely powder on our yard last night. I sat at the window and watched it pouring down around midnight. I'd say "drifting," which is my favorite speed, but it was coming much too quickly for that. Still, so beautiful!

My favorite thing about snow is "listening" to the quiet when it falls. What a joy to hear the world get still. It doesn't, of course. It just seems that way, and I love the feeling of peace.

Today, the storm is gone, and the sunshine is here in abundance. That made me think of a card I made recently. It uses a Stampin' Up stamp with a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote to "Live in the sunshine." There's also an image from Serene Silhouettes - one of my favorite sets. I made a circle mask and sponged on a couple of Stampin' Up inks to make a sun, and then used black embossing ink for the birds in the tree. Easy-peasy!

As the new year gets underway, I think "live in the sunshine" is a really positive message - and one I'd like to adopt. In spite of the world's ugliness at times, there are many opportunities to feel blessed! I hope you feel that way today, too.

Thanks for visiting, and do come again!

Clean and Simple Color Blocks

As much as I love to fuss over my cards, sometimes it's the clean and simple designs that speak to me most. This crisp color block card was so simple that it seemed almost impossible that it came out so well.  It's a little like life, isn't it?  Sometimes, we just need to chill out and go for the obvious.

The image for this card is from the Serene Silhouettes set from Stampin' Up! I used a plain piece of white card stock for the color block base. I cut three strips of complementary blues and greens, taped them to the base and trimmed them out. Then I stamped the image with Versamark ink, embossed in white, added three star-shaped brads, and taped it all to another white piece of card stock with the sentiment. Finally, I taped the constructed piece to American Crafts wave colored paper. Simple!

I may have to re-think my aversion to clean and simple styles. I've had trouble in the past with making them pretty enough to suit me. Maybe I'm getting the hang of it!

This card is posted to the Split Coast Stampers' Color Blocking with Cardstock challenge. The tutorial by Beate Johns was really lovely. Check it out!

Thanks for visiting, and I'll see you again soon.