did ya miss me?

Yes, I am back to the blog...and hopefully I will be a bit more diligent for the rest of this year than I have been for the past few months. Nothing earth shaking going on, I just gave up on trying to watermark photos and since I had no pics to share, I sort of fell off the blogging wagon. The longer I didn't blog, the less often I thought about it. Call me a technological drop out or whatever you like, I just can't "get into it". The technology, that is.
But here I am again, with apologies for the lengthy absence and a picture to share. I have actually been stamping quite a bit lately...well, quite a bit for me, anyway. . AND I am totally in love with the beautiful daffodils from a great set in the SU Occasions Mini, it's called Abundant Hope. It's an Easter set but it is wonderful for any occasion if you just change out the sentiment. I have always loved daffodils but the timing of this set is perfect because I am tired of winter and ready for spring. It hasn't been a particularly awful winter in my area but I am still tired of being cold, so I guess that is why the daffodils are calling my name lately. If you love daffodils too, this set is available in the Occasions mini in either traditional wood mounted version or the vinyl cling "clear mount" version through the end of April.
This is a card that I made to send my sister. My only sister, my older sister! ;-) Of course, I do like to send her a card periodically but this time I decided she REALLY needed a "pick me up". The reason? Well, the poor thing....she was doing so well after having both knees replaced this time last year. She was even training for a mini tri-athlon in a few months, but that all changed last week-end she slipped on the staircase at her house and fell. In the process she ended up with a very nasty fracture of her left femur (that's the long bone in your upper leg) and had surgery for an "internal fixation" of the fracture not to mention removal of some bone fragments, etc. She was just transferred from the hospital to an acute rehab unit where she'll be doing physical therapy for a while. She will still have to stay off the leg completely for a total of about 6 weeks so that's going to be quite a long challenge for her...and definitely no tri-athlon in the immediate future. Now you see why she needed the card?
Anyway, this daffodil image is watercolored with Old Olive ink refills (or just smoosh the lid of the ink pad against a juicy ink pad then pick up the color with an AquaPen or a blender pen. On the flowers I used Summer Sun and More Mustard...same watercolor technique. Go easy, it's always easier to add more color than to remove it if you get heavy handed...trust me on this! It could also be done with water color crayons or water color pencils but I was in refill/AquaPen mode at the time.
For the rest of the card, I ran the white base card thru my Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder (yes, some things never change...I still LOVE my Big Shot!) then layered the flower image on a slightly larger piece of Old Olive cardstock and attached it to the card with a liberal dose of Stampin' Dimensionals. For the final touch, I added matching Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon. I LOVE that ribbon...it's well worth the extra postage.
Anyway, this set has some lovely Easter sentiments but is perfect for any occasion. I stamped a big stack of images with this flower to water color when I have spare time, then I'll have a stash of beautiful daffodils ready to layer onto a card base and add a sentiment whenever I need a card...at least that's the plan. So stand by, you might see it again...until then, happy stamping! Jan

p.s. ssshhh, don't tell anyone but Stampin' UP! released the online version of the upcoming Summer mini. I will warn you right there...we are all in serious trouble because I love the whole thing and I know that you will, too!