All Things Grow With Love

Ahhh... spring. I love it! My family and I enjoyed some absolutely PERFECT weather on a Friday/Saturday overnighter up to Baltimore's Inner Harbor: 70-75 degrees, sunny (even though the forecast called for showers), breezy. We had a great time at the Maryland Science Center and The Baltimore Aquarium (the 4D immersion theater was the best!). Then on Saturday, I even got outside for some yard work. Just enough to remember why we usually let the pros come do our spring clean-up. Sorry, but I'd rather pay the landscapers to clean up our landscaping while I play with my kids than pay a babysitter to play with my kids while I clean up the landscaping. (And I used to love gardening! Actually, I still do, just not the clean-up part.)

Anyway, I digress. With warmer temperatures and so much in bloom, I found myself reaching for a color that's a bit of a departure from my norm: purple. The beautiful papers in the Sprout collection by Memory Box** were my starting point. I paired them with a butterfly and sentiment from the Expressions stamp set by Inkadinkado. This card has all my current favorites: nestabilities, bling (Lavender Stickles on the butterfly and Hero Arts Gemstones under the sentiment), ribbon (grosgrain from SU; fibers from Stamper's Dream), piercing, and of course, lots of dimension.

A quick word about the Lavender Stickles, because I made a big personal discovery with these. I used to think I didn't need colored Stickles because I could just add sparkle to a colored image with one of the clear Stickles (Stardust, Icicle, etc. -- btw, does anyone know what the difference is between these, it seems like there are a LOT of clear choices). It's so NOT the same! Because the glitter in the colored Stickles is an actual color, it is much richer-looking once applied. I was actually preparing a nice little sample to show the difference, but alas, it wasn't dry and I just found it stuck to the bottom of my almost-1-year-old's foot. Maybe another time :)

I also have to tell you my layout came from a sketch I made from paper scraps lying on my desk. If I told you how much of my inspiration comes from my messy craft table (unusual color combos, layouts, ribbon placement ... pretty much anything), you might excuse me for not cleaning it up more often. So go forth, make a mess of your workspace (if it isn't messy already), and then look for your next layout!

**I got the Sprout 6x6 collection from Stamper's Dream. Michelle is out of stock at this very moment, but should have packs available again by the end of the week.

Stamps: Expressions (Inkadinkado)
Paper: Perfect Plum and Pale Plum cardstock (SU!); Sprout 6x6 (Memory Box) patterned paper
Ink: Perfect Plum craft; Onyx Black Versafine
Accessories: Lavender Stickles, Hero Arts Lavender Gemstones, classic and scalloped circle Nestabilties, 1/16" circle punch, dimensionals, sponge daubers, corner rounder, ticket corner punch, paper piercer, wide celery grosgrain, light orchid 1/4" grosgrain (retired SU!); fibers from Stamper's Dream