Ombre Ink and a Knock Out

Today's card was inspired by THIS PIN by Harriet, an amazing stamper. She arranged the three blossoms so perfectly into a strong visual triangle on her one-layer card, and I wanted to do something similar with mine. 

The stamps are from Tim Holtz; the stems and blossoms are separate, foam-mounted rubber stamps. I used a Hero Arts ombre inkpad to ink up the blossoms and love how well that worked. It was so easy and the results so pretty! The light-and-airy feel of the outline stamps works well with the white-on-white layering, too. 

So here's a follow-up on my stamping mojo issues. BC (before COVID), my creative process usually began as it did with this card...an inspiration from another stamper or a great design of something like towels, wallpaper, commercial cards, book covers, beer cans or wine bottles, home décor, etc. That process sometimes led me far, far away from the inspiration piece but almost always led me somewhere productive and satisfying.

Lately, however, starting with inspiration has led to more dead ends and frustration than successes like today's card. Yesterday, I decided to start with a stamp set and see what happened. Ideas flowed much more easily. In 45 minutes, I'd made two color versions of the same design, and both made me happy. I'm going to run with this idea and will share those two cards soon. Let's see if starting with the stamps leads to a more productive and satisfying process! 

My mom complains that she can't grow knock-out roses in her Maryland yard. My Ohio yard, however, has no such problem. 

The first two bushes planted in 2017.

The three bushes late last week. The two oldest
are almost as tall as I am. We dug out the old
and ugly evergreen thing and replaced it with a rose
two years ago.

Keep in mind that I am generally a plant hospice worker...I ease plants home to Jesus. The success of our knock-outs is a result of soil and climate favoring the plants, not anything I have done. But the riot of color makes me so happy!

And now, a gratuitous dog photo. Just because.

The Paw Pillow

Awwwwww. 

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan