Love in a Flower Pot!

Hello and Happy Thursday everyone! How are you doing today? I am sick with a sinus infection/ear infection so I'm not so hot, lol but I'm not contagious and I've still got lots to get done so it won't slow me down. I'm leaving in the morning tomorrow to teach in Long Island, NY on Saturday then I'll be home very early Sunday morning (yes I'm driving straight thru again, lol)!  Then I have 2 weeks off from travel but lots to do still, lol.  Homecoming is coming up soon for Alexa and I've got to take her dress shopping and get ready for all our Halloween/Fall parties.  The backyard will be finished on Saturday and we've got some planting to get done on it as well before the first frost hits us--which if you live here in VA it's felt very COLD every day--I HATE IT( blech)!  I miss summer already (boo-hoo)!

A couple of PSA's for you today ('cept they're SSA's--Suzanne's Service Announcements, lol) that you can read or skip.  If you are looking for copic coloring classes (and I'm not near you, lol) please do your homework before you sign up.  Just because someone says they are certified MEANS NOTHING okay--I hate to see so many of you waste your hard earned $$'s and be disappointed.  Getting Copic Certified ONLY MEANS you have taken a class that enables you to market and sell them and tell what they can do, that's why they were created--it DOES NOT mean you will learn or know how to teach coloring techniques okay!  I'm not discouraging anyone from becoming certified but if a LSS(store) has a copic class near you and they're teaching coloring and say the instructor is certified please BEWARE.  ASK to see samples of their work, ASK what class materials they offer, ASK how long they've used them and ASK them lots of other hard questions.  If you are not happy with ANY of their answers don't spend the $$ on the class.  I've heard of some people who have gotten certified and set up classes a week later to teach when they had NEVER used the markers before---this is BAD! It gives Copic a bad name, it makes instructors like me look BAD and makes you frustrated.  I'm not certified but I have used them for a LONG time, know all there is to know about them and I am comfortable with teaching them and I have an art background--I am not the only teacher out there BUT I want you to get the best info and class you can so that means I want you informed.  If you were buying a car you would get the most information gathered and make an educated decison---do the same with a Copics class, it will save you money, time & frustration in the long run okay!

My other SSA is about the Constitution!  I don't talk politics here on my blog because that's not why I created it but this I cannot help.  Yes, we all have freedom of speech according to the US Constitution but for goodness sakes people--USE SOME COMMON SENSE & DECENCY!!  Protesting against something because you disagree or are mad at the government at the funeral of a fallen soldier or other person is just NOT RIGHT!  There are times and places for certain things and this just physically makes me sick to hear about!  Do not take advantage of the loss of someone's loved one to promote your opinion IN ANY WAY--THIS IS NEVER OKAY!  Do we need to take the names of all the protester's down and when their loved ones die make sure we go and protest at their funerals?  How would they feel about it then?  Death is never nice, never good and never wanted and for lord's sake give people one proper day of RESPECT, PEACE and the RIGHT to grieve without your freedom of speech taking priority okay!  Be A DECENT HUMAN BEING and pick another place and day!  And remember that those soldiers you are protesting COULD be your son, your brother, your father, you daughter, your mother and thank the day that all of them ever enlisted so they can PROTECT YOUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH! Phew.....and that's all I gotta say on that but this controversy is disgusting to me and I cannot even believe in this day & age people are arguing over whether they have the right---find something else to waste your time on okay!

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Love in a Flower Pot!!

Do you remember Anne Geddes?  This image by Elisabeth Bell for SCACD so reminds me of those cute pictures of babies in flowers and cute poses--adorable!  I had to do this up in soft pinks, creams and greens--a totally feminine baby card.  This image is called "Rose Petal" and is from the new Elisabeth Bell Mini Release at Susana's Custom Art & Card Design--it's too cute to resist!

This card today is for this week's SCACD Try It Out Challenge which was to use an image with an animal of some kind--see details for challenge HERE!  Yes I CHEATED again but I HAD to use this cutie "Rose Petal" so I added some punched butterflies for my "animal", lol--I actually love the way the butterflies enhance the whole card!  All of my papers are from My Mind's Eye "Lost & Found" Collection--I love all these papers in different color series, my fave of the year I think!  I distressed my image with my Zutter Distress tool and the triple bow was done with my Bow Easy and some fancy layering of ribbon (wink).   The cool circle die cut behind my image is a new Spellbinders die called "Lacey Circles"!

My image was colored on Cryogen cardstock with copics--to keep the colors soft I used a technique with the Colorless Blender to keep my colors super light (R21,R00/YG93,YG91/E43,E42,E40).  The ends of the petals got stardust Stickles and the roses on the pot got a thick coat of diamond glaze.

Hope you enjoyed my project for today--make sure to stop by the SCACD store blog to see the rest of the DT's challenge projects!

I'll have another project for you for the weekend so stay tuned--no more SSA's I promise :)