First Signs of Spring

Are you here for the InStyle Stamps Spring Flower and St. Patrick's Day Blog Hop? I'm so glad you stopped in! If you know what I'm talking about you have just hopped from sweet Cyndi's blog. If you are just now getting into the hop be sure to start at the beginning here to get a glimpse of all the design team has created for you!

My eye candy for today has been such a pure joy to create. I only hope that it inspires you to go and press to the limit of your abilities. I have never bent paper and cut paper and colored paper like I did with this project. This project used three different images from InStyle Stamps.

Birdhouse - Teacup with Chick - Butterfly

The first part of the hop theme is spring flowers, so I began to hunt for them as I drove through our neighborhood. That gave me the idea for this sort of Spring Watch and Journal set. Go for a walk and journal what you see along the way!

I made a card that was inspired by Sankari Wegman's Titanic theme card, she bent paper in such an amazing way that I had to try it.

I also made a field notepad inspired by our very own Joy for Method Monday (thanks for the inspiration!).

The inside has a sewn together clear plastic sleeve (sheet protector) holding tiny tags for found objects along the way. Maybe some feathers, or a flower petal that begs to be identified later with our journal entry. The pad is divided into two parts. One for birds and the other for flowers. Half of the pages foldout so you can write and draw about what you see, write about the weather conditions and anything else that might come to mind.

Now the treat that comes with this set is for the birds! Seriously, my two children and I stopped off at our local valley pet and lawn store and bought some No Sprout Seed Mix and then I had to make it into a project for all of us. {grin} I found a homemade suet recipe on the internet and made a few changes to it then my children added it into a shallow muffin pan while I held the apple corer in the middle for the hole. {grin again} At dinnertime my daughter exclaimed, "Daddy! We made Birdseed Bagels!". So that is what the label says it is.

And here is the whole set! Each item has a butterly or two that I was inspired to do from someone's card using them.

Thank you for staying this long!

Now it's time to hop on over to Lysa's blog.

Two housekeeping items:

Vote at the end of the blog hop for your favorite Designer's project, and there is a chance for a PRIZE for you at the end of the blog.

If you decide to go and buy any of the InStyle Stamps from this project or any other be sure to use the 5% off link at the top of my sidebar!

Details:

Stamps: Birdhouse, Teacup with Chick, Butterfly, sentiment available soon

Paper: DCWV Butterflies and Blossoms pack, Chocolate Chip, Pink Passion, Brocade Blue and LSS scraps

Ink: LaserJet, Prismacolor Markers and pencils*, PITT India Ink pen,

Accessories: Nestabilities circles, Labels 3 and Blossom, SU! Grosgrain ribbon and LSS ribbon, Lots of Glossy Accents and dimensionals, SU! Tag and Tiny Tag Punch, File Folder Punch, Sewing Machine

Prismacolor Markers Details: Birdhouse - Light Umber and Eggplant, Lt. Cerulean Blue, True Blue, Cerulean Blue, Lilac and Imperial Violet, Blush Pink and Magenta, Deco Yellow, Yellow Ochre and Goldenrod; Birds - Goldenrod, Poppy Red, Carmine Red and Pumpkin Orange (under wing), Warm Black; Blue Butterfly - Lt. Cerulean Blue, Light Aqua and Cerulean Blue (Cloud Blue and Aqua, Sepia and Black pencils); Green Butterly - Deco Yellow, Spring Green and Leaf Green (Sepia and Black pencils).

I'm sure I forgot some details...if you don't think I've listed something and want to know just send me a personal message.