DON'T YOU LOVE SURPRISES???

I've had two very nice surprises in the last 24 hours - and I love when that happens.

The first one came when I went to my mailbox last night and found this lovely little card from my friend, Gloria Williams. Gloria and I met online through Splitcoaststampers and have become fast friends. She's a very upbeat kind of person and in just the short time I've known her I've really come to value her friendship. If you're ever down and out look her up cause she definitely has the gift of encouragement. (Thanks Gloria!!!!)

The other WONDERFUL surprise is that the car dealership called this morning. They are going to replace our transmission as if we had a warranty on the vehicle (we don't) so our only cost is the $100 deductible. Yea!!! Thank you Jesus and thank you Mike Murphy.

My card for today uses an old rose stamp that I purchased used last summer. I stamped the image in Versamark on watercolor paper then heat embossed in gold. (Think Jerri Jimenez.) The stamp probably wasn't the best choice for this technique because there is such fine detail throughout the image- but it still came out usable. Once the heat emboss set, I misted the wc paper with water then picked up ink from the lid of my ink pad with an aqua painter and lightly touched it to the areas where I wanted color. I used Pink Passion and then went back in with Summer Sun to add highlights and shades orange where the inks overlapped. The leaves were colored with Mellow Moss and Old Olive though its hard to tell because of the gold emboss. Once dry, I cut out the image and layered it on top of Pink Pirouette Designer Papers.

The butterflies were punched using a Martha Stewart butterfly punch from Pink Pirouette Designer Paper, 3 for each butterfly, then the edges were lightly sponged using Pink Passion ink. I added Gold Stickles to create the body, to edge the wings, and to create the dots on the top layer on each butterfly. The three layers were joined only at the body to allow the wings to "flutter". Amber colored gems were added to finish the card.

Do you remember the artist I showcased last week - Jerri Jimenez? Remember her perfectly tied bows on this card? She shared her trick today - the "BOW EASY". I ordered one and will let you know in a future post how user friendly it is to use. Click here to get information on the Bow Easy and how you can win one.

Don't forget about the "NAME OUR FROG" contest going on. We've had several cute suggestions so far but it's not too late to leave a comment with yours. The winner will be chosen on Friday evening and a sweet little prize will be going out shortly thereafter.

Thanks for playing along - and until tomorrow

Happy Stamping!

Jill