Papertrey Ink July 2014 Blog Hop

Good morning friends.  Playing along with the monthly blog hop over at Papertrey Ink today, and what an awesome inspiration photo they gave to get us motivated!  There were SO many different elements to the photo that I loved, that I couldn't just pick one!!  So I didn't and used quite a few of them and love how my card(s) came out!  Take a look:

I used the 2 main colors from the inspiration photo (Pure Poppy & Spring Rain) as my starting point, and then because the photo reminded me of Melissa Phillips, I tried to make my card like one of hers! :0)  I started with a size that she always uses (3.5 x 5.5), a kraft cardstock base, and then just started adding elements from the photo.  I used "Wreath for All Seasons", "Bird's & Blooms", and "Blooming Button Bits" stamp sets (all PTI) for my wreath, the bird (which I polka dotted with my white gel pen), and my sentiment.  If you click to enlarge the photo, you can also see that I used my Aqua Painter to the red berries on the wreath to give a bit of a softer effect...really like how that turned out!

I usually make 2 cards so that if I really like something that I've done, I can still send one out, and then have another one to keep for awhile...I know, I'm crazy!!  But anyway, I changed up my 2nd card just a tiny bit. 

I used the "Tag Sale #4" die to stamp my wreath on this time, and also added a few flowers from the "Birds & Blooms" stamp set.  I switched up my ribbon, the sentiment, and also added a piece of washi tape to this one. 

Here's the inspiration photo:

It will be fun to see how everyone else interpreted this photo, so head on over to Nichole Heady's site right here and check it all out!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! :0)