You Make Me Smile

A very good morning to all!   I thought that the sentiment on today's card was very appropriate for the first new card of 2013 because you all make me smile everyday!  I have really enjoyed all your comments the past few days with the "orphans" and my favs of the past year too.  So many comments left by those of you new to the blog too, very exciting!  I hope to be able to keep you coming back to visit the blog this year with not only daily cards but more fun giveaways too.  And the first giveaway of the new year is to announce the winner of the "orphan" cards.  The name that I drew out to give a loving home to my orphans is.............Gham (Gail)!!!

 Please email me at americansue1@gmail.com to confirm your mailing address and I will get them posted.

For today's card, I have used soft grey card and the new blush card for the basic card.  I started by simply embossing the outer shape of the Marvellous Squares into my grey card.  Next I cut the smaller size of the same set, then before embossing, I added in the smaller sized dies in the set to add more embossed detail to my card.  I made two Spiral Flowers Four out of the blush card covered with our sticky adhesive sheets.  I micro beaded both of them for a lovely texture to the flowers.  A top tip when doing these is to not remove the adhesive sheet in the very centre of the spiral until after you have micro beaded them.  That way you can seat the flower on an area that hasn't been covered with micro beads.  It holds much better that way.  I added some round pearls to the centres (if you have any old costume jewelry with pearls you no longer wear, you can take it apart to use!)  Out of white card, I cut several of the leaves from the Bitty Blossoms set to add around my flowers.  I inked the leaves with Tattered Rose distress ink.  Next I stamped my sentiment on grey card and cut it out with one of the small sizes in the Labels 28 set.  I lightly inked it with Pumice Stone distress ink.  Using the same die to draw around, I made a faux nestie out of blush card to mat my sentiment on.  I added it with foam to the top corner of my card and glued my flowers in the opposite corner. I cut a small butterfly for my sentiment out of blush card using one of the dies from the Jewelled Flowers and Flourish set.   I pierced the grey mat then added a thin blush mat.  I decided that the card was delicate enough to add a second pierced mat out of white card to complete my project.  I hope it makes you smile too.  Finished dimensions are 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" in size.  All for now, Sue x