Lily of the Valley

Just a very quick post today. I have to get ready to sell Girl Scout cookies tonight. I wanted to
participate in the last Viva La Verve Challenge for this month so I can get in the running for some free Verve stamps. You still have until next week to play if you like.

When I saw this set in the catalog I knew I had to have it. Lilly of the Valley is one of my most favorite flowers. It reminds me of when I was a little girl at my grandma's. Grandma Harvey was a special person in my life. More so because she wasn't even my "real" grandma. That was only in the sense of genetics though. She taught me many lessons that I still carry with me and always will. She was a true inspiration. Someone who had so little and gave sooo much. She is one person that I miss terribly in my life. So whenever I see this flower I always see her waiting for me on her "lily of the valley-lined" porch. I can see her waving and smell the beautiful fragrance of these tiny, delicate flowers. They always make me smile.

I used Cert. Celery for my base. It was stamped with the same ink using the retired Stitches background stamp. I ran a DCWV Text piece of cardstock (grayish color0 through my Birds and Swirls embossing folder and cuttlebug. I then sanded the raised areas. The yellow cardstock is also text. DCWV. I stamped in basic brown onto watercolor paper the lily from the new set Easter Beauty. I then used my SU Pure Color Pencils, Prismacolor Pencils and mineral oil to color the image. This technique is know somewhat as Magic Gamsol. I didn't want to use Mineral spirits so I just used baby oil. I also used some blending stumps. This was my first try at this and I think I need to practice. I used ribbon from the Salebration brochure and some Lush Kaiser pearls that I got from Taylor's store. Just an FYI...."lush" means GREEN. I did not know that. I never thought I would use them and wouldn't cha know, they are the first thing to get used. Never say never! I used my sizzlits tags from yesterday and cut out an acetate tag that I then embellished with the white tin "celebrate" tag I had laying around and more "lush" pearls. The acetate tag also got run through my cuttlebug. It's hard to see. That was the twist for this weeks challenge....use acetate. Here is a close up of the tag.

Gotta get going. Off to SELL, SELL, SELL. Which is better than what I have been doing which is EAT, EAT, EAT!
Darn Thin Mints! They may be thin but I sure won't be if I don't get them out of my house soon.

Have a great day!