Sunshine & Sunflowers

 I try to convince myself that every season has its own beauty.  What do I like about winter?  Well, you get a chance to stay in the house and catch up on your projects.  I love to work on some sewing projects and quilts during the winter months.  And I like to play around in my stamping room.  I'm not much for going outside in the winter anymore, but I do like the peaceful quiet of the season.

This year I decided to re-arrange three rooms of my house, moving my sewing room into the big spare bedroom over the garage.  Why am I sewing in such a tiny room when there is so much space not being used?  Ha ha.  Right?

So I am currently sitting in the middle of a mess!  There are sewing supplies everywhere, just waiting to get organized and moved to the my new sunny sewing "studio."  I'd hope to get it all done before spring, because it's winter right now and a good time to be getting things done in the house.  I'll keep you posted.  But don't hold your breath on me.  LOL

Anyway, back in fall I attended a fun women's gathering called Bloom.  The theme was sunflowers.  I love them; they're so bright and cheery.  They were everywhere, and they made me happy.  Here are some photos of me with my girlfriends.  (I am the 2nd one in on the first photo.)

Afterward I was so encouraged by all of the sunflowers, I decided to go home and make some sunflower cards.  

I've been wanting to use the Celebrate Sunflowers set for a long time.  For this card, I stamped the flowers in Crumb Cake and colored them in using the new chalks.  I added some sprigs and the pretty Bumblebee gingham ribbon to finish it off.  I love it's warm, sunshiny look.  The idea comes from Wendy Lee on Pinterest.

Next up, I focused on the sunflower cut out.  I added some pretty Love You Always dsp for the background.  And to me, it looked like a Sympathy card.  It's mostly monochromatic, but I like the peaceful look of this card.

For the third card, I stamped the sunflower image in Saffron all over the front of the card.  The card front is cut in the middle on a diagonal and then adhered to another card front, framing it.  In the center, I stamped the image.  I kind of like this offset look.  I got the idea from Sandra Schroeder.  For these three cards, I used Crumb Cake, So Saffron and Early Espresso colors.  

Lastly, I used the Tailored Tag punch to make this card.  I stamped out the shapes using Ornate Garden papers.  I chose these papers because of the pretty flowery images and colors.  The ladies loved making this card because it is so quick and easy.  Imagine it in different colors and papers.  There are so many possibilities.  :)

I guess even in the winter, we can find ways to "Bloom."