Take Time to Smell the Flowers

 Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. - Hans Christian Andersen

While perusing Pinterest, I came across this picture.

 Here is the journey of my interpretation of the above picture.

Originally, I purchased Quilled Creations Blooming Roses because I'm really loving the rolled rose thing and  thought I could do this on my Cricut so I bought the Flower Shoppe cartridge. I think I need more practice on sizes for the Cricut cuts because I was not happy with my practice results.

I ended up back with the Quilled Creations roses which are simple and easy to make.

 Then I cut out the wheelbarrow from Walk in My Garden Cricut cartridge. I wasn't quite happy with the plain brown so I added black on the wheel and blue for the base (next picture.) I also inked it up a bit with some Tim Holtz Distress inks.

 I wanted it to stay simple and keep the main focus on the wheelbarrow and roses.

 Here's a close up of the flowers.

 I did add a little bit of bling on the top and tried to mimic the white gel pen markings on the wheelbarrow.

I am entering my creation in:

- Die Cutting Divas - Challenge #112

- Wags 'n Whiskers - Challenge 102

- Forever Friends Challenge - Challenge #60

Let's Hear It for the Boy

My card exchange group theme for the month of May is either a male birthday card or a Father's Day card. Either I'm going through a crafty slump or it's hard to make a "guy card." Maybe it's a little of both...

This was my first thought for the manly themed element for my card. It didn't really pan out well because I lost my mojo right after I made it. Maybe it's the colors, I don't know.

 It's from the Father's Day Cricut cartridge and I really like how it looks. I just don't know where to go from here. Reading other crafty blogs, I never see the oops we all make. Now this isn't really an oops, it's just dead in the water right now. It's going in my box of unfinished cuts.

My next idea hit a snag too. I decided to make the controller from the same cartridge and turn it into a card. This is the oops...

 I was going for a shiny jewel type thing on the buttons. My markers bled a little into the Glossy Accents and it didn't come out the way I envisioned. Back to the drawing board... maybe some acetate...

I think we have a winner with this one. I like how the acetate made the buttons shine. I used vellum on the left directional button and a little silver Uni-ball Signo Broad silver gel pen for some accents.