Hello again & "Splish Splash" card

Hi again!!

Sorry it's been so long! As you know, Charlotte had her surgery on Thursday and it all went PERFECTLY!!! *sigh of relief*. I was so stressed in the lead-up to the surgery I nearly blacked out a few times and the morning of?! Well I was shaking.

Anyhoo, it's all over now and we're back home. She has a tiny 2 inch scar on her right side and it's healing nicely. She may need another surgery when she's about a year old, but we'll come to that when we get there!! Thank you for all of your support, I received quite a few messages of 'good luck' from you lovely ladies and I appreciated them so much.

I was so excited in hospital to receive an email from the lovely Virginia, who congratulated me on being the random winner--and I am pretty random--of the Hero Arts prize for having their blinkie on my blog!! I can't wait to get my package of Christmas goodies in the mail!! *claps hands* Thanks again Virginia for letting me know, I REALLY needed that good news to calm my nerves and give me a dose of good luck at such a stressful time.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank my ASTOUNDINGLY wonderful friend Linda (from a2zscrapbookingsupplies.com). She stayed up till nearly midnight (her time) chatting with me on email and keeping me sane, just to make sure Charlotte got through the surgery ok and that I didn't break down completely. Linda--we've only been friends a short while really but I love you SO much and I value your friendship more than I can say.
Ok mushy moment over--I'm gettin' a bit teary!

OK ON TO THE CARD!!!

The pics aren't the best, as usual SORRY.




I really fought with this card, it took me ages to get all the elements just right.

How I did it:
*I used the Hero arts cloud stamp for the sky with Weathered Wood Distress Ink. I also used the cloud stamp for the ground, but this time with Versamark ink (on blue cardstock) and Tim Holtz Distress Powder in Weathered wood. I then used Glossy Accents for the puddles. In real life, they look fantastic. Just like water.
*Hero arts Mi Casa clear stamp set for the house and I used the brickwork on the roof and a masking technique to make the rest of the house brickwork too. (That took some work!!). Then I coloured it with copics. I used a white gel pen to make little 'reflection' marks on the windows.
*The little girl image is from The Greeting Farm, she's coloured with copics.
*The fence is a Martha Stewart edge punch
*The tiny strip of grass you can see behind the fence is using my pinking shears on green cardstock. (terrible to use fabric scissors on paper, i know, but just this once ok?!)

The rest is pretty self explanatory, buttons for flowers, layered the card onto yellow and grey cardstock to give it a frame and then onto a black card, setniment 'splish splash' is using black rub-ons.

The inside of the card is here:


I just repeated the image and coloured the boots and raincoat for some added interest.

The sentiment says "I know you've been through a rough time lately, but remember-without storms, we wouldn't have PUDDLES!". I was searching all day for a puddle-quote, but NOTHING! I liked the idea of Friends being like puddles, they're what will make you smile after a storm, but I just couldn't get the wording to be quite right. Hopefully this makes sense. I'm one of the few people who love rain storms, so I wasn't sure if it would!

Anyway, I have a baby waking up so I have to run! Hopefully I haven't missed anything!

Talk to you all soon, thanks for looking!!




PS Do you all prefer this style of 'how to'?? I usually write up the instructions in a paragraph style but it seems so wordy! Would you like more or less detail on how I make my cards? I'd do videos but youtube seems to hate me at the moment. Please comment and let me know if you have a preferred 'way'!!
thanks :)