Cheers to our Servicemen!

Okay, all is good in the world right now ...

I was able to combine my new favorite paper pack from Bearly Mine Design, Love Struck, as well as my dream stamping image to create this beauty ...

I've been coaching recreational cheer for 10 years now (yikes), and have loved absolutely every minute of it.  Being able to teach the girls something that makes them feel good about themselves is an incredible feeling, that's what keeps me coming back, even though my darling daughter is off to college and not interested in cheerleading any longer. 

I just found this wonderful company, Saturated Canary, about 2 months ago, with artwork designed by Krista Smith.  I absolutely ADORE her images.  I am partial to the girly-girl images, but if you scan back on my blog, she's had a couple of scary looking zombies, as well.  While she had a girl with a "team" pennant in her hand called "Crushing on the Quarterback", I instantly envisioned a cheerleader with her beautiful artistic style.  I emailed her softly suggesting what I had in mind and a couple of days later read something from one of her staff members about not asking about specifically designed images.  I can understand this - after all, an artist's best work comes from their own muse, and cannot be delivered with the same artistic flair 'on-demand' ... So, I let it go ... obviously ordered the quarterback image if that was as close as I could get ... Lo-and-behold ... Krista released a cheerleader image today, Cheer Captain, that she'd had in her hopper for awhile now ...

Can you guess who was excited?  Yes, it was me ... INSTANTLY bought it, printed it out and have colored her up.

This card encompasses so many of my favorite things:

• Cheer
• Saturated Canary images - Specifically the Cheer Captain
• Bearly Mine Design's new Love Struck paper (rose/brown/vintage-y) pack
• Chocolate Covered Cherry combo (browns/rose/red)

Anyway ... to create this card, I used Soft Suede and Rose Red from Stampin Up's cardstock and the papers from the Bearly Mine Designs' Love Struck paper pack.  I used a Martha Stewart border punch as well as a Nestabilities Heart Circle die.  I also sponged the edges of all the papers with Ranger's Vintage Photo distress ink. 

Copics used:
     Skin:  E04,11,21,00,000, R20
     Hair:  E18,15,YR23,Y21
     Uniform:  V17,15,12,01,000
     Shoes/Socks:  C5,3,1,00; E42,40
     Grass:  YG67, G21

Here's a sneak peak of the paper pack from Bearly Mine Design:


I'm still keeping things a bit on the simply layered side, because this card will also be sent from my girlies to a friend's husband who was recently deployed.


In case you haven't figured out by now, I absolutely adore this card.
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment ...

Hope you have a wonderful day ...