Family ~ Showers of Blessings ~ ScrapFIT Workout #41/MME Blog Challenge #

I have combined 2 challenges for this LO. 

I have entered the My Minds Eye Blog Challenge #22 using their  wonderful  sketch and the theme April Showers.

I also entered ScrapFIT Workout #41 - Stop and See the Flowers, where the challenge is to use homemade flowers on a layout.  I was so excited to see this challenge since I enjoy making flowers.

Be sure to stop by both of these wonderful blogs to see the fabulous work by their design teams and the entries that have been submitted.

I have to give a plug here for Scrap-Friendzy ~ April Challenge #1 is Spring Flowers. If you're looking for loads of wonderful challenges, a fabulous community of scrapbookers and paper crafters, and a chance to earn and accumulate points each month for a fabulous prize stop on over and join.  I'm so glad I did!

This is an older photo taken in 1992 when we lived in North Carolina.  One of the perks of living in an older home included the gorgeous, established trees and plants. A favorite of mine was the wonderful pink dogwood.  When I came across this photo, I thought it would be fun to create a dogwood tree on the layout.  I drew and cut the tree and created 30 blossoms to embellish.  These papers from My Mind's Eye were so perfect for the effect I wanted for this page.

I made each of the dogwood blossoms by taking a small scrap of white cardstock, and cutting the petals on my Gazelle.  I inked each petal and used a shaping tool to mark veins.  Each of the four petals was curled to shape and glued to a small cardstock circle.  Once dry, I put a drop of Glossy Accents in the center of each and covered with gold microbeads.   I was thrilled at how realistic these flowers turned out.  Blossoms need branches!  The color and texture of this MME paper was exactly what I needed to create the tree to hang my blossoms on.

Here's a close-up:

Here is the beautiful sketch for the challenge:

I used the tree trunk in place of the vertical paper strips and put a border punch on my photo mat instead of the separate strips in the sketch and of course I use the dogwood flowers for the diecut element and way more than two.  :-)

To create this layout I used:

My Mind's Eye Papers:

    Focal paper ~ Bella Bella - "Bellezo" French Botique

    Photo mat ~ Bella Bella - "French Flea Market"

    Tree trunk/stems, title/phrase ~ Lost & Found - Union Square "Moments" 

        Seamstress 

Scrap of white cardstock

Martha Steward Microbeads ~ gold

Ribbon and gems from my stash

Tools:

Glossy Accents

Distress Inks ~ Walnut stain, worn lipstick, victorian velvet, fired brick

EK Success ~ 3/8 in. Ribbon Border Punch

Bosskut Gazelle

Dogwood cutting file - I used only the 4 flower petals ~ you can visit Cozycomfycouch for the free download.

I've also entered this LO in the following:

Allsorts Challenge Week 100 ~ April Showers (Showers of Blessings) **

Crafty Calendar ~ April Showers Bring May Flowers **

Shannon's Sentiments DT Challenge #23 ~ Anything but a card **

Lexi's Creations Challenge #38~ Anything but a card **

Thanks for dropping by!

~ Blessings ~