You can Stand Under my Umbrella

Whew... I'm finally winding down from the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, which was AMAZING. But in fairness to the rest of my stamp sets, which have been looking longingly at me all week, I feel I must move on.

I would like to say THANK YOU to all the amazing crafty people who commented during the hop and to everyone who followed me (14 of you!). I am blown away and have done several happy dances. If I haven't made it to your blogs to follow you back yet, I promise I will soon!

If you haven't heard of Muse - it's a really cool blog where your card making peers vote on the submissions every week. Such a cool concept! As a side note, I entered the Design Team call over at Muse and would love if you would pop over there to vote for me.

At the Muse blog, you're given an inspiration card each week and this week's card comes from the always-inspiring Therese Calvird of Lostinpaper. Her sad little monster is completely adorable. 

 

What's the second card, you ask? The submission gallery never ceases to amaze me and I was gazing at the entries this week, I saw this sunshiney gorgeousness created by Ardyth Percy Robb. I probably am cheating a little bit, because my finished card was inspired by BOTH designs and I feel like I have to give credit where credit is due.

You see, I recently purchased Verve stamp's Rain or Shine set and I have been struggling with how to use it. It's so adorable, but I just haven't taken it out of it's shiny package. I'm a new Verve user and this set is my favorite from their collection (hence why I purchased it!) 

After seeing Ardyth's design I got an insta-idea!

I loved the slight sadness in Therese's design and knew I wanted to create that feel, too. So I used this sentiment and tried to incorporate both the sad rainy day and the bright sunshine. I masked off areas and sponged some Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks. Lastly, I used some felted cloud stickers and made them peek through the framed sentiment in areas. 

This is my card for the challenge: 

In addition to Muse, I'm sending this on over to Sentimental Sunday's "Anything Goes" challenge and to Verve's Diva Dare - Favorite Things. 

Thanks for stopping by! Leave me a comment and follow my blog and I'll be sure to return the favor!