Song of Spring

Whew, finally, I have finished this card. I have struggled with it for the last three evenings! Most of the time, my cards go together pretty easily, but once in awhile I seem to hit a wall. I wanted to do something bright and cheery for spring and pulled out SU's Serene Spring set, which I haven't used before. Then, as always, I set out looking for the right paper. That was my first snag. I don't seem to have any "bright and cheery" designer paper. I gravitate toward vintage/distressed styles and colors. So I settled on last year's SU DSP Afternoon Tea with its soft blues and greens. I thought it would be perfect. I also was working on this week's SCS challenge SC212 so I didn't have much flexibility in the layout. I ended up re-doing the front panel three times before I was satisfied. Actually, I don't even know if I am satisfied, but I finally said "enough already" and glued it together. Let me know what you think - could it be improved? If so, what would you have done differently? It was to the last version that I added the antique told micro beads. This is the first time I have used them and they were very easy to use. It finally gave it a moderate amount of zing, which is what was missing from the first two versions. I thought they were blah.

I learned to to make the clouds on Mothermark's blog. She has a terrific tutorial on the technique. I used Soft Sky to match the DSP. I think it adds a nice touch. Everything else is straight forward.

Here's the card recipe:
Stamps: SU Serene Spring and Organic Grace, the music notes are a stamp from Art Impression.
Paper: SU's Afternoon Tea, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava and Whisper White
Ink: Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Creamy Carmel, Groovy Guava and Wild Wasabi
Accessories: Cuttlebug and Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Flourish die from BossKutz, Martha Stewart Micro Beads, Martha Stewart leaf punch, Antique Gold dimensional paint, Egyptian Gold EP from Judi-Kins, craft foam for popping up image