I am back from our trip to London to visit our granddaughters. The weather was cold, windy, rainy, icy and snowy, as well as sunny. I had vertigo that kept me in bed on 2 different days, and I ended up falling in the shower two days before we left. It was quite an eventful stay. The best part was spending time with Cecilia and Hailey. Our hearts were warm the entire time spent with them.

Hoping to get back into sync with the local time, I actually didn't start reading in bed this morning until 5 a.m. New living room furniture was delivered over the noon hour. In the morning and afternoon, I put this card together to celebrate a beautiful young lady's graduation from Pacific Lutheran University this month.

The A7 card base is the Conqueror 118# Cover Card Stock. Pieces of scrap paper were used for the remaining panels, strips and die-cut circles.

The "congrats" die was used on black card stock and gold glitter card stock. The two layers were slightly offset from each other for a shadow effect. They were then adhered to a die-cut circle; then the circle was trimmed around the bottom lettering.

On a smaller die-cut circle in blue, the "you did it" was stamped with VersaMark and embossed with gold embossing powder.This was adhered to the next larger size die cut circle in black card stock. Then the "congrats" was lined up on the blue circle. All of these were adhered with large glue dots.

The lighter vertical top panel was embossed to add texture to the card.

Droplets were added to the horizontal panel strip.

Hero Arts Congrats Stamp & Cut DC149

Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers Die 30036

IMAGINE Crafts' VersaMark

Ranger Queen's Gold Fine Detail embossing powder

Lifestyle Crafts Embossing Folder: Lattice

Queen & Co. Droplets in Gray

Conqueror 118# Cover Card Stock in Diamond White for base card

Fancy Pants "Kris Kringle" (2059) Merry Little Christmas card stock (reverse side) for base card panel

Curious Metallic card stock in Poison Ivory for bottom layer vertical panel, horizontal strip & circle die-cut

Curious Metallic card stock in Blueprint for circle die cut

SEI Catalina "Whitewash" (8-9114) card stock for top layer vertical panel

Black card stock (65#) for circle die cut and "congrats" die cut

Gold Glitter card stock (source unknown) for "congrats" die cut

Glue Dots, Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive (for word dies)

There are some exquisite card designs that I continually discover. This card on the Magenta blog should be on a canvas in my opinion; it is lovely art that I would hang in my home with great pride.

Click on this link to Bianca's post on the Magenta blog:

http://www.magentastyle.com/2016/05/with-love-avec-amour.html

Jenny Marples has created a mixed media "hip to be square" canvas for The Frilly & Funkie Boutique challenge. She used the new Distress Crayons with a fantastic result.

Click on this link to Jenny's blog for the details:

http://pushingtherightbuttons.blogspot.com/2016/03/were-hip-to-be-square-at-frilly-and.html

Heather Telford has created a beautiful card featuring a poppy stamp from Penny Black. I love the softness of this card. In this blog post, Heather shows other cards using the same stamp.

Click on this link to Heather's blog for the details:

https://cards.heathertelford.com/2016/05/03/poppy-pattern-party/

Heidi Blankenship has made a beautiful card using Distress Inks and a watercolor technique. These particular colors are perennial favorites of mine.

Click on this link to go to Heidi's posting on her blog, Embellished Dreams, for the detailed how-to:

http://embellished-dreams.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-stamp-simply-ribbon-store-dreamy.html

From the PoppyStamps' blog, I found this lovely card featuring a landscape and weeping willow trees. There is something "magical" that comes to mind when I look at it.

Click on this link to Olga's posting on the PoppyStamps' blog:

http://poppystamps.typepad.com/poppystamps/2016/04/summerscape-diorama-by-olga-direktorenko-.html

That's all for today. I'm way past my pumpkin time. Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you here again soon. Have a wonderful Wednesday. I'm going to because I'm taking Pam Nelson's Nuance'd Die Techniques class at Art 'n Soul tonight. Yay!

#DieCutting #MemoryBox #HeroArts #MagentaStyle #NuanceWatercolor #Watercolor #BiancavanNoort #MixedMedia #DistressCrayons #JennyMarples #TheFrillyFunkieBoutique #HeatherTelford #PennyBlackStamps #HeidiBlankenship #DistressInks #DieCuts #PoppyStamps #OlgaDirektorenko