Happy Sunday!! Remember the Winter Storm Warning that I talked about in my last post? Well, the weather people sure knew what they were talking about!! So far, we've gotten a FOOT of snow!! We've been out playing in the snow most of the day. Even though it is almost May, the temperatures dropped down to the teens (brrrrr), so we had to come in for some Hot Cocoa breaks pretty often...but that's part of the fun, right? 
The Dirty Dozen/Alumni challenge for April is called "Be Inspired". We were given the photo (see below) of a room as our source of inspiration. The required element is that we are to make a journal and the restricted element is that we couldn't use any kind of markers.
The elements in this photo that really "spoke" to me are: The horizontal blue boards, the soft color palette, the tone-on-tone textures of the curtains, the white cupboard with four glass doors, and the little bit of tangerine color.
I changed the colors just a bit...instead of Bashful Blue I used Soft Sky. I tell you, I'm already feeling sad about this color retiring...sniff, sniff. It is my FAVORITE Stampin' Up! color to date. You can bet that I will be stocking up... LOL!
I duplicated the "wall" on my Soft Sky background piece by gluing 1" strips together (which were lightly sponged with Soft Sky ink to help give definition). I then stamped it using the French Quarter set by Inque Boutique in Soft Sky ink.
I decided to use the four glass doors on the cupboard as inspiration for my "window". I created my window by punching out 4 squares using my 1 1/4" square punch. For the flowers, I first inked up one of the flower stamps (also from the French Quarter set) in Soft Sky ink and lightly sponged on some Pumpkin Pie ink.
for the tone on tone textures, I embossed the swirls from Inque Boutique's Majestic Flight stamp set with Clear embossing powder onto Sahara Sand c.s.
For embellishments, I added some Burlap Loop Cord (it's out of stock right now, but keep checking back), White organdy ribbon, Primas, brads, Dew Drops, & a key charm (that I've had forever).
I used my Bind It All to create my own journal. I started with some Zutter Journal Cover Chipboard (8 x 8), trimmed my wavy edge and then put it together. I have taken pictures of the process and will post that mini-tutorial soon. :-)
To see what the other Dirty Girls came up with, click on this LINK.
Thanks for stopping by!
Recipe Stamps: French Quarter, Sentiments, Majestic Flight (all by Inque Boutique) Paper: Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky Ink: Soft Sky, Sahara Sand, Versamark, Pumpkin Pie Other: Clear e.p., 1 1/4" square punch, Dew Drops, Paper piercer, Primas, Brads, White organdy ribbon, Burlap Loop Cord, Key charm, Zutter Book Cover chipboard, 3/4" silver coils, Bind it All
