Wishing you all the joy and light of the Easter season!

It’s Sunday and another weekly start for all of us at the Paper Players Blog Challenge.  This week, our very talented Jaydee is hosting our Theme Challenge.  Springtime Flowers is a perfect theme for Easter and this time of year.  It’s actually been cold here in New Jersey the past two days.  The grass is getting greener, though and the trees are starting to pop. We’re supposed to have a warmer week ahead and I’m looking forward to it.

Today’s card is a simple design using the Basket of Blooms stamp set.  A few posts ago, I talked about this set being tucked away in the current Annual Catalog. I found it and love using it.  It is retiring and available during Stampin’ Up!’s Last Chance promotion going on now.

Starting with a Thick Basic White card base, I added a layer of Mossy Meadow checked pattern paper from the Hydrangea Hill Designer Series Paper.  I die cut the Basic White top layer with a Stitched Rectangle Die.

My images are stamped with Mossy Meadow, Gorgeous Grape, Bumblebee and Soft Suede ink.  I wanted to add a bit of color to the images so I blended the ink with a Blender Pen.  There are designs that I prefer coloring with a Blender Pen rather than Stampin’ Blends (which are our alcohol markers).  Then there are designs where I prefer a  Stampin’ Blend rather than a Blender Pen.

Stampin’ Up!’s Blender Pen is easy to use. The Blender Pen is a dual tip pen filled with a special solution to help easily blend ink. Once you stamp your image, you can go over the inked lines with a Blender Pen and pull the ink where you want it.  For a darker shading or to actually fill in an image, you can use the Blender pen dipped in a drop of ink.  I use a tiny drop of ink on a plastic spoon.  Some squeeze their ink pad to get a little pool of ink in the top flap.

Whatever method works for you is best.  The idea is to get ink onto the tip of the Blender Pen.  You can clean your Blender Pen by lightly running the edges of it over scrap paper until you don’t see any more color on the paper.  Your Blender Pen will last a long time by keeping it clean and making sure the pen cap in tightly secured.

I can’t honestly say that this is a “quick” card, but it is simple and easy.  If you love to fussy cut and blend color, this design is for you.  Just match the color of the flowers to your favorite patterned paper and you have a simple and clean card for just about any occasion.

So, treat yourself to the Basket of Blooms stamp set, add your favorite patterned paper, fussy cut a few flowers, blend a basket and create something simple to celebrate any occasion.

…the only limitation is your imagination!

For additional details on the products I used today, click  here or on the images below.

Now let’s see what the rest of the Design Team created for your inspiration.  You can click on each of their Blogs below.

• Jaydee
• LeAnne
• Claire
• Joanne
• Laurie
• Ann
• Nancy
• Amanda

Click to shop my online store at Stampin’ Up!