Lilacs and Butterflies

It is Tuesday again, and I am running behind. No sob story. I just can't seem to get things done in a timely manner any more. Let's look at this week's sketch:

A nice, classic sketch -- don't you just love the ones that are quick, easy and fantastic looking? We've been having a lot of those lately, and this week is no exception.

I have, once again, turned to the beautiful papers by Heartfelt Creations. This is from the Lilac set. I am totally in love with all the Heartfelt Creations papers, rubber stamps and dies, and have now put quite a dent in my crafting budget buying the beautiful sets as they come out. 

I did not add any dimensional flowers to this card, but the set does come with a wonderful set of dies for making the Lilac flowers. Anyway, I started with a white card and layered a deep solid purple card on it then a piece of the patterned paper from the HC paper pad. I used another piece of the paper, a light purple, which I matted with dark green to create my two strips that are under the image. I then cut a circle from the light purple using one of the Spellbinder nesting dies. Using a smaller circle die, I cut out an image from one of the papers. Lastly, I printed the sentiment onto white card, cut it and matted it with a piece of the solid green.

I feel as if I totally cheated making this card. It is all done with the gorgeous papers from Heartfelt Creations. I do miss my coloring, but I am also very thankful that there are beautiful papers or cute precolored images that are available to me which allow me to continue to be semi creative right now while my time is being, otherwise, taken. I think we often put pressure on ourselves to be original in our crafting without stopping to realize that we can use available supplies and items and still make something that will be special to the person who receives it.  We've taken the time to put a bit of ourselves into something.

Have a wonderful week.  I am hoping that I will be able to get a little more crafting done this week. If I do, I will share. In the mean time, visit the Tuesday Morning Blog and have a look at the wonderful cards the DT have made this week. I always get a joy seeing what my fellow teammates have put together. 

P.S., I am still looking for a photo editing program that is simple to use but will produce the nice results that I used to get with my old one. Thus far the one I've been trying does not allow me to straighten my image or to adjust the colors the way my old one did. I get highly frustrated trying to produce a nice photo each week of my DT project. The key word is simple (I've tried Photoshop and just couldn't get it). Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!