In A Summer Meadow

Hello everyone!  I'm delighted to say that after a sabbatical to give me room to deal with work (for which I'm deeply grateful) I'm back in the swing of things at Country View Challenges.

And it's in at the deep end as I'm your host for the August challenge and my theme for you all is Summertime.  So whatever that word summons up for you, that's what we'd like to see on your projects this month.

My team-mates have created some fabulous inspiration for you, so do hop over and check it out and, as usual, there will be more inspiration coming your way throughout the month over at the Country View Challenges blog.  For now, here's my starter for ten for you.

Yes, I know, it's a card.  They do seem to be putting in more frequent appearances round here... but again, I've somehow got my brain on board by making a very tall, slim card - so it's almost a tag really!









It was made for my closest friend who celebrates a summer birthday, and I took my inspiration from a wonderful day I spent recently with her and her family, wandering through the countryside, and down a lane surrounded by woodland and fields of wild grasses and flowers.














There's a Distress Ink background, and then some stamping with Unity Stamps.

The flowers on the front are mostly stamped in Archival ink, though some are Distress if I remember rightly.











Some are clear embossed.

And the main flowers are stamped in Versamark and embossed with vanilla white embossing powder.












I used the Tim Holtz thinlits word dies to add a thought about the lovely time we had.












On the inside of the card, I've used the feathery grasses again, this time stamped in a combination of Distress Inks.














And the leftover cut-out letters from the kraft card on the front form part of the sentiment for the interior.












I even added some sepia stamping to the envelope (definitely in Archival, as it might get wet going through the post of course).












A simple card reflecting the simple pleasures of a sunny summer's day enjoying nature... I hope you'll hop over and see what my brilliant team-mates have been up to, and we hope you'll come and share your Summertime creations with us at Country View Challenges this month.

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.
Henry James







Summertime
An' the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
An' the cotton is high
From Summertime, lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin

And just in case you missed Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey yesterday, you'll find my tag here.  It's been so quiet here lately that I'm not used to posts coming this thick and fast any more.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again before you know it.  Happy Crafting all!