Out of my comfort zone

When I was a young mom, I begged my DH's grandma to come and live with us. Grandma Violet was the most amazing woman, and I loved her dearly. She lived up north in a small town and would come to visit a couple of times a year. The stories she told, the cooking she did, the advice she gave, her strong faith, and the love and warmth she exuded was beyond compare. I begged her to come and live with us. After all, who wouldn't want to just be with her every single day. But as often as I asked her, she always said no. She wanted to stay 'where she fit'. She had her daughter and some of the grandchildren close by, and her church, and the familiarity of her town, and I understood that. She was in her comfort zone. I admire the fact that she wanted always to be independent; to be self-reliant, but I really wish she would have come. We two women would have had a blast. I miss her, but I know that one day I'll see her again. She's got a special place in heaven, I'm sure! You all would have loved her to bits. And what does this have to do with card making, you ask? Not a darn thing, except, that I try at least once in a while to get out of my comfort zone. Crossed that line this morning....

Much like Hannelie over at Desert Diva, I saw the cue card at CASology and went 'wha....???!!! Fish???' Guess I won't be playing this week. Thought that if I used super fast shipping, I could order that Fish More stamp set from WPLUS9 that I've had my eye on, and....No. Not gonna do it. But I want to....!! No. Use what you have. Another argument with myself lost. Or won, depending on which side of me you're rooting for...Lol. And then there was inspiration from Ardyth's card. Too cool. Got me thinking. As did the most fantabulous coloring on cards by Kylie over at Studio 4490. I'll wait. Go check these blogs out and you'll see what I mean. Inspiring, aren't they? Really got my little pings going. (Gosh, I'm long winded...just can't stop this) Bear with me a few moments more, and I promise to get to the point. So darn many of you out there have an impact when you don't even realize it. It's true. I could name so many more who push me in new directions, but I did promise to get to the point.... Well, I thought I'd try coloring something. But had no fish. Well....not one that pinged in my head anyway....Popped around blogland, and what do you think I found?? Yep. The perfect image. It's a free digi from A Day For Daisies. You'll see it shortly. Never used a digi before. It's waaaaay out of my comfort zone. But I went there. I figured it out. I tried. I liked it. I'll do it again. It was fun. I'm learning. Woohoo!!!

I sure hope you like this. I'm quite enamored with her.

(Couldn't get the lighting quite right, sorry about that...)So I printed the image right onto a scrap of Bazzill white cardstock, then I printed her onto some dp. I fussy cut the dp mermaid's tail, then with my craft knife, I cut around her arms. Slid the tail under her arms and glued it down. I used  Copic markers for the balloons and her skin tones, and a Sharpie for her hair. More Bazzill for the base, and a panel of the dp underneath it. The sentiment is from an MFT set with SU purpley ink. Digis and coloring? Who me?? Yep. Expanded the zone. Happy dances everyone.