Heartfelt Thanks

Die Cut Divas' challenge theme this month is "April." Anything associated with April will work as inspiration. Since April is springtime here in the northern hemisphere, I decided to go with flora & fauna for my card.

I used mostly stamps from Waffle Flower's "Lotus" set, adding in the butterfly from "Daisy Thanks" by Stampendous. I laid out most of my stamps on a 4.5x6" panel of 140 lb. Strathmore watercolor paper in my MISTI, except for the stems & the image that would be overlapped by the lotus flower. I picked them up with the door of the MISTI, and stamped everything in Versafine Onyx Black ink. I sprinkled on Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder, and heat set that. Then I masked off the lotus flower, stamped the leaf(?) that goes behind it, and heat embossed that. I finally stamped & heat embossed the stems.

I taped my panel to my bamboo cutting board, and watercolored it with Distress inks. I used Peacock Feathers & Mermaid Lagoon for the background; Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, & Pine Needles for the green parts; Scattered Straw & Tattered Rose for the lotus; and Scattered Straw, Festive Berries, and Wilted Violet for the butterfly. Once that was done, I left it taped to the board for several hours until it had dried. Finally, I die cut it with the stitched rectangle die from My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 13" set.

I adhered my panel to a piece of black paper, and trimmed around it to leave a 1/16" mat. Finally, I adhered that to a white A2 card base.

I'm also entering this in the April "Butterflies" challenge at Live Love Cards.

Hello

Confession time: this card is a total CASE of one by Darlene Devries. Granted, I used different stamps and changed the design somewhat, but the background idea is completely hers. What attracted me to hers was how the background pattern showed through the focal image.

I began by cutting a piece of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper to 4x5.25". I stamped the background with the "Delightfully Delicate Background" stamp by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, using Ranger Archival Watering Can ink. Because this stamp is just under 4" square, I had to shift my bristol panel around to get the design all over. The stamp is designed to be able to do this, however so, especially with my MISTI stamping tool, it wasn't too too hard.

Once the background was done, I stamped one of the images from Hero Arts' "Butterfly & Flower" set in the middle of the panel, using Versafine Onyx Black ink. I heat embossed it with Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder, and colored it in with Zig Clean Color pens.

For the greeting, I used one from the "Happy Messages" set by Stampendous. I stamped it onto a piece of black cardstock in Versamark ink, and heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. I cut that into a narrow banner, and adhered it below the butterfly.

I rounded all 4 corners of my panel & white A2 card base with my 1/2" Corner Chomper. After inking the edges of my panel with Black Soot Distress ink, just to provide some definition, I adhered it to my card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking's April Challenge: "Watercolor"
Live Love Cards April Challenge: "Butterflies"

I'm also entering this card in the Virginia's View Link-Up Party challenge.

Happy Father's Day

Ellen Hutson is currently having their Mix-It Up challenge for April. Participants are to make a project using at least one Essentials by Ellen product & one or more products from Taylored Expressions. I used the "12 Days Companion Greetings" & the truck from Taylored Expressions' "Big Delivery."

I used Sketch #228 from Operation Write Home for my design. I first stamped the truck onto a piece of kraft cardstock in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and colored it with my Prismacolor colored pencils.

For the greeting panel, I stamped the "Happy Father's Day" on a piece of kraft cardstock. I taped the "Mini Houndstooth" stencil by The Crafters Workshop over my panel, and spread Golden Light Molding Paste that I'd colored with Ground Espresso Distress ink over it. I did make sure I avoided the greeting area. Once I had the coverage I wanted, I carefully lifted the stencil, and cleaned it & my non-stick craft mat. Then I set the panel aside to dry for a few hours.

To assemble the card, I matted my greeting & image panels with some darker brown cardstock. I cut a piece of patterned paper from Authentique's "Natural" 6x6" paper pad to 4.25x5.5", and adhered my greeting & image panels to that. I glued down a button with Perfect Paper Adhesive, and threaded some jute twine through it, tying that in a knot. Finally, I mounted my card front to a white A2 card base. I will send this to Send a Smile 4 Kids.