Magic Slider Birthday Card

A Blog Named Hero's challenge theme this month has been "Interactive." I decided, since I needed a birthday card for a family member, I'd wow her a little with a magic slider card. I followed the instructions from Kelly Marie Alvarez's lesson in Online Card Classes' "Clear & Sheer" class.

After I cut & scored a panel for the magic slider portion of my card, I die cut a window in the front of that with a Lawn Fawn "Small Stitched Rectangle" die. I used a pencil to draw lines on the inside of this card around the window area. Then I stamped the balloons from Hero Arts' "Happy Birthday" set (discontinued). Because I was masking, I had to stamp on the card & the acetate piece I'd cut for the window at the same time. I stamped first on the card, then the acetate for each balloon cluster. Then I masked the image on the card, moved my stamp, stamped on the card, repositioned the acetate over the card, stamped, and so on. I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink for the card, and Staz-on Jet Black ink for the acetate. I also used my MISTI tool, which I feel is pretty important to make sure the images on the acetate & card line up well. I also stamped the "Happy Birthday" greeting from the same stamp set, though just on the card, not the acetate. Kind of an extra surprise when she pulls up the insert.

After I had finished stamping, I put my acetate aside and colored the images on the card with my Prismacolor colored pencils. I used paper stumps dipped in Gamsol to blend the colors out & give some shading to the balloons. I then lined up my acetate with the image, & adhered it to the front window portion of my card with Scor Tape.

Insert halfway up

I used 1/4" wide cardstock strips along the sides & bottom of my colored card to create the channel for my insert. I cut the insert from white cardstock, and added another strip to the bottom, to act as a stopper. I cut a slit along the fold of the card, for the insert to slide up & down through. Then I slipped the insert through the slot, and adhered the front of the card to the back with more Scor Tape, sandwiching the insert in between.

For the pull tab, I die cut 2 hearts with a Nellie's Choice "Straight Hearts" die from a scrap of pink chevron patterned paper. I inked both hearts with Worn Lipstick Distress ink, just to knock the pattern back a bit. Then I stamped the "pull" & arrow from My Favorite Things' "Interactive Labels" set on one of the hearts. I glued that to the top of the insert, and glued the other heart to the back.

Insert all the way up

To create a mat for my magic slider, I used a Prima chevron stencil & Worn Lipstick to ink up a 4.25x5.5" piece of pink cardstock. I added Scor Tape to both sides of a piece of craft foam, adhered that to the back of my slider card, & adhered the foam-backed slider to my mat. Finally, I mounted my card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Dies R Us Challenge #75: "Celebrations"
613 Avenue Create #198: "Anything Goes"

Floral Slider Card

The craft for Day 4 of My Favorite Things' Camp Create is "Sensational Sliders." I must admit, I could count the number of slider cards I've ever made on one hand, probably with at least 1 or 2 fingers left over! But I decided to take the plunge and make a slider card.

I decided to make my slider a floral arrangement. So I stamped all the images from MFT's "Watercolor Flowers" set multiple times. For the red flowers I used Hero Arts Bubble Gum, Memento Lady Bug, & Altenew Ruby Red inks. I stamped the purple flowers with Lawn Fawn Fresh Lavender, Hero Arts Orchid, & Memento Sweet Plum. I used Memento Dandelion & Cantaloupe with Simon Says Stamp Sunshine ink for the yellow flowers; and Altenew Frayed Leaf & Forest Glades and Hero Arts Forever Green for the leaves. I finished with Hero Arts Navy ink for the flower centers. After I had finished stamping all the flowers & leaves, I cut them out with the coordinating dies.

I stamped Inkadinkado's "Mason Jar" on a scrap of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper with Hero Arts Soft Pool ink. After I stamped the flower stems with Forest Glades & Frayed Leaf, I colored the water area with a light blue Tombow marker. I blended the color out with a water brush, & fussy cut the image.

To create the flower arrangement, I took some of the flowers & leaves I'd stamped and die cut, and positioned them around the top of the jar. Once I had the arrangement like I wanted, I glued them to the jar & to each other, so they were all in one piece. I arranged the rest of my flowers & leaves in another cluster, and glued them to a scrap of white cardstock. Once the glue had dried, I cut that out with my scissors.

Card with flower arrangement extended

For the slider, I created a channel on the back of the jar with 1/4" wide strips of bristol paper. I also cut a strip of bristol for the pull mechanism, and added a narrow strip to the bottom of it, to act as a stopper. I adhered my second flower cluster to the pull strip with Scor Tape, & determined where I wanted the slider to stop. I glued another strip of bristol across the back of my jar at that stop point, adding the glue only to the ends of the strip, so the pull strip would slide freely, and the stopper would catch on the cross strip. I die cut a heart with a Nellie's Choice "Straight Heart" die from a patterned paper scrap, and glued it upside-down on the top of my pull strip. I trimmed off the bristol that showed from behind the heart, and stamped the "pull" & an arrow from MFT's "Interactive Labels" set in Versafine Onyx Black ink.

I cut a piece of black dot paper from Pebbles' "Garden Party" 6x6" pad and a strip of chevron paper from Basic Grey's "Fiction" 6x6" pad for my background. I adhered the chevron strip to the bottom of the dot paper, and adhered my focal image with Scor Tape. I ended up having to pull it apart, though, because the slider mechanism caught on the paper seam. So I added a piece of Scotch tape over the seam where the jar would cover it, and reattached my jar. That worked!

I used MFT's "Happy Hellos" (discontinued) for the greeting. I adhered a piece of patterned paper to fun foam with Stick It on both sides of it, and die cut my "hi" from that. I adhered that to my card front over the jar. All that was left was to mount my card front to a white A2 card base. I'll have to make an envelope that's larger than A2, since the pull tab sticks out over the top of my card. But hey--I'm glad everything works in the end! :)

Rainbow Hello

Day 5 of Camp Create at the My Favorite Things blog is about "Glitzy Glitter." I don't use glitter often, but decided to create this glitter die cut inlay card for this challenge.

I die cut the greeting from MFT's "Happy Hellos" set (apparently discontinued) in a panel of dark blue cardstock. I also cut a scrap of white cardstock, applied Scor Tape to the front, and die cut the hello again. For that, I adjusted the pressure setting on my die cutting machine, so it only cut through the liner paper on the adhesive layer. I removed the liner paper from around the word, and adhered that piece to the back of my blue panel, being careful to line up the letters.

After choosing 6 colors of glitter (in rainbow order), I removed the liner paper from just the "h" and applied first red glitter, then orange. After burnishing the glitter into the adhesive & wiping away the excess with a tack cloth, I moved on to the rest of the letters. I removed the liner paper from one letter at a time, and applied the glitter. I had made sure, before I starting glittering, to adhere the centers of the "e" & "o" that had been cut from the blue panel. After I had applied all the glitter, I gave one final burnish.

For the arrows, I used a die from "Blueprints 13." I die cut the first arrow from a piece of red patterned paper (all the papers were from my scrap stash). For the remaining arrows, I did only partial die cutting, letting the end of the arrow hang off the edge of my cutting platform. After I'd finished with the die cutting, I determined how long to make the arrows from orange on, and finished the cut on each with my craft knife. Then I adhered them in place on my panel. All that was left then was to mount the card front to a white A2 card base. I will send this to Send a Smile 4 Kids, to cheer up a hospitalized child.

I'm also entering my card in Incy Wincy Designs "Sparkle & Shine" challenge.

Celebrate Your Special Day

My Favorite Things has a special "Campfire" challenge for Camp Create--dry embossing. I'm not sure if you could use embossing folders, because Stephanie Klauck demonstrated using a die. So I went ahead and used one of the "Flutter of Butterflies--Lace" dies from My Favorite Things & also a Spellbinders "Classic Ovals LG" die.

I began by cutting a panel of white cardstock to 4.25x5.5". I marked the center of my panel, and used that to help me position my greeting, from MFT's "Birthday Greetings" stamp set. I stamped it in Lawn Fawn Guava ink, and positioned my oval die around it. I ran that through my die cutting machine with a silicone mat, to impress the oval into the cardstock. Then I removed the die, and used the butterfly die to make several impressions around the oval.

Because I inadvertently ended up with an awkward empty space on my card panel, I created a "faux bow" with pink satin ribbon, following these instructions. That added a nice bit of dimension to my flat panel, and filled in that space perfectly!

I decided I wanted a mat around my panel, so I trimmed off 1/8" from each side, to keep the greeting centered. Finally, I adhered my card front to a white A2 card base with foam tape.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Emboss It"
Dies R Us #75: "Celebrations" (I hope this qualifies, even though I just used my dies to emboss!)

Make Everything Better

The theme for Day 2 of My Favorite Things' Camp Create is "Remarkable Resist." I created this card to send to Send a Smile 4 Kids. Even though I used MFT's "Get Well Wishes" stamp set, this particular greeting could go for pretty much any time someone is going through a tough patch.

I decided to use just plain white cardstock for my card front, since I wanted to color the butterfly with colored pencils. I first stamped one of the "Elegant Butterflies" from Clearly Besotted with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, using my MISTI so I could double-stamp & get a good impression. I then masked the image, and stamped over it with MFT's "Romantic Script Background" stamp inked with Versamark. I sprinkled on Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder, removed the mask from the butterfly, and melted the powder with my heat tool.

To complete the background, I replaced the mask over the butterfly, and inked a gradient using Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, & Abandoned Coral Distress inks. I was kind of nervous about doing this on plain cardstock, and was pleasantly surprised that I got no blending foam marks, but instead, just a smooth blend! After I finished inking, I buffed off the embossing with a dry cloth, and colored the butterfly with my Prismacolor colored pencils. I created kind of a purple-to-mint gradient, to contrast with the warm hues of the background.

For the greeting, I stamped in Versamark ink on white cardstock, and clear heat embossed that. After cutting it down into a banner shape, I inked with Shaded Lilac, Broken China, & Cracked Pistachio Distress inks, working from the middle outward. I thought these colors went well with the colors I'd used in the butterfly. I adhered that to my card front with some ATG tape, coated the butterfly with clear Wink of Stella for a bit of shimmer, and mounted my finished card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Emboss It"
Creative Knockouts Challenge #198: "Anything Goes"

Enjoy Your Special Day

Day 3 of My Favorite Things' Camp Create is all about "Spectacular Shakers." I really like making shaker cards, and especially love when I show them to people, because they just have to shake them! I decided initially to do a birthday card, though I suppose with the particular greeting I used, it could go for any celebration.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from Pink Paislee's "Birthday Bash" 6x6" pad with the stitched rectangle die from MFT's "Blueprints 13." I used the larger star die from "Blueprints 18," & die cut 3 openings in the panel, making sure to leave room for my greeting. I adhered a piece of acetate behind the stars with Scor Tape, added 2 layers of foam tape to the back of the panel, and filled my shaker wells with seed beads. I used only one color of beads for each star, which wasn't easy, since they kept wanting to mingle! But I finally succeeded in filling my wells. I carefully peeled off the liner papers from the tape, and adhered a piece of blue chevron paper from Simple Stories' "SN@P Color Vibe" 6x6" pad as a background.

For my greeting, I used one from MFT's "Birthday Greetings" stamp set. I die cut a label shape with a die from "Blueprints 13," and stamped my greeting on that. I heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold embossing powder, inked around the edges with Broken China Distress ink, and adhered it to my shaker panel. To finish my card, I adhered the shaker panel to a 4.25x5.5" piece of lime green cardstock, mounted that to a white A2 card base, & added Honey Gold Nuvo Glitter Drops to the front.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Emboss It"
Creative Knockouts Challenge #198: "Anything Goes"

You Make Life Beautiful

My Favorite Things has been having their first session of Camp Create on their blog. Day One's theme was "Wonderful Watercolor." I created this card as a "pick me up" to send to Send a Smile 4 Kids, using MFT stamps & dies.

I had to play around with what size card I wanted, that would work for the design I had in mind. A2 size turned out to be just a bit too small, so I went for 4.5x7.25" instead. (I have envelopes made to fit that size, so every so often, I make a card to go with those.) After cutting a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper to that size, I laid out my dies & stamps to make sure everything would fit where I wanted it. I used my MISTI to stamp the greeting, from MFT's "Simply Fabulous Sayings," in Versamark ink, and then heat embossed it with Ranger Silver Pearl embossing powder.

My idea for the background was similar to the one Stephanie Klauck shared in the Camp Create post, to do a galaxy-type look. But rather than do a rainbow like she did, I wanted spots of color behind the butterflies. So I lightly traced around my dies on my watercolor paper, just so I would know where to apply color, and then erased just enough so my lines were barely visible. Since pencil gets trapped under watercolor & can't be erased afterwards, I had to do that so my outlines wouldn't show. I applied watercolor to each area. I then went around each spot of color with black watercolor, blending in around the edges of the colored areas to create soft edges. I did a few coats of each color & black, drying with my heat tool in between coats, to build up the color intensity.

I die cut all the butterflies & bodies from MFT's "Flutter of Butterflies--Lace" set from pearlized cardstock by The Paper Studio. I used Perfect Paper Adhesive to glue them down to my background, applying the glue only to the middle portion, so the wings were free to bend up. Then I glued the bodies in place. As one final touch, I decided I needed some sparkle. So I used the Light Gold color from my Gansai Tambi Starry Colors watercolor set to add flicks to the panel. The gold did get on the butterflies, but I don't really mind. Finally, I adhered my panel to a white card base.

I'm also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge: "Emboss It."

Mini Happy Birthday Card

a2z Scrapbooking's challenge theme this month is "Take Shape." I created this tag-shaped birthday card to add to my stash.

To create my card base, I used the largest of Nellie's Choice "Tags" dies. I die cut a folded piece of white 110 lb. cardstock, letting the die hang off from the folded edge, so the fold wasn't cut completely. I also die cut a piece of blue cardstock with the same die for my card front. To add a bit of interest, I used My Favorite Things' "English Brick Wall" stencil and Golden Fine Pumice Gel medium. After I let the medium dry, I inked over the bricks with a Ranger Snow Cap white pigment ink pad, just to bring the details out a bit.

For the flowers, I used Hero Arts' "Color Layering Hibiscus" stamps. I stamped the base layer in Hero Arts Lemon Yellow ink, the second layer with Memento Dandelion (double-stamped), and the third petal layer with Memento Cantaloupe. I used Altenew's Ruby Red to stamp the centers, and Hero Arts Lime Green & Moss inks for the leaves. After I finished stamping all my images, I cut them out with the coordinating dies.

I die cut a banner from white cardstock using a die from Mama Elephant's "Tags a Lot" set. I curved one of the stamps from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Happy Birthdays" set to fit the curve of the banner, and stamped it with Ruby Red ink.

I arranged my flowers on the card front, and used Perfect Paper Adhesive to glue them on. I die cut a few extra flowers & leaves from white cardstock, and glued them to the back side where the stamped images stuck out beyond the tag edges, to hide where the ink had soaked through the cardstock. I glued my banner in place, tucking it slightly under one of the leaves, and adhered the card front to my card base.

I'm also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday challenge: "Sunshine." (Yellow hibiscus are the color of the sun, right?)

Happy Birthday Shaker

I've been on a bit of a "birthday card" kick lately. I created this one in response to 2 challenges: a2z Scrapbooking's "Take Shape" & A Blog Named Hero's "Interactive."

I decided to create a shaker card, with a stamped image in the window. I began by die cutting a piece of butterfly patterned paper from Pebbles' "Garden Party" 6x6" paper pad with a Spellbinders "Labels Eight" die. I also cut 2 pieces of 110 lb. white cardstock for my card base with the same die. I scored one of those about 1/2" below the top edge, applied Scor Tape above that line, and adhered the other piece. Then I set that aside while I worked on the card front.

I stamped the butterfly from Hero Arts' "Butterfly & Flower" set (apparently discontinued) on my patterned paper panel with black ink. If there are coordinating dies for this set, I don't have them, so I used a craft knife to cut (oh-so-carefully!) around the outside of the butterfly to create my shaker window. I stamped the butterfly again on acetate with Staz On Jet Black ink, using my MISTI to make sure I got a good impression & didn't smear it. I had to trim the window in the patterned paper a bit larger to get the image on the acetate to line up. When it showed through the window just right, I adhered the acetate to the back of the patterned paper with Scor Tape.

After applying a double layer of foam tape to the back of my card front to create the shaker well, I sprinkled in some sequins and seed beads that coordinated with the colors in the patterned paper. I backed the well with another piece of patterned paper from "Garden Party." For once, I'm happy with the amount of sequins & beads in my shaker--not too full, but not too skimpy, either! :) Then I adhered my card front to my card base.

For the greeting, I chose one from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Happy Birthdays" stamp set. I die cut & embossed a banner with a Spellbinders "Ribbon Banners" die, and with the white cardstock still in the die, I inked through the openings in the die with Spun Sugar Distress ink. I used repositionable adhesive on the back side to keep it in place in my MISTI, and curved my stamp on the door of that to fit the curve of the banner. When it was positioned correctly, I stamped it onto the banner with Versafine Onyx Black ink. Finally, I adhered the banner to the card front.

To add a little extra something, I used small dots of Glossy Accents to glue down some "enamel dots" I'd made previously with Nuvo Honey Gold Glitter Drops. I added them in a visual triangle around the greeting, which finished off this card!

One in a Million

a2z Scrapbooking's challenge theme this month is "Take Shape." In other words, make a shaped card, using at least one Hero Arts product. I created this card to send to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

I began by die cutting a star from 140 lb. watercolor paper, with a We R Memory Keepers "Nesting Stars" die. I adhered it to a cutting board with repositionable tape runner on the back of the star. I stamped my greeting & several stars from Hero Arts' "Shoot for the Moon" stamp set, & heat embossed them with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. I used Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolor paints in green, blue, yellow, & purple to paint areas on the star, then painted over much of it with black watercolor paint to create a galaxy sky look. After that dried, I buffed the paint off the embossed greeting & stars. I added splatters with the White Gold color in my Gansai Tambi Starry Colors watercolor set. Then I let that dry.

For the card base, I die cut 2 more stars with the same die from white 110 lb. cardstock. I scored along one point, and applied Scor Tape above the score line. Then I adhered the other star on top. Finally, I adhered my watercolored star to the card base. Hopefully this will cheer up a hospitalized child!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Make It Masculine"
Dies R Us #74: "Masculine"

Dude, Sup?

Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge this week has been "Masculine." I decided to make this card to send to Send a Smile 4 Kids. I used the "Truck Single" stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs & 2 greetings from Paper Smooches' "Slang Gang" stamp set.

I began by creating my background. I cut a piece of white cardstock to 4.25x5.5", and laid a strip of orange washi tape (Recollections brand) at a diagonal. I lined that up on my grid mat, so the tape went horizontally, then used the lines on my mat to space out the rest of my washi tape strips. I added in a black & white tape that makes me think of road markings, since it kind of goes with the truck. After I had applied all the tape, I just trimmed off the overhanging pieces.

For the greeting, I wanted something that might suit a teenage boy. Or, at least, a very tomboyish teenage girl! :) I chose the "dude" & "sup?" stamps from "Slang Gang." I die cut 2 arrows with one of the dies from My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 18" set out of grey cardstock. Then I heat embossed the words with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, and set those aside.

I stamped the truck in the lower right corner of a scrap of white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I colored it with my Prismacolor colored pencils, pulling my color scheme from the washi tape I had used. After I'd finished the coloring, I adhered that panel to the bottom front of my white A2 card base.

To pull my design together, I die cut an arc from the bottom of my washi tape panel with the curved die from Avery Elle's "Custom Panels." I tacked my greeting arrows down with a little ATG tape, and stapled the left end of each with my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher. I added a piece of craft/fun foam to the back of that panel with Scor Tape, and adhered it to my card base, flush with the top edge. This was really a quick card to pull together. Hopefully, it will bring a smile to the recipient's face!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Make It Masculine"
Creative Knockouts' Challenge #197: "Washi Tape Wonder"
Dies R Us #74: "Masculine"
Send a Smile 4 Kids: "Anything Goes 4 Kids"

Joy

The theme for Challenge #251 at Merry Monday is "Monochromatic Blue." I used Hero Arts' "Joy Burst" stamp & Spellbinders' "Grand Ovals" dies (discontinued) to create my shaped card.

I used one of the "Grand Ovals" dies as a template to trace onto a piece of Strathmore Smooth Bristol Paper. (Because of the sizing, I had to trace around the inside of the die, rather than cut with it.) I cut that out with scissors, and erased any pencil marks. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to help me position the image, and stamped it in Versamark ink. I heat embossed with Wow White Pearl embossing powder.

After the powder cooled, I used 3 blue Tombow markers to color in the letters for an ombre look. I coated them in Glossy Accents, to act as a resist for the inking I planned to do. After that dried, I inked around the outer perimeter with Blueprint Sketch Distress ink. I followed that with Salty Ocean Distress ink, going over the darker blue & also adding that alone in the center to create an outside-to-inside ombre effect. Finally, to deepen the color around the very edge, I inked with Chipped Sapphire.

I traced around the inside of the next larger oval die onto white cardstock, cut it out with scissors, & matted my main panel onto that. I traced around the outside of the same die for my blue mat. Then I traced around the inside of the next die up twice for my card base. I scored about 1/2" from one long edge on one of those pieces, and also cut off about 3/8" from the opposite side. I added Scor Tape above the score line, and adhered the other matching oval to that to form the base for my card. Then I mounted my layered panel to the card base. Finally, I added some 3mm clear gems from The Paper Studio to the centers of some of the snowflakes in the stamped image.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking's June Challenge: "Take Shape"
Christmas Card Throwdown's June Stash Challenge: "Use Gems, Pearls, or Sequins"

Roses Birthday Card

I created another birthday card for the Stella Says Sketch Challenge #511 at Catch the Bug. This time I used the "Roses and Butterflies" digital image by Bugaboo, and a greeting from Dreamees that I had gotten from a CD-ROM in a magazine. I also flipped the sketch horizontally.

I used the same template I created in Photoshop I used for this card to size my image & greeting. I printed the image onto a piece of Canson XL Mixed Media Paper, and the greeting onto a strip of patterned paper from Pebbles' "Garden Party" 6x6" pad. I colored the roses with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to pick up the color from the pencils and apply it to the paper. Finally, I cut my focal panel along the outer line in the image, and matted it with black cardstock.

To create the lacy border under my greeting strip, I cut a piece of red cardstock to 4.25" wide, and punched along one long side with Fiskars' "Lace" border punch. I adhered that to the bottom of my greeting strip. I cut 2 pieces of patterned paper from Basic Grey's "Hey Girl" 6x6" pad, and adhered them to an A2-size panel of blue cardstock. Then I adhered my greeting strip & focal image, and mounted the card front to a white A2 card base. As a finishing touch, I added some "dew drops" to the roses & leaves with Nuvo Morning Dew Crystal Drops.

I'm also entering this card in Catch the Bug's "Anything Goes" challenge.

Happy Birthday

Catch the Bug Challenge Blog is having their (now) monthly Stella Says Sketch Challenge #511. I am in need of birthday cards, and so created this one using Bugaboo's "Birthday Cake Tag" digital image.

I opened the tag image in Photoshop, and sized it to fit on a design I created on another A2-sized canvas I created in Photoshop, following the sketch. I printed just the image onto a piece of white cardstock. After coloring the cake & confetti with my Prismacolor colored pencils, I used my scissors to cut off the scalloped border. (I wanted a border that wasn't black.) I inked around the perimeter with Worn Lipstick Distress ink. I die cut a scalloped circle from more white cardstock with a We R Memory Keepers "Nesting Scallops" die, and inked it with Peacock Feathers Distress ink. When the ink had dried, I glued my focal image to that.

For the patterned paper strips, I used one pattern from Pebbles' "Garden Party" 6x6" paper pad, and another from Basic Grey's "Hey Girl" 6x6" pad. I cut them to 1.25x5", inked the edges with Worn Lipstick, and adhered them to an A2-sized piece of yellow shimmer cardstock. I also cut a strip of pink cardstock, and used the Martha Stewart "Daisy" border punch to create a strip of "lace." I adhered the punched strip to my pink strip, and inked the top & sides with Worn Lipstick. I adhered that in place, and glued my focal image on top. To balance out the design, I added 3 black brads to the left of the pink strip. Finally, I adhered my card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm also entering this card in Catch the Bug's "Anything Goes" challenge.

I'm Rooting for You!

Lawn Fawnatics has been having a "Spring Inspiration Board" challenge. I was inspired mostly by the colors, but also the gardening theme. (Even though I used vegetables rather than the flowers in the mood board. Yes, I have no Lawn Fawn flower stamps.)

I stamped out multiples of all the veggies from "Rooting for You" onto ivory-colored cardstock. I used Memento Tangelo & Hero Arts Fresh Peach inks for the carrots; Colorbox Putty Archival ink & Memento Lilac Posies for the turnips; Hero Arts Raspberry Jam & Grape Jelly (layered) for the beets; Altenew Ruby Red for the radishes; and Memento Bamboo Stalk with Cottage Ivy for the greens, substituting Raspberry Jame for the veins on the beet greens. I also used Putty for the plant pokes, with Hero Arts Charcoal ink for the label text. After I had everything stamped out, I die cut them with the coordinating dies.

I cut 3 pieces of Canson XL 140 lb. watercolor paper for my dirt layers. I die cut the tops of 2 strips with the larger of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Scallop Border" dies. Because the die is designed to cut the entire piece, I had to do some partial die cutting. I taped the die to my watercolor paper, and taped that to my cutting plate, making sure the bottom edge of the die was not between the base & cutting plates. That way, I cut just the scallop edge, without cutting my strips narrower than I wanted. I also used one of the "Stitched Borders 1" dies from Pretty Pink Posh to cut the "hill" for the back-most layer. I inked all three layers with Frayed Burlap Distress ink, adding some Walnut Stain around the edges to darken them up a bit. Then I spritzed them with water from my Distress Sprayer, and picked that up with a dry cloth, just to add some interest to my pieces so they didn't look so solid.

I layered my dirt pieces together, and lightly penciled where the tops of the 2 scalloped pieces were on the layers behind. I started with the radishes, gluing them to the middle layer, so they would peek out between the scallops on the front layer. I popped the front layer over that with foam tape. I glued the rest of the veggies to the front & back sides of the hill piece. I then popped the middle piece up in front of the hill with another layer of foam tape.

For the sky, I marked on the front of my card base where the hill piece would go, and inked above that with Broken China Distress ink. After adhering my foreground pieces to the card base, I stamped my greeting (also from "Rooting for You") in Versamark ink on the front-most panel, and heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. I will send this card to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge: "Anything Goes"
Pile It On #130: "Animal and/or Spring Garden"

Daffodil Thank You

Our Daily Bread Designs' most recent challenge theme has been "Just Say Thanks." I used ODBD's "Daffodil" stamp on my thank you card.

For the card design, I used Sketch #SC615 (flipped horizontally) from Splitcoaststampers. I stamped the daffodil onto a piece of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper with Hero Arts Lemon Yellow ink, and die cut it with a Lawn Fawn "Small Stitched Oval" die. I colored the flower with my Tombow markers, and inked around the perimeter of the oval with Tumbled Glass Distress ink on a sponge dauber.

I cut a strip of pink cardstock to go behind the oval & greeting, and used a My Favorite Things "Basic Stitch Lines" die to add faux stitching along the 2 long sides, to echo the stitching on the oval. I also ran a piece of yellow pearl cardstock through my die cut machine with the "Circle Background" embossing folder from Darice (apparently discontinued).

I layered my pink strip on the yellow cardstock panel, and adhered my oval in place. Then I die cut the greeting from green cardstock, using 2 of the "Celebration Words: Script" dies by Tim Holtz for Sizzix. I ran them through my Xyron Sticker Maker, to apply adhesive to the back side of each. After adhering them in place, I matted the yellow panel with blue, and mounted it to a landscape-oriented, white A2 card base.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge: "Anything Goes"
Pile It On #130: "Animal and/or Spring Garden" (obviously, I'm going for the latter with this card)