Have a Little Fun Today

Ellen Hutson has been having their "Color Trends Challenge," with this photo as their mood board:

I created a birthday card, using Essentials by Ellen's "Bokeh Dots" & "Up the Happy" stamp sets, along with a Lifestyle Crafts "Nesting Scallops" die.

I used a layering panel that I had pre-cut to 4x5.25" as my main panel. I stamped several of the dots in various dye inks: Memento Grape Jelly & Danube Blue, Hero Arts Ultra Pink & Soft Lilac, and Lawn Fawn Fresh Lavender. I tried to go with the more "blue" purples from the color palette, and added in a pink and true blue for variety.

After I had finished stamping my panel (truly, the longest part of the whole card process), I stamped my greeting (from "Up the Happy") in Versamark ink onto a scrap of Essentials by Ellen 40 lb. vellum. I heat embossed that with Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold embossing powder. When it had cooled, I die cut it with a scalloped circle die. I ran that piece through my Xyron Sticker Maker to apply an even coat of adhesive to the back, and then adhered it to my panel.

For the mat, I decided I wanted it to be the same gold as the greeting. So I got an A2-size piece of white cardstock, & smooshed my Versamark ink pad along all the sides. I heat embossed with gold, but didn't get a good enough coverage. So I ended up repeating the process, which gave me much better & smoother results. Because that panel was warped from all the heat I'd applied, I used Scor Tape to adhere it to my white card base. I also used Scor Tape to adhere my stamped panel, since I felt it would stick to the heat embossed mat better. Finally, I set my card under a couple of books to flatten it out further.

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

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"
613 Avenue Create Challenge #210: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)
Pile It On Challenge #143: "Holidays and/or Layers" (used layers on my card)

With Sympathy

The theme for the current challenge at Aud Sentiments is "Anything Goes, with a Sentiment." My mom had asked me if I had any sympathy cards she could use for a friend whose husband just passed away. I checked my stash, and was out of those, so I made this one for her. I used Sketch #SC607 from Splitcoaststampers.com as the basis of my design.

I pulled out an OLD 6x6" patterned paper pad from Prima, "Botanical." I have had this forever, and have almost all the papers in it still! I decided for this card I wanted to go for a vintage, kind of shabby-chic look, so that paper is perfect.

I chose 4 patterns from the pad for my card. I cut the burgundy one to 4.25x5.5", and adhered it to my A2-size white card base. I also cut the other papers to the sizes I'd measured out in the sketch. I inked the edges of all but the greeting panel with Vintage Photo Distress ink, mostly to help them stand out against each other, since the color values of each were pretty similar. I adhered the 3 panels to the background, and went to work on my greeting.

I used Avery Elle's "With Sympathy" die set for my greeting. The "sympathy" word is a bit longer than the panel measurement in the sketch, so I purposely cut that panel a little longer than I needed, figuring I could trim it down after I finished the greeting. I cut another scrap of the same pattern I used for the background of the greeting, and inked it with Vintage Photo. I intended to have some of the pattern show through the ink, but I guess I got a little too heavy-handed, because the ink covered basically everything. I backed the paper with Stick It adhesive, and die cut the greeting from that.

I positioned the greeting on the panel, and positioned the "with" so the tail of the "h" overlapped the swoosh from the "t" in "sympathy." I just felt that tied it together design-wise. I trimmed the panel down, and inked the edges with Vintage Photo. I adhered that in place, and then adhered the small burgundy strip below it. I hope this card will bring comfort to my mom's friend.

I am also entering this card in the following challenges:

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"
613 Avenue Create Challenge #210: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)