Bee Strong

My Favorite Things' "Summer School 2018 Session 2" began with a lesson on monochromatic cards. I created this card as my homework, to send to Send a Smile 4 Kids, to encourage a hospitalized child.

I chose the "Mini Chicken Wire" stencil from My Favorite Things (apparently discontinued) for my background. I wanted to do the background in 3 sections, each inked a different shade of yellow. (I chose yellow to go with the bee theme.) After trimming my panel of Canson XL Mixed Media paper to A2 size, I first used the circle die from MFT's "Blueprints 13" (discontinued) to die cut 3 circles from my panel. Then I die cut it into sections with a "Stitched Basic Edges 2" die, also from MFT. I taped the top section of my die cut panel to the back of the stencil, and inked it with Squeezed Lemonade Distress ink. Before removing that section, I lined up the middle section with the first, and taped that in place on the back of the stencil. I wanted the stenciled design to be continuous down the whole card, but still have the shades of yellow sharply defined, so I had to line the panels up this way. Before I inked the second piece with Mustard Seed Distress ink, I removed the top section. Finally, I lined up the bottom piece, removed the middle, and inked with Fossilized Amber Distress ink. I had to adjust the stencil a bit, since it does not cover a full 5.5", but it wasn't too hard to line it up so I could extend the design down the rest of the section.

After I adhered the 3 sections to a white A2 card base, I glued the upper & lower circles I had previously die cut into place, doing a bit of die cut inlay. Using my MISTI, I stamped the greeting, from Simon Says Stamp's "Circle Friends" set, in the bottom circle, and the bee from the same set in the top. I also used my MISTI to stamp the honeycomb circle from "Circle Friends" on the remaining die cut circle. I used Simon Says Stamp's Sunshine ink for that, since it seemed a good match with the Fossilized Amber. I actually had to die cut a new circle and re-stamp, because my stamp was not clean the first time, and I got a bit of black ink mixed in with the yellow on the paper. At least it was easy to line everything up the second time! When I had the circle stamped, I glued it into place on the card front.

I stamped the bee again onto a scrap of mixed media paper, and also onto a scrap of Essentials by Ellen 40 lb. vellum. I colored the paper one in with colored pencils, and fussy cut just the body. I fussy cut the wings on the vellum piece, also cutting a section across the body to connect them. I used a glue dot to adhere just the center part of the wings piece over the stamped bee on the card front, leaving the wings themselves loose. Then I glued the body part down with liquid glue, basically sandwiching the wings in between that and the card front. The only reason I'd stamped the bee in place on the card front, was to have the antennae without having to try and fussy cut around them. I just figured it would be easier to paper piece. I don't know how effective the vellum wings are, but I think they do add at least a little something in real life.

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

Live Love Cards August Challenge: "Monochrome Cards"
a2z Scrapbooking's August Challenge: "Anything Goes"
613 Avenue Create's Challenge #212: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)