Happy Birthday Ferris Wheel

A woman I'm acquainted with has been having a rough go with medical issues. Her birthday is next month, so I decided to make her an extra special card. I followed the tutorial for the "Floral Ferris Wheel Card" at Mixed Up Craft.

I began by die cutting a 5.5" diameter circle from Grafix Dura-Lar acetate, so it's kind of a "floating" ferris wheel. I had to run it through my die cutting machine a few times, as the die didn't want to cut through the acetate. Even at that, I had to finish the cut in a couple of spots with my scissors. But it turned out well.

For all the flowers & leaves, I used My Favorite Things' "Watercolor Flowers" stamp set & coordinating dies (discontinued). The dies for that are solid, so I had to cut the flowers first from Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper. I made sure to save one of the negative panels I die cut from, to use as a template for stamping my images. I also die cut an extra set of flowers & leaves that I didn't stamp, to go on the back side & hide the adhesive on the front ones.

After I'd die cut all the flowers & leaves, I placed the negative panel in my MISTI stamp positioning tool. I had added delicate surface Frog tape to the back, so the adhesive showed through the die cut openings. Then it was just a matter of popping my die cuts in the openings, lining up my stamps, and stamping. I used a trick from one of Jennifer McGuire's videos to help me line them up well.

I used Hero Arts Bubble Gum, Altenew Coral Berry, & Lawn Fawn Guava inks to stamp the pink flowers. For the orange ones I chose Lawn Fawn Apricot with Hero Arts Orange Soda & Fresh Peach. I used Lawn Fawn Freshly Cut Grass & Ranger Leaf Green Archival inks for the leaves, adding Lawn Fawn Noble Fir for the third layer on the larger leaves. For the flower centers on the pink blooms, I stamped with Delicata Golden Glitz ink, & used Delicata Brown Shimmer ink on the orange flowers.

I cut the card base from Bazzill Candy Hearts cardstock, using the measurements in the tutorial. After I poked a hole through the center of the acetate circle, I attached it to the front of the card base with a mini brad. I ended up having to remove the circle after I'd adhered the flowers, since it got hung up on the base & wouldn't turn properly. But I solved the problem by adding 2 layers of foam tape between the acetate & card base, which "lifted" the circle away from the base slightly. I left the release paper on the second layer of tape in place, so the acetate would turn freely. Then I replaced the brad & reattached the circle to the base.

After I'd stamped all the flowers & leaves, I ran them through my Xyron Creative Station to add adhesive to the backs. I also ran the unstamped die cuts through. I positioned the stamped flowers & leaves around the acetate circle, just placing them lightly at first. I made sure that nothing went over the edge of the acetate so much that it went past the bottom of the card base. When I had everything how I wanted it, I pressed them down securely. Then I added the plain die cuts to the back, sandwiching the acetate between.

For the greeting, I used a stamp from Winnie & Walter's "The Party." I stamped it on a scrap of Candy Hearts, heat embossed with Ranger White Super Fine Detail embossing powder, and die cut it with a circle die. I also die cut a slightly larger scalloped circle from white cardstock. I glued the two circles together, & adhered them over the brad on my acetate. And that finished this card. Hopefully the woman I send this to will get a kick out of this!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

My Favorite Things Birthday Project Challenge: "Birthday Bouquet"
613 Avenue Create #224: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)
Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: "Happy Birthday"
Dies R Us #126: "Bright Colors"

One Sketch, Two Cards

The current challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is a triptych sketch. I created two cards based on that sketch.

For my first card, I turned the sketch 90 degrees, enlarged the 3 panels to taller rectangles, & centered the design. I first stamped my image, "Lovely as a Tree" from Stampin' Up, onto a panel of white cardstock. I used Lawn Fawn's Moonstone ink, since I wanted kind of a wintry feel, and double-stamped just to make the image stand out a tad more. I die cut the panel with a Hero Arts "Rounded Rectangle" die, and cut it into 3 pieces by trimming a slice from between each section. (Taking out a slice, rather than just cutting the panel apart & spreading the sections, keeps the image looking cohesive.) I tried to keep the middle evergreen tree as centered as possible, which wasn't easy since it is not exactly centered in the full image. I also cut the middle panel slightly narrower than the outer 2.

I inked all three panels with Stormy Sky Distress ink and a makeup blender brush. I got a little more heavy-handed than I had originally intended, but I think it turned out OK. I also added "baubles" to the middle tree with a silver paint pen, just to dress it up and give it a more holiday look.

I didn't want the greeting just on one panel, so I took the peace, joy, & love words from Hero Arts' "Color Layering Cardinal" stamp set and stamped each one centered on a different panel. I used Moonstone ink again, & triple-stamped this time. I'm not sure that extra impression really mattered in the end, but at least it's readable without being over the top.

I die cut a silver mat with the next larger die. I adhered each panel in place, starting with the ends & finally centering the middle panel between them. I adhered that to a navy blue panel that I'd mounted to a white A2 card base. Finally, I added clear gems as per the sketch, 3 at the top left & an additional 3 more at the bottom right for balance.

For my second card, I rotated the sketch again, but otherwise kept pretty true to it. I used the image & one of the greetings from Doodle Pantry's "Mini Bethlehem" (discontinued). I sized the image to fit on a 2x5.25" panel, and printed it onto a strip of Strathmore Mixed Media paper. I colored it with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to pick up the color from each pencil & apply it to the paper. I also added Gansai Tambi Starry Colors in Light Gold for the baby Jesus' halo & White Gold for around the star. It's subtle & hard to photograph, but it does add some shimmer in real life. Finally, I added lots of stars with a white gel pen.

I cut the piece into 3 sections, trimming out a 1/8" gap between each, as I'd done in my first card. I adhered all three panels to a strip of kraft cardstock, leaving the 1/8" space between each, and a 1/8" border on all sides.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from graphic 45's "Christmas Carol" 6x6" pad to 4x6". I ran that through my printer to print the greeting, then trimmed the length to 5.5". I cut about 1" off the top of that panel, added 3 black mini brads to one corner, & adhered my matted image panel along the bottom edge of that strip. I adhered my greeting section to the front of a white A2 card base, lining up the bottom edges. Finally, I mounted my image panel/top strip piece to the card base, lining up the top edges. The patterned paper does have a gap between the two pieces, but the image strip covers it nicely.

I'm also entering these cards in the following challenges:

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"
613 Avenue Create #224: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)