Get Well Soon

I've been participating in Online Card Classes' "Spring Card Camp 2." On Day 8 of camp, Kristina Werner had a lesson on "Faux Dip Dye." I combined that with Julie Ebersole's lesson on Day 11 on "Anti-Coloring" for my card.

I did the faux dip dye technique first, with 140 lb. watercolor paper and my watercolors. I cut the paper a little larger than I intended the finished panel size to be, so I could tape it to my cutting board. I tore the bottom edge, and taped the other 3 sides to my board. I created a gradient that went from pink to purple to black at the bottom. I don't know that the purple tones shine through the black, as Kristina said, but I still think it looks OK. After I dried the panel with my heat tool one last time, I removed the tape & cut the paper to size.

For the "anti-coloring," I used the "Mondo Hydrangea" stamp from Essentials by Ellen. I stamped it with Versamark ink onto a scrap of white cardstock, and heat embossed with Wow Persian Indigo embossing powder. It doesn't show up in the photo well, but it is very shiny & glittery in real life. I die cut it with the coordinating die, and played around a bit with placement on my panel. Finally, I glued it to my panel, and set a couple of acrylic blocks on top while the glue dried, to keep everything flat. After the glue had dried, I trimmed off the overhanging bits of the flower.

I heat embossed a greeting from Miss Ink's "Magnolia Sympathy" onto a scrap of pink cardstock. I cut that into a narrow strip, and glued it in place. Finally, I matted my panel with lavender cardstock, and adhered that to a white A2-size card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Creative Knockouts #351: "Embossing Delight"

613 Avenue Create #233: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Incy Wincy Designs: "Anything Goes"

Happy Birthday

The theme for My Favorite Things' Birthday Project Challenge over the past month has been "Circles." I decided to make a circle shaped card, with a twist. Caly Person's lesson on Day 7 of Online Card Classes' "Spring Card Camp 2" inspired me to do a vellum overlay frame on my card front.

I die cut my card front from a light green cardstock with the largest of the "Beaded Circles" dies from Spellbinders (discontinued). I cut a second piece from Essentials by Ellen's 40 lb. vellum, and die cut a circle from the center of that. Since I didn't have much surface area on the vellum to apply adhesive without making an unsightly mess, I decided to stitch it to my card front. I offset the vellum layer on the cardstock, taped the two pieces together, and used a plastic canvas circle as a guide to pierce stitching holes. Then I stitched with a pale yellow embroidery floss.

I cut my card base from a piece of white cardstock I'd folded. I positioned a circle die so it hung off the folded edge just a bit, and die cut through both layers. I also die cut a circle with the same die from yellow cardstock, to show through the little openings in the "Beaded Circles" card front. Finally, I adhered all the layers together.

For my image, I stamped the cake from Lawn Fawn's "Birthday Before 'n Afters" on a scrap of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper. I colored it with a combination of Tombow & Zig Clean Color markers, then cut it with the coordinating die. I stamped the greeting, from My Favorite Things' "Big Birthday Sentiments" (discontinued), in Lawn Fawn Guava ink onto a scrap of white cardstock. I cut the greeting into labels, and adhered them and the cake to the front of my card. (I did make sure my cake & greeting would be parallel to the surface the card stands on.)

I cut a small sliver off the bottom of the card base back, so the card will stand when open.

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

613 Avenue Create Challenge #233: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)
Incy Wincy Designs: "Anything Goes"

Stellar Mother's Day Card

I made this card for my brother & sister-in-law to give our mom for Mother's Day. He got a telescope last year, so I thought Lawn Fawn's "Super Star" stamp set would be perfect! The design & technique were inspired by Julie Ebersole's lesson in Online Card Classes' Spring Card Camp (Day 4).

I stamped the telescope from "Super Star" on the front of the card base & die cut it (having opened the card first) to give me a window. I used Lawn Fawn's "Smitty's ABCs" to stamp the greeting, lining up the letters in my MISTI stamp positioning tool. Not easy to do, since they are small & fiddly stamps, but I managed! I wanted the ends of the words to go around the outline of the telescope die cut opening. Thankfully, I had just enough room for the "Mother's" word, even though I hadn't planned it out that way! I used the small heart stamp from "Super Star" to fill in the "gaps" in front of the "Happy" & "Day." I stamped the greeting with Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide ink & the hearts with Abandoned Coral Distress Oxide.

View of inside of card

I closed the card, placed it in my MISTI, and stamped the telescope on the inside of the card through the window in the front. I also stamped the mouse from "Super Star" twice, masking the first one so the second would be behind it. I figured, this card is coming from two people--there should be two mice! I also stamped & white heat embossed the constellations & a few more stars from "Super Star," as well as the greeting.

I masked the telescope & mice, and masked off an area for the ground with a piece of masking paper I'd cut. I inked the sky with Distress inks in shades of blue, ending by adding a little Black Soot at the very top to give the sky some depth. I masked the bottom of the sky with the other half of my hill mask, & inked the ground with Mowed Lawn & Peeled Paint Distress inks. To add some more "starry" accents, I kept the image & ground masks in place, & spattered gold watercolor on the sky.

This is where my second "mistake" came into play. (The first had been smudging black ink onto the mouse in back, which I'd camouflaged by coloring him grey.) I wanted to see how my card would look when closed, so I mindlessly closed it--without waiting for the watercolor to dry completely. Yep--gold & blue Distress ink spots transferred to the inside of the card front! At this point, having finished the inside, I was NOT about to start over. Nor was cutting the card apart an option, since the front & back of the design are kind of "married." So I found a piece of patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye "Blue Floral" 6x6" patterned paper pad, that complemented the scene inside the card. I cut it to A2 size, adhered it to the inside front of my card, & trimmed off any overhanging bits around the edges. Then, I popped the telescope die in its opening on the front of the card, opened the card so I only cut through the front, & ran it through my die cutting machine. Ink & paint spots covered! Even with that hiccup, I still love how the card came out.

I'm entering this card in the Lawn Fawnatics Challenge #75: "Spectacular Skies."