Sweet Greetings

As always for their first challenge of the month, Christmas Card Throwdown is having a sketch challenge. Because of the direction my gingerbread house, from Hero Arts' "Color Layering Gingerbread House" (discontinued), is facing, I flipped the sketch horizontally. I also added a greeting strip, but otherwise, I stayed true to the sketch.

 

 

I found the patterned paper I used on the background, from The Paper Studio's "Christmas Candyland" letter-size pad, in my scrap stash. I actually had enough of that piece for 2 layering panels, so I went ahead & made 2 cards.

 

I used my MISTI stamp positioning tool to help with stamping the gingerbread house, since there are 4 stamps to line up to build the whole image. I stamped the main part of the house with Memento Toffee Crunch ink followed by Memento Peanut Brittle ink to give it a more golden color. I used Ranger Geranium archival ink, Lawn Fawn Noble Fir, & Memento Cottage Ivy for the red & greens. Since there is no coordinating die, I penciled an outline around the edges of my image, about 1/16" away, & fussy cut it with my scissors.

 

I really struggled with how to add the house to the background so it would stand out. Because the patterned paper is so busy, I couldn't just stick my image down, as it would just get lost. I didn't want to use a cardstock mat, just because it took up a large chunk of the panel & I didn't like the look. I tried surrounding the house a little with tissue paper, both white & sprayed with a dark green Distress Mica Stain, but didn't like the look of either.

 

I finally remembered a trick I've used before with white acrylic craft paint. I placed the house where I wanted it on my panel, and lightly traced the outline with a pencil. Then I smeared the paint on that area with my finger, keeping the outline not too far from the edges of the house and very organic. That did the trick, & all I had to do then was glue the house in place!

 

Before gluing down the house, though, I wanted to add a greeting. So I stamped the Sweet Greetings phrase from the same set onto a scrap of white cardstock with Noble Fir ink. I cut that into a strip, & layered it so the right end went behind the roof of my gingerbread house. I finished the card off by adhering a burgundy mat to my white A2-size card base & mounting my patterned paper panel to that. I will send this & its companion card to Send a Smile 4 Kids. Hopefully it will bring a smile to a hospitalized child this holiday season!

 

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

 

Send a Smile 4 Kids: "Holiday Cards 4 Kids"

613 Avenue Create November Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist) 

Happy Birthday Apple Basket

 

 The theme for Seize the Birthday's Challenge #316 is "Favorite Fall Treat." A favorite treat of mine this time of year is Honeycrisp apples. Granted, they can be found during the summer, but they tend to go on sale more in the Fall, so that's when I get them. (Yes, I'm cheap! 😁) I made this card for a friend of ours who is blind.

 

For the apple basket, I pulled out Concord & 9th's "Freshly Picked" die set. I die cut a dozen apples plus stems & leaves for them all, the pieces for the basket, & the signpost for the "5 cent" sign. I ink blended the apples with Candied Apple & Squeezed Lemonade Distress inks, using a tiny blending brush to get the Honeycrisp apple coloring. I glued the leaves to the stem pieces, & glued one to the back of each apple.

 

I ink blended the edges of the basket pieces with Gathered Twigs Distress ink, adding some extra shading on the very edges with Walnut Stain. Then I glued them together & glued on the silver handle.

 

For the sign, I used the coordinating "Freshly Picked" stamp set. I stamped the 5 cents onto a scrap of heavyweight white cardstock with black ink. I cut the sign out with scissors, & added the corresponding Braille characters to it, so she can read it. Because the sign was a bit bigger than it would have been had I used the die for that in the "Freshly Picked" set, the signpost was too short (at least for my taste). So I cut it in two, & glued the pieces to the back of the sign. Finally, I glued 8 of the apples into the basket & glued the sign sticking out from the pile of apples.

I die cut 2 grass layers from green cardstock with the "Grassy Hillside Borders" set from Lawn Fawn. I ink blended over them with Peeled Paint Distress ink to add some shading & color variation. After stenciling the sun & sky on a panel of white cardstock, using Simon Says Stamp's "Sunshine" stencil set, I glued the back hill to my panel.

I cut enough pennants in rainbow colors for the banner to Braille the letters for "happy birthday." I did one letter per pennant. I cut a lollipop stick in half lengthwise (not easy, but I managed!) to be the banner poles. Because the stick was hollow, I had to use hot glue to adhere it to my background. I used white crochet twine to "hang" the pennants from, & glued the pennants to the card front over the twine.

 

I glued my basket of apples to the background, adding a few layers of cardstock behind the sign & its post to pop it up just slightly. I adhered the front grassy hill with foam tape, so it would sit flush over the basket & banner poles. Finally, I glued down the remaining 4 apples, & adhered my panel to a 5x7" card base.

 

I'm also entering this card in the Little Red Wagon Challenge #831: "Candle in the Wind" (using the sun as a light source).

Birthday Mum

 

 The sketch for this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge inspired the design of this card. I got my general color inspiration from palette #127 in Volume 1 (1st edition) of Sarah Renae Clark's Color Cube system.

 

 

 

I saw this card by Lin at her Hearts, Hugs, & Flowers blog, & liked the general floral arrangement. I don't have a sunflower die, but thought I could get a similar effect with some old layering flower punches by The Paper Studio I have. I punched one of each size from each of 3 different shades of yellow/orange cardstock. I glued together the 3 layers of each individual size, adding the glue only in the center & kind of fanning the petals apart as I glued the layers together. After the glue had set up, I added more glue to the center back of each of the 2 smaller layers & adhered them together, largest to smallest. While I liked the result, I felt it now looked more like a mum than a sunflower, so I decided to pivot & just go with that.

 

I cut some smaller flowers using dies from Scrapbook.com's "Sunny Lane Florals" set. I ended up not being able to make a good-looking arrangement with those & my mum, though, so I gave up on that. (I am keeping those flowers for some other project.) I did cut a flower center for my mum from my darkest shade of yellow-orange cardstock with one of the dies in that set, as the center of the flower looked a little stark without it.

 

For the stem, I used a branch die from Honey Bee Stamps' "Winter Greenery" set. I die cut it from green cardstock, & trimmed off most of the "branchy" parts from the main section with my scissors. Then I used double-sided tape to adhere the top end to the back of my flower. I added glue to reinforce the adhesion, and set that aside to dry.

 

I die cut 3 leaves from the "Skeleton Leaves" set by Tim Holtz. I adhered each to a different shade of cardstock, & then fussy cut around the perimeter, so I would have a solid backing to each leaf.

For my greeting, I first stamped one of the banners from Avery Elle's "Build a Banner" set (discontinued) onto white cardstock. I used Hero Arts Pool ink for the outline, Lawn Fawn Sunflower ink for the main background, & My Favorite Things Pineapple ink for the 2 bits where the ends fold under. Then I stamped the greeting, from the "Sentiment Strips: Birthday" set from Pretty Pink Posh in My Favorite Things Coral Crush ink. Finally, I die cut the banner with the coordinating die. I die cut 3 more banners from white cardstock, & layered them behind my greeting banner to give it a little more oomph.

To assemble the card, I cut a piece of blue gingham patterned paper from my scrap stash to 4-1/8 x 5-3/8". I laid out my elements until I liked the arrangement, then glued them in place. For the leaves, I added glue only to the base sections so the ends would kind of pop up around the flower. I added glue to the flower only in the center, & stuck that down on top of the leaves. I glued the stem all the way to the background, & trimmed off the bit that overhung at the bottom edge of the panel. I added my banner, & adhered my panel to a navy cardstock mat that I'd mounted to a white A2 card base. Once the glue dried, I zhuzhed the petals on the flower to fluff them up a bit, just for a bit of added dimension.

 

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

 

All Sorts Challenge #835: "Autumn Colors"

Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: "Add Some Texture" (added texture with top layer of die cut leaves & fluffy mum)

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes"

The Paper Funday Challenge #81: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Creative Knockouts Challenge #557: "Halloween or Fall" (used fall leaves & flower)

Ellibelle's Corner October Garden Party Challenge #8