Can't Say Thanks Enough

One technique I've seen a few times lately on Jennifer McGuire's YouTube channel is layering die cuts to create more dimension. I've been wanting to try that, but never have until now. I got the "Really Big Thanks" die & stamp set by Simon Says Stamp recently, and decided the die would be great to try this technique.

I began by choosing the products I wanted to work with. Since the current challenge at Simon Says Stamp's Monday blog is to use paint, and the challenge at their Wednesday blog is to "Stencil It," I decided to combine the two, and paint over a stencil onto kraft cardstock to create my background. So I pulled 4 Adirondack paint daubers: Snow Cap, Purple Twilight, Pool, and Lettuce. I used a stencil by Prima (sorry, but I don't know the name), and dabbed the colors over it onto the cardstock.

While that dried, I chose my sketch from my collection of Operation Write Home sketches:

I knew I wanted one with a large background space for my stenciled piece, as well as a good-sized area for the greeting.

I die cut the "thanks" die from black paper 6 times, then (carefully) glued the layers together to create a thicker die cut. I stamped the rest of the greeting onto a piece of white cardstock in Versafine Onyx Black ink, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. After that, I glued down the die cut "thanks." Finally, I decided that the greeting strip was too white, so I blended Shabby Shutters Distress ink over it. In hindsight, I wish I had done the ink blending before I adhered the die cut, as it was difficult to get an even coverage around that.

I cut a piece of paper from The Paper Studio's "Linen Door" 4.5x6.5" paper stack, rounded the top corners with my 1/4" Corner Chomper, and adhered it to a piece of black cardstock that I'd cut slightly larger than the center mat in the sketch. I adhered a strip of white cardstock, which I'd inked with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink, to the top back of the greeting strip. I rounded the bottom corners of the greeting strip, and all four corners of the mat. After gluing the greeting strip to the mat, I adhered it to the stenciled kraft panel. Finally, I adhered that to an A2 card base.

Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, Pool	Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, Snow Cap	Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, Lettuce	Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, Purple Twilight
Distress Ink Pad, Shabby Shutters	Distress Ink Pad, Chipped Sapphire

InLinkz.com

You're a Winner

The current challenge at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday blog is to create a Father's Day or masculine project. My father passed away several years ago, so I don't really have need of a Father's Day card. But I decided to make a masculine-themed card for Operation Write Home.

I based my card design on the following OWH sketch:

There are no measurements on the sketch, so my interpretation was kind of loose.

I used The Crafter's Workshop "Mini Tri Mosaic" stencil as a mask on white cardstock to smear Liquitex Gloss Super Heavy Gel Medium over. After applying a somewhat textured coat of the medium, I removed the stencil and set the panel aside to dry.

I stamped the greeting from this Simon Says Stamp set on kraft cardstock, using Versamark ink. I then heat embossed it with Zing! Metallic Blue embossing powder. I cut the end in a banner shape.

When the main panel had dried, I blended Distress inks in Stormy Sky, Frayed Burlap, and Brushed Corduroy over it. The gel medium I'd applied resisted the ink, leaving those areas white. I cut the panel apart at an angle, and determined where I would place the 2 sections on the card front. I stamped the dot border from the same stamp set onto a white card base, and then heat embossed the dots with Zing! Clear powder. I blended Faded Jeans Distress ink over the front of the card base.

I "dyed" white cardstock by rubbing a Chipped Sapphire Distress ink pad over it, then cut 1/8" wide strips from that, to use as the border strips along the panels. After gluing those in place, I adhered the panels to the card base with foam tape. I adhered the greeting banner, also with foam tape, and trimmed off any overhanging edges. And that finished my card.

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

Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday
Lawnscaping Challenge #83: Embossing

You Brighten My Day

I've had this stamp set from Simon Says Stamp for some time now, and had never really used it. Today, I finally decided to get more than just an accent image from it inky.

I based my design on the following sketch by Operation Write Home:

I adjusted the measurements slightly for the elements I used, and left off the embellishment.

I stamped the light bulb onto a piece of watercolor paper with Versafine Onyx Black ink, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I used Inktense pencils to color the image. After that dried, I also stamped the greeting in Versafine. I rounded the corners with my 1/8" Corner Chomper.

I die cut the background for the focal panel from watercolor paper using Lawn Fawn's 3x4" Stitched Journaling Card Die. I smooshed Distress inks in Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick, & Barn Door onto my craft mat, then sprayed them with water. I placed the background panel into the ink, swooshing it around until it was covered. Then I set that aside to dry.

I felt the white of the focal panel against the orange of the journaling card panel was too stark, so I blended Scattered Straw Distress ink around the edges of the focal panel, leaving a bit of white around the light bulb for a glow effect.

For the background, I embossed a piece of yellow cardstock with an embossing folder from Lifestyle Crafts "Celebrate" set. I cut a strip from a piece of yellow polka dot patterned paper from my scrap stash, then glued it onto the embossed panel. I glued the journaling card panel to the center of the background, then adhered the focal panel on top with foam tape.

I blended Spiced Marmalade Distress ink around the sides of a piece of white cardstock, cut to 4.25x5.5". Finally, I adhered the card panel to the inked cardstock, and adhered that to an A2 card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Lawnscaping Challenge #83 "Embossed"
Simon Says Stamp's "Work It Wednesday" (use Simon Says Stamp exclusive products)

You Make Me Happy

The current challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs is "White on White." I've never done a card like that, but decided to give it a try.

I decided I wanted to use embossing on my card, so I chose this embossing folder, which also has a coordinating border folder. I also wanted to use a greeting from this set. So I found the following Operation Write Home sketch, which would work perfectly with the stamp/die combination for the greeting:

The die cut panel is slightly smaller than the focal panel in the sketch, but it was close enough to work. I cut a piece of white cardstock for the larger back panel, and embossed it with the main folder, then embossed a 1" strip of cardstock with the border folder. I adhered the pieces to a piece of copy paper I'd cut to 4.25x5.5", just to give me a base to work on. I used a piece of 3/8" white satin ribbon to cover the seam.

I stamped the greeting in Versamark ink onto a piece of white cardstock, then heat embossed it with Ranger Silver embossing powder. I cut it with the coordinating die, and adhered it with foam tape, overlapping the ribbon on the card front panel.

I felt the card was a bit too "heavy" on the right side, so I added another piece of ribbon across the lower part of the card front. Where the 2 ribbon pieces intersected, I added a silver heart mini brad. Finally, I adhered the panel to an A2-size card base.

I'm also entering this in the "Embossing" Lawnscaping challenge.

I Love You in Any Language

Every week, Operation Write Home has a Midweek Throwdown Challenge. The theme for this past week has been to use the color combination of pink & grey/black. I must admit I was stumped, but finally decided to go through my stamps & see what "spoke" to me. I have had this stamp & die set from Simon Says Stamp for a while now, & never really used it. But the image of the hand signing "I love you," seemed like it would be perfect as a focal point for this challenge. So out came that set!

Next, I chose one of OWH's sketches for my design:

I stamped the hand onto white cardstock, in Ranger Archival Jet Black ink, and then cut it with the coordinating die. I used a pattern from the Prima "Doodle Deux" 6x6" paper pad for the small squares, and matted them on a mid-tone grey cardstock. I used another, almost solid, pattern from the same pad for the background, again matting it on the grey cardstock. I stamped a greeting from the set onto a piece of lighter grey cardstock in Jet Black ink, and inked around the edges of the strip with Weathered Wood Distress ink.

When I placed the hand on the background, I felt it was kind of "floating" there. So I ended up punching a 2" circle from the same cardstock I'd stamped the greeting on, to put behind it. I adhered the circle to the background, and then popped the hand and the greeting strip up on foam tape. I adhered the whole panel to an A2-size card base, and voila--another love card for a military hero to send home to his significant other!

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

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes" challenge
Simon Says Stamp's "Work It Wednesday" (to use SSS exclusives)

You are My Sunshine

I recently got Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Happy Happy" stamp set, with the coordinating dies. I couldn't wait to play with them! As it so happens, their current challenge theme is "Child's Play." I remember, as a child, I liked to play with kites. So what better choice than this kite image, with the clouds and smiling sun?

I decided to use the following sketch from Operation Write Home:

I did enlarge the focal panel by 1/4" both ways, but other than that, stayed true to the design.

I first stamped the images on white cardstock. I used Ranger Archival Jet Black ink for the kite, Colorbox Putty Archival Dye ink for the sun, and Stampabilities Baby Blue dye ink for the clouds. After the ink had a couple minutes to dry, I cut out the elements with the coordinating dies. I colored the sun and kite with Inktense pencils, blending the color with a brush and water.

For the background of the main panel, I wanted a sky look, so I blended Tumbled Glass Distress ink over white cardstock. I laid out my sun & clouds, to determine placement before I glued them down. Finally I adhered them to the panel, letting some parts hang over the edge. I stamped one of the greetings from the set in Jet Black ink, and finally glued the kite in place. I trimmed off the overhanging pieces from the sun and clouds, and stamped the smiley face on the sun, using the Putty dye ink.

To finish the card, I adhered a piece of patterned paper from Fancy Pants' "Park Bench" 6x6" paper pad, to some putty-colored cardstock from my scrap stash. I centered the focal panel onto the background, and adhered it in place. Finally I adhered the front to an A2 card base.

I will be sending this card to Operation Write Home, so hopefully some military hero will be able to send it to his/her child back home!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' Challenge #14: "Child's Play"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"

My Favorite Destination

Our Daily Bread Design's current challenge is to use a photo they posted as inspiration. I chose the following one:

I must admit, this is a first for me--using a photo of a room as inspiration for a card. I wasn't sure I could do anything with it, but finally decided to try at least. So I created a love-themed card for Operation Write Home.

I started by choosing a color palette. I knew I wanted to use the "Chicory" stamp by Our Daily Bread Designs, and was relieved to notice there was blue in the inspiration photo, outside the window. For my other colors, I decided to go with complementary pastel colors: the cool green in the table and hutch, and pink from the pillows. Next, I decided to use this sketch by OWH as the basis for my design:

Because of the orientation of the stamp, I had to flip the sketch horizontally, but otherwise I stayed true to it.

Since the stamp is so detailed, I didn't want to use black ink, because I felt it would be too bold for such a delicate image. Rather, I wanted a light ink so it wouldn't overpower the image, but I could see where to color. So I stamped the chicory onto watercolor paper, using Stampabilities "Baby Blue" dye ink. After the ink had a few minutes to dry, I colored in the image with Inktense pencils. Then I went back in with a blue fine-tipped marker to put the veins in the petals, as they had been covered when I colored the flower.

I stamped the greeting using stamps from Avery Elle's "Love Notes" set onto a piece of a cool green cardstock, using Versafine Onyx Black ink to get a good, crisp impression. I cut the floral patterned paper piece from Anna Griffin's "Olivia Collection" 6x6" pad, and used a scrap from Graphic 45's "Botanical Tea" 6x6" pad for the pink stripe. I decided to use blue cardstock for the card front, to echo the blue in the flowers. After gluing the pieces in place, I adhered the front to an A2 card base. For all my fretting about not being able to come up with an idea from the inspiration photo, I think I did pretty well!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Our Daily Bread Design's "Inspiration Challenge"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"