I don’t know why this particular sketch was so difficult for me, but I just couldn’t get started and was struggling for ideas. Nothing seemed to be working and all I wanted to do was eat ice cream and binge watch The Office (again). However, I did finally find my stride and am happy with how my card turned out.
My final design brought me to using a Basic Black cardbase with a Stitched Rectangle die cut center on the front. I stamped the leaves from the Bird Ballad stamp set on the card base with Whisper White Craft Ink.
I layered some strips of the Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper (retiring) and Basic Black cardstock and attached it over the cut out. On this, I tied a piece of Linen thread with a trinket from the Bird Ballad Trinkets (retiring) and added the leaf that was punched out of Mossy Meadow cardstock with the Leaf Punch (sold out, sorry!)
I stamped the bird from the Bird Ballad stamp set with Momento Tuxedo Black on Whisper White cardstock and coloured the image with Stampin’ Blends Markers. Then I cut the image out with one of the smaller dies from the Stitched Rectangle dies. This was layered on a piece of Basic Black cardstock with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
The sentiment is also from the Bird Ballad stamp set, and was stamped with Coastal Cabana ink through the opening in the front of the card, onto the Whisper White cardstock that lined the inside of the card.
I’m really sad that the Leaf Punch is no longer available for you to purchase. It was on the retiring list, but appears to have sold out and is no longer available. I would suggest trying the Sprig Punch as an alternate to the Leaf Punch. It would be my second choice for this purpose.
Some of the products I’ve featured on this card are discounted on the Last Chance Products List. Head on over to my ONLINE STORE and have a look at what else Stampin’ Up! has for you.
I took a break over the holidays to spend time with my family. My kids aren’t back in school until Monday and we have taking advantage of the time with restful pajama days wherever we can fit them in. These are special moments in my house. We eat too many sweets and unhealthy foods and sit around all day – sometimes we play board games (the kids like their new Bananagrams game) or watch movies or just waste time on our cell phones, the computer, or tablets. I enjoy wasting time, but eventually, the guilt seeps in and the restlessness starts to take over and I need to get up and do something. I don’t mind this at all, though, because that’s the time when I actually WANT to do something. I spend so much time in my life doing things that I don’t want to do, that it’s nice to have it turn around on me like this once in a while.
Even though my craft room is such a disaster that I have to carefully maneuver around the many boxes, papers, and tools strewn all over the floor and I have to push aside the neglected loose stamps, scrap papers, and tossed aside ink pads, I managed to get a card done for you today. And I wanted to. I was excited to. I needed to do something. It feels good to craft again after the holiday break!
The card design today, starts with a challenge, as most of my blog posts tend to do. The As You See It Challenge has a sketch for us this time:
The Sweetest Thing stamp set from the new Occasions Calalogue was not a set that immediately jumped out at me. However, the more I looked at it, the more I thought it would suit my personal needs and the crafty needs of my customers. My youngest child is a sugar monkey. Some of my customers have young kids, grand-kids, and there are a couple ladies who make birthday cards for kids at their church. This stamp fits all those needs as well as just a fun card for my friends and family on their birthdays! Maybe I’ll actually be able to get birthday cards mailed out this year!
I knew immediately that the black and white diagonal striped pattern from the Butterfly Gala Designer Series Paper would be really sharp with the Lovely Lipstick Foil Paper. You can get both of these items for FREE through the Sale-a-bration promotion. How cool is that!?
Let’s talk about the candy. I stamped the candy jar and the candies from the Sweetest Thing stamp set onto Whisper White cardstock with Tuxedo Black Momento ink, then die cut it with the Big Shot and one of the circles from the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies. I coloured the candies with Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, and Lovely Lipstick using my Blends Markers. Then I coloured the jar and around the candies with my newly purchased Balmy Blue Blends Markers. I even did a very careful outline and shadow using the light Smokey Slate Blends Marker. To give the look of glass and make the colours pop, I then used my Fine-Tip-Glue Pen and worked on each section of the jar from one side to the other, until I covered the entire jar with a layer of the clear glue. This needed a bit of drying time, so I set it aside and worked on the Happy Birthday sentiment.
I stamped the sentiment with Versamark ink on Basic Black cardstock, after rubbing the Embossing Buddy over the surface to reduce the risk of my powder sticking to where it doesn’t belong. Then I heat set White embossing powder. I carefully cut the sentiment apart using my paper trimmer (I had to cut it very close) and was ready to add it to my card front.
The glue doesn’t take too long to dry, so it was ready for my assembly. The card base is Thick Whisper White cardstock, then I applied a layer of Grapefruit Grove cardstock. The Lovely Lipstick Foil Paper, thin matte of Whisper White cardstock, and the diagonal strips patterned paper, are all attached to the Grapefruit Grove with Stampin’ Dimensionals. The circle die is attached to the cardfront with MORE Stampin’ Dimensionals with a sneaky bit of Grapefruit Grove ribbon from the Sale-a-bration Organdy Ribbon Combo Pack peeking out underneath. I tied a finger bow with the Daffodil Delight Organdy Ribbon (also part of the combo pack) and adhered it to the jar with a Glue Dot.
Finally, I adhered my sentiment with a Stampin’ Dimensional on one side (where it needed to be raised off the cardfront) and a sparse dab of Tombow Multipurpose Liquid Glue on the other (where it needed to be all snuggly on the circle die).
Many of the supplies on this card are from the Sale-a-bration brochure and are items that you can only get for FREE with any $60 purchase during the Sale-a-bration period. This is a favourite time for many customers and demonstrators in the Stampin’ Up! family. Free stuff is always a good thing!!
Be sure to go to my online store where you can order Stampin’ Up! products or you can just go there to peruse the pretty things and contact me via email to order. If you are outside of Canada, then sadly you cannot order from me, but leave me a comment on my blog and say “hi”. I like to know that I’m not just talking to myself, LOL!
