Sending Smiles to You

 Hello there!  Hope your day is going well and you're getting lots accomplished.  That would mean that one of us is!  😁  And not so much me.  Guess that tells you that I'm not doing as much as I should be doing right now.  Hopefully I can change that and get this blog post published today.  At least I'll have accomplished something worthwhile today then.  I made this card a couple days ago, but never got around to posting it.  I certainly don't know why not.  I really like how it turned out.  I was going for a look of lavender growing in big patch, and the wind blowing gently through and picking up the scent.  I can almost smell the lavender scent in the air.  Can you?

For my lavender fields card, I thought some of the new In Colors would be a great match for the new Sending Smiles Bundle.  The card base is the new Parakeet Party.  Isn't it a fun bright green that just makes you want to smile?   I like it so much more than I thought I would.  Often the really bright colors sort of intimidate me.  On this card, Parakeet Party is teamed up with another new In Color - Orchid Oasis.  Don't they match up perfectly on the card? 

Let's dive right into the dimensions.  The card base is cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  This is scored at 4 1/4" and folded in half.   I wanted more of a green edge on the card, so the layer of Orchid Oasis is cut at 5 1/8" x 3 7/8".   The Basic White layer is cut at 4 7/8" x 3 5/8".  Yes, I know, it's a little harder to measure, but it was worth it to have a bit more of the Parakeet Party cardstock showing on the edges.

For the stamping, I chose the stem with only two leaves and stamped it with Parakeet Party ink.  I stamped a row of them going across the card varying the height a bit on each stem.  I also stamped a few stems much higher to fill in but made sure to off-stamp first.  This kept the greenery full, but not too crowded.  I went in with the lavender-type of flower and stamped them in Orchid Oasis ink.  Some flowers were stamped on the lighter stems by off-stamping the Orchid Oasis ink on these flowers.  Some are even third generation stamped.  After finishing with this, the bottom of the card looked too blah, so I used the single leaf from the set and stamped a few leaves in on the bottom with Granny Apple Green ink.  The darker stamping seemed to anchor the flowers a little better.

The more detailed 'sending' word was die-cut from Basic White cardstock 1 1/2" x 4" that had a piece of Adhesive Sheets attached to the back.  The bolder 'sending' word was cut from a piece of Orchid Oasis cardstock cut at 1 1/2" x 4" also.  After die-cutting the two pieces, the backing was peeled off the back of the white word and it was attached to the center of the Orchid Oasis piece.  The rest of the sentiment was stamped with Orchid Oasis ink onto a 1/2" strip of Basic White cardstock then trimmed on the ends to fit. 

It was time to put all the parts of the card together.  First, the stamped layer was attached to the Orchid Oasis layer with adhesive.  This was then attached to the folded card base using Dimensionals.  The sentiment strip was attached near the bottom right of the card using adhesive.  The 'sending' layers were attached at an angle over the sentiment using Dimensionals.   

Lastly, the card needed some bling.  I still have my favorite 2021-2023 In Color Jewels that I totally love.  Yes, they are now officially retired, but I couldn't resist adding them here.  They seemed like the perfect touch.  Two of the smaller ones were added to the sentiment strip.  Then three more of the jewels were sprinkled on the stamped area.  Love it!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you enjoy the lavender fields.  Aren't the new In Colors pretty?  I think I'm going to enjoy using these new colors.  I have been using the new Sending Smiles stamps and dies lately.  I love the double-cut 'sending' word.  It adds so much having that popped up on the card.  And there are eight sentiment phrases in the set to choose from that cover a lot of needs.  Very versatile.  I know I'll be using this set often in the coming months.  I have to admit that it's loads of fun getting and using new products.  It's always a challenge to look at something new and figure out what I want to do with it.  Sometimes that's harder than at other times.  For this card, I pretty much had an idea in my head, and it actually turned out the way I envisioned it.  Isn't that surprising?  Usually, I end up going off on a tangent and end up with something totally different than the starting plan.  Either way, I'm having fun creating.  Hope you do too.

Blessings and hugs,

Sharon