Sweet Citrus Lemons

Hello and a happy Sunday to you.  My goodness it's cold around here.  It was only 32 degrees when I got up this morning and I've been chilled ever since.  Brrrr.  My grandsons and family are in Atlanta for a baseball tournament the boys are playing this weekend.  Wish I could be there with them.  They are playing well and have won most of their games so far.  Yay team!!  What's that you said?  You didn't come here to hear about boys and baseball?  Oh, okay, we'll go back to talking card-making, all right?  

It all started when my friend Diane sent me a card last week that was just covered with lemons.  It was so darn cute it inspired me to get out my Sweet Citrus Stamp, Dies, and Hybrid Embossing Folder to create yesterday.  That was so much fun!  That suite of products is wonderfully coordinated, and you can find them all on page 49 of the January - April Mini Catalog.  You can use just part of it, or all 3 parts of it together.  Hope you like the card I made and get inspired to stamp some lemons too!

Here's my citrus-y card I'm sharing today.  I love how it turned out, especially the shine on the cut edges of the lemons.  It really is hard to get a picture of a shiny finish, but take my word for it, it has just enough shine to look juicy.  Almost makes my mouth pucker!!

I remembered one of the prints in the Tea Boutique Designer Series Paper (in the Annual Catalog) has lemons on it.  I thought it would be the perfect backdrop for these lemons I was going to stamp.  The colors I chose are those listed for the DSP, so it was an easy pick.

The card base is Garden Green and measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  It's scored at 4 1/4" and folded in half.  The first layer is Basic White that measures 5 1/4" x 4".  I cut two of these, so I'd have one for the inside also.  The piece for the card front is die-cut with the Stitched Greenery Die to give it an all-over subtle design.  When it was attached to the card front with adhesive, the rough side (back) of the embossed paper is face-up.  This is for one of the shut-ins at church that will have her 90th birthday in a couple of weeks.  I've been told most of these shut-ins like to feel the cards, so layers and textures are a big deal.  I guess I'm still learning stuff every day!

The next layer is Garden Green again.  It measures 3" x 4 1/4".  The lemony layer of Tea Boutique DSP is cut at 2 3/4" x 4".  The two pieces are attached together with adhesive. 

Now comes the lemons!!  Since the DSP listed Crushed Curry as the yellow color on the paper, that's what I went with.  The outside of the lemons was stamped first onto Basic White cardstock using the Crushed Curry ink.  It looked kind of dark to me, so the inside of the lemons was stamped with Daffodil Delight to be a lighter color than the rind.  I really like how it turned out.  It's still darker than a real lemon, but the colors worked well with the DSP print.

For the cutting and embossing, I placed the die inside of the embossing folder.  It just nestles in there perfectly.  Then looking through the folder, the stamped images were lined up.  I used some washi tape to hold it in place, then ran it through the die-cutting machine.  I was so tickled when I had those cute little lemons in my hands.  They are so cool!  

After cutting the pieces, they are arranged onto the DSP layer.  After getting them placed how I like them, they were attached with just adhesive.  At this point, I used Wink of Stella on just the juicy areas on the lemons.  Can you get a look at the shininess a little better here?  I love how it shines when the light hits it just so.

The sentiment is from the Sweet Citrus stamp set also.  It's stamped with Garden Green ink on a 5/8" x 3 3/4" strip I had left over from some other project.  The ends of this were punched with the Banners Pick A Punch to finish them nicely.  There are four Dimensionals behind the strip to attach it to the focal layer.  Then this whole layer was attached to the card front with Dimensionals too.

Definitely needed some special bling for this card.  I used three of the Glossy Dots Assortment found in the Annual Catalog.  These are the Daffodil Delight color and look great with the colors on the card.  These dots are not faceted but pack a big shine factor, so seemed just right for this card.

The card is finished off inside with the extra Basic White piece I cut earlier.  I had a 1/2" wide strip of a different print of DSP from the same Tea Boutique pack.  I love that it's the same color as the front, but the loose plaid look is a great contrasting accent piece.  

The sentiment is from the Charming Sentiments on page 38 of the Annual Catalog, but I didn't used the dies that coordinate with it this time.  It's stamped with Garden Green ink to match the card.  And that's it.

I'm so tickled with the way this card turned out.  I hope the lady that receives the card will enjoy it.  And a big thanks to my friend Diane who inspired me to make some lemons into lemonade!  It really hit the spot!!

Thank you for sharing some of your day with me.  It's been a quiet day with not much going on.  These relaxing days are just perfect for me to get a card posted on my blog.  When the days are too crazy, I can't seem to think straight enough to make sense when I write.  And that's when I make mistakes.  If you ever find a mistake, please be sure to let me know so it can be fixed.  And I'll apologize now for any mistakes you may find.  I usually re-read the post 2-3 times to catch any problems.  But you know how those pesky little mistakes like to hide until it's too late.

Have fun stamping and creating,

Sharon