Ready for Watermelons!

Hello my friends!  Today's post is a little different than usual.  I was planning this month's cards for the shut-ins at church when I had some watermelon for lunch and that triggered my imagination.  Remember last year during Sale-a-bration there was a watermelon stamp set as one of the freebies to choose?  Well, this month's cards are all about watermelon and the cards are bright and fun and absolutely full of watermelons!  The set I used is called Watercolor Melon.  If you don't have this particular set, I'm sure you could find something similar and take this idea and run with it.

The base for the card is Basic White cardstock.  It measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and is scored at 4 1/4" and folded in half to give you a 'landscape' style card.

The layer is the retired Parakeet Party cardstock that is still on my shelf and begging to be used.  This has about eight full and/or partial watermelons stamped on it using the matching Parakeet Party ink.  They are stamped randomly just so the background is covered.  After stamping, it's attached to the folded Basic White card front using adhesive.

Since I was using a retired In Color, I thought I'd use another retired In Color from last year too.  This is Sweet Sorbet and is one of the red colors that I really like.  Isn't a perfect color for the watermelon?  There is a small strip of the Sweet Sorbet cardstock that measures 4 1/4" x 3/4" attached across the card about 2" from the top of the Parakeet Party green layer.  It's attached flat on the front of the card using adhesive.

Next comes the cute, scalloped rectangle die-cut from the Stitched So Sweetly Dies.  I love the tiny delicate scallop along with the stitching lines.  Just adorable.  The center of the label has some Parakeet Party ink softly blended with a Small Blending Brush.  Keep the color soft and in the center so the white edges show up well.

The sentiment used here is from the Ice Cream Swirl stamp set.  It's stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink near the top right side.  This is attached over the Sweet Sorbet strip using Dimensionals for a little height.

Next up was stamping the watermelons.  First the rind was stamped using Parakeet Party ink.  I love the way the rind stamps darker on the outside and getting lighter on the inside just like any real watermelon.  The inner stamp was inked with Sweet Sorbet ink and stamped inside the rind.  Two sets of the seeds were stamped on each melon. They were carefully punched out using the Modern Oval Punch that fits the watermelons perfectly.  Two watermelons were made for each card.  That means there was a pile of 55 watermelons when I was finished.  There were a few extras as a "just in case" precaution. Whew!

One watermelon was attached flat to the left side of the label using adhesive.  The second melon is attached with Dimensionals partially covering the first melon.  Then the label was added to the card front using Dimensionals.

I didn't add anything to the inside of the card because I always print out an inside piece on the computer.  So, I was done and there was a slew of cards ready to send out.  Just need the envelopes printed up for me and that's a job for hubby.  He really helps out by printing them all out for me each month!  A real time-saver!

I thought you'd like to see all the cards that I send out.  These aren't quite all of them though.  Four of them are already in their envelopes and I'm not taking them out!!  Hope these cards will bring some sweet smiles to these kind people.  BTW, I'm so excited about this Friday.  One of the ladies from church that does some of the shut-in visits is taking me with her to visit three of these people!  Woo Hoo!  It will be wonderful to have a face to put with the names on the envelopes.  

Hope you enjoyed this cute card idea and get inspired to keep sending your hand-made cards out to brighten the day for someone.  This project is truly a labor of love for me and is so worth it.  Thanks for spending some time with me.  Enjoy yourself creating interesting cards to share with others.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon