Ombre Tea Cup

 Hello ladies!  Hope you're having a fabulous day today.  My psycho cardinal is back running into the dining room window again.  That poor girl must have an awful headache by now!  She usually sits on my car window and fusses at the side-view mirrors.  We've had to fold them back in against the window when we're not driving to make her stop.  So now she's back at the dining room and bedroom windows.  She actually woke me up way too early banging on my bedroom window this morning.  Whoever heard of a cardinal that flies into windows on a regular basis?  And not just once, but maybe 12 - 15 times before she quits.  Then she's back again to go at it another day. BTW, this has been going on for months. Crazy!  I wish I knew what to do to make her stop before she hurts herself.  Any suggestions?  Ok, that's enough about my crazy cardinal.  I don't suppose that's why you showed up here today, is it?  I had to make a card for a friend of mine going through some health issues.  We used to sit and have a cup of tea and visit on a regular basis. But both of us moved away.  I really miss our chats.  So, the Cup of Tea stamp set was my choice for her card.

My thinking here was to make something really bright and cheery, because I can't be there to cheer her up in person.   I started out by working with the Sale-a-Bration freebie - Silver & Gold 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper.  I cut a 1/2" strip from the bottom edge of the dotted print.  Then I cut it in half to get two 3" x 3" strips.  One I'll save for another project.  

I started with So Saffron ink and a Blending Brush to bring the yellow up from one end about halfway.  The end is darker with it blending out to very light as you go up.  Then I used Balmy Blue ink and came down from the top edge and blended dark to light in the middle where it overlapped the So Saffron and became a soft green color.  The blue wasn't dark enough for this, so Tahitian Tide was blended from the top edge to darken.  This only goes down about 1 1/2" or so.

The next thing was stamping the striped teacup with Tahitian Tide ink.  I liked the stripes as a contrast to the dots on the DSP.  The greenery in the set was stamped with Parakeet Party ink.  Then the band of 5 flowers was stamped twice - once with So Saffron and once with Daffodil Delight.  Out of the ten flowers stamped, only seven were used.  After the stamping of the teacup, greenery, and flowers, they were all die-cut using the matching Teacup Dies.

The sentiment is from the same set.  It's stamped with Daffodil Delight ink onto a 1" strip of Basic White cardstock.  The ends were trimmed square. 

After deciding to add a layer of Silver Foil paper behind the dotted layer, it was cut just a bit wider than the sides of the DSP.  They were attached together with Multi Purpose Liquid Glue, then attached to the card front also with the Glue.  The sentiment layer was also backed with the Silver Foil.  Then it was time to get all the pieces onto the card.  

The back of the teacup lip had a little adhesive across it to just barely hold the greenery in place.  Then Dimensionals were added behind both pieces to add to the card, and especially spanning the teacup and greenery to stabilize them.  The tiny flowers were added with Mini Dimensionals behind them to tuck in around the flowers. 

One tiny flower was added to the greenery flat with a Mini Glue Dot.  One of the larger flowers was added over the cup edge using a Dimenisonal.  This gave it a pleasing multi-dimenisonal look to the finished piece. 

The sentiment layer was also attached using Dimensionals.  I didn't attach it in the center of the card, but off to the side to give it more appeal.

Because of the silver foil layered behind the two areas and the silver dots on the DSP, I decided not to add any extra bling to this card.  I felt it would just get lost in the finished design.

Hope you like this bright and happy card.  And I hope it cheers up my good friend.  By changing the sentiment, I think it would make a great birthday card too.  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by to see what's happening here.  My psycho cardinal finally gave up banging into the window.  Hope she's taking a breather somewhere and doesn't come back for a while.  I've been fretting about not seeing my hummingbirds this year, but this morning three of them were out at the feeder and doing all kinds of aerial acrobatics.  So much fun to watch them!

Thank you for the orders that have been coming in.  You know how much I appreciate you!  If you're thinking of placing an order soon, please use the Host Code shown at the top of my blog post.  When an order is placed through this, I can order extra goodies to share with you all without spending an arm and a leg for the items and then shipping them to you.  Thanks in advance of any orders placed!!!

Please stop by again soon.  I love seeing the comments you make.  It really makes my day when you take the time to leave a comment.  It keeps me connected to you!  And that's a good thing.

Happy stamping and creating!

Sharon

Time for a Cuppa

That would be a cup of tea for all of us that aren't British.  I just always loved the phrase.  It sounds like a fun get together for something so common.  And I've always loved sets that incorporate cups, tea or coffee.  So of course, this stamp bundle was a must-have for me.  I already had some ideas of what I wanted to do with this set, and this is how the first one came out.

I thought these new In Colors would work very nicely together on this card.  I did get a little bonus extra while stamping the cup though.  For some reason, my new Parakeet Party ink pad tends to create bubbles when inking up a stamp.  For line art it's not really noticeable.  But when you come to thicker lines, it almost looks like an extra print in the stamp.  How strange is that?  But I liked it.  So after three tries, I figured that's the way it will be.  Now I'll have to make a few more cards with those green stripe cups.  Can't let those extra cups go to waste now, can we?

The card base starts out with the new Starry Night In Color.  It's a nice rich brighter dark blue.  Using a full piece of 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock, score in half going in both up and down and side to side directions.  Then cut diagonally from corner to corner for the card base.  If everything goes well, this is the look you'll end up with...

When the flaps are folded in on the card, you should have a diagonal gate-fold card.  (Or whatever it's being called right now).

The Parakeet Party cardstock layer is cut at 4" x 5 1/4".  Then carefully cut this diagonally to match the front of the card.    The Tea Boutique DSP layer is cut at 3 3/4" x 5", and again cut diagonally to match with the rest.  It's very important to pay attention to the direction of the diagonal cuts.  It really makes a difference to matching it all up.  After cutting all the layers,  attach them together using adhesive.  I used the MultiPurpose Liquid Glue for my card.  For this card, I really liked the diagonal checks on the DSP.  I thought it was perfect for the rest of the design.

The scalloped white layer that is stamped on is the middle rectangle from the Scalloped Contour Dies.  The greenery that fits inside the teacup was stamped right at the middle line of this using Parakeet Party ink.  The flowers that go with the greenery were stamped with Orchid Oasis ink in between the tips of leaves.  

The striped teacup was stamped with Parakeet Party ink onto a scrap of Basic White cardstock.  I also stamped the outline for the tea tag.  The sentiment "sweet" inside the tag was stamped with Orchid Oasis ink.  Both the teacup and tag were die-cut with the coordinating Teacup Dies.  The teacup was attached to the layer with adhesive, and the tag was attached with a Dimenisonal.  

Figure out where the stamped white layer will be fitting on your card front.  Carefully mark where the tape needs to go so it is only on one half of the card front so it can still open.  At this point, I used two strips of Tear & Tape on the back to make sure it's very secure.  

Three of the Orchid Oasis dots (2022-2024 In Color Matte Decorative Dots) were added to the design.  Two tiny ones were added to the larger flower centers, and one larger dot was added near the bottom of the design.  

A bow made from the Orchid Oasis 1/8" Metallic Woven Ribbon was attached to the top of the tea tag using a Mini Glue Dot to hold it in place.  You've got to see how pretty this ribbon is.  You can even maneuver the ribbon to make it a little wider and more sheer.  Fun!  The front is now complete.  It's time to tackle the inside of the card.

The inside layer of Basic White was cut at 4" x 5 1/4".  Check picture #2 to see images of the inside of the card.  I stamped another sentiment from the Cup of Tea stamp set using Orchid Oasis ink.  There is a small leaf spray that I stamped to the side of this with Parakeet Party ink.  The teacup with leaves was also stamped in green near the bottom.  Along the right edge, I layered a 1/4" strip of the same diagonal print using adhesive.  After looking at this layer, I went back with a Parakeet Party Stampin' Blends to add extra color to all the open leaves.

Looking at the finished card when it was open, I didn't like the back of the white layer showing so much.  I chose another print from the same Tea Boutique DSP and the next smaller die from the Scalloped Contour Dies and cut a nice rectangle.  This was added with adhesive to the inside as shown.  I think this gives the inside of the card a much nicer finished look.

There you have it.  The first creation using the Cup of Tea set and matching dies, and of course, the coordinating DSP.  So much fun wrapped up in that bunch of goodies.  Hope you like this idea and give it a try.  The most important part of the whole card is getting those diagonal cuts done right.  Then everything else just falls into place like it should.

Thanks for stopping in again.  If you're ordering, please use the Host Code at the top of my blog page if your order is under $150.  If your order is over that amount, make sure you get the Host Rewards for your order.  If you're unsure how to do this, give me a call and I'll be happy to help you out.  Now, get out there and do some creating.  I think I hear your stamps calling you.  Thanks again!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon