Easter Card Challenge

Hello my friends.  Hope you're staying warm and dry wherever you are.  I'd said that rain and colder weather was on its way, and it's arrived.  So, what do you do when it's raining?  Stamp, of course.  I checked out the Global Design Project website to see what the challenge was this week.  This is what I created from the design.  

I pulled together many different current and (retired) Stampin'Up! products to make the card.  As soon as I saw the card we were to CASE, this idea popped in my head to use a cross for the center cascading images.  Do you see where I followed the idea?  I prefer having a meaningful and Christian card to send out for Easter, and I think this fits the bill.

Contributors were to CASE a card by Jay Soriano.   This is his creation.  I really liked the look of the vertical lines with the cascading fruits down the middle.  I just had to try this look.

To make my card, I started with a base of Basic White Thick cardstock that measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" that's scored and folded in half.  I knew I wanted to use the soft floral print from the retired Flight & Airy DSP that was a Sale-a-bration item previously.  It's cut at 5" x 3 3/4", then it's cut in half to make two pieces of 1 7/8" x 5".  

After trying several colors of cardstock to be the backing layer, the Boho Blue watercolor print on the back of one of the Flight & Airy DSP papers was the perfect look.  This measures 5 1/4" X 4".  The two flowery panels were attached to this with Tombow Multi Purpose Liquid Glue.

The crosses are two die-cuts from the Cross of Hope Framelits set.  Not sure how many years back this goes, but I love the size of these crosses and have used them often.  The filigree cross is cut from Basic White Thick cardstock.  The smaller cross is cut from the Gold Foil Sheets for a contrast.  They are layered together with adhesive then attached to the center of the card using adhesive also.

For the cascading images, I found the flowers in the Sweet Citrus set were about the right size.  Several were stamped from Boho Blue and another couple from Balmy Blue ink.  There is just a touch of the same colors used to color the inside of the petals.  The centers of the flowers were stamped with Daffodil Delight ink.   Then they were die-cut with the Sweet Citrus Dies.

The leaves are from the Stippled Roses Dies.  To get the leaf color that I wanted, both Garden Green and Shaded Spruce ink were swirled on a piece of Soft Sea Foam cardstock using a small Blending Brush.  After they were die-cut, a little more Shaded Spruce was added to the outer edge of the leaves.

The leaves are attached to the card front with adhesive.  The flowers are shaped by cupping into the palm of my hand and using the large stylus end on my Take Your Pick Tool to shape it.  These are attached with Mini Glue Dots.

The sentiment is from the new Easter Lilies set.  It's stamped in Boho Blue ink and the words are trimmed apart for the card.  Both pieces are attached with Mini Dimensionals.

This whole layer is attached to the white card base by using Dimensionals.

For a little bling, several of the clear Rhinestone Basic Jewels were added to the design.

This was a fun project.  I love getting out my retired (but still loved) stamps and creating with them again.  This card was a good mix of many sets, new and not-so-new.  Hope you like and are inspired with this project.  Please feel free to leave a comment for me.  Now I have one more card made for my Easter stash.  I better get making a few more because they need to be mailed soon.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Now is the time to get out those stamps and goodies to create your own project.  If there are any products that you need to order for your next project, I would be happy to help you out.  Please consider using the current Host Code shown at the top of my blog page.  It is much appreciated.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Easter Lilies in Pink

Hey my friends!  Hope you're having a great day on this sunshiny Thursday.  We've got to enjoy the lovely weather today because the rain and colder weather is right around the corner again.  I'm trying to figure out how it manages to rain every weekend lately.  Today it's nice enough that my dear hubby is out doing yardwork like spraying for spiders, ants, wood bees, and wasps.  Doesn't that sound like fun?!  Guess it's spring when the wood bees come out.  Before we moved here, I'd never heard of them.  Quick lesson, they like to drill holes into wood and nest in there.  Who wants small holes about 1/4" - 1/2" in diameter drilled into their wooden deck? What a mess and we're not happy about it.  Wow, I surely got carried away there!  Did you say you came by here to get some stamping inspiration?  Ok, let's get back on track.  Today's card is using the lovely Easter Lilies Bundle found in the current mini catalog.  I'm just lovin' this set and the cards made using it.  Come create with me...

Isn't this lovely?  The colors just remind me of Easter dresses and pastel jellybeans.  Love it!  The card has an easy fun fold that shows off both sides of the DSP so it's perfect for the Hello, Irresistible Designer Series Paper that is still available as an Online Exclusive.  

 To start, I chose a piece of Soft Sea Foam green cardstock that measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  This is scored at 2 1/8" and again at 4 1/4".  The right edge of the front flap is folded back on itself to make the fun fold.  See, I told you it was easy.

The Hello, Irresistible DSP used here comes as a 6" x 6" paper pack.  Pay attention to both the front and back of the piece of DSP you choose to make sure they go together nicely.  The front piece of DSP is cut to measure 5 1/4" x 4".  I cut a 3/4" piece from the top edge first (I wanted less yellow on the front of the card).  Keep that 3/4" piece for use inside the card later.  Then cut 2" from one of the sides to make the width 4".  Layer this piece onto the front of the folded card and attach only on the fold-back half of the front.  I used two strips of Tear & Tape that I attached to the fold-back front area, then laid down the DSP to attach.  Keep the edges nice and even.

Next up was creating the lilies.  The two lily pieces were stamped on Petal Pink cardstock using Flirty Flamingo ink.  The stem, leaves, and buds were stamped on Soft Sea Foam cardstock using Soft Sea Foam ink.  I used a Blender Pen and a little coordinating ink to add a little extra color to each piece.  The stamens on the open lily were colored with the Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blends.  I got those a little thicker than I wanted but decided to stick with it.  To mimic the spots on the inside of lilies, I used a Copper Clay Stampin' Blends to flick a little ink on the open flower only.  Each piece was die-cut with the coordinating die and set aside for a few minutes.

The sentiment comes from same stamp set.  It's stamped onto a Basic White cardstock strip that is about 3/4" wide.  Copper Clay ink was used for stamping both here and inside the card too.  The strip was trimmed to 4" and added to the card front about 1/2" or so from the bottom of the DSP.

The lily pieces were placed on the card front to fit, then attached.  The open lily petals were curled back using a bone folder to give it some dimension.  To attach, only one Dimensional was used in the center of the flower.  The stem and leaves were attached with adhesive.  The partially open lily was attached with adhesive.  Then the buds were attached.  A Mini Dimensional was placed near the tip of each bud, but the stem end was attached with adhesive under the open lily.  I like how this makes the buds look like they're separated from the lily and not just flat.

This is a top view so you can see how the fold works.  The sentiment is stamped on a piece of Basic White that measures 5 1/4" x 4".  The 3/4" piece of DSP that was cut originally is attached to the side of the Basic White and trimmed to fit.  This pink print is the backside of the front piece.

The sentiment is stamped with Copper Clay ink onto the white.  This sentiment is not a Stampin'Up! stamp.  I find it's sometimes hard to get a holiday sentiment that says what I want it to say.  This stamp has a label that says 2003 so I don't think it's available anymore.  Then the piece was attached inside the card.  Make sure the layer stays hidden behind the front piece when the card is closed.

Last peek of this Easter lily card.  I love how it all came together.  And I especially love the gorgeous pastel colors here.  This card is one of the favorites of what I've created in a while.  It just makes me happy to look at it.  Oh my, is that a grinning smile on my face?  Yup, I love this card!

Enough about me loving this card.  What do you think of it?  Hope you like it too.  This fun fold is so simple, and I love how it stands up nicely by itself.  Guess this is a good one to leave sitting out on the mantle or dining room table.  Hope you give this a try and enjoy making one too.  Let me know how it goes.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Easter Lily Card

Hello all!  Glad to see you stopping by for a minute or two.  I really liked the new Easter Lilies Bundle in the Jan - April 2024 Mini Catalog.  It was one of the first sets I purchased, but it's taken me a while to try my hand at using this bundle.  I seem to struggle making these 3D flowers each time they come out with a new one.  But I'm so happy with the way this one turned out.  I think with all the color and print going on, the lily is very subtle but lovely.  What do you think?

Since the lily is pretty big, I didn't want it to be really bold.  Maybe I'll head in that direction next time but I'm really more of a softer-toned person.  I thought the translucent prints of the Delightful Floral DSP would make a lovely backdrop for my lily.  This gorgeous Designer Paper is an Online Exclusive item.  It's really worth the look to find it.  Here's how I made the card.

I started with a piece of the Delightful Floral DSP that measures 3 3/4" x 5".  The greenery on this print seemed like a good background here.  For this card I wanted the DSP edges to be roughed up or distressed a little.  I used the cutting edge of my Paper Snips to run against the edges of the paper.  Then two of the corners were also curled in on itself showing the soft Pool Party on the back.

This was attached to a Basic White layer by using adhesive.  The white layer measures 5 1/4" x 4".  Then the layers were attached to a folded piece of Soft Sea Foam cardstock that measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" for the base.  Dimensionals were used to attach it this time.

Now let's make the lily.  There are three dies to make the lily petals.  They have all this wonderful detail in them.  I tried something a little different on this.  I set the dies on the ink pad lightly before die-cutting the white petals.  Hmmm, didn't work like I'd hoped, so don't bother with that idea anymore.  If you look closely, you'll see some areas without detail that have smudges of Soft Sea Foam ink on them.  I liked this, so still used these pieces.  The stamens were die-cut from a small piece of Lemon Lolly cardstock.  The tips were colored with a Daffodil Delight Blends Dark marker.  The two leaves were cut from Soft Sea Foam cardstock.

Since the ink didn't show up in the detail cuts like I'd hoped, I used a Blender Pen with Soft Sea Foam ink to color along each of the detail lines.  I wanted a very light color on the details that made it look like a plain white lily.  The leaves were colored with a Blender Pen and Garden Green ink lightly on the detail lines with small touches of Pretty Peacock ink.  After adding the lines, I used a Water Pen and smoothed out the lines a little.  This made the leaves nice and pliable for shaping also.

The lily petals are curled back with a bone folder to get more natural looking petals.  The centers of the two and three petal pieces are held together with adhesive.  Then attached to the card base with one Dimensional in the center back.  The stamens were attached only at the bottom of them to the flower center area.  Then the last petal was attached over the stamen ends using a Dimensional.  

The two leaves were tucked in under the lily and attached only at the bottom end, so they have some movement.   A couple of Mini Glue Dots were used to attach each of these leaves. 

The sentiment for the card is from the Easter Lilies set.  First I die-cut a Basic White rectangle from the Everyday Details Bundle.  The smallest rectangle has tiny stitching dots instead of the larger piercings on the larger dies.  This one was the perfect size for the sentiment.  The sentiment was stamped with Pretty Peacock ink to tie in with the DSP colors.  The sentiment was attached to the card base with Dimensionals.

The inside of the card pulls in the colors of the DSP also.  The Basic White cardstock piece measures 3 3/8" x 4 1/2".  The sentiment is from the Easter Lilies set and is stamped with Pretty Peacock ink.  

The two palm branches are from the same set.  They are stamped with Soft Sea Foam ink.  The white is layered onto a Pool Party cardstock piece measuring 5 1/4" x 4".  It's attached with adhesive.  Then it's attached to the inside of the card with adhesive also.

Back to the front of the card, the last item was deciding what form of bling will be used.  I thought about using something with Pretty Peacock, but I wasn't impressed.  Then I remembered these Glossy Dots Assortment.  Perfect.  The yellow gems accented the stamens on the lily and also brought out the yellow tones on the leaves.  It seems a really good match with this lighter toned lily.

Hope you enjoyed this post.  I'm happy to share what I learn as I try new things.  I was very disappointed that I couldn't 'stamp' with my dies, but now I know it doesn't work too well.  I just might try it again sometime and see if I can't get better results.

This really is a beautiful Easter lily set.  I've always loved lilies - Star Gazer lilies to be exact.  Maybe that will be my next attempt with this set!

Just a reminder (as if that's needed) that the Sale-a-bration sale is in its last days.  If you've still got your mind on an item and you've been putting it off, it's pretty much a now or never situation.  There are still some wonderful items to choose for free.  Hope you don't miss out.  If you don't have a demonstrator, I would love to be yours.  Feel free to contact me with questions.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

sharoncarr50@gmail.com