Cute Little Fun Fold

Hello Friends!  Today's card is all about bright and cheerful, with a little fun-fold action thrown in for kicks.  I have a friend who's having another surgery soon.  This will be the third in three months.  The surgeries are going well, but it's still a lot of stress and worry.  I was looking for an idea that would be just a little something to cheer her up.  I think this little card fits the bill.

Isn't this a darling little card?  And I do mean little in size.  With it all folded up, it's not even 3" wide and only 4 1/4" tall.  Like I said, little.  But it's just the cutest card when it's standing up with all those folds and angles.  Are you interested in making one of these?  Well, let's get stamping!

The card starts out with a base of Thick Basic White cardstock that measures 4 1/4" x 11".  Then it's scored at 1 1/2", 3", 5 1/2", and 8".  This is folded like an accordion with the first fold going to the back.  Make sure to use your bone folder to get a good crease on each of the folds.

The DSP color is called Shy Shamrock and is in the 2024-2026 In Color Designer Series Paper.  Here are the sizes you need to cut:  

2 @ 1 1/4" x 4"

2 @ 2 1/4" x 4"

1 @ 2 3/4" x 4"

Adhere each of these to the corresponding folds of the card base.  I used "green glue" to attach these pieces.  The two smaller ones go on the front folds, the largest is the back piece, and the middle two go on the middle folds on the card.  Make sure you line up all the top and bottom edges to keep it neat.

Next up are the daisies.  These are from the Cheerful Daisies Bundle.  There is one die that has three daisies and some leaves all connected in the one die.  One of these was cut from Basic White cardstock, then trimmed apart with Paper Snips.   The three layering pieces for these daisies was cut from Basic White.  And several extra leaves and one of the airy fern pieces were also die-cut from white.   Then the fun begins.  On the center of each of the flowers and layers, Daffodil Delight ink was added to them with a Small Blending Brush.  Try to keep the yellow ink in the centers only with the edges of the petals still white.  Another Blending Brush was used to add Shy Shamrock color to the white leaves and airy fern.  This was not a solid coverage at all, but kind of hit or miss, light and dark.

The centers on the flowers were stamped on the layering flower pieces.  Then a little adhesive was added to the center of the top layers and added to the coordinating flower with the darker centers showing through. 

The two smaller flowers were arranged on the front fold with petals slightly overlapping the fold.  They are attached with adhesive.  Two of the leaves were tucked in under the flowers.  Leave a little space between the flowers for a sentiment.

The 2nd fold has the large flower attached with adhesive.  It also overlaps the fold.  The leaves and part of the airy fern were tucked in around the daisy.  When the card is shut, the two layers of daisies overlap the fold and gives the look of a bouquet.

Next was cutting a white layer for the inside message on the card.  I wanted to use the Deckled Rectangle Dies, but they were too wide.  After one was cut from Basic White, I laid the long edge of the die about 1/4" in from the edge and ran it through again.  This gave me the size I needed to fit inside the card without showing through on the front when closed.  It has some triple daisies stamped on opposite corners to bring the yellow inside of the card.

Lastly is adding the sentiment.  I found this perfect little sentiment in the Delicate Forest stamp set found on page 76 of the current annual catalog.  Unfortunately, it was really close together and I wanted it split to use half outside and half inside of my card.  It is stamped onto a Basic White strip using Pecan Pie ink.  First, it's cut in half between the lines with a Paper Trimmer.  Then the ends were angle cut on the card front and attached with adhesive on the left side only, so it overlaps.  The words on the bottom of the stamp were cut in half at an angle and the outer edges of the words also trimmed at an angle to match.  They are attached flat with adhesive leaving plenty of room to write a little note.

Here's the finished card.  As you can see, the daisies overlap onto the under layers.  The large daisy even sticks out past the edge of the card.  Because of the small size of this card, it isn't a problem fitting it into a regular envelope.

I really gave some thought to adding some extra bling to the card.  But after really looking at this little card, I was afraid it would be too busy looking.  It was just perfect as is for what I wanted to mail out to my friend.  Sometimes I find it hard to make a specific card for illnesses and sympathy in the moment.  For me it seems better to have a couple different styles made up ahead of time and just pick one that fits.  But this one was not only fun to make, but I was praying for her surgery and recovery while making it.  Isn't that a win-win?

Thank you for sharing some of your precious time with me today.  This is a darling little card that is so easy to make.  Now that I've made one, I'll have to see what else I can come up with next.  How about you?

Stampin' Up! is having a sale starting today until the end of the month.  This sale features 10% off Bundles and 10% of the Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine.  If either of these things interest you, head on over to the store and see what's available.  If you'd put me down as your demonstrator, I'd be very appreciative!  Thank you.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Wildflower Path Smiles

Hello Ladies!  Glad you could come back for another visit.  The idea behind today's card is an English-style garden with taller flowers in the back, then medium height and smallest in the front.  The Wildflower Path stamp set is a stand alone set with no dies or punches, but has enough different stems and flowers to make up my garden.  So, I gave the idea a try and here's my English garden in full bloom.

My thought was to use bright, summery colors for my garden, and I think this works.  This has a mix of some of the new 2022-2024 In Colors with some favorite standbys.  The card starts with a base of Sweet Sorbet cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored in half and folded.  The next layer is So Saffron cardstock cut at 5 1/4" x 4".  It's attached to the card front with Dimensionals.  The stamped layer is Shimmery White cardstock that's cut at 5" x 3 3/4".

Stamping started with the heavier stems that I stamped in Shaded Spruce ink.  These were stamped four times across the card, but the two outer stems are partially off the side edges.  The thinner stem was stamped with the new Parakeet Party ink three times, once in between each of the darker stems. 

On the darker stems, I stamped what looked mostly like roses to me.  These are 2-step stamps.  The larger stamp was inked with the new Sweet Sorbet ink and off-stamped before stamping on the stem.  The more detailed stamp was inked with Sweet Sorbet also, but stamped full strength.  The flowers for the other stems were inked with Mango Melody and stamped.  (I tried So Saffron first, but it was too pale.)  I liked the garden so far, but it needed some darker flowers to offset some of brightness.  

There is a cluster of three flowers that would work for the lowest flowers in the garden.  These were stamped three times in Orchid Oasis ink.  The flowers were twisted each time I stamped so the flowers didn't look like little soldiers lined up.  There were a few more leaves stamped tucked in the bottom using Parakeet Party ink.  There's also a single flower in the set that was stamped a few times near the bottom using Mango Melody ink.  The last thing was to add just a touch of the grasses on the bottom edge with Shaded Spruce ink.

The sentiment is from the same Wildflower Path stamp set.  The words are wonderful and the font fits them perfectly.  This was stamped on a piece of Basic White cardstock cut at 2 5/8" x 7/8".  I used Shaded Spruce ink for this.  To make the whole sentiment layer stand out more, a piece of Shaded Spruce cardstock was attached across the card front with adhesive.  The size is 4" x 1/2".   This ended up a little dark for my tastes, so a strip of Vellum 4" x 1 3/8" was attached in the center only.  Then the sentiment layer was attached to the center of this using Dimensionals for some lift.  

I wanted to carry the design inside the card just like taking cut flowers inside the house to enjoy.  The inside of the card is stamped on Basic White cardstock using the same stamps and colors from the front of the card.  To bring in some of the So Saffron layer from the card front, I added a 1/2" strip across the bottom edge.  I liked how that gave it a more finished look.

Looking at the finished card, I realized the garden needed some butterflies flitting about.  I used the Brushed Brass Butterflies to finish my garden.  One of the tiny butterflies landed on the sentiment to draw attention there, and the other two are enjoying the many blossoms.

Thank you for joining me today on a walk through my English garden.  Hope you enjoyed yourself.  You can always make your own garden to enjoy with either the Wildflower Path that I used or any of the many floral stamps that Stampin'Up! has to offer.  Just pick your favorite flowers and start planting.  Oh sorry, I meant stamping!!

If you're placing an order, please use the Host Code found on the top right of my blog posts.  I appreciate it so much.  Please enjoy your day and find some time for gardening, whether that's creating with stamps or with real flowers and plants.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

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