Aspen Trees Birthday Card

 Hello, hello!  Hope you're having some decent weather.  We've got rain again and these gray days are really getting to me.  It's supposed to stop and get below freezing soon.  Will that be better?  Oh my goodness, I might even admit to missing snow!  Oh heavens!!  But at least with a snowfall, you've got at least one day where it's sparkling white, pristine, and so beautiful.  I've got to start working harder to be appreciative of all this rain.  What are some things about the rain that I can be thankful for?  Come on guys, help me out here!  While you're thinking of some good reasons, let me share a card with you.  It was necessary to make a few masculine birthday cards again.  This is one of them...

Here I go with the Aspen Trees Die set again.  LOVE this set!  This is one of the carry-over items from the winter Mini Catalog for which I am very grateful!  At Christmas I had made some nighttime cards, but this one is a daytime, spring or summer looking card.  I really enjoy using my Blending Brushes to get a softly blended background.  You can make it as soft and pale or as bold and bright as you like.  Just my kind of card.

I started by cutting a Basic White piece of cardstock to measure 5 1/4" x 4".  Then I die-cut the Aspen Trees in the center of this and set aside.  I thought I might add a smudge of color at all the "cuts" in the sides of the trees but decided against doing that.  For some reason, I just like the clean white look of the trees as is.  

Next, a piece of Basic White cardstock that measures 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" is cut.  On this piece, I used a Blending Brush and Balmy Blue ink to blend in a sky from the top to about 2/3 of the way down fading out at the end.  Using another Blending Brush, I blended Old Olive ink up from the bottom.  This was faded into the Balmy Blue area.  Afterwards, I lightly blended in some Garden Green ink to brighten the grassy area.  When I was happy with the colors, this was layered under the aspen trees using Multi Purpose Liquid Glue around the edges and touches of the glue on some of the tree trunks.  Make sure your background piece doesn't show around the edges!  If it's a little too big, trim it before putting the glue on it. This was all added to an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" folded Garden Green card base using Dimensionals to make it stand out.

The leafy pieces were cut from a retired piece of DSP that had multiple green tones.  Four of these leafy pieces were cut then positioned on the card front.  After the positions were decided, each piece had dots of Multi Purpose Liquid Glue on the back to hold them in place in the centers.  The edges of the leafy pieces are very loosely attached so they look more dimensional.

The sentiment is from the Peaceful Moments set.  It's stamped on a Basic White piece using Old Olive ink.  It's then punched out with the Label Me Fancy punch found on page 153 of the Annual Catalog.  Before attaching to the card front, the top half was blended with Balmy Blue and the bottom half has Old Olive ink softly added.  Then it's attached to the card front using Dimensionals.

Since this was to be a masculine birthday card, I didn't want to add any glitz and glitter.  Not too many guys really care for that.  But I did add a double bow of Linen Thread to the left side of the label.  A rolled Mini Glue Dot holds it in place.

I hope you like this card with the blended background.  I find I love adding the blended ink behind the focal point of the card.  For some reason, I find the process of blending ink onto a background to be very calming.  This I could do for a good long while without getting bored.  There's just something about getting the colors just the way I want them to be, adding a little more here or there.  Then being able to add another color over the base color to get a different blend altogether.  It makes me feel so creative!  Maybe it's time for you to get your Blending Brushes out and have some fun!  Did you notice that there are Small Blending Brushes now too?  And a Storage Unit for both sizes of brushes is found on page 67 of the January-April Mini Catalog.  Now there's an easy and handy way to store your brushes.  Woo Hoo!!

Thanks for coming by again.  I really appreciate you taking the time to see what's going on here.  Hope you enjoy my ideas.  Some are very simple and straightforward, but how many of us really have three hours to spend on each card we make?  I know there are times I spend that amount of time and more to make a special card for a very special occasion.  But most of the time our card creations have to be made a little quicker.  So I try to offer you a mix of both.  Hope that works for you.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Wonderful World Take 2

Hey there!  I promised I'd be back today with another version of the Wonderful World stamp set and Designer Paper Bundle that Stampin' Up! is offering during Sale-a-Bration this month.  When you place a $100 US order, you can get these two items at no extra cost to you.  And they are really worth it!!  I think sometimes Stampin' Up! saves back some of its very best ideas to offer as freebies during Sale-a-Bration.  There are always a good number of items that I can't wait to get my hands on and play with.  Right?  Hope you've been able to get some "wonderful" items too!

For today's card idea, I took my cues from the DSP print for color and feel of the card.  This print gave off a vibe that spoke of vintage wallpaper to me.  Maybe you see it differently, but that was my inspiration for the card.  Note- there are some retired items used here.  If that's a problem, guess you need to quit reading right now.  😏 That said, let's move on.  This DSP measures 5 1/4" x 4".  It's attached to the folded Blackberry Bliss card with adhesive.   The Blackberry Bliss measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" that's scored and folded in half.

The iris used is of course from the Wonderful World stamp set.  The DistINKtive images in this set are so nicely detailed and easy to work with.  For this card, I used markers directly to the stamp, huffed, then stamped onto the Basic White cardstock.  Both Rich Razzleberry and Blackberry Bliss markers were used on the flower and an Old Olive marker was used on the stem and leaves.  This is a great way to get more than one color on a single detail stamp.  

After stamping the iris on the Basic White cardstock, I looked for a die that has a vintage feel to it.  I found this one from the retired Tasteful Label Die set.  It was the perfect size and shape for the iris.  To frame it, I chose the Layering Ovals Die set, which is also retired.  It makes a very nice frame of Old Olive cardstock behind the white.  These are layered together with adhesive.  

The sentiment is from the Peaceful Moments stamp set on page 29 in the Annual Catalog.  I love the mixed font look of the set, and wouldn't this be a wonderful anniversary card?  It's stamped to the right onto a 3/4" x 4" strip of Basic White cardstock using Blackberry Bliss ink.  It's backed with an Old Olive strip that measures 1" x 4 1/4".   It's layered together with adhesive, then attached to the card front about 1" up from the bottom edge.  This is attached with adhesive too to keep it flat to the surface.

Now it's time to add the iris layers.  They are attached with Dimensionals to the left side of the card front and slightly overlap the sentiment layers.  I used a Blackberry Bliss Blends to color the 1/4" White Crinkled Seam Binding.  It's tied into a sweet bow and added to the iris with Mini Glue Dots.  The last little bits are the pearls.  They had color added with the same Blackberry Bliss Blends.  Then three were attached in a row to the left of the sentient. 

There you have it - another card to add to my stash for the next rash of anniversaries.  I love having friends that are having anniversaries of 50 years and more!  What a testament to love and lots of compromise over all those years!  An inspiration to be sure!

Thanks for stopping back again to see what's new.  No telling where my next foray into stamping will take me.  It's time to go downstairs and have a look around and make a choice for the next card.  Hope you'll join me on my stamping journey.

Just a quick reminder that Sale-a-Bration is going on until the end of August.  You still have a couple of weeks to cash in on the free items you can get when you spend either $50 or $100 or more.  Stampin' Up! has added more choices to the Sale-a-Bration freebies since they were selling out so fast.  Click here to see what's been added for you.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call and I can place your order for you or walk you through doing it on your own.  Remember, if you order is under $150, please use the Host Code shown at the top right of my blog page.  It's much appreciated.

Happy stamping and creating!

Sharon

Bottled Happiness Shaker Card

Hi there!  I'm back again with another card in the Bottled Happiness Series.  This time I thought I'd try a shaker card since there is a bottle punch that coordinates with this set.  And of course, Stampin'Up! has provided the cute little bottle-shaped shaker domes for us, and don't forget the little beads to go inside too.  Shaker cards are usually not my thing at all, but I thought these would be fun.  Besides, I wanted to see what those Effervescent Elements really looked like.  Yeah, I know - just nosey.  But I'm glad I decided to give this a try.  It took two tries to get this the way I envisioned it, but it was worth the effort to finally get it the way I wanted.

My idea was to have the greenery partially outside the bottle, but the ends showing tucked inside the bottle.  They were stamped with Granny Apple Green and fussy cut.  Then they were cut across the middle and ready to go.  So, the first problem I ran into, was forgetting to get the piece of greenery between the bottle and background before attaching it.  There was no way I was going to pry those apart and not get beads everywhere, so that piece was set aside for another project someday.  Second try, I remembered to tuck in the greenery beforehand and it worked just fine.  Now on to the card basics...

Granny Apple Green cardstock is the base for this card.  It's cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored, and folded in half.  I used another print from the Design A Daydream Designer Series Paper that is a Host Reward pick.  Have to say, these prints are right up my alley.  Just love them!!  This print was cut at 5" x 3 3/4" and is backed with a Basic White layer that is 5 1/4" x 4".  I liked how the white framed the print and makes it pop from the Granny Apple Green base.  I used the Rectangle Stitched Dies to cut the Basic White cardstock piece that has the bottle image punched out from it.

After getting the greenery stems attached to the bottle and laying in a goodly amount of the Effervescent Elements, I actually used a small scrap of the background print to back my shaker bottle.  This way the background can be seen through the bottle, and the whole shaker layering would be put on the card straight.  But lining up the print made bottle a little higher than I had planned.   To take care of that problem, I stamped and cut a few more stems of greenery and attached it to the bottom of the card with Mini Glue Dots.  The trimmed greenery was also attached above the lip of the bottle onto the white layer with some Mini Glue Dots to hold the stems down flat.

The sentiment used here also comes from the Bottled Happiness set.  It was stamped with Granny Apple Green ink onto Basic White cardstock.  It was die-cut with a Rectangle Stitched Die with the wording close to one end.  The die-cut piece was much longer than I needed.  After cutting it once, I laid the die over it again with the end closer to the other edge of the words to cut it the right size.  This is the way you can use these dies to get the size you need for your project.

I added a larger bow to the neck of the bottle using a double strand of Linen Thread.  It's attached with a Mini Glue Dot to the bottle.  After looking at the finished card, I thought it needed another tiny bow holding the stems of greenery at the bottom.  So I added a small single bow of Linen Thread there.

I wanted to add just a small touch of bling but wanted it to compliment the Effervescent Elements in the bottle.  The Iridescent Pearls were the perfect touch to mimic the beads.  Three were added around the greenery.

The inside of the card has a layer of Basic White cardstock.  Wording from the Peaceful Moments stamp set went really nice with the front sentiment.  The words are stamped with Granny Apple Green ink.  I also stamped the greenery stem several times in the bottom corner for an accent.

After trimming up the DSP that was used on the front of the card, I had a skinny 1/8" piece that was perfect as an accent along the bottom of the white cardstock.  I like how the pink and white DSP gives it a nicely finished look.

Here's a last look at this finished shaker card.  I tend to run into little glitches when I make shaker cards.  (That's why I don't make them very often!!)  I'm really happy with how it all came together this time.  And it was worth the time figuring out all the little touches and tricks to make it work.  But I still have that shaker bottle piece that I originally messed up.  Maybe it would be a good idea to work on it right away while I'm still enamored with this shaker card idea.  What do you think?  Back to the drawing board, or should I say the stamping table??

Thanks for stopping by again to take a look at what I've been stamping lately.  I really appreciate you coming by and also for any comments you take the time to leave for me.  I love to stamp, but it's much more fun when I can share my ideas with friends.  I really miss our show & tell time between church services.  It was always fun to see what everyone else was making too.

If you will be placing an order soon, please be sure to use the current Host Code shown at the top of my blog post.  It is greatly appreciated!  See you soon.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon