Copying Connie Again

Hello Friends!  Hope you're doing well and staying busy.  For today's post, I'm sharing my version of a card my sister sent me and then sharing her card.  I loved the look of her card and knew I had nothing that she used to make it.  Darn!  When talking with her, she challenged me to come up with something close using what I had.  It took me a lot of thinking before I decided to take up her challenge.  First, I'll show you what I've made, then share her idea that I copied and selectively edited.  Then you can let me know if I came up with a viable copied idea.

Here it is!  I love the crisp, clean look of just green and white.  All the lovely layering of leaves really makes this card special.  This is how it's made...

Start with a piece of Basic White Thick cardstock that measures 11" x 4 1/4", scored at 5 1/2".  There is some stamping directly onto this.  Both the Natures's Prints (page 91) and Botanical Layers (page 93) were used to stamp leaves.  The largest stem from the Nature's Prints set was used with Soft Succulent ink to stamp once on the top right side of the card and once on the left bottom of the card.  I used a scrap piece of paper to mask the area where I didn't want the stems to show in the middle of the card.  The thick leafy stem from Botanical Layers was stamped on the left top with Evening Evergreen ink.   The smaller leafy stem was stamped on the bottom right with the same ink.

Over the stamped images, a layer of the Vellum Layering Designs was placed.  I used a piece with subtle, tiny white writing all over it.  It measures 5 1/4" x 3".  It's attached only through the area that the wording will go using a strong adhesive.

Then come the die-cut leaves.  I used the Splendid Stems Dies from the July-December 2022 Mini Catalog.  (I don't know why I thought it was in the regular catalog and still current, sorry!)  Four of the open-work dies were used to cut Basic White, Soft Succulent, and Evening Evergreen cardstock. The leafy spray from Framed Florets Dies was used also.  Some of these needed the stems trimmed to fit.  Then they were attached to the vellum with adhesive making sure all the stem ends were hidden.

For the banner across the card, I started with a piece of Basic White that measured 4 1/2" x 1 1/2".  Using the Basic Borders Dies, a stitched zig-zag was cut to make it about 1 1/4" at the widest tips.  A sentiment from the Splendid Thoughts stamp set was stamped with Evening Evergreen ink close to the center.

A piece of Evening Evergreen cardstock was cut to frame the white piece top and bottom.  It measured 4 1/4" x 1 3/8".  They are attached together with adhesive.  Then it was attached to the card front using Dimensionals for a little height.

Five of the Opal Rounds were sprinkled on for some bling.  I just had to add them!

You know me and left-over strips of paper.  The left-over zig-zag piece was attached to a piece of Evening Evergreen that was only 5/8" wide.  These were attached to the bottom of the inside of the card to carry the design over.

Here's the original card.  If you look closely, you'll see that just about everything on the card has been changed.  Like I said, she used all the things I didn't have.  I love the look of those really big open leaves.  So pretty.  Plus, there's a touch of another color green in there.  Looks like it could be Old Olive.

Now if you want to make your version of this card, go right ahead.  If you'd like to send me a picture of the card to share here, be my guest.  I'd love to see what you're creating, and I'll try to add them to this post.  This could be fun!

Thanks for stopping by again today.  I'm working on more projects to share with you.  I miss you all and feel that this is a good way to stay in touch.  And I truly love to hear from you about not only what I'm sharing with you and what you're doing with the ideas, but life in general.  Love you!

Happy stamping and creating!

Sharon

Splendid Thoughts Today

Hello Friends!  Have you ever sat down with an idea, and you knew just what you were going to make?  Then oops! - the second cut you made in your cardstock was almost a whole inch off!  What was I thinking?  And where did I ever learn to measure?  Yikes!  Actually, I put the piece of cardstock aside for a few days and went on to do what I'd originally planned.  Today I just now got back to it.  The new card idea turned out pretty cool, I think.  It looks totally different than what I made originally, but that's what makes it so fun!  

This card starts with an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Cajun Craze cardstock.   It's scored at 4 1/4" and has 1 3/4" cut from the open right edge. Like I said, not sure what I was thinking when I cut that, but I was determined to work with this piece!  The Rustic Pumpkins Designer Series Paper was sitting out and there were some cut pieces sitting there left over from the other project.  I had used the other side of this paper that has these awesome pumpkins on a black background. The bold stripes were a little daunting for me, but why not?  I liked how they angled differently but met up in the middle quite perfectly.  It was like they were made just for this card.  How crazy is that?  The right-side piece measures 1 1/2" x 5 1/4" and the left side measures 2 1/4" x 5 1/4".  They are both attached with adhesive.

A panel of Cajun Craze cardstock was cut with the Rectangle Stitched Dies to hold the focal point of the card.  I cut a piece of Mossy Meadow cardstock that measures 2 3/4" x 4 1/8" to back the Cajun Craze piece.  These are layered together with adhesive.

Then it was time to find something bold that would work with the Cajun Craze and also with black & white stripes on the card.  No easy task there!  After looking at several different stamp sets and almost choosing the Celebrate Sunflowers set, I decided to try the Splendid Thought stamps and dies instead.  Good choice, I think!

I stamped two of the leafy images with Mossy Meadow ink.  This time I used the Water Brushes to add light touches of both Mossy Meadow and Cajun Craze inks.  The water softened the stamped edges and blended the two colors onto the leaves.  If I had wanted crisper edges on the leaves, I would have stamped them with Stazon Jet Black ink instead.  After water coloring, they were die-cut with the matching Splendid Stems Dies.  To add a little filler behind the stems, another leaf stem was die-cut from Mossy Meadow cardstock.  This open-work stem gives just a hint of more greenery behind to fill.

To go with the bold look that was developing for the card, Gold Foil was die-cut with the half-circle die in the set.  Afterwards, it was embossed with the Hive 3D Embossing Folder to give it lots of texture and interest.  Stampin' Seal was placed on the backside of this near the top to carefully attach the water-colored stems as desired.  The openwork greenery was attached to the Cajun Craze panel with MultiPurpose Liquid Glue near the top.  Then the planter with plants was attached over this using Dimensionals. 

One of the sentiments from the Splendid Thoughts set was used to stamp onto Basic White using Mossy Meadow ink.  I wanted to use one of the Rectangle Stitched dies again, but none were the right size so I die-cut it with the edge of the sentiment near one of the ends.  Then moved the die closer to the other end being careful to keep the stitching in line and ran it through again.  I don't think you can tell which end has the second cut at all.  Very handy trick to get the right size die!

The focal images were attached to the card front only on the open flap.  It's set over more to the left side to accommodate the sentiment.  It's attached flat with adhesive.  The sentiment was attached with adhesive to the planter and one Dimensional onto the corner of the Cajun Craze panel.  The rest of the sentiment is unattached.

To finish up the card, a panel of Basic White that measures 2 3/8" x 5 1/4" was attached inside the card.  To be a little different, I attached three of the inside pieces die-cut from the open-work stem on the front of the card.  They're just attached in the corner to look like another plant inside the card.  Just a little fun addition.

Lastly, what to do about bling?  Tried several options and decided on the Brushed Brass Butterflies.  They have a little shine, but don't compete with the awesome planter.  Just enough.

Hope you like today's card save.  You just never know what you'll come up with when you're struggling to use a miss-cut piece of cardstock.  Most times I end up using it for scraps on other projects, but this time I felt like addressing a challenge.  So glad I did, because this card is really out of my comfort-zone.  It's bold and I don't see a pastel color anywhere!  Of course, while water coloring with those dark colors, I did manage to keep them a little softer!  😁

Thanks for stopping by today.  Don't forget Sale-a-Bration is still going on until the end of August.  Get your goodies while you can!  If it's too hot to be outside, take time to stay in and get creative.   It's a wonderful way to spend some of your summer!

Happy stamping and creating!

Sharon

Splendid Thoughts Today

Hello and Happy Sunday to you!  I hope you're taking some time out from your frenzied life for a little relaxing and refreshing your soul.  I always look forward to Sundays and going to church as a way to take stock in my life and look at life from another perspective. Today we went to a different church to find one that feels more like home to us all.  I don't think this one will be my new church home, but I do feel like I've learned something new that I can incorporate into my way of thinking.  Needless to say, I still have so much to learn and adjust in my attitudes and actions to live a more Christ-like life.  Praise God that He loves me - imperfections and all!

Today I'm sharing a card that was inspired by cards that Connie and I made on my past visit in June.  The originals used a product that was non-Stampin'Up! (shhh, don't tell anyone!)  I wanted to do a remake using one of the new Sale-a-Bration items - the Silver & Gold 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper that you can get free with a $50 order.  This DSP is so pretty and looked to be the perfect backdrop for my card design.

The card base is a half sheet of Basic White cardstock that's scored and folded.  A piece of the Silver & Gold DSP that measures 4 1/4" x 3" was layered across the center of the card using adhesive.  The small sentiment "sending hugs" is from the new Splendid Thoughts stamp set on page 65 of the new July - December 2022 holiday catalog.  It was stamped down in the bottom right corner using Soft Succulent ink.  This was set aside while all the other plants were stamped, colored, and die-cut.

Now we get to the stamping of the awesome images in the Splendid Thoughts set.  I just love the look of the eucalyptus branch in the set, so that was a "must use" item for the card. I'm not sure what the other plant is, but that was used too.  Both plants were stamped with Soft Succulent ink onto Basic White cardstock.  They were colored with both the Light and Dark Soft Succulent Stampin' Blends.  It was so easy to color in with the Light. shade with the Dark, and then go back and blend with the Light again.  I just love the look of these!  

The plants were cut using the coordinating Splendid Stems Dies.  There are the two dies that fit these plants, plus five dies for open-work leaves of different sizes to choose from.  Plus, it has a die for this cool half-circle that I used as a planter and a die for the bee in the set too.  Lots to choose from.  I die-cut four of the open-work leaves and the planter from Soft Succulent cardstock to keep the card quite neutral with all the tone-on-tone going on that I had done the first time around.

When I had all the pieces die-cut that I was going to need, I used Stampin' Seal on the back of the planter and started placing the pieces the way I wanted from the back.  You know, placing the front images on first and filling in around and behind them.  When they were all positioned, I carefully used more Stampin' Seal and also Mini Glue Dots to get everything attached to the front of the card.

The last step is of course the bling.  I thought about using rhinestones, but with the gold striping on the DSP, I thought the Brushed Brass Butterflies was a nice subtle accent without being too much.  I sure am using those little butterflies a lot.  They just seem to be the perfect touch!

Now that you've seen the remake, I thought you might like to see the originals Connie and I made.  Of course, we start out with the same basic design and then off we go down our own creative paths. 

My design is on the top here.  You can see I stuck pretty much with my original design, except for the Very Vanilla Cardstock used here.  The gold striping is from a wide Washi Tape Connie has that is truly beautiful.  I thought it looked better with Very Vanilla, but Connie preferred it with Basic White.  The Sale-a-Bration Silver & Gold DSP is shown on the right next to our cards for a comparison.  The gold lines are much finer and closer together for a really different look.

Connie and I used the same colors, but totally different layouts as you can see.  This is one of the best parts of stamping - the creativity!  No matter how many times you pick up the same set, you can always make just a few tweaks or do some major changes, and you always get something different and wonderful and totally you!!

Well, there you have it for today. Hope you enjoyed both Connie's and my take on the Splendid Thoughts stamp set.  It is really an awesome set and I plan on using it again soon.  I've already got more ideas percolating for this set!

Thank you, ladies, for your recent orders.  I truly appreciate each and every one of you!  I feel so very blessed to have a wonderful group of friends supporting me.  If you have any questions about my cards, or anything else, feel free to contact me.  I love hearing from you!  And a huge thanks for the gorgeous cards that have been coming in the mail for me.  It's such a blessing to feel the outpouring of love each time I get another card in the mail.  Love you so much!!!  Your ideas and creativity astound me and makes me want to stretch myself even further.  Thank you so much.

Blessings and many hugs,

Sharon