JUN14VSND- Every Day "Vacay"- Happy Retirement!!

Hi Again Stampers! 

Here is the final card created for the Splitcoaststampers’ Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) Friday Challenges- this one is for the JUN4VSND “Every Day Vacay” – create a Retirement card, Graduation or Congratulations card.   Since I used a background stamp, this card also qualifies for the SUO98 "Stamping in the Background" Challenge :-)

As my husband and I start to think about retirement, we dream of traveling (mainly to the US - we would love to travel cross country and visit all of the natural parks in the continental US) :-)    

With that dream of ours in mind, I decided to use World Map and a few other digital images to create this card.  The finished card seems a bit busy to me but that is what retirement is all about- being busy doing what you want- lol!!!

Again, the only main rule for VSN is that you have to create your card, start to finish (not including photographing and posting) within 60 minutes- this card took almost the entire hour but I did complete within the time frame- woohoo :-) !!

If you have a chance, check out the rest of the gallery at Splitcoaststampers for this challenge- so many fun and unique designs!

To create this card:

FYI- Most of the card uses My Digital Studio (MDS) images and since I looked at the challenges as a whole in the beginning,  I had designed the cards and printed the images in the beginning onto one piece of Whisper White cardstock.

Color the map using Stampin’ Blendabilities™- Skin Tone Collection, Old Olive, Coastal Cabana.  Once colored, distress the edges using the Distressing Tool and use a Sponge Dauber to apply Early Espresso Classic Ink to the edges.

Cut the map into thirds (you may not need to cut your map if you use the stamp instead- mine was a bit small so I hid the cut lines with other elements).  Uh, oh!!   Now you know all of my secrets- lol!!  (oh, we have a perfect stamp in the new catalog for that :-))

Layer the cut map onto Basic Black cardstock, trim and layer onto Sahara Sand cardstock trim and layer onto Basic Black and finally add to the Coastal Cabana card base.

Use a Sponge Dauber with Early Espresso Classic Ink to “age” the layers. 

Cut out the remaining images from World Tour (used the Big Shot™ with the Circle Collection Framelits™ to cut the All Abroad Image) and layer onto Basic Black cardstock.  

Color the images using Stampin’ Blendabilities™- Daffodil, Pumpkin Pie and Coastal Cabana Collections. 

Apply Crumb Cake Classic Ink with a brayer and Early Espresso Classic Ink using a Sponge Dauber to “age” the paper and age the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes (enlarged before printing with MDS). 

The sentiment layer was created using scraps- Coastal Cabana, Basic Black and Sahara Sand.  Add the sentiment and a few pieces of knotted retired Hemp Twine, adhere to the card front.

Stamp the sentiment, “Congratulations” from the retired Express Yourself hostess set using Memento™ Tuxedo Black ink onto Whisper White cardstock.  Trim and use the Banner Punch to create the banner points, add to a Basic Black cardstock layer, trim and create banner points as well with the Banner Punch. 

Add the sentiment and international stamp images to the card using Stampin’ Dimensionals®. 

Use the retired Color Spritzer Tool with the Early Espresso Stampin’ Write marker to add additional distressing to the sentiments and add the So Saffron Candy Dots to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets:  World Map, World Tour, Teeny Tiny Wishes (all MDS versions), Express Yourself

Ink:  Printer Ink- Black, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Stampin’ Blendabilities™- Skin Tone, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Coastal Cabana Collections; Memento™ Tuxedo Black 

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Sahara Sand

Accessories:  Big Shot™, Circle Collection Framelits™, Banner Punch, Distressing Tool, Brayer, Sponge Dauber, 1 ¾” Circle Punch, retired Hemp Twine, Candy Dots

Thanks again for stopping by and I do hope you will have time to join in on the fun!