Happy 4th of July

Hi Friends!! 

I hope all of you are having a great weekend so far!!  Today it is my turn to highlight a card on the Artistic Outpost blog and I wanted to share this fun Mixed Media card using several Artistic Outpost stamp images (Harvest, Ice Cream Shoppe, Grunge Elements and Hero) along with the Patriotic 6x6 Paper Collection from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I love anything patriotic with red, white and blue and since we are celebrating Independence Day here in the United States on July 4^th, I decided to create a card with a celebration theme (who doesn’t like ice cream for a celebration- lol)!!

I am also going to link this card to the Just Add Ink #318 “Just Add S” Challenge (stars, sequins, strawberry ice cream) along with the Splitcoaststampers’ MIX75 “I Love A Parade” Challenge (original challenge date 07/04/14- they never expire and I am trying to gradually go back and do all of the MIX-Ability Challenges) and the TGIF #62 Red, White and Blue Challenge.

If you have not had a chance to visit us at The Artistic Outpost blog yet, I hope you will do so- inspiration is posted several days a week from my DT Sisters and trust me, they are very inspirational!!  

Also, I hope you will have a chance to visit the Just Add Ink, TGIF  and Splitcoaststampers Mix-Ability Challenge sites as well- again, fabulous samples by all!

Original Design

To create a card:

Ink the girl image from Harvest with Stāz-On® Jet Black Ink, stamp onto Whisper White cardstock, color with an AquaPainter™ along with ink from water-based markers, dry with the Heat Tool, fussy-cut the image, mount onto Basic Black cardstock, fussy-cut again and set aside.

Whew!  Sounds like a lot of steps but it is pretty quick and easy (plus I had this image left over in my stash already colored and layered from playing around with last week’s designs- love using my stash! :-)).

Repeat the above steps with the ice cream cone image from Ice Cream Shoppe.

Using the border image from Grunge Elements with Tim Holtz® Walnut Stain and Tea Dye Distress Ink, repeatedly stamp along the edge of a piece of Our Daily Bread Designs(ODBD) Patriotic Collection 6x6 paper (cut to approx. 3 ¾” x 5”).

Use the Big Shot™ with the star embossing folder to emboss the panel, lightly sand the embossing with a sanding block, and apply white Gesso® to the background (I used my finger to sparingly apply the Gesso®).

Trim the panel, mount onto Whisper White cardstock, trim again and mount onto Cherry Cobbler cardstock, trim again (each time close to the edge) and mount onto Dapper Denim cardstock before trimming the panel one final time before adhering it to the Extra Thick Whisper White card base.

Take a smaller strip of Whisper White cardstock, trim to approx. 4” wide, mount onto Dapper Denim cardstock and add a strip of Cherry Cobbler cardstock (this strip is approx. ½” wide and from my stash).

Ink the grid image from Grunge Elements with Tim Holtz® Tea Dye Distress Ink and repeatedly stamp on a diagonal across the strip.

Stamp the sentiment from Hero with a Cherry Cobbler and Dapper Denim marker, hand trim and mount onto Dapper Denim cardstock and adhere to the card front.

"Stepped-up" Design

To finish off the first version of the card, add the stamped images with dimensional foam.

Of course, you know me, I thought it looked as though it needed more layers, so I decided to “step it up” version by adding a portion of a white paper doily to the bottom along with a few sequins.

Stamp Sets:  Ice Cream Shoppe, Harvest, Grunge Elements, Hero (Artistic Outpost)

Ink/Mediums: Stāz-On® Jet Black, Stampin’ Write Markers- Cherry Cobbler, Dapper Denim,  Ranger® Tim Holtz® Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Ink, White Gesso®

Paper: Whisper White, Extra Thick Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Dapper Denim; Patriotic 6x6 Paper Collection (ODBD)

Accessories: Big Shot™, Star Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug®), AquaPainter™, Sanding Block, Heat Tool, White Tea Lace Paper Doily (retired SU!), sequins (from my stash)

So which version do you prefer, Design #1 or Design #2? I would love to know :-)

Also, has this card inspired you to pull out your stamps and create a project of your own?  I sure hope so and thanks again for stopping by- hugs and have a great week, my friends!

Artistic Outpost Harvest

Artistic Outpost Grunge Elements

Artistic Outpost Ice Cream Shoppe

ODBd Patriotic Collection