TCC112 Your Labor Is Not In Vain

Hi Friends!

It's time for The Card Concept #112 {Cottage Florals} Challenge!  

Isn’t this photo gorgeous?  I love the colors of the flowers, the distressed wood as well as the wonderful foliage and decided to create a Shabby Chic Mixed Media card!

This month has been a month of saying “good-bye” to two of our friends as they went home to be with the Lord.  I served with both of them on Sunday mornings on our finance committee and this verse was one of their favorites. 

 Both men were wonderful examples of serving the Lord with all of their heart and will be greatly missed.  It is such a comfort though to know that they had accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior and we will see them again one day in heaven. 

I am confident that they both received a "Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant" from the Lord and I can only pray that I will be as faithful as they were in serving Him with all of my heart all of the days of my life here on earth.  

I am also linking this card to Retro Rubber #107 Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge- middle row down (Sparkle- Leaves- Heat Embossing), the Work It Wednesday March 2019 “Spring Flowers” Challenge and the Word Art Wednesday #380-#381 “Anything Goes” Challenge. 

For the Retro Rubber Challenge, you need to use older stamps.  The Serve the Lord stamp set (retired Our Daily Bread Designs) is from 2011 and Choose Happiness (retired Stampin’ Up!) from 2014.  Also, it is difficult to see the shimmer on the flower petals, but trust me, they are sparkling  :-)

If you have not had a chance to visit us at The Card Concept or the other challenge sites yet, I hope you will find time to do so- fabulous inspiration from all!

To create this card:

1). De-static two pieces of white cardstock with an embossing powder tool.   Using Versafine™ Onyx Black Ink, stamp three of the floral image from Choose Happiness (retired Stampin’ Up!) along with multiples of the branch image onto the panel, apply clear embossing powder and heat set with the heat tool. 

2). Once the embossing has cooled, watercolor the images using water-based markers (the colors I used are listed below).  Fussy cut the images and set aside.

3). On a piece of woodgrain designer paper (from the retired Adventure Abounds designer series Stack), use a stencil with a putty knife to apply crackle texture paste.  Once the paste has dried, apply distress stain to color the designer paper and create the background.  Distress the edges and mount onto a piece of black cardstock. 

4). Ink the sentiment from Serve the Lord (retired Our Daily Bread Designs) using Versafine™ Onyx Black Ink, stamp onto a piece of white cardstock, dilute a few of the colors of the distress stain and apply to the sentiment.  Trim the panel, distress the edges and mount onto a piece of black cardstock (I used a scrap piece of chipboard).  

5). Add a piece of white crocheted lace along with a piece of black seam binding to the card front (wrap the ends of the seam binding behind the panel).  Mount the entire panel onto a white card base.

6).  Cut one of the fussy cut flowers in half.  Adhere the sentiment using dimensional foam and adhere the fussy-cut stems and flowers around the sentiment. 

7).  Use a clear glitter pen to add shimmer to the flower petals and an extra fine white paint pen to add a few white highlights to the floral centers.

8). Add pearls to the sentiment to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets:  Choose Happiness (retired Stampin’ Up!), Serve the Lord (retired Our Daily Bread Designs)

Ink/Mediums: Versafine™ Onyx Black,  Stampin’ Write Markers-Blushing Bride, Rich Razzleberry, Calypso Coral, retired Gable Green, Lucky Limeade, Yo-Yo Yellow; Tim Holtz® Distress Stain- Black Soot, Frayed Burlap, Stormy Sky; Spectrum Noir™ Clear Glitter Pen, Sharpie® Extra Fine White Paint Pen

Cardstock/Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, retired Stampin’ Up! Adventure Abounds Designer Series Stack

Tools/Accessories:  Embossing Buddy®, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Chipboard, Distressing Tool, Wendy Vecchi™ Crackle Texture Paste, The Crafters Workshop™ Well Rounded Stencil, Palette Knife, White Crochet Lace, ½” Black Seam Binding, Pearls

Thank you for taking the time to visit!  Just a reminder that The Card Concept is a bi-weekly challenge that has an inspiration photo along with a suggestion of design styles that you can choose from to create your card- Clean and Simple, Clean and Graphic, Clean and Layered, Shabby Chic, Freestyle Collage, Classy and Elegant and Mixed Media (or you can combine several styles for your own style).

I hope I have inspired you to create your own card based on our {Cottage Florals} photo and link up to our gallery at The Card Concept- we would love to see your interpretation!! The challenge is open until Monday, April 15th at noon (EST).