One Nation Under God

 

Hi Friends!

Today I am sharing a Mixed Media Patriotic card designed with the new Red, White & Blue Bundle along with the Old Glory Bundle and other dies/supplies (from Stamp Simply)!

I fell in love with the Old Glory Bundle when it was released last spring and absolutely love the new coordinating Red, White & Blue Bundle, don’t you?  

The flag image, block sentiment stamp plus all of the other sentiments are perfect for so many summer cards!

This week we are celebrating the new Red, White & Blue Bundle release by sharing patriotic cards on the Stamp Simply blog!  I hope you have had a chance to check out the fabulous inspiration from the rest of our Design Team!

I decided to create an easel card since I wanted to use the patriotic map of the USA as well as the flag images. 

As many of you know, I love to participate with online challenges and will be linking this card to the Double D “Signs of Summer” Challenge (I was inspired by the red, white and blue stripes in the little girl's bathing suit as well as the celebratory theme of the parade in the inspiration photo).  

I am also participating in the  Simon Says Wednesday “Red, White and/or Blue” Challenge  and the Word Art Wednesday #497-#498 “Anything Goes” Challenge.  

If you have not had a chance to visit the Stamp Simply blog or the other challenge sites yet, I encourage you to do so- wonderful inspiration from all!

To create this card:

Ink the block image from the Red, White & Blue stamp set with Tim Holtz™ Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and stamp at the top and the bottom of a 3 ¾” x 5” piece of white cardstock and onto another piece of white cardstock approx. 3 ¾” x 2 ½”.

Once the ink has dried, apply Tim Holtz™ Picket Fence Distress Stain over the entire panel to tone down the color a bit.  Allow to dry and distress the edges of the panels with a distressing tool.

Use a blending brush with Tim Holtz™ Pumice Stone Distress Ink to “age” the panels, mount each onto white cardstock, trim, and mount again onto red cardstock, trim and finally mount onto navy cardstock.

Ink the block image from the Red, White & Blue stamp set with Versafine Onyx Black Ink and stamp onto another piece of 4 ¼” x 5 ½” white cardstock (stamp near the bottom of the panel).

Ink the US map image from the Old Glory stamp set with Versafine Onyx Black Ink and stamp onto the top of the same panel as the flag image (this way you can die-cut both from the same piece of cardstock).

Die cut both images using the coordinating dies and watercolor the images with watercolor pencils (I use Derwent™ and a few Stampin’ Up! – see in the list below).

Create the banner flags from the Echo Park America 6x6 Paper Pad using the smallest banner die from the Fishtail Sentiment Banners and once die cut, split the banner in half (FYI- I used the little strips that you normally cut off the top of the 6x6 paper when you remove it from the pad.  There is a hole in the center, and you can get two of the smallest dies cut into banners, resulting in four when you split them in half).

Gently apply Tim Holtz™ Pumice Stone Distress Ink to “age” the banners with a blending brush. 

Use a glue gun to adhere the banners to a string of knotted patriotic twine and mount on an angle to the large background panel (FYI- I used a glue gun to add a drop of glue to each end of the twine as well as a small amount under the twine in the center to adhere to the panel).

Using Versafine Onyx Black Ink, stamp the “One Nation Under God” and “Always Remember Freedom Isn’t Free” onto white cardstock, apply clear embossing powder and heat set with a heat tool.

Once the embossing has cooled, carefully color the “Nation” in red (I used a sharp red watercolor pencil).  Die cut the “One Nation Under God” sentiment with a medium banner die from the Fishtail Sentiment Banners, distress the paper with the pumice stone distress ink, distress the edges with a distressing tool (or the edge of scissors) and trim off the left-hand side to mount along the main background panel (under the banner).

Cut the “Always Remember Freedom Isn’t Free” sentiment in half, distress the edges and set aside.

Create the easel base from a piece of 4 ¼” x 11” piece of heavy white.  Score at 5 ½” and on one side at 2 ¾”.  Fold along the 5 ½” score line for a tent fold, the fold the 2 ¾” upward to create the base for the main panel. 

Once you have the easel base folded, I tend to trim a bit off the edges (approx. ⅛”).  This way when you mount your front panel and smaller piece at the bottom, the white cardstock will not show.   Please refer to this tutorial at Splitcoaststampers for more details and info on how to create an easel card base.

Adhere the main front panel to the small fold at the top of the easel (I use strong adhesive to adhere this panel).

Add the layered smaller panel at the bottom of the easel with dimensional foam (or chipboard).

Adhere the die cut US map image to the card front with dimensional foam and/or chipboard as well as the flag image at the bottom of the easel.

Adhere the “Always Remember Freedom Isn’t Free” sentiment layers with dimensional foam and/or chipboard onto the lower panel and finish off the card with a few silver rhinestones in the upper right-hand and lower left-hand corners of the flag panel.

Stamp Sets:   Red, White & Blue Bundle, Old Glory Bundle (Stamp Simply)

Ink/Mediums: Versafine Onyx Black Ink, Watercolor Pencils- Derwent® #19- Madder Carmine, #28= Delft Blue; Stampin’ Up! – Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Basic Black, Night of Navy; Tim Holtz™ Distress Ink- Chipped Sapphire, Pumice Stone, Picket Fence Distress Stain

Cardstock/Paper: White, Red, Navy; Echo Park America 6x6 Paper Pad

Accessories/Tools: Gemini, Jr., Stamp Simply Steel Dies- The Red, White & Blue Flag, Patriotic Stars & Stripes (Old Glory), Fishtail Sentiment Banners, May Arts Patriotic Twine, Distressing Tool, Blending Brush, Scoring Tool, Embossing Powder Tool, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Silver Rhinestones

Also, don't forget that Stamp Simply still has the following special for June (also, a free shipping offer) :

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by and visit! I hope you are having a great summer so far and, for my US friends, as we approach Independence Day, I hope you are thankful for those in our armed forces (and their families) serving currently and in the past.  We know that “Freedom Isn’t Free”. May we always remain “One Nation Under God”.  

Hugs and God Bless, sweet friends!

God Bless the USA!

Hi Friends!

Happy 4^th of July to all of my friends in the USA!  To celebrate Independence Day, I finally had a chance to ink up the new Stamp Simply Old Glory and Patriotic Sentiment stamp sets and use the coordinating Patriotic Stars and Stripes (Old Glory) dies (all from Stamp Simply). 

When I saw this bundled set at the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store site a month or so ago, I just had to purchase it!  I know, I do not need any more stamp sets, but I love all things patriotic and fell in love with both the stamps and dies!

I pulled out the Patriotic Collection 6x6 Paper Pad from Divinity Designs LLC and also included ribbon, lace and silver cord from my stash.

I will be linking this card to the Always Fun Challenge #169 “Patriotic”  along with the Color My Heart Color Dare #401Inspiration Board Challenge (I was inspired by all of the patriotic images, colors along with the woodgrain behind the pinwheels). 

I had stamped the USA image several times with waterproof ink and while watching TV, used watercolor pencils and water-based markers to color.   

Once colored, I used the coordinating die to die cut and also cut a few extra dies from white cardstock (for layering to create more dimension).  I still have a few more of the USA images now in my stash for future cards :-)

The pieces of designer paper from the Patriotic Collection (Divinity Designs LLC) were trimmed and mounted onto red cardstock before adding the crochet lace and ribbon (wrapping the ends of the ribbon behind the panel). 

A bit of silver elastic cording was looped before adhering the sentiment directly to the lower panel. 

The USA image was mounted onto two additional die cuts from white cardstock before adding chipboard and adhering to the card front (over the looped cord).

The card was finished off with a few die cut stars along with rhinestones and the entire panel was mounted onto a white card base.

Stamp Sets: Old Glory, Patriotic Sentiments (Stamp Simply)

Ink/Mediums: Versafine™ Onyx Black, Derwent™ Watercolor Pencils- Reds, Blues, Stampin’ Write Markers- Real Red, Night of Navy

Cardstock/Paper:  Whisper White, Real Red; Patriotic Collection (Divinity Designs LLC)

Accessories: Gemini, Jr.™, Patriotic Stars and Stripes Dies (Stamp Simply), AquaPainter™, Heat Tool, Silver Elastic Cord, 1” Red Satin Ribbon, White Crochet Lace, Rhinestones

Thanks again for taking the time to visit- I hope all of you in the United States have a safe and healthy Independence Day celebration! 

Praying that our country will return to God and that God will continue to bless America!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4^th of July, My Friends!

I have been so busy trying to organize my stamping/craft room (well, really "rooms" since it is all over the house- lol!) that I have not had a lot of stamping time lately.  

Since my self-imposed organization "job" is taking longer than I anticipated (I move much slower as I get older), I thought I would take a trip down memory lane and post a few of the cards that I have created for the 4th of July/ Memorial Day in the past. 

To find the cards and links for this post, I used my  “Labels” section at the very bottom of my blog.  In the beginning of blogging, I used quite a few labels for each post so I had to put this section at the very bottom of the page (keep scrolling and you will see it:-)). 

To find the cards, I "clicked" on Patriotic (I have 22 posts with a patriotic theme) and am sharing ten of those cards with you today.   This set of cards will showcase a a variety of styles as well as a few cards using stamps that are not normally considered "Patriotic" starting with the year 2013 through 2017.  

I tend to favor Mixed Media cards but do have a few Clean and Simple/Clean and Layered cards in the post as well :-)  If you have a chance to comment, please let me know which style you like the best and I will try to design cards using that style in the future:-)

If you would like to view the rest of the patriotic cards from the past six years, just go to this link and you can see them all (scroll through the post, then click onto "Older Posts" to continue to see all of the cards). 

This card was designed for an SUO Challenge in 2013 using the retired
 Stampin' Up! images (Sunflower background and Trust God)
- see the instructions here

This card was designed for the SUO150 Challenge in 2016 and
I "cased" my own card (from above) using a different
floral stamp (Dahlia background) - see the original post here

This  quick and easy card was designed in 2014
 using scraps for a few online challenges-
see here for more details

I have several family members that were born on July 4th
so this card was designed with Our Daily Bread Designs and
retired Stampin' Up products with them in mind-
I have more information in this post

This patriotic card was designed in 2015 for Memorial Day using
Our Daily Bread Designs- see this post for more details 

This Mixed Media card was designed in 2016 with Artistic Outpost and
Our Daily Bread Designs using a vintage watercolor technique-
see this post for more details 

Another fun 4th of July Mixed Media card from 2015 using
Artistic Outpost and Our Daily Bread Designs-
see this blog post for more details 

A fun carefree card using Stampin' Up! stamps  for the SUO177 Challenge
 (Beautiful You, Work of Art) - see this post for full details and free instructions

A quick Clean and Simple (CAS) card using a retired Stampin' Up! image -
 see this post for all of the details 

Playing around again with a CAS style using a retired
Stampin' Up! image- see the blog post here for more details

I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane with me :-)    I am so thankful that we are free!! 

I am also so thankful for all of you that take the time to visit my blog.  I know that many of us have not met in person but I consider all of you "friends" and feel so blessed! 

When I started this blog in August 2010, I decided that I wanted this blog to be just for "fun" and not for profit.  As an artist, I find that I can design more freely when I am not under pressure for too many deadlines and/or if money were to be involved- for me, this stifles what I call my "mojo":-)  So at the time of establishing my blog, I decided not to monetize (you should not be seeing any ads) and am very honored that you are here. 

I noticed recently that I am currently at 999,739 visits and am humbled that people from around the world have stopped by to visit my blog :-)  I am sure that number is somewhat elevated by "bots" (false visits) but hope that those of you who have taken the time to visit, realize what a blessing you are to me! 

Thank you, again for the encouragement it is that you have visited my blog- hugs and I hope you have a wonderful  4^th of July!!  

Happy 4th of July!

Hi Friends!

Happy 4^th of July!!  I love all things Americana and wanted to create another patriotic card in honor of Independence Day!  We can never thank the men and women (and their families) who have served our country in the armed forces enough- without them, we would not have our freedom! I am proud to be an American and pray that God will continue to Bless America!

I designed this Clean and Simple (CAS) card using Our Daily Bread Designs Old Flag Background stamp along with the sentiment from Home of the Free using the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog #65 Sketch, the Less is More #335 “Colours of your Country’s Flag” Challenge and the FUSION “4th of July Jars”Inspiration Challenge.  

Oops! My card does not qualify for the Less is More Challenge since I do not have enough white space- ny apologies...I should have read the challenge details more thoroughly!  Maybe I will create another card for this challenge since I do love patriotic cards and have the perfect stamp for a cleaner look!

If you have not had a chance to visit the challenge sites yet, I hope you will find time to do so- wonderful inspiration from all!! 

To create this card:       

   

1). Ink the Old Flag Background stamp using Faded Jeans and Fired Brick Distress Oxide Inks, add a bit of gray with the Stampin’ Write Smoky Slate marker, spritz lightly with water and place a piece of Whisper White cardstock over the image, pressing down with your fingers before lifting up the paper.

2). Use an AquaPainter™ to apply Cherry Cobbler and Night of Navy Classic Ink over the stamped image.  Trim the panel, cut the center strip (per the sketch) and mount onto a piece of Night of Navy cardstock.

3). Mount the entire panel onto the white card base.

4). Ink the sentiment from Home of the Free using Stampin’ Write Night of Navy and Cherry Cobbler markers, trim and mount onto a piece of Night of Navy cardstock. 

5). Add the looped Silver Thread to the card front and mount the sentiment with dimensional foam.

7). Add a Rhinestone to the center of the star in the sentiment to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets: Old Flag Background, Home of the Free (ODBD)

Ink/Mediums: Stampin’ Write Markers- Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy; Tim Holtz® Distress Oxide Inks- Faded Jeans, Fired Brick

Paper/Cardstock: Whisper White, Night of Navy

Accessories/Tools:  AquaPainter™, Silver Thread

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by- hugs and I hope you have a blessed week, sweet friends!