Feathered Frontier- Birthday for a Friend :-)

Hi Again Stampers!

I have one more card that I can now share (my friend should have received it in the mail by now for her birthday). 

She loves horses and as soon as I saw the new sets, Horse Frontier and Fine Feathers, I knew that I had this card in mind for her birthday. 

To create this card:

Use the Big Shot™ with the Argyle Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder to emboss a piece of DSP (I used the retired DSP- Well Worn for the blue and the Early Espresso was from a few years ago- not sure of the name).  

Lightly sand with the Sanding Block to bring out the white core and distress the edges a bit with your fingernail (be careful, once you sand the DSP it can become fragile).

Layer the panels onto Early Espresso cardstock and add the embossed piece of Early Espresso (I used the Square Lattice EF) and the punched layer with the Pinking Hearts Border Punch (I antiqued this piece of Whisper White with Crumb Cake and Soft Suede ink).

Add the knotted Hemp Twine (retired- why did they retire this wonderful twine?) and mount again onto Whisper White (“antique” with the Sponge Daubers and Crumb Cake Classic Ink). 

Using Basic Black Classic Ink, stamp the horse image onto Crumb Cake cardstock and color with SU! Watercolor pencils and the Aqua Painter.  Once you are pleased with the watercoloring, use the white pencil to bring out highlights and spritz with the Color Spritzer Tool and Early Espresso marker.

Tear the edges by hand and lightly sponge Soft Suede and Early Espresso ink to distress the edges and give the “Faux Burned” look.  

Now for the feathers :-)  Stamp the feathers using Basic Black onto Whisper White cardstock and color with the SU! Watercolor pencils and the Aqua Painter until the desired effect is achieved.  

Fussy cut the feathers out using your paper snips and also snip along the edges of each feather to achieve a “feathered” look… takes some time but well worth it (they really look real :-))

Use the Piercing Tool to punch a hole near the front area of the horse, glue the feathers together and onto the horse panel and to finish off the card, add the sentiment and Antique Brad.

Stamp Sets:  Horse Frontier, Fine Feathers, Teeny Tiny Wishes

 Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, SU! Watercolor Pencils, SU! Marker- Early Espresso

Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, retired DSP

 Accessories:  Big Shot™, Argyle and Square Lattice Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folders, Sponge Daubers, Sanding Block,  Pinking Hearts Border and Word Window Punches, Piercing Tool, Color Spritzer Tool, Antique Brad, Hemp Twine (retired)

Thanks again for stopping by and don’t forget that August 5^th is Friendship Day!  I hope all of you have a wonderful week celebrating friendship and if you have time, come join us in the August SU! Creative Crew Challenge at Splitcoaststampers!  

Equestrian Dream and to be 16 Again!

Hi Stampers! 

This week my twin nieces celebrated their 16^th birthday!  In some ways it just seems like they were born yesterday and yet all of those memories of their childhood seem so distant.  To see them grow up into the young, beautiful girls that they have become is amazing!  

Of course, they love horses and are volunteers at a local ministry called Horses for Hearts and they love it!  In honor of their birthday, I created their cards using one of my favorite retired SU! sets, Equestrian Dream along with Heat Embossing and Spiced Cake Designer Series Paper (DSP). 

These cards were quick and easy to make as well- use the Big Shot™ along with the Top Note™ Die to cut the panels from Very Vanilla and Early Espresso.  Trim along the perforated edge from the Very Vanilla and sand the edges with the Sanding Block. 

De-static the Very Vanilla piece using the Embossing Buddy®, stamp the images in Versamark™ ink and heat emboss with Stampin’ Emboss® Gold Embossing Powder.  Mount the Very Vanilla onto the Early Espresso and attach the 5/8” Satin Ribbon .

Repeat the above steps to emboss the sentiment and punch out using the Large Oval Punch (layer onto two pieces of Early Espresso also punched out with the Large Oval Punch).

Layer the focal image onto the Spice Cake DSP (embossed with the Square Lattice Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder) and mount onto Early Espresso. 

Stamp Sets:  Equestrian Dream (retired), Sincere Salutations

Ink:  Versamark™

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Spice Cake DSP

Accessories:  Big Shot™, Square Lattice Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder, Sanding Block, Embossing Buddy®, Heat Tool, Stampin’ Emboss® Gold Embossing Powder, Large Oval Punch, Satin Ribbon (from my stash)

Thanks again for visiting- the girls seemed to enjoy these cards and I know it gave me great pleasure to create them for someone as special as they are!