SC762 Peace Within

Hi Friends!!

Today I am sharing a card that was designed using the retired Stampin’ Up! set, Peace Within (for the focal image) and the sentiment from Olive and Oak (Power Poppy by Marcella digi).   I have not used the Peace Within set for several years and found the printed sentiment already die cut in my stash during the recent re-organization of my craft room :-)

I used the Splitcoaststampers (SCS) SC762 Sketch for the layout and am also joining the Cards4 Galz #108 Something Beginning with an "S” (S=Straw Basket, Stitched Dies, Stitched Ribbon, Stampin’ Up!) along with the Word Art Wednesday #410-#411 “Anything Goes”Challenge.

To create this card:

Ink the bird with the basket image with Versafine™ Onyx Black, stamp onto a piece of prepared white cardstock, apply clear embossing powder and heat set with a heat tool.

Once the embossing has cooled, watercolor with water-based markers (see colors below) and die cut with a stitched circle die.  Mount onto a circle die cut from espresso cardstock.

Import the sentiment from the digi set into a word processing program, re-size and print out onto white cardstock. Die cut with a stitched circle die, mount onto a circle die cut from espresso cardstock. 

Dry emboss a piece of white cardstock with the lacy brocade embossing folder (retired Stampin’ Up!), trim and mount onto a piece of espresso cardstock, trim close to the edge and mount onto light pink cardstock. 

Add a strip of chevron grosgrain ribbon along with the crochet lace, wrapping the ends of the ribbon behind the panel.  Add a piece of ¼” stitched chocolate ribbon, again, wrapping the ends of the ribbon behind the panel.

Adhere the focal image and sentiment to the panel with dimensional foam (I used chipboard vs. foam).  

Add the striped chocolate ribbon with the gold cord at the top of the card (for the triangular element in  the sketch) wrapping the ends behind the panel.  Mount the entire panel onto a white card base.

Finish off the card using a clear glitter pen on the flowers along with a white gel pen for highlights.

Stamp Sets: Peace Within (retired Stampin’ Up!), Olive and Oak (digi sentiment from Power Poppy by Marcella)

Ink/Mediums: Versafine™ Onyx Black, Stampin’ Write Markers- Blueberry Bushel, Blushing Bride, Crushed Curry, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso. Gorgeous Grape, Lemon Lime Twist,; Wink of Stella™ Clear Glitter Pen, White Gel Pen

Cardstock/Paper: Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Early Espresso

Accessories: Big Shot™, Lacy Brocade Textured Embossing Folder, Dies- MFT Stitched Circle STAX, Sizzix Circles; Embossing Buddy®, Heat Tool, Clear Embossing Powder, AquaPainter™, 7/8” Blushing Bride Chevron Grosgrain Ribbon, ¼” Stitched Chocolate Ribbon, 7/8” Stitched Chocolate Satin Ribbon, Gold Cord, White Crochet Lace

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by- I hope all of you have a wonderful week!

In All Things, Give Thanks

Hi Friends!

I had fun designing this Mixed Media card using a few digital stamps from Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley.  

I incorporated the Sketch Saturday #518 Sketch Challenge (flipped it a bit with the sentiment at the top) along with the Addicted to Stamps and More #297 “Make Your Mark” Challenge, the Global Design Project #143 Theme Challenge “Love It, Live It, Share It” and the Word Art Wednesday #340-#341 “Anything Goes” Challenge into the design.

I love designing and creating cards and being able to share with friends and family! I also enjoy sharing with other stampers through my blog and different social media platforms.  I have met so many friends online and even though we have not met in person, we have an instant bond due to our love for stamping and creating :-)

If you have not had a chance to visit any of the above challenge sites, I hope you will do so- wonderful Design Teams samples and entries from all!

To create this card:

1). Using either a software program or a word processing program, insert the Power Poppy Olive and Acorn image onto a 8 ½” x 11” document.  Re-size if needed to fit, insert the Bittersweet Wreath sentiment (re-sizing as well) and print out onto white cardstock.  FYI- I am still using the retired My Digital Studio™ (Stampin’ Up!) for inserting the images, re-sizing, etc. but you could use Word or other photo software programs.

2). Die cut the Olive and Acorn image with a pierced square die and die cut the sentiment with a stitched rectangle die.

3). Color the Olive and Acorn image using watercolor pencils, water-soluble graphite pencil, distress inks and glitter pens (see the colors used below in the card recipe). I did labor over the coloring for a while to try to achieve depth and rich color.

4). Use the water-soluble graphite pencil, a rust water color pencil and gold glitter marker for the sentiment.

5). Mount the sentiment and the main focal image onto gray cardstock and trim close to the edge.

6). For the card front- trim a piece of gray cardstock 5 ½” square.  Mount a piece of vanilla cardstock (approx. 3/8” square) onto the gray cardstock and mount a piece of gray designer paper onto the vanilla paper (approx. 5 ¼” square).  Add a piece of ivory crochet lace, 1 ½” gold satin ribbon and 7/8” copper satin ribbon onto the card front (wrapping the ends of the ribbon behind the panel).  Mount the entire card front onto a white 5 ½” square card base.

7).  Add the Olive and Acorn focal image on a diagonal along with the sentiment to the card front using dimensional foam. 

8). Finish off the card with a few pearls in the corner.

Stamp Sets: Olive and Oak, Bittersweet Wreath (both digital stamps- Power Poppy)

Ink: Printer Ink- Black; Tim Holtz® Distress Inks- Rusty Hinge, Hickory Smoke; Derwent® Watercolor Pencils- Copper Beech, Golden Brown, Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Venetian Red; Gold Wink of Stella®

Paper/Cardstock: Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Basic Gray; retired Lap of Luxury Designer Series Paper (all Stampin’ Up!)

Accessories: Big Shot™, My Favorite Things™ Stitched A2 Rectangle STAX Set 1; Our Daily Bread Designs Pierced Squares Dies, AquaPainter™, Pearls; Ivory Crochet Lace, 1 ½” Gold Satin Ribbon, 7/8” Copper Satin Ribbon (all from my stash)

I had a great time creating this card and reflecting on this verse- "In All Things, Give Thanks" 1Thessalonians 5:18. 

 I am so thankful for all of the blessings that the Lord has given me and bring this verse to my mind when times are not generally what I would consider "thankful".   Sometimes it is difficult to focus on "thanks" when you find out about a loved one passing, a terrible tragedy or illness befalling someone you know (or yourself), or other stressful things in life,  but I am so thankful that Christ was willing to die on the cross for my sins (and yours) and rose again on the 3rd day! 

I am so thankful that by believing in Him and putting our trust in Him (and Him alone), we can have eternal life.  I am so thankful that it is the "gift of God, not of works" for our salvation.  "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotton Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" John 3:16 (NKJV).  Yes, I am so thankful....

I hope I have inspired you today to create something to share with others and that you will have a thankful, blessed week!

November 21- Power Poppy Hues to Use Challenge Guest Designer

Hi Friends!!

Woohoo!! I am the Guest Designer for the Power Poppy "Hues to Use"Challenge for the week of November 21^st!!  

In addition to the monthly Power & Spark Challenge at Power Poppy, the "Hues to Use" Challenge is a weekly color challenge which does not have a link up expiration date, so you can play anytime!! One of the benefits of playing along is that you may be asked to be a Guest Designer in the future- which is such an honor and very exciting!!

I am so excited since I absolutely love Power Poppy by Marcella Hawley images and own several of her clear stamp sets as well as quite a few digital sets.  

I know, many of you may cringe at the thought of digital stamps and feel that digital images are too intimidating, but trust me, they are so easy to use!! You can import them into photo editing software (I generally use the retired Stampin’ Up! My Digital Studio™ program or Word) or you can use another word processing program.  

Also, what I love about digital images is that you can enlarge or reduce the image, flip it and/or crop it, then print it out on cardstock, watercolor paper or other paper.  Then you just color as you would a stamped image.  It is so easy to create different looks with just one image plus another major benefit for me is that they do not take up space in my stamping studio :-)

This week’s "Hues to Use" neutral palette is perfect for so many different types of cards and with the celebration of Thanksgiving this week here in the States, I decided to use the main image from the Olive and Oak digital stamp set and the sentiment from the Bittersweet Wreath digital stamp set.

I will also be participating with the Word Art Wednesday #308-#309 “Anything Goes” Challenge, the Curtain Call "Acorns" Inspiration Challenge and the CAS-Fridays #187 "Gratitude with Attitude" Challenge. 

If you have not had a chance to do so, I hope you will find the time to check out the rest of the challenge gallery at Power Poppy (as well as their other challenge sand blog posts).  Their Design Team is amazing and gorgeous inspiration from all!

To create this card:

1). Open an 8 ½” x 11” document in your word processing/photo software program, import or insert the Olive & Oak image into the blank document (I enlarged it a bit) and import the sentiment from Bittersweet Wreath into another area of the document.  I positioned them both on the same page but made sure I had enough room to cut out the main image panel and that the sentiment would be the correct size for the 4 ¼” card (again, this is what I love about digital images!!).  Print the images using black printer ink onto white cardstock. FYI- you can use watercolor paper or other colored cardstock as well – just as long as your printer will handle the weight.  I tend to use an 80lb weight white cardstock that has a very smooth surface. 

2). Use a water brush with antique linen distress ink, watercolor the entire image.  Use a heat tool to speed up the drying and continue to color the image using watercolor pencils, distress ink and markers and shadows with a water soluble graphite pencil until you are satisfied with the results.  I also used an alcohol marker for the background (to try to achieve an antique paper look).  Use a stencil with antique linen distress ink to lightly stencil in the background.

3). Die cut the image with a rectangle stitched die, mount onto rust cardstock, trim close to the die cut edge and mount onto espresso cardstock. Create the photo corners using a square punch from rust cardstock and trim the edges for the photo corner. Add the chocolate brads in the corners and mount the entire panel onto a piece of rust cardstock. 

4). Using a tutorial from Splitcoaststampers for an easel card (see tutorial here), I cut a piece of espresso cardstock to 4 ¼” x 11” and scored at 5 ½” and 8 ¼”.  I folded on the score lines to create the easel.

5). Hand trim the sentiment to approx. 3 ¾” wide, watercolor with the antique linen distress ink and watercolor pencils for a wash over the sentiment panel and stencil around the edges with the same stencil as used above for the main image panel.  Mount the sentiment onto rust cardstock, trim and mount onto espresso cardstock, trim and mount onto rust cardstock again for the layers.

6). On a separate piece of espresso cardstock (approx. 4 ¼” wide by 5” tall), add the crochet lace and chocolate ribbon. Wrap the ribbon ends behind this panel and adhere the panel to the lower portion of the easel card.  Mount the sentiment with dimensional foam (this is the part of the card that will help keep the easel portion open).

7). Adhere the front panel onto the small flap of the easel card, test out the easel movement to make sure that it will work smoothly.

8).To finish off the card, add shimmer to the main oak leaf with a clear shimmer pen.

Stamp Sets: Olive and Oak, Bittersweet Wreath (both digital stamps from PowerPoppy)

Ink/Mediums: Inkjet Printer- Black Ink,  Tim Holtz® (TH) Antique Linen Distress Ink, TH Gathered Twigs Distress Marker, Stampin’ Up! (SU!) Markers- Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Rexel Derwent® Watercolor Pencils-#53 Sepia, #57 Brown Ochre, #62 Burnt Sienna, #64 Terra Cotta; Derwent® Water Soluble Graphite Pencil- HB Light Wash; Spectrum Noir™ GV1 Alcohol Marker & Clear Glitter Pen

Cardstock/Paper: Whisper White, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso (all Stampin’ Up!)

Accessories: Big Shot™, MFT Stitched Rectangle STAX Dies, AquaPainter™, Ivory Crochet Lace, Chocolate brads, 1” Satin Ribbon from my stash

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by!  I hope I have inspired you today and that you will be able to join us for the Power Poppy “Hues to Use” Challenge!