Sunflower Sympathy

If you're thinking this looks an awful lot like the Country Birthday card from last week, you're absolutely right. I had some extra pieces left over from that project and I thought they would work well with the sunflower image from the Measure of a Life set. I stamped it with versamark on whisper white card stock twice, added the sympathy sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes to one of the images and heat embossed both with detail black embossing powder. I colored both sunflowers with summer sun and close to cococa markers.  I sponged the image with the sympathy sentiment with crumb cake ink. I then fussy cut the sunflower from the second image and attached it over the other sunflower with a dimensional for a little extra dimension. the rest of the card is pretty much the same as the Country birthday card except the crumb cake base was stamped with the netting background in crumb cake ink and the gingham was sponged with crumb cake ink.

Recipe:

Paper: crumb cake, basic black, whisper white
Ink: versamark, crumb cake, ruby red, summer sun and close to cocoa markers
Stamps: Serene Sunflower, Measure of a Life, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Netting background, Gingham wheel
Accessories: Floral Garden Burlap Ribbon by Greenbrier International, Border Scoring Plate and Stampin' Up! Scorer, detail black embossing powder, stampin' pastels

Country Birthday

Today I made another scored gingham card, but this matches more closely the original concept I had in my head. The QKR stampede crew didn't spell out exactly what the twist is for their "anything goes with a twist" challenge this week (or if they did the invisible ink doesn't show up on my computer screen), but based on the title (#253 Up, Up and Away) and the designer team's awesome samples I'm going to guess it has something to do with things that can fly? If so, I think my rooster may qualify, but even if not, the card will fit the "anything goes" part of the challenge. Click on the link to check out the challenge and submit your own card. It's fun!

On the black layer, I first scored the two parallel scallop lines using the border plate for my Stampin' Up! scorer. These scallops happen to match the large scallop edgelit from Stampin' Up!, so I used that next to give me the perfect edge. I then stamped the sunflowers from the Serene Sunflower set in versamark ink and colored them by tapping with sponge daubers coated with stampin' pastels, also known as the chalkboard pastels technique.

The gingham layer was created with the gingham wheel in ruby red ink on very vanilla card stock. Just as an aside, yesterday I rediscovered my wheels. These are the only stamps left in my stamp room that I haven't indexed and I apparently forgot how many and which wheels I had. I will index them this weekend and then I anticipate I will use them much more often.

The kraft card base came from the Neutral Smooth A2 cards and envelopes assortment from Darice. I stamped it in versamark ink with a stamp from the Itty Bitty Backgrounds set.

The image and sentiment were stamped on watercolor paper in black stayzon ink and then colored with watercolor wonder crayons and an aquapainter. I tore the edges of both and mounted both on pieces of Floral Garden Burlap Ribbon by Greenbrier International.

I really like the rustic country look and feel of this card and I think the recipient will appreciate it as well.

Recipe:

Paper: kraft card base from Neutral Smooth A2 cards and envelopes assortment by Darice, basic black, very vanilla, watercolor paper
Ink: black stayzon, versamark
Stamps: Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Serene Sunflower, Country Morning, Occasional Quotes, Gingham wheel
Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons from Earth Elements, Rich Regals and Neutral Assortments, Stampin' Pastels, Aquapainter, sponge daubers, Floral Garden Burlap Ribbon by Greenbrier International, Border Scoring Plate and Stampin' Up! Scorer

Scored Gingham Birthday

Today I wanted to make a card that satisfied two of SCSs challenges. One was a mixed media challenge that required us to use gingham in some form and the other was a Ways To Use It challenge to use scoring. I started out with an idea and then I made a mistake so, of course, instead of scrapping the idea and starting over, I improvised.

I'm not sure how I feel about the result. Not really what I wanted but I think it works as a simple masculine birthday card. I am happy with the corner scoring (using the small zigzag pattern on the Simply Scored borders scoring plate) although I wish it was a little more noticeable. Also, while I used gingham with regular ink and heat embossed the greeting using craft ink and clear embossing powder, thus technically meeting the bare minimum of the mixed media challenge requirement, I can't help wishing I had done more "mixing". The good news on that front is that I already have another idea, so hopefully I'll have time to make that one tomorrow.

Recipe:

Paper: whisper white, buckaroo blue, night of navy
Ink: night of navy, night of navy craft
Stamps: Grunge Rock, Gingham Stampin' Around wheel
Accessories: clear embossing powder, Stampin' Up! Scoring board and borders scoring plate