Hey there, y’all! It’s the next to last hauwmp day that I’ll be coming to you from Arizona! Yep – the countdown is on. Well, I’ve been counting down since I got here, but we’re practically to single digits now! 🙂
My only regret will be leaving my little stamping spot that I’ve set up in my hotel. It’s really been quite awesome! If you missed the post where I showed you those pictures, check it out here! (Just don’t get excited by the words Blog Candy – that contest is over. Sorry! 🙁 )
The card I made to share with you today uses the cool Botanical Builders Framelits from the Occasions catalog. Last weekend, my new friend Carole bought the great Botanical Blooms bundle (hard not to when you realize that you get the Stamps and the Framelits and the coordinating DSP! And that it instantly earns you a free SAB item!) and asked if we could do a card using it this Saturday when she and Kelly come back to stamp some more. So… here’s what we’re going to make. It uses sentiments from the new Sunburst Sayings stamp set, too. Take a look-see:
This card incorporates two challenges this time around. The layout is from the weekly Mojo Monday – challenge #433.
The second challenge drove embellishments and layering. It’s this week’s Tic-Tac-Toe Wild Card Challenge #328 from Just Us Girls. I picked Ribbon-Pearls-3 Layers to work with.
I’m not really sure how they figure a “layer” but I’m kind of assuming that I’ve got at least 3! 🙂
I started by conceptualizing what my card would look like, knowing I needed to use the flowers from the Botanical Builders Framelits. I usually like to have at least a couple of the fern die cuts – they’re totally my fave. My center square is a piece of Perfectly Artistic DSP (from SAB – but it’s going away on the 15th, so….get yours soon!). My teeny little brain didn’t want the square to be plain, so I decided to amp it up a little by stenciling it with some of the ferns. I cut two ferns from a piece of Mossy Meadow card stock and that became my stencil!
While I was working with the Big Shot, I went ahead an just cut out a whole bevy of flowers. I used a couple different designs from the Botanical Gardens DSP and also some of the Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum (another fun SAB item!). I really just kind of cut out flower parts till I was tired of it!
Then I started building the cake. That’s what I’m calling the basic card. The flowers would go on last – the frosting! First I sponged some fern silhouettes onto my larger square of Perfectly Artistic DSP in Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze. And then SNAILd it on a piece of Mossy Meadow card stock.
For the card front, I used a piece of the Kraft Corrugated Paper (one of my all-time favorite ingredients!) and stenciled more of the fern image in Mossy Meadow. Then I matted that to another piece of Mossy Meadow card stock. I SNAILd my stenciled and matted square to the card front and moved on.
The sentiment square is another, smaller square of the Perfectly Artistic DSP – I love how I was able to make the exact same paper look completely different by adding the ferns to the larger piece. 🙂 I inked the sentiment, from Sunburst sayings, in Mossy Meadow ink, and added it kind of to the right side of the square (cuz I knew I was going to have a plethora of flowers on the other side and didn’t want to cover it up!). And once again, SNAILd it to a piece of Mossy Meadow.
I used some 1 1/4″ Burlap Ribbon and adhered it across the card front with some Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue. When I cut the ends, I just eyeballed the cut – and then I pulled a couple of the woven strands out on both ends to give it just another little bit of texture! Then I put some Stampin’ Dimensionals on the top and bottom edges of the sentiment square, and more Liquid Glue in the middle, and adhered it over the ribbon.
That gave me my cake, so I started frosting it! I laid down the two ferns, using the Fine-Tip Glue Pen, and then just started playing with the other flower pieces until I got it right. It’s your bouquet – do whatever suits your fancy! Here’s the tip, folks: dry-fit, dry-fit, dry-fit! Play around until you find what makes your eye happy and then start sticking it down. 🙂 Which I did with the Fine-Tip Glue Pen, and Multi-Purpose Liquid glue and even a Stampin’ Dimensional (very top middle flower)!
Okay. Do you see all those little strands of Gold Metallic Thread sticking out? Well, I’d added my Pearl Basic Jewels to the centers of my flowers and to the sentiment square. And thought…. “there, that’ll do”. But it wasn’t. Didn’t? It just needed a little something more. So..I cut several short pieces of the Gold Metallic Thread, dabbed Liquid Glue on one end, and stuck them into my flower arrangement. One. At. A. Time.
Don’t be like me.
Think it out.
Cut the strands and glue them to the back of your flowers before you stick the flowers down.
Just sayin’.
And – yes, I fully grasp the irony of me exhorting you to dry-fit dry-fit dry-fit and this little bit of tom-foolery!
Anyway – that finished off the card front!
For the inside, I stamped a second sentiment from Sunburst Sayings in Mossy Meadow onto a panel of Very Vanilla card stock and surrounded it with a few more fern images in Cajun Craze and Crushed Curry. Does it go without saying that you could 1) use almost any sentiment you’d like here and completely change the purpose of the card or 2) leave the inside blank and just add a few ferns for some interest? I assume it does so pretend I didn’t just write that, okay? 😉
I SNAILd that to more Mossy Meadow and then into my Crushed Curry card base. I also SNAILd the front to the card – plenty of thickness already! And that was it for the card!
For the envelope, I sponged more of the fern stencils (definitely got my money’s worth out of that little piece of card stock!) in Cajun Craze and Mossy Meadow on the front of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope…
…and some more inside the back flap as a liner – without the extra bulk of the liner paper!
Et Voila! This card has bit of a tropical feel to it – unintended, but there nonetheless! I love the combination of the Corrugated Paper, the flowers and the colors. One of my favorite kinds of cards to make. Hope you like it as well!
This is the first card in a while that I haven’t used my newest favorite embellishment – the Wink of Stella Glitter brushes – on! I love that darned thing – both colors, but especially the Clear!! – so much so that I just ordered 3 of them!! 😉 And, since I love them so much…I’m giving them away! From now until the 15th of February, when you order $50 or more in product, I’m going to throw in a Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush for free!
FREE
If you’ve used this fun tool – you need no persuading about its awesomeness. If you haven’t – here’s a great chance to try it for free! While you’re getting the Stampin’ Up! goodies that you love! And your ordering gift from me and two Peppermint rewards points and a Sale-a-Bration Item. Cool beans, huh!?
Tomorrow’s Happy Stampers Blog Hop Thursday – we’re working to a sketch this week. We’ll go live at 7am Eastern Time. Hope that you’ll join us!
TTFN
Mary
HOST CODE FOR 1 Feb – 15 Feb 16: DH9S6776
Use this host code when you order and receive a free gift from me! But, if your order is over $150, please don’t use this code (you’ll miss out on your own Stampin’ Rewards if you use it) but you’ll still get the free gift. The free gift for Feb is your choice of any item valued up to $8.00 in the brand new 2015-16 Annual Catalog or the 2015 Occasions Catalog.
WEEKLY DEALS FOR 2 Feb – 8 Feb 16!! Click here to see the Weekly Deals from Stampin’ Up! in my online store. The Weekly Deals are only while supplies last and only available at these great prices through 8 Feb!
Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog
STAMPIN’ UP! PRODUCTS USED IN TODAY’S CARD:
Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog
CARD CUTS USED IN TODAY’S PROJECT
Crushed Curry Card Stock: 4 1/4″ x 11″ (card base, scored and folded at 5 1/2″)
Kraft Corrugated Paper: 4″ x 5 1/4″ (card front)
Mossy Meadow Card Stock: 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ (front mat and inner liner mat); 3 1/8″ x 3 1/8″ (stenciled square mat); 2 1/8″ x 2 1/8″ (sentiment square mat)
Perfectly Artistic DSP: 3″ x 3″ (stenciled square); 2″ x 2″ (sentiment square)
Botanical Gardens DSP: Botanical Builder Framelit die cuts
Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum: Botanical Builder Framelit die cuts
If you need any stamping supplies, I’d be very happy to be your Demonstrator. Just click on the Order Stampin’ Up! Online Now button on the right side of the screen to go directly to my online store or drop me an email if you have any questions. Happy Stamping!
Shop the Clearance Rack here. Earn FREE Stampin’ Up! Products – Join my Punkin Head Peppermint Rewards – My online customer thank you program!
BACKORDER REPORTING
Stampin’ Up! has started a new way to let you all know when items are Backordered or in Limited Supply. When you place an order thru my Online Store, you’ll get a message telling you a status of the item.
If you want more information on a particular product – like when it’s expected back in stock – please give me a call or shoot me an e-mail and I’ll be glad to help! 🙂
Inky Bee Stampers
KarensCardCorner
Stamp with Amy K
Stamp With Nel
Stampin With Shirley G
Tarabeth Stamps
TL's Bright Spot
Another awesome card with the botanical set! The colors are just perfect and your flowers are stunning. Bummer on the metallic thread pieces…but they look really good all placed one at a time! 😉
Thanks, Amy – and yes, I’m thinkin’ it was worth the effort! 🙂
Beautiful, Mary. And I have to say, seeing your cards and reading your comments surely brighten MY day!
Thanks, Mom! 🙂
Love, love, love your card!!
Thanks very much, Jennifer! 🙂
Brilliant and ingenious is what I’m calling you on this creation! Great job!
Aww – that’s sweet, Jari! Thank you! 🙂
Stunning card and love all the explanations and how you refer to it as cake building! Super job! Thanks for sharing your talents with us over at Just Us Girls this week for Wild Card Week!
Thanks, Nancy! 🙂
Gorgeous card with so many great layers and colours. Thanks for sharing with us at Just Us Girls this week.
Thank, Ina! 🙂
Love your card, Mary! I have been resisting this bundle but you may have “enabled” me right over the edge!!! Lol And throwing in the Wink of Stella that I’ve been wanting to try….sold 😉
Ha! Stella – the Great Enabler! Glad that you liked it, Barb. Thanks! 🙂