Operation Write Home Blog Hop And A $25 Gift Certificate Drawing Too

My card for today's blog hop is a thank you card for a member of the military.  Since I don't know if it will be received by a male or female I tried to design it to give a warm non gender specific feeling. Below is a quick idea of how I did it.

Layers Of Card:

1. Stamped Bald Head Lighthouse with Toffee Crunch ink and painted with Twinkling H2O's.  Colored the flag with Spica At You pens.  Layered the Heron and the flag with 3D pop dots.
2. Mounted on the Spellbinders Fancy Ribbon Threader die cut.  Threaded with twine.
3. Stamped Cover-A-Card Rolling Waves with Brilliance Moonlight White ink on blue cardstock.
4. Mounted on some beige Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock.
5. Added a little pearl sticker.
6. Stamped sentiment from Spring Medley Clear Set with Memento Rich Cocoa.
7. Added some Viva Decor Ice White for a few waves on ocean.

So have a great time with the hop and then stop by our store to see our new stamps .  Have a safe and fun holiday weekend!   To get back to your place in the hop go HERE.   Have a safe and fun weekend and thanks for stopping by to look and share!!!

 Shirley

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A Card For All Reasons

Because I give a lot of cards and don't always know for what that will be, I usually try to create a card I can use for any reason.  Below are the rules I follow to do it:

1. The sentiment on the front is usually "For You".  It can also be "Thinking Of You".  Something that makes it personal, but could cover a broad number of reasons for giving the card.
2. I have gone crazy for the twisted easel cards because you can choose how much space to fill on the base, so you can say as much or little as you want.  (Even if the space is full, you can always include a note piece of paper folded and placed behind the easel part).

Below is how I did it this time:

Background:

1. CAC Tapestry stamped on Neenah Solar White cardstock with VersaMark ink and embossed with a white pearl embossing powder (from my stash) was used as a matte for the Embossed Gift die cut, after brayering it with Memento Angel Pink. 
2. The die cut was done twice using Curious Ice Gold cardstock and then overlapped as shown.
3. The die cuts were taped in place on the back.  I placed the tape first and then inserted the "quilted" images.
4. The white cardstock matte for the "quilted look" was cut 6"X4" and then the edge die cut with a Border Duo 1 die for the edged below (taped in place with removeable Scotch tape).

Images:

1. Getting ready for the images meant doing a die cut with the paper cone die with another stashed CAC Tapestry stamped with Memento Angel Pink on Curious Ice Gold cardstock.  It was then folded along the creases as shown and then embossed from the underside go give it dimension.
2. The two mini circle round tags were used to get a die cut from white cardstock and one from the Curious Ice Gold with the pink ink.
3. The flower bouquet was stamped twice from Spring Medley clear stamp set with Delicata Golden Glitz ink, painted with Twinks, and cut out as shown.  The images were embossed from the back for dimension and mounted with 3D pop dots, then placed inside the Paper Cone and mounted as shown on the cardfront.  A simple white organdy bow was attached with a glue dot.
4. The circles were mounted, the sentiment stamped with Memento Bamboo Leaves, a 5mm pearl mounted with Glossy Accents and glitter applied on the squashed part.   It was mounted with 3D pop dots too.

So there you have it.  All ready for whomever and whatever comes into play for any reason. :-)  Thanks for stopping by to look and share.

 Shirley

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Welcome Back To My Blog

Some of you know I have been making memory twisted easel cards for the Sandy Hook families.  It became very involved because I decided to add charms to them showing what their parents, family, etc. had shared about their favorite things and accomplishments were.

That being said, my neighbor saw them and asked if I could make one for her grand daughter's graduation from college with a nursing degree.  This one is done as a grad beach party with charms for the lanterns.  Above is the result and below is how I did it:

Images Cardfront:

1. Stamped Path To The Beach with Memento Desert Sand on Natural Neenah Cardstock, painted with Twinkling H2O's, cut out with largest Romantic Rectangles die, threaded with twine, and attached to a piece of 6"X4" Solar White cardstock.  Added Gold Dust to highlight sand with glue for glitter.
2. Stamped the grass from Beachcomber with Memento Desert Sand, trimmed and painted with twinks. Turned over and used stylus on emboss mat to give depth.
3. Resized digital Girl Walking On Beach, mirrored image in PSP X2 photo program, changed color of image from black to beige, and cut out.  Turned over and embossed with stylus. Painted with twinks and mounted on grass.
4. Used 3D pop dots on back and mounted to image.
5. Found free images of Stargazer lily online, painted with twinks trimmed, embossed with stylus on the back and attached to girls dress.
6. Mounted to scene.
7. Sentiment was stamped with Toffee Crunch.

Card Fold:

1. Go here to see how I did this twisted easel base.  It is 6" in width and 4" wide. and Neenah Solar White cardstock.

Card Base:

1. Cut a piece of 5.75"X3.75" Natural cardstock and mounted in the middle of the base.
2. Used IO Grass Border to cut grass for the the edges as shown.
3. Mounted 2-3mm heats to the edges.
4. Cut the base for the photo from Spellbinders Splendid Circles die.  Her photo was emailed from the grandparent and transferred onto photo paper.  The die was used as a stencil.  I did one of these for each Sandy Hook child or teacher.
5. The shells and sand were added to the corner using real shells with a tiny heart pearl in the center shell.  The bow is from May Arts ribbon.

Charms:

1. I made a list of what I thought she would be using as a Neonatal Nurse.  Next I searched Charm findings sites, Etsy, and EBay.  It's amazing what is out there that doesn't cost a lot.  For the Sandy Hook cards I did the same and included Charmtastic and Charm It! charms.  It really didn't cost that much.  Some even include free shipping.  Charms are small!!

Envy & Note:

1. The envelope card was stamped as shown.  The note stationary also has an envelope since there is no room to write on the card itself.

As a last thought and in case Amanda doesn't like charm bracelets, I built a mini floating heart locket key chain.  What nurse doesn't have a lot of keys.  I saw the lockets while hunting for all the charms I have needed and found these itty bitty ones.   Take a close look.  You can find charms for anything in this size.  The prices are as little as $1.  The lockets start at around $6.  How fun.  The heart says "Love My Grand Daughter" and the other one says "Believe In Miracles".

That's it for today.  Thanks for waiting and for stopping by to look and share.  Hope to see you sooner than later.  ;-)

 

 Shirley

 

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