Rooted in Nature Birthday

Just can't stop playing with the new Rooted in Nature stamp set and my new favorite In Color, Blueberry Bushel! I am finding that you can get such depth from this color by stamping off up to four times!

I knew that I wanted to do a card with both Cajun Craze and Blueberry Bushel.

After cutting a 4.75 x 6" card base from Cajun Craze, I cut a matte from Blueberry Bushel and used the stamp with three leaves to create the background, stamping and stamping off several times until the paper was covered. I also sponged the edges. The matte was adhered to the card front with Dimensionals.

I cut a strip of Cajun Craze and embossed it using the Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder and then sponged it lightly with both Cajun Craze and Early Espresso inks. The strip was adhered to the card front with Dimensionals.

On Thick Whisper White, I stamped three of the larger leaves, the tree slice (stamped off twice), and three of the leaf cluster (two full strength, one stamped off once) and die and fussy cut them out. The sentiment, from the Cake Soiree stamp set, was stamped twice onto the tree slice using Blueberry Bushel. The three large leaves were layered on the strip and then the tree slice was adhered over a piece of Copper Trim using Dimensionals. The leaf clusters were shaped a little and then glued around the tree slice.

For inside the card, the leaf cluster was stamped several times on a Whisper White matte and then the edges were inked to complete the card.

How do you feel about this color scheme? Let me know in the comments below!

Rooted in Nature for Mother's Day

Not everyone celebrates Mother's Day with the gusto with which a lot of us do. Knowing that my daughter would not be doing anything special that day, I made her a special card to let her know what a great job I think she is doing with her own daughter. In creating this card, I CASEd a card by Mary Deatherage.

I used a similar color scheme to Mary's in my card but mine used more color.

Starting with a standard card base cut from Crumb Cake, I added a Lemon Lime Twist matte that had been embossed using the Layered Leaves Embossing Folder. The edges were sponged with Old Olive and a strip of the Share What You Love DSP adhered across it, wrapped with some Linen Thread. The matte was then adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.

The tree slice was stamped on Thick Very Vanilla using Crumb Cake and then it was fussy cut before heavily inking the edges with the ink. The pine tree stamp was inked using Stampin' Markers in Old Olive and Soft Suede and then stamped twice on Thick Very Vanilla. They were die cut with the matching dies.

The sentiment from the set was stamped on with Old Olive on a strip of Old Olive and then the Triple Banner Punch was used on it. The sentiment, tree slice, and trees were layered onto the card front using Dimensionals.

Inside the card, a tree was stamped and then the edges of the matte were sponged with both Lemon Lime Twist and Old Olive.

I simply love how this card turned out! The Lemon Lime Twist gives such a spring-like freshness to everything and pairing the Layered Leaves Embossing Folder with the tree stamp, (even though the tree is coniferous and the leaves are deciduous) seems to really work well together.

I hope my daughter loves it as much as I do!

Share What You Love For Mother's Day

The Share What You Love Suite is just so inviting that it is hard to work with anything else! As soon as I saw the designer papers, I knew I would be using them for a Mother's Day card. This card was CASEd from a card by Connie Collins.

I first cut a matte from Rich Razzleberry and embossed it in two corners using the Lovely Floral Embossing Folder, available now in one of the Share What You Love bundles and later in the 2018-19 Catalog. This was then adhered to a standard, Old Olive card front.

I cut another matte from Old Olive and topped it with a piece of the Share What You Love DSP and then adhered the matte to the card front using Dimensionals. I ran a piece of Tear & Tape across the centre of the matte and then pleated a length of Fresh Fig ribbon across the tape.

The sentiment, from the new Rooted in Nature stamp set, was stamped in Rich Razzleberry on thick Whisper White and then die cut using the one of the circle dies from the Stitched Shapes Framelits. A matte was die cut using a scalloped circle die from the Layering Circles Framelits. Fast Fuse was applied to the back of the sentiment matte and then twine was adhered to create a flower shape. The sentiment was then adhered to the card front using
Dimensionals.

The inside of the card was left plain, with only a sponged matte.

Wood Textures GoodBye

About a week ago, we had to say goodbye to the store manager that we had had for three years. Sheldon was a welcome addition to our store. He was very likeable, hardworking, and had a great sense of humor! Of course, since he was so good at his job, he was promoted and left us for another store in Winnipeg. I made him this card to thank him for being such a great boss.

I began by cutting both a standard card base and matte from Early Espresso. I punched a number of pieces from the Wood Textures DSP and after figuring out the placement, I mounted each on another piece punched from Soft Suede card stock for added stability.

I used Versamark and Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder to create a high gloss on each piece. My plan was to make this look like a high gloss, inlaid wood piece. I then used Crystal Effects to adhere each piece to the matte. For the pieces that overhung the matte, I snipped them off with scissors and then glued them into the tiny spots I still needed to fill. After wrapping lengths of Linen Thread around the matte, I used Dimensionals to adhere it to the card front.

The sentiment, from the now retired Greatest Greetings stamp set, was stamped on Thick Very Vanilla using Soft Suede. The edges were also inked with Soft Suede. The greeting was adhered using Adhesive Strips. For a little "manly" bling, I added three of the now retired Urban Underground Embellishments.

I'm pleased with how this card turned out--I have the Wood Textures to thank for this!

Bittersweet Thank You

Last Wednesday evening, I had the pleasure of attending an evening in the lounge at the Portage Avenue Marigold Restaurant in Winnipeg. It was great to see a lot of old friends but it was sad to think that in a few short days the Marigold Restaurant would close its doors forever. The Marigold had been a favorite watering hole for its faithful patrons including my husband, who had been a regular there for 37 years.

Wally Woo, who passed away on July 1, 2016, came to Canada from China at the age of 15 with only $8.00 in his pocket but went on to found the string of Marigold restaurants in Winnipeg, with  the Marigold on Portage Avenue remaining his favorite. He put in long hours each day at the restaurant up to shortly before his death at 82.

Another important person at the restaurant was the manager, Jean. She also put in long hours but always maintained a professional and pleasant demeanor, connecting with each patron and remembering birthdays and other special occasions. I made this card to thank her for her hard work at Marigold's.

The 5 x 7" card base was cut from Coastal Cabana and then two Coastal Cabana panels were cut for the front of the card and embossed using the Pinewood Planks embossing folder. I referred to the excellent tutorial by Nicole Watt on Distressed Wood using Bermuda Bay, Lemon Lime Twist, Island Indigo, Crumb Cake and Whisper White inks with sponge daubers to create the colorful wood.

The sentiment, from the now retired Lovely Amazing You stamp set, was stamped with Island Indigo on Coastal Cabana and then die cut using the #3 oval from the Stitched Shapes Framelits. Island Indigo was sponged around the shape and then it was glued to a scalloped matte die cut from the Myths & Magic Glimmer paper using a scalloped die from the Layering Ovals Framelits. The completed sentiment was then glued to two Delicate White Doilies which had been sponged with Crumb Cake. These were attached to the front of the card with Dimensionals.

Both Linen Thread and Gold Metallic Thread were used to create swirls and attached to the card using Glue Dots. The "greenery" was die cut from Myths & Magic Glimmer paper using Petals & More Thinlits and leaves punched from Island Indigo and Soft Suede using the leaf punch. Little filler stems were die cut from Bermuda Bay and Coastal Cabana using the Sweet Cake Framelits. Leaves and stems were sponged with ink and then attached using liquid adhesive.

The flowers were punched using the retiring Pansy Punch and the retired Petite Petals Punch using Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay card stock. Flowers were stacked, pierced in the centre with a Piercing Tool and then fastened with a brad. Each flower was then sprayed with water and each individual layer scrunched up into a final bud shape. These were left to dry overnight and then carefully disassembled. Each petal was sponged with Crumb Cake and then liquid adhesive was used to assemble each flower. Crystal Effects was used to fasten each bloom to the card front.

It gave me such joy to create this card for Jean and I was so glad that she loved receiving it!

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