Creation Station April Blog Hop--It's What's on the Inside!

Welcome to the Creation Station April Blog Hop! Whether you hopped over from Julie's blog or are starting here, I'm glad to have you visit. We have a really fun hop theme for you this month:  "It's What's on The Inside that Counts!"  We are going to surprise you when we open our projects.  Here's my card:

Did you guess what you'll see when I open the card?

It's an Under the Sea adventure!  I used the Sea of Textures stamp set (#146488) and the coordinating Under the Sea dies (#146334).  The background was created on Watercolor Paper.  I inked up my "F" clear block with Soft Sea Foam, Balmy Blue and Bermuda Bay ink pads, then spritzed both the block and the water color paper with water before centering the inked up block on the paper.  I loved the mottled texture this gives my background.

The background images were stamped in Mossy Meadow, Balmy Blue, Soft Suede, Soft Sea Foam and Rich Razzleberry.  The octopi were stamped in Calypso Coral on Watercolor Paper.  Other die cuts are Mossy Meadow, Soft Sea Foam and Rich Razzleberry stamped on Rich Razzleberry.  The fish were created with embossing paste colored with Crushed Curry reinker and supplemented with a bit of Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' glitter.  (I used the fish die to create a mask to use with the paste).  I also dabbed on a bit of embossing paste tinted with Crumb Cake and a bit of glitter for a sandy bottom.  I embedded some Tranquil Textures Sprinkles in the paste.  Those sprinkles are retired, but I had them and they do add a bit of something, something. . . 

The right hand side of the card has a little secret.  Hiding under the octopus is a packet just the right size for a gift card or cash:

The octopus is adhered to the packet with just one glue dot.  The  packet is Soft Sea Foam stamped with the netting image in Soft Sea Foam, the tall plant in Mossy Meadow and the sea coral in Rich Razzleberry.  Linen Thread was wrapped around the packet three times and tied in a bow.

A note on the card construction:  I had to adjust the card base to accommodate the packet, so I cut my card base at 5-1/2" x 4-1/4", then scored it at 4-3/16" and 4-5/16" to create an 1/8" spine on my card. On the inside, the left-hand side is 5-1/4' x 4" and is adhered directly to the card base with Multi-purpose liquid adhesive.  The right-hand side is 5" x 4" and is adhered to the card base with foam Adhesive Strips on the top, bottom and left-hand side.  The packet slips under this piece with a about a 1/4" reveal. 

The packet is 2-1/4" x 4".   I used a retired die to create my packet but you can easily make one the same size by using a 6" x 6" piece of card stock scored at 1" on two opposite sides and at 1-7/8" on the other two sides. Then trim out the corners, fold it up and glue together, leaving one end open to insert a card or cash.

I hope I've given you a bit of inspiration for your own surprise project!  Now it's time to see the fantastic project Mikaela has for us:

To Mikaela's Blog . . .

Praying that you are staying safe and well!

--Sara Nell

Psalm 112:7

Gold Dipped Poppies--#tgifc257

Gold dipped is the technique challenge this week over at TGIF Challenges. To create a gold dipped element on a card, you first press portions of the die cut or card stock in Versamark ink (#102283), cover it with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (#109636)and heat it with the Heat Tool (#129053) until the powder is melted and shiny. For my gold-dipped elements,  I die cut 4 flower shapes from the Poppy Moments dies (#151594)  and a rectangle frame using two of the Rectangle Stitched dies (#148551) out of Basic Black card stock.

To create the poppies, I did a Melon Mambo watercolor wash over a piece of Shimmery White card stock (#109910).  I die cut the solid poppy shapes from this piece and then layered on my gold dipped flower pieces.  The resulting poppies were layered over the background with leaves die cut using the same die set and Granny Apple Green card stock.

The background is a Balmy Blue watercolor wash on another piece of Shimmery White card stock.  The greeting is from the Peaceful Moments stamp set (#151595).  I adhered the gold dipped frame to this piece and then to the Melon Mambo card base.  Gold Metallic Pearls complete the card.

There are some beautiful examples showing different ways to use this stunning technique over at the TGIF Challenges blog

Hope you are staying safe.   Please pray for the medical personnel and first responders who are fighting this battle for us even though they are exhausted and ppes are in short supply.  Please do your part to lessen their load by following the published guidelines to help keep this virus contained. 

--Sara Nell 

Cherry Blossom Merci--#tgifc256

It's inspiration challenge week over at TGIF Challenges and this week's inspiration is products suites in the Spring mini catalog.  My inspiration comes from the Parisian Blossoms suite and the Cherry Blossoms dies (#151456).  

I started my card with a piece of vellum card stock embossed with the Parisian Flourish 3D embossing folder (#151474).  This was layered over a patterned paper from the Parisian Blossoms specialty designer series paper pack (#151192) and then over a Petal Pink card base.

The blossoms were die cut out of Whisper White card stock and colored lightly with Petal Pink light and dark Stampin' Blends (#147272).  The smaller flowers were layered into the larger ones and then each was centered with a Champagne Rhinestone (#151193).  The flowers were arranged over a branch die cut out of Basic Gray card stock.

The greeting is from the Parisian Dies.  Three were die cut and layered together.  The three dots for over the "i" were lost in my hands, so I colored a Basic Pearl with the Light Basic Black Stampin' Blends for my dot.

You'll find lots of wonderful projects inspired by the Spring mini over at the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Hope you are all staying safe and creating a bunch of wonderful projects.

--Sara Nell 

Always Thinking of You--#tgifc255

Today I have used the Forever Blossoms stamp set (#151457) paired with a greeting from Very Versailles stamp set (#149275) to create a card with a floral background.  I've been wanting to make a background with a simple blossom and leaf design for a while and  this week's TGIF Challenges sketch was the right inspiration to get me started.  Thanks, gals!

The blossom and leaf were stamped in Jet Black StazOn ink, then watercolored with an Aqua Painter (#103954) and Old Olive and Petal Pink ink.  Once the inks were dry, the background was watercolored with Pool Party.  The left-hand border was created with a piece of Petal Pink metallic-edge ribbon (#151594) and a scalloped border punched out of Old Olive card stock with the Decorative Ribbon Border punch (#143721).   These were adhered to the stamped piece with Tear & Tape adhesive and the finished piece was adhered to the Basic Black card base with Multipurpose Liquid glue. 

The greeting was stamped in Versamark and embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder.  It was adhered to the card with Stampin' Dimensionals. 

Check out other projects created using this sketch over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Hope you are staying safe!

--Sara Nell

Simple Joy--#tgifc254

This morning I found joy in creating just a simple little 3" x 3" note for this week's TGIF Challenges color challenge. So, I added "joy" to my note.  It was a very nice way to start my day.

Thoughtful Blooms Sale-a-Bration stamp set (3152290, free with  $50 purchase), Sale-a-Bration Small Bloom Punch (#152316, free with $100 purchase), Make a Difference stamp set (#146676); Basic Pearls (#144219) colored with Basic Black Dark Stampin' Blends (#147941).


For beautiful inspiration from the stamping artists at TGIF Challenges (design team and challengers), head to the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Have a joy filled day!

--Sara Nell

Free as a Bird--#tgifc253

The TGIF Challenges product spotlight this week is Embossing Paste.  I love embossing paste, but haven't used it in awhile.  I'm happy this challenge got me to pull it out again!
I love the texture that embossing paste gives to a project:

For my project today, I pulled out the polka dot pattern from the Basic Patterns mask set (a carry-over from the Holiday Catalog, #150697) to create my background. I die cut a piece of Shimmery White card stock with the second largest die in the Stitched Nested Labels dies (#149638).  I did a light wash of color with Pool Party ink over the piece and placed the mask over it. I tinted my white Embossing Paste (#141979) with Pool Party ink and then spread it over the mask and onto the Shimmery White label using palette knives (#142808).  I layered this piece over a Pool Party label die cut with the largest die in the die set.

I stamped the bird image from Free as a Bird stamp set (#149468) with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and colored it with Petal Pink Combo, Smoky Slate Combo, Soft Suede Light, Old Olive Combo and Pool Party Combo Stampin' Blends. I fussy cut this image and the greeting (also from Free as a Bird and stamped in Memento ink) and adhered them to the embossed piece with Stampin' Dimensionals.  Both images were stamped on Shimmery White card stock.

A coordinating piece of Bird Ballad designer series paper (#149592) was adhered to a Whisper White thick card base. A double strand of Whisper White 1/4" crinkled seam binding (#151326)  was wrapped around the card base and tied in a bow on the front.

Be inspired by all the wonderful uses for Embossing Paste over at the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Have a happy week!

--Sara Nell  

Lily Impressions of Friendship--#tgifc252

This week TGIF Challenges is celebrating the two free-with-a qualifying-purchase designer series paper packs in the Sale-a-Bration Brochure:  Lily Impressions and Golden Honey Specialty.  They are both great papers as are the two new paper pack selections coming in the Sale-a-Bration second release on March 3--a foiled paper and embossed vellum.  Can't wait!

For this challenge I used two patterns in the Lily Impressions designer series paper pack (#152284) with two more free selections from the Sale-a-Bration Brochure:  Lovely Lily Pad stamp set (#152288) and Lily Pad dies (152315).  With a purchase of $200 in catalog product, you may chose all three of these coordinating Sale-a-Bration products FREE!

The background and foreground paper patterns are the two sides of one sheet of the Lily Impressions paper.  The solid Bermuda Bay paper covers the entire 5-1/2" X 4-1/4" card front.  The lily blossom pattern is 5" X 3-3/4" mounted on the same size Whisper White card stock to give it some body so I could pop it up with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I used the stamp set to stamp the lily blossom in Whisper White craft ink on Vellum and embossed it with White Stampin' Emboss Powder. I colored the blossom with the Flirty Flamingo Light Stampin' Blends marker.  The lily blossom, Garden Green leaf, and Blackberry Bliss edging were die cut with the die set.

The greeting is from the Peaceful Moments stamp set (#151595).  It was stamped in Bermuda Bay on Whisper White card stock and fussy cut. Three pearls were added to mimic the little white flowers in the paper.

You will be inspired by all of the projects created for this challenge.  Check them out at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have an exceptional week!

--Sara Nell