Double Fold Card with Ribbon Closure--#tgifc349

Our weekly challenge from TGIF Challenges is to create a project with a closure feature--buttons, flaps, belly bands or ribbon.  I created a double fold card with a ribbon closure. It is kind of a card on top of another card, held together with a small flap on the right hand side folded over from the back of the larger card base:

The smaller top card is attached to the flap with Tear & Tape so the card is opened from its left-hand side.  The ribbon is attached to the top of the smaller card with Tear & Tape adhesive and then covered with a piece of designer series paper.  The ribbon is wrapped around the card and tied in a bow on the left-hand side of the top card to keep the smaller card closed.  

The above photo shows the smaller top card open.

This photo shows the small flap in the right-hand side open revealing the top of the larger card and showing where the top card is attached to the flap.

This final card shows the bottom card fully open.  The bottom card base is 4-1/4" x 12", scored at 5-1/2" and 11".  The top card base is 2-1/2" x 8", scored at 4".

The stamp set is Free As A Bird, with all images stamped in Basic Gray.  Some were stamped directly on the card some were stamped and fussy cut.  The images were colored with the following Stampin' Blends combos: Smokey Slate, Pale Papaya, Mint Macaron, and Misty Moonlight.  These colors were picked from the Hand-Penned designer series paper (#155499) used on the project.  The ribbon is Pale Papaya & White 1/2" woven ribbon (#155816).  Pale Papaya Genial Gems (#155500) were also used to decorate the card.

For more fun closure ideas head over to the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a great week!

--Sara Nell

Free as a Bird--#tgifc331

There's a themed inspiration challenge this week at TGIF Challenges: "Walk on the Wild Side".  We are challenged to create with wild animals, animal prints, leaves, etc.  As I started working on this challenge, I discovered that all of my wild animals stamp sets are retired.  All but my birds.  I pulled my Free as a Bird stamp set (#149468) off the shelf to use.  I love this stamp set:

The Basic White Thick card base was layered with a 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" piece of Hand-Penned designer series paper (#155499).  The bird image was stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored with Stampin' Blends.   Colors used on the image were taken from the paper:  Misty Moonlight, Pale Papaya, Mint Macaron, So Saffron, with Soft Suede added for the branch.   The Color Lifter was used on the birds' heads to lighten the color a bit.  The greeting was stamped in Misty Moonlight.

The bird image was adhered to a 4-1/2" x 3-1/4" piece of Basic White card stock.  This piece was covered with Misty Moonlight tinted matte finish Embossing Paste (#141979) applied with the fat spatula shaped Palette Knife (#142808, set of 3) in a random pattern. (My little walk on the wild side on this card!)

A piece of white faux linen from the Flowers for Every Season ribbon combo pack (#153620) with ends tied with Linen Thread (#104199) and three Pearl Basic Jewels (#144219) complete the card.

Be inspired by more Walks on the Wild side over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a wonderful week!  In the USA we have a three day weekend coming up--Enjoy!

--Sara Nell

 

Early Morning Bird Song--#tgifc266

It is inspiration challenge week at TGIF Challenges.  My card today was inspired not only by the vellum die cuts TGIF Challenge but also my early morning walks. We've got lots of different birds nesting in our big yard full of brush and oak trees and they have been singing joyfully early in the mornings when Roxie and I take our morning stroll.  We used to have a pair of bluebirds, but they have not been around for a long time (we also have owls and hawks).  I decided to color my 4 little bird chicks image from Free as a Bird stamp set (#149468) Pool Party in honor of the bluebirds:

I wanted to evoke an image of birds singing from the trees, so I created an background for that purpose.  I stamped the leaf image from Free as a Bird randomly over a piece of Whisper White card stock with VersaMark ink, heat embossed it with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder (#109130) and then used a Sponge Brayer (#141714) to layer on Old Olive ink.  

I stamped the bird image in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and colored it with Pool Party combo, Soft Suede combo, Old Olive combo, Mango Melody combo and So Saffron Light Stampin Blends.  I stamped five more leaf images on Vellum card stock (#101856), embossed them with White Stampin' Emboss Powder (#109132), fussy cut them out and colored the backs with an Old Olive Light Stampin' Blends marker.  I adhered these to the back of the fussy cut bird image.  This piece was layered over a Vellum Nested Label die cut with one of the Stitched Nested Label dies (#149638).  

The greeting was stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and fussy cut.  A Whisper White thick card base, a layer of Pool Party card stock and three Pool Party rhinestones from the Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels pack (#150457) complete the card.

Go get some inspiration for the Vellum card stock sitting in your stash over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Hope you hear the singing birds this week!

--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