July Creation Station Blog Hop--Texture

 

Welcome to the July Creation Station Blog Hop!  So glad you're here!

This month our theme is Texture.  There are so many ways to add texture to your stamping and paper crafting projects--so expect to see many takes on texture today. Enjoy the hop and all of the ideas we're sharing by clicking on the "Next" link at the end of each designer's post.

I absolutely love to create texture on my cards--especially with my backgrounds.  For you today, I did something I've never tried before--a bit of a scary process because I wasn't sure it would work.  My first attempt was with a spritz of Soft Sea Foam, which was too light to create a nice contrast.  Switched to Old Olive and loved the contrast and the mottled colors as the ink dried.

This is the first one with Soft Sea Foam.

The first step was to die cut several leaf branches out of Basic White card stock using a die from the Forever Flourishing dies (#152714).  These were arranged over a piece of watercolor paper (#149612) and adhered with a repositionable dot tape adhesive.  A Stampin' Spritzer (#126185) was filled with water and 5 drops of Old Olive ink refill. This solution was spritzed over the leaf branches on the water color paper.  When the watercolor paper was almost dried, the leaf branches were removed and then the piece was left to dry completely.  Residual dot adhesive and Basic White card stock were rubbed off once the watercolor paper was dry (used my fingers--easy).

Next, the typed words image from the Quiet Meadow stamp set (#155082) was stamped in VersaMark ink three times down the front of the card.  The images were heat embossed with a half and half mixture of White (Basics set, #155554) and Gold (Metallics set, #155555) Stampin' Emboss Powders.  I mixed the two powders to get a less shiny affect on the words for the background.  The background was finished with a splatter of Mossy Meadow ink over the watercolor paper.

The foreground consists of the following layered elements:  Gold Brushed Metallic card stock frame created with two nested Stitched Rectangles dies (#151820)--[happy to see this Brushed Metallic card stock returning in the upcoming new mini catalog on August 3]; large tree trunk and branches die cut out of Soft Suede card  stock using the Beautiful Trees dies (#155840) and embossed with the Bark 3D embossing folder (#155431); a Mossy Meadow leaf canopy die cut with a die from the  Beautiful Trees dies; and a greeting from the Beauty of Friendship stamp set (#154983) stamped in VersaMark on Mossy Meadow card stock, heat embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder, and die cut with a Stitched Rectangle die.

A card base of Soft Suede card stock, a layer of Gold Brushed Metallic card stock and some Gold Metallic Pearls (#146282) complete the card.

Now it's time to head over the the talented Vicki Boucher's blog.  Can't wait to see what she has created!

TO VICKI'S BLOG . . .

Wishing all of you a wonderful July and a Happy Independence Day to my friends in the U.S.A!

--Sara Nell

Poinsettia Petals in Blushing Bride--#tgifc280

 When I saw this week's color challenge at TGIF Challenges, I immediately thought the combination would be a pretty alternate color combination for Christmas.  How about poinsettias in Blushing Bride? 

This card really sparkles in person!  I used the Poinsettia Petals stamp set (#153475) and the Poinsettia dies (#153522) to create the card.  These two products are also available as the Poinsettia Petals bundle (#155148) at 10% off. I am almost a Christmas baby, so I am partial to poinsettias and I absolutely love this beautiful bundle. 

   

The poinsettias were stamped in Soft Suede onto Shimmery White card stock (#101910), then heat embossed with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder (#109130).  The petals were watercolored using Blushing Bride ink and the center in Pear Pizzazz.  I amped up the shimmer with a little Shimmery Crystal Effects (#150892) in the center of each poinsettia.   Once the shimmery Crystal Effects dried, I die cut the poinsettias.

The background was created by randomly stamping the pine bough image in Pear Pizzazz and the berry branch centers image in Blushing Bride, stamped off once.  The greeting was stamped in Soft Suede on to Shimmery White card stock and die cut with a Rectangle Stitched die (#148551).  A Soft Suede card base, Blushing Bride layer and a bow tied with the Old Olive ribbon in the Ornate Garden ribbon combo pack (#152479) complete the card.

There are some beautiful cards using the color combo over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a terrific day!

--Sara Nell

 

To a Friend--#tgifc272

There's a fun sketch challenge this week over at TGIF Challenges.  I don't believe I've ever made a card with a feature like this one before.  I had fun with it and have a tip for you on how to use a Rectangle Stitched die (#151820) and a Tasteful Label die (#152886) together.

As I thought about my project, I kept going back to the idea of using the featured part of the sketch kind of like a wrap for flowers.  I wasn't "feeling" my floral stamp sets this morning.  So, instead, I made a bouquet of leaves using the Forever Fern stamp set (#152559) and the coordinating Forever Flourishing dies (#152714).  I flipped the sketch 90 degrees for my card:

I started with a background pattern from the In Good Taste designer series paper pack (#152494) which was layered on a piece of Soft Suede card stock.  Then I stamped leaf images in Shaded Spruce, Just Jade and Mint Macaron inks on Whisper White card stock.  These were die cut and other die images were die cut out of Crumb Cake card stock. These were all arranged on the background after I glued my wrap pieces on the card. 

My wrap was created with two different dies because I couldn't find another die that I liked for the wrap I was envisioning. I wanted a stitched edge wrap with a pointed end so I could punch a hole in each end and thread linen thread through each hole.  I found my pointed end in the Tasteful Labels die set and then found a stitched rectangle die with the same width.  I die cut two rectangles first and then placed my Tasteful Label die as shown in the photo on the rectangle.  I rolled the die sandwich into the die cutting machine just until I heard a click and backed it out of the machine:

It was very easy to find the right position for the second 

die because the two dies are the same width.

After deciding on how to position my pieces, I folded the ends around to  the back of my Soft Suede layer and adhered them to the back with Multipurpose Liquid Adhesive.  I used an 1/8" hole punch to create the hole to thread two pieces of linen thread through each end.

The greeting was stamped in Shaded Spruce and die cut using another Tasteful Label die.  Some gold metallic pearls and a Just Jade card base complete the card.  

You'll see some fun and beautiful projects using this challenge sketch over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a great week!  Hope you got your taxes filed--I nearly forgot!!!

--Sara Nell 

Sunflower Thanks--#tgifc267

I'm feeling a little nostalgic with this week's TGIF Challenges color challenge.  Night of  Navy and Bumblebee are (or were--it's been over 50 years ago) the colors of my Kansas high school service club, the Kayettes. So, naturally, I had to use the club emblem for my card:  the sunflower.  That's where the additional challenge color, Crumb Cake, comes in.

First step was to stamp 5 of the small sunflowers from Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set (#152517).  I stamped them in Soft Suede on Whisper White card stock, colored them with So Saffron and Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Combos and die cut them using the coordinating Sunflowers dies (#152704, also available in a bundle with stamp set for 10% off).  I trimmed off the leaves and arranged the flowers on the Night of Navy and Crumb Cake tweed pattern from the In Good Taste designer series paper pack (#152494). I trimmed off the overlapping edges from the sunflowers and layered the paper on Night of Navy card stock and then a Bumblebee card stock card base.  

The greeting was stamped in Night of Navy ink on Crumb Cake and die cut using a die from the Rectangle Stitched die set (#148551).  Bumblebee Enamel dots from the 2020-2022 In Color collection (#152480) and two pieces of Linen thread (wrapped around the card twice and tied in a bow) complete the card.

You are going to love the projects made with this fun color combination over at the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Have a great week!

--Sara Nell