A Thank You for a Thoughtful Gift

My best friend growing up, who is stationed in Bagdad, sent me a flag that was flown over the American Embassy for me in honor of my grandfather and father who served in the Marines and Navy respectively.  I still tear up when I look at it.  Such a special gift requires a special thank you card.

I started by inking the flat side of the Leafy Branch embossing folder by Cuddlebug and embossing a piece of Colonial White cardstock.  Then I swiped an ink pad directly on the raised design.  I then used a sponge dauber to add a bit more color to some of the leaves and stems.  I love the batiked effect.  I heat embossed the sentiment with gold embossing powder and then gilded the the top and bottom edge by perpendicularly pressing the edge into a Versarmark pad and then in the embossing powder.  I popped it up using foam tape.  The twine was bought at Target years ago.  I like how the metallic thread compliments the heat embossing.

I am entering this card in the Just Add Ink challenge to just add embossing.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Anniversary Card for the Card Concept

My husband and I celebrated our 40th anniversary last week.  (I was a child bride...)  Such an occasion calls for a romantic, non-masculine card which I made using this photo from The Card Concept as inspiration:

I am not sure how he would have felt about a pumpkin, so I went with the pink, ivory, and gold color scheme and flowers.  First I inked up the "valley" side of my new Tim Holtz Alterations Botanical 3D Texture Fades embossing folder with Aged Mahogany Distress Oxide ink, spritzed some Colonial White cardstock with water, and carefully placed it in the folder to run through my Big Shot.  Afterwards I spritzed it with a mixture of Perfect Pearls and water.  When it was dry I used a sponge dauber to dab on some gold pigment ink from ColorBox and added a little Princess Gold embossing powder by Ranger.  Lastly I diecut a heart and kept the rest for a future project. 

Next I used the Hero Arts Love stamp and die set to cut three "Love" sentiments and stacked them.  I smooshed it in Versamark and then embossed it with Vintage Pearl embossing powder by Ranger three times.  

For the background panel I cut a rectangle using a die set I got from a friend who was decluttering.  It looks like a Nestabilities set from Spellbinder's.   I cut the ends off, sponged the edges with Versamark, and embossed with more gold embossing powder.  While I was at it I gold embossed the word "always"  from the Simon Says stamp set Thoughtful Messages beside where I planned to place the heart. Finally I gave it a spritz with my homemade pearl spray.

Finally I put everything together and attached it with foam tape to a Colonial White card base.   I wish the photograph captured the pearly shine and gold sparkle of the card.  It is sort of clean and layered meets classy and elegant.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Freshly Made Goldfish

I used my new Color Layering Goldfish stamp set from Hero Arts and this Freshly Made Sketch to make this card of encouragement for a friend.

Following the directions in Jennifer McGuire's Water Color + Embossing Folders video, I swiped mini distress ink pads across the flat side of an embossing folder, used the inked folder to emboss a piece of White Daisy cardstock, misted the now embossed and inked panel with water until it was saturated, and let it dry.  Of course it warped as it dried, so I ran it through my Cuddlebug set up as though I were going to use a die cut to flatten it out.

Next it was time for the goldfish.  I used my MISTI to stamp the first two layers leaving the second layer stamp in the MISTI and an acrylic block to stamp the "facial features."  I then stamped over the fish with Versamerk using the second layer stamp and embossed it with clear detail powder.  I repeated the embossing process two more times for dimension and shine.  The sentiment was embossed using a mixture of Sapphire and black powders on vellum.

Now to put it together.  I folded the ends of the vellum under the background panel and applied a toothpick sized bit of liquid glass under parts of the sentiment and the fins of the fish.  I attached the fish with thin foam tape and used liquid glass to embellish his eye and create some bubbles. 

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  White Daisy cardstock from Close to My Heart, Vellum
Stamp:  Color Layering Goldfish by Hero Arts
Ink:  Broken China, Pine Needles, and Chopped Sapphire Distress Inks by Ranger, Honey, Poppy, and Cocoa by Close to My Heart, Versamark
Embellishments:  Clear Detail embossing powder by Stampendous, liquid glass by Close to My Heart, Quatrefoil embossing folder by Close to My Heart

Freshly Made Watercolor Embossing

After watching the Jennifer McGuire video, Watercolor + Embossing Folders, I couldn't wait to play.  Essentially you rub Distress Ink on one side of an embossing folder, usually the flat side, put in watercolor paper, run it through your embossing machine, spray it with water until saturated, and wait for it to dry.  After doing one panel inking the flat side, I tried it inking the raised side for a different effect.  When the paper was dry I put it back through the Cuddlebug set up for die cutting which flattened it somewhat so it had the texture of heat embossing.  Lastly I sponged a bit of ink around the edges.

I then used this Freshly Made Sketch and Altenew's Peony Bouquet stamp set to make a birthday card.

The Peony Bouquet has four (!) layers, a base, an optional outline, a midtone shadow, and a deep shadow layer.  There is a PDF guide as well as this post and this video on Altenew's website to help you line them up.  I found it was a lot easier to see the parts of the shadow layers that need to line up  after the stamp  was inked which makes it hard to use a MISTI.  If you want to use a MISTI it is easier if the stamps have acquired a bit of stain to help you see which parts actually stamp.  If you miss a bit so they are not perfectly lined up you can fussy cut them and remove the parts that "stick out."  After I cut mine out I used a foam eye make-up applicator to ink the edges where I cut off the outline.  I could have also skipped the outline layer all together but I found I needed the outline the first few times I used this stamp to help me line up layers.

The sentiment is heat embossed in gold on vellum. and the flower attached with foam tape.  I used a bit of gold metallic paper to compliment the embossing.  Here is the inside:

I also plan to enter this in the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  Watercolor paper, White Daisy and Desert Sand cardstock from Close to My Heart, Vellum from Michael's, Gold metallic paper from Amazon
Ink:  Pixie, Hollyhock. Vineyard Berry, Sweet Leaf, Topiary, New England Ivy, and Cashmere from Close to My Heart, Victorian Velvet, Aged Mahogany, Gathered Twigs distressed inks from Ranger, Versamark
Stamps:  Peony Bouquet by Altenew, Holiday Tags and You Mean the World to Me by Close to My Heart
Embellishments:  Princess Gold embossing powder form Ranger
Other:  Embossing folder by Spellbinders

Lucky Heart

The design team at Heart 2 Heart Challenges is "Feeling Lucky," so  I decided to make a second card with this week's Freshly Made Sketch, this time using a four leaf clover.

I started by using one of Close to My Heart's new embossing folders to create texture for the central panel.  I had planned to use a brayer to ink the raised design in Sweet Leaf, but accidentally picked up Garden Green.   To lighten it, I went over the it again with Buttercup and found I liked the extra dimension of two colors.  Satisfied, I edged it with a bit of the lightest shade from the Brown and Tan Glitter Paper and moved on to the four leaf clover.  First I used the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to cut four hearts which I scored and folded down the middle.  Then I used liquid glass to glue just the fold to the background and filled the center with gold Stickles.  While I was at it, I put a dab on the center of a piece from the Skylark Assortment.  I popped up the clover panel with foam tape which meant I needed to pop up the Gold Shimmer Trim, so I did not remove the background from the trim.  You say that you can't find Gold Shimmer Trim in the back of the catalog?  That is because it came as part of the Ivy Lane Cardmaking Kit on the Go.  Here is the inside:

I used a regular hole punch to cut the gold center in the middle of this four leaf clover.  The sentiment is from the retired "For Every Occasion"  stamp set.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Flirty, White Daisy, Olive, and Sweet Leaf cardstock, Brown and Tan Glitter paper
Ink:  Black, with a Ponderosa Pine alcohol marker
Stamp:  For Every Occasion
Embellishments:  Skylark Assortment, Gold Stickles, Gold Shimmer Trim
Other:  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, Quatrefoil embossing folder