I Have a Good Reason, Really...

Wow...15 days since I've posted. Well, instead of giving you the reasons, which I'm sure you'd understand because you're doing other stuff besides sitting around waiting for me to post here, let's get to a card!

Lorri Heiling is a very encouraging SU! demonstrator in AZ. She has a blog, and posts monthly the cards she and her downline make to swap at their meeting. This week, she posted this card by Barbara (who does not have a blog), and I LOVED it! I wrote Lorri immediately, seeking details. Lorri found a thread on SCS that gave details about this card design and its creator, Penny Wessenauer. That thread led me to Penny's Photobucket page where all the directions were neatly typed, complete with pictures! Don't you LOVE the internet?!

Here's my take on her design. I started with Soft Suede (SS) card stock, which is such a yummy color of brown that it's almost a shame to put it in the same category as Chocolate Chip or Close to Cocoa. (I won't reiterate all the instructions, because Penny already did a fantastic job with them.) I had my dear friend Shelly in mind for this card, since I missed her birthday and wanted her to have something that would communicate how I feel about her all the time, not just on the one day a year we officially celebrate her existence.

I pulled out the Peaceful Wishes set, which is retired (don't even get me started), and tried to think of a complementary color to pair with the SS. I chose Always Artichoke (AA). Aahhhh...I love trees, and these two evoke an evergreen forest in my mind. Enough waxing poetic. I needed a layout to help get my juices flowing, and I'd just seen a one for a square card on Melissa Sauls' blog. I stamped the evergreen branch image on 2-1 3/8"x3.5" strips to create patterned paper and then focused on the main image.

One of the main reasons I purchased this set was for this image. I used the direct to rubber coloring technique with my SS, AA, and Ruby Red Stampin' Write Markers. After a good huff on the stamp, I admired my work on the Very Vanilla (VV) card stock. I wanted to mat the image, and one thing led to another and suddenly I had 3 layers!

Now for the fun part--creating a little stopper so that the card would have a built-in easel! The pinecone in the set was sized appropriately to serve this purpose, and I mounted it with 2 double-stacked Stampin' Dimensionals to give it the height it would need. The sentiment from Kind & Caring Thoughts completed the card. I'm so tickled with how it turned out! Now I'm going to have to wait at least a week to hear what Shelly thinks of it. She lives in Vietnam, so this card's going a LONG way to its home.

Here's a side view so that you can get a better idea of how the easel is created. That Penny is BRILLIANT!

The Card I Wish I Would've Made Bob's Brother

Sometimes life conspires against you, or so it seems. I was planning to make a third birthday card on Thursday, but realized that if I didn't get the cards in the mail that morning, there wasn't a prayer any of them would make it in time for the birthdays that are today, tomorrow and next Tuesday. So, I grabbed one I had in my stash and used it instead. This is the card I WISH I'd thought to make for Bob's brother, Rick.

All the regret began after I created this. This was inspired by a woman named Michelle Zindorf. She has a blog where she posts tutorials that teach you how to recreate the techniques that she is known for. Much of her work demonstrates her enormous talent in creating landscapes. One of the favorite things she does is work with silhouetted trees and skylines and suns or moons. Twilight is my favorite time each day, and one of the things I miss most about the Midwest is the flat terrain that allows me to see sunsets through blackened tree silhouettes. It just doesn't happen in these hills.

So, emboldened by this inspiration, I tried my hand at her techniques. I started with the pine branch from Peaceful Wishes and Always Artichoke Craft ink. After stamping, I embossed with clear EP. Then I used a post-it note with a 1 1/4" circle punched out of it to create the setting sun with More Mustard and Really Rust that I sponged inside the mask. After embossing that as well, I then began playing with sponging, starting with Soft Sky, then Cameo Coral, followed by Ruby Red, Groovy Guava, a touch of Purely Pomegranate, and Blue Bayou inks. That created the sky.

When I was finished, it looked a little "off" somehow. Unbalanced, unfinished. So I added another branch and that was better. Then I set about to mounting it so as not to diminish from the colors. During that process, I rotated it vertically and the whole look changed! This is what the final card looks like:

The reason I wish I'd thought to make this kind of card for Bob's brother is that he's such an outdoorsman. He also loves fishing, waterskiing, hunting, and photographing nature. He would've appreciated this, I think. Oh well...next year!

Thanks for stopping by during this gorgeous weekend! Hope you spent time out of doors today yourself!