Let Your Light Shine

Hi everyone!  So happy to have you visit today.  We've been having so many bright, sunny days around here in the central U.S.  So, as today's designer for the Card A Day Blog, using the theme of "With Faith"  I decided to go along with the idea of light.  Also, since my ds arrived today for a visit, this card became a little bit of a collaboration.

At the time ds arrived, I already had my basic concept for the card, and had some of the elements prepared as well.  Here is your first look at the card:

I used a blue card stock for the background, and used a border design embossing folder inked with Versamark to give the embossing some extra dimension.  The cross and the sentiment were stamped onto the same blue card, and embossed using Versamark and silver embossing powder.  I used a Versamarker and the same embossing powder to frame the sentiment.  The sentiment piece was die cut and the cross was cut by hand.

A bit of ribbon was attached to the background piece, and the sentiment and cross were both layered using foam tape.

On the inside I simply stamped the cross with the watermark ink for a very subtle look, then stamped and embossed the greeting with the silver powder.

Here is a closer shot of the inside:

Probably the trickiest part in making this card was getting the embossing just right on the background paper.  I had to be sure the paper was cut for a perfectly (almost) symmetrical fit.  I also had to be aware of which side of the folder should be inked.  So if you try this technique, just be sure to consider whether you want to ink the embossed side or the debossed side.

 
When preparing the elements for this design, I started thinking about all the different occasions for which this card might be used.  It seems appropriate for get well, birthday, certainly for Easter, or simply to let someone know you've been thinking about them.  I'm sure you could think of even more ideas.

I truly appreciate having you take time out of your day to visit.  You always put a smile on my face!!

'Til next time.....

Big HUGS!
CHRISTINE

A Birthday HI!

"Milestone Birthdays"  That's our theme this week at the CARD A DAY BLOG.  My inspiration for this theme is a family member (name withheld to protect the innocent-heehee) who is celebrating quite a milestone birthday soon.....eight decades of life upon this glorious earth with no signs of slowing down!!

I must admit, my dh and dd helped me come up with the concept for my card.  I was able to take their general idea, and run with it.  I started by printing the inside sentiment directly onto the card base.  Here is your first look:

 

I knew I had a stamp of a pick-up truck with various stamps for truckloads.  I wanted to go with  hearts, flowers or a pile of gifts.  DD like the hearts, so I went with that idea.

 

I needed a road for the truck, and found a nice paper scrap to represent the road surface and a stamp that worked great for the center stripe of the road.  Of course, the speed limit had to be the age of the recipient, so I made the appropriate road sign. Also, I had some scraps of grass that were perfect to add to the side of the road.

 



I had started out with a plain white card base, and when I knew what the layout would be I chose a nice blue for the background sky. 



 The sentiment, speed sign and truck were all affixed with foam tape.

Once I had everything assembled I added a tiny rhinestone on the sentiment tag and some larger rhinestones as wheel covers on the truck.

Here is a close shot of the outside greeting:

 And, finally, here is the full card.

 I hope my family member enjoys the overall sentiment of this card, and I hope you like it, too!  If you have questions about any of the supplies used, please feel free to ask me in the comments section.  As usual, I added plenty of labels for reference.

 

'Til next time; thanks for stopping by!!

Big HUGS!

CHRISTINE

It'll Be Okay

Happy mid-week everyone!  I'm designer of the day over at the CARD A DAY BLOG.  This is a week of using some kind of embossing but without a specific theme.  So, I have a little rainy day card for you using both wet and dry embossing.  It's a cute little card, and really quite easy to make.

I decided to start with an embossing folder, and build my card around whatever design I chose.  In this case, I chose a cloud folder.  I knew I had at least one stamp that was handy that I could use with clouds for a background.  I used my Cuttlebug to emboss a piece of vellum with the clouds, and then picked a dark blue mat to give an overall look of a very gray day.  Just to keep things a bit neutral, I chose kraft card for my base.

I stamped my focal image and my sentiment on white with Versamark ink and embossed with black powder.  The embossing gave a nice outline to color in, which I did very simply using Copics in cheery colors.  I also gave the sentiment a bit of shading with the same blue Copic marker.

I then die cut the two pieces using a slightly fancy die for the label and a die that complemented the look of the clouds for the image.

Not wanting any glue or tape to show behind the vellum I simply used brads to affix the label and vellum to the mat.  I then used foam tape to affix the image piece to the vellum as well as the mat onto the base.

In all this was a relatively quick card to put together.  I got a slightly late start on creating, so quick was a good thing for me today. (heehee)

As always, thanks so much for coming by.  I do hope you enjoyed your visit!

Here are just a few details:
     Paper:  Gina K Designs "In the Navy"
     Brads:  Bo Bunny "Bodacious Brads" in Buttercup
     Embossing Powder:  Stampendous  "Detail Black"
     Stamps:  Pure Innocence for My Favorite Things "My Umbrella"
     Dies:  Spellbinders and Lifestyle Crafts
     Embossing Folder:  Darice "Clouds"
     Markers:  Copics Y04 (Acacia), B24 (Sky), E00 (Skin White), R11 (Pale Cherry Pink)

That's it for now --- see you again soon!!

Big HUGS!
CHRISTINE

DIE-riffic!!

We're having a week of 'Using Die Cuts' at the Card A Day Blog.  I tend to use dies in making many of my cards, so this one is quite a natural for me.  One thing I haven't done very often is use a die to make the actual card base.  So, that's what I have to show you today.

I started out with a left-over rosette with some embellishments for my inspiration.  I've been wanting to use this rosette for several months because it's just been sitting on a chair waiting for some action.  I knew that if I put it away somewhere it would most probably languish for even longer, so I took this opportunity to put it to work.

For my card base, I took some kraft card stock and the largest die from one of the Spellbinders label sets.  The die was just about the right size to make a card that would fit nicely into a standard A2 sized envelope.  I cut the card at 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, scored and folded it, and cut it with the edge of the die sitting just off the folded edge of the card.  That way I was able too get a nicely shaped card in one piece.  I cut a piece of dp with the same die, but made sure the die cut all around the paper.  Then I cut a third piece, this time a solid glitter paper, using the largest die and the next size smaller to create a frame.  I think I'd better show you a picture so you can see just what I'm talking about.

You can't see the kraft card base because I assembled the framed dp and covered the front to give the card a nicely cut full shape that doesn't show the folds.  Next, I used a scrap of blue patterned paper to create the trim around the rosette.  This was cut with a die from one of the fancy labels sets.  I cut this piece in half to be long enough to fill the space.

I then needed to finish the rosette with its embellishments so I arranged the pieces and glued them together.  I'm not sure if the leaves were die cut or punched (they've been around for awhile as well), and the glittery flowers came out of a package.  The pearl embellishment is a button, and the tag, I think, is a die cut.  Sorry to be a bit vague about some of the pieces, but they came from a stay with my sister, and I'm not always too great about writing down what was used at the time.

You can see from these angled photos how much dimension is on this card.  It will fit into an A2 envelope for hand delivery, but a special envelope would be needed for mailing.









Once I had the card assembled I decided I wanted an insert for writing a message.  I used plain white card stock and the smaller of the two frame dies for this piece.  You can see this in the next pic as well as see how the card was cut initially as one piece on the fold.

I showed the finished card to my dd who really liked it.  (I should have saved it for her next birthday -- heehee!)  I hope it gives you some ideas on using your larger dies for making your card bases.

Papers used:  DCWV glitter cardstock matstack and Sizzix Little Sizzles Pastels
Adhesives:  Scotch ATG and Quick-Drying Tacky Glue, and Ranger Matte Accents

I look forward to seeing you again soon.  Thanks for visiting!!

'Til next time.....

Big HUGS!
CHRISTINE