The fact that my blog post is late being published should give you a clue about my morning. We’re currently under an extreme heat warning here in Nova Scotia and it’s already 20 degrees C by 9am. Then later today with the humidity it could end up feeling like 40 degrees! As if that wasn’t enough, while working at my computer I got up to get a fresh coffee. I realised that the power lead was in danger of tripping me up so brought my foot up fast to avoid it and bashed by Achilles tendon on the chair. Ouch. I made the coffee without incident but then I returned to my desk I caught my arm on the top of the chair and threw coffee all over my computer mouse and the table. Luckily I missed the laptop but the mouse objected to its bath and stopped working.

Once I’d swapped my mouse for a new one I thought I was done, but apparently things do come in threes and my internet packed up. Oh for goodness sake! So after rebooting the modem twice, and my laptop once, I called my provider. Apparently the particular modem I have has been reporting lots of faults so they are now sending me a new one. Hopefully it should arrive by the end of the week, but in the meantime I’ll muddle through as best I can. It’s been quite a morning but after all that, here’s the project I created. Rather prophetic don’t you think?

LOTS OF GREENERY

I began by finding the greenery in the Garden Lane 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. I first used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to attach a piece to a layer of Mint Macaron Card. Then I fixed the layers directly onto the front of a Thick Whisper White Card base.

Next I attached a piece of the same DSP to the flap of a Whisper White Medium Envelope with liquid glue. Then I trimmed the DSP with Paper Snips using the edge of the flap as a guide.

COW IN A FLOWER MEADOW

While I wanted greenery I did think it needed a pop of colour so that was my next task.

I took some Whisper White Card and stamped the cow image from the Over The Moon Stamp Set using Basic Gray ink. Then on some Whisper White scraps I stamped the flower part of the image 5 times.

With that done I next pulled out an assortment of Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers to do the colouring. The colours I chose were light and dark combos in Poppy Parade and Mango Melody. Then light Flirty Flamingo, Mossy Meadow and Basic Black, and finally dark Smoky Slate.

Once everything was coloured I used my Paper Snips to cut out the complete cow image and the 5 separate flowers.

TIP – You may have seen people commenting that you should only use Memento Tuxedo Black ink for stamping images you want to colour with Stampin’ Blends. However you can quite safely use any of the 50 colours of Classic Stampin’ Pads from Stampin’ Up! if you don’t want a black outline.

COW’S IT GOING?

Next I stamped the “cows it going” sentiment onto a strip of Whisper White Card using Basic Gray ink. Then I punched it out using the Classic Label Punch and added it to the card front with liquid glue. This was followed by the cow which I attached using Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals.

While I was playing with the individual flowers I decided they needed a little lift, so I grabbed my Stampin’ Piece Mat and Take Your Pick Tool. I placed four of the flowers onto the mat and rubbed the large scoring attachment over the centre of each flower in a circular motion. This caused the flowers to take on a cup shape. Then I used a dot of liquid glue to add the flowers to the front of my card.

All I needed now was to complete the inside of the card and for that I began with a layer of Whisper White Card. I used liquid glue to attach the final (flat) flower to the centre near the top and then fixed the layer inside the card base.

After all that, designing and making my project was a lot less eventful than getting it onto my blog. Now I can’t decide whether I need to go and lie down in a darkened room or reach for the chocolate….

LAST CHANCE TO EARN $6 BONUS DAYS COUPONS

I can’t believe it’s July 31st already, but apparently it is. That means that today is your last chance to earn a $6 coupon for every $60 spent (before shipping and taxes). Simply place your order via my online store and make sure your email address is included in your account details. Then once your order has been placed Stampin’ Up! will e-mail you your coupon codes. Keep the e-mail safe and use the code(s) to save on any order placed in August.

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