Today’s card project uses the Garden Trellis Textured Impressions Embossing Folder® and Accented Blooms Stamp Set from Stampin’ Up!  I must admit though that it wasn’t the products that kick started my project, it was two design challenges.  Freshly Made Sketches FMS350 provided the layout, and Just Add Ink JAI422 the inspiration for the techniques used.

Overall the project came together fairly quickly.  Unfortunately the same can’t be said of the uploading and editing of my project photos, which has taken hours.  So my apologies for the very late publication of today’s blog post.

GARDEN TRELLIS

This project started with the background, and the ‘choose two of three embossing options’ challenge from Just Add Ink.  First I cut a pretty Calypso Coral design from the Tea Room Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP).  Then I placed it into the Garden Trellis embossing folder and embossed it using my Big Shot and multipurpose platform.

Now that I had the paper embossed I then decided to combine the dry embossing technique with my second choice, heat embossing.

It was important to begin by wiping the embossed DSP with an Embossing Buddy to remove and oils and static.  Then I gently tapped a VersaMark ink pad onto the raised embossing.  Next I sprinkled Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder over the whole piece and tapped off the excess.  After that I did need to remove some excess powder with a small paint brush, but it wasn’t too difficult.  Finally, I melted the remaining powder with my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

THE BACKGROUND

Looking at the Freshly Made Sketches layout I needed a strip to go right across my background layer.  I tried several colours and widths of card strips and ribbon but nothing really appealed to me.  It was only when I was looking at my pile of discarded options that I noticed two card strips layered together.  That’s what I needed!

I cut the strips to length and used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to attach the narrow Old Olive strip to the wider Cherry Cobbler strip.  Extra interest was achieved by leaving a narrow strip of the Cherry Cobbler Card peeking out at the bottom.  The layered strip was then fixed to the garden trellis embossed DSP with more liquid glue.

THE SENTIMENT

Now I needed a sentiment and went looking for a stamp set I hadn’t used in a while, Accented Blooms.  ‘Always thinking of you’ would be perfect to emboss, and there were some small images I could use later too.

A usual I began by wiping a piece of Thick Whisper White Card with the Embossing Buddy. Then I inked up the sentiment with VersaMark ink and immediately tapped the sentiment onto an Old Olive ink pad.  Now I could stamp it onto the white card and sprinkle the sentiment with clear embossing powder.  I tapped off the excess powder and removed a few stray specks , then melted the rest with my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).  Just like that, VersaMark plus an ink pad had created custom-coloured embossing..

With the sentiment done I could then stamp the small flower image from Accented Blooms above the words with Old Olive ink.  I wanted to colour the image, and as Stampin’ Up!’s Classic Stampin’ Ink works perfectly with their Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers, that’s what I decided to use.

I started with the flower in light and dark Calypso Coral.  The leaves were then coloured using light and dark Old Olive.  This simple colouring really added something to the sentiment and I was ready to cut it out using my Big Shot and Magnetic Platform.  I chose the #2 oval die from the Stitched Shapes Framelits (counting from the smallest up) as it fitted the sentiment perfectly.  What’s more I liked the faux stitching that the die puts around the edge of the card as it cuts.

THE FOCAL POINT

One last piece was missing for the focal point of my project.  The sketch showed a large circle shape, but I decided it didn’t have to be a circle.  I began by trying a pearlised doily, but it was too large and overpowered the sentiment.  So then I looked at a variety of different shapes and die cut pieces, but nothing seemed right.  Too big or too small, too plain or too fussy.   So I went back to the doily for another look.

The doily was definitely too large, but it didn’t have to be…

Picking up my Paper Snips I decided to cut off the outer portion of the doily to make it smaller.  Now when I put it behind the sentiment the proportions seemed perfect so I used liquid glue to hold it in place.  With that done I could attach the focal point the front of the background layer.

Now I was ready to use my Stampin’ Trimmer to cut and score a piece of Thick Whisper White Card to create the card base.  Then I folded the card along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.

It was at this point that I decided to mount my background to the card base with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  Followed shortly by the realisation that the very thin specialty DSP was too flimsy for this.  No matter, I simply used liquid glue to attach a layer of Whisper White Card on the back to strengthen it.  Now I could add the background piece to the card base with Stampin’ Dimensionals after all.

ADDED TOUCHES

I was really happy with the little flower image I’d used on the sentiment so that’s what decided to use to coordinate the other parts of the project.

I stamped the image in the centre near the top of a layer of Whisper White Card using Old Olive ink.  Then coloured it using Stampin’ Blends to match the flower on the sentiment.  Once finished, the layer was fixed to the inside of the card base with liquid glue.

Finally I stamped the flower in the centre of the flap on a Whisper White Envelope and coloured that in exactly the same way as before.  My double challenge project was done.

I’m sure I haven’t embossed Designer Series Paper (DSP) much in the past, but I love how it turned out.  The garden trellis design is perfect for this technique and the raised embossing is enhanced by the clear heat embossing.  What do you think?

CHALLENGES

I’ve been on a bit of a roll with challenges this week and I must say it’s been a lot of fun.  Here are the logos for the challenges that I joined today.

Freshly Made Sketches challenge FMS350.

Here I used the sketch in the same portrait orientation as shown, but I added some additional detail to the strip across the card by layering two different colours.

I also used an oval shape for my sentiment instead of the rectangle shown.  Even so I feel that my project reflects the layout pretty closely.

The second challenge was from Just Add Ink JAI422.

For this challenge I had to use two types of embossing, choosing from ’embossing powder’, ’embossing folder’ and ’embossing paste’.

I went with the first two and I’m really happy with how my project turned out.  In fact I used both methods on the background layer with the garden trellis embossing highlighted in clear embossing powder.

Product List