Hurricane Lee has begun to impact Nova Scotia, although it’s now been downgraded to a ‘post-tropical storm’. We’re still going to get strong winds, heavy rain and tidal surge, but over a much wider area. By 8.20 am over 90,000 properties were without power, and the situation will get worse before it gets better. So I need to get my post typed quickly, just in case. When I sat down to design this notecard project I couldn’t help but reach for the Playing In The Rain Stamp Set and Dies.

CUTE START

I began by choosing the cute tortoise image from the Playing In The Rain Stamp Set. Using Pretty Peacock ink I stamped him onto a scrap of Thick Very Vanilla Card. Then I cut him out using the coordinating die from the Playing In The Rain Dies set.

To colour him in I decided to use Stampin’ Blands alcohol markers although I know that’s probably not a surprise. Anyway, for the plates on his shell I used dark and light Pretty Peacock. Today though I tried a new technique of leaving small areas uncoloured. This really seemed to add something to the image. Next, between the plates and to add some shadow to the body shell I used dark Soft Sea Foam. Then I filled in the rest of the body shell with light Soft Sea Foam. Finally I coloured the head, arms and legs with Ivory, and the centre of the flower with Bronze.

I could have created a full-size card however I recently rediscovered the Very Vanilla Note Cards and Envelopes and grabbed those instead. The note card comes pre-scored so all I had to do was fold it and sharpen the crease with my Bone Folder.

For my sentiment I went back to the stamp set and chose “Rainy days are better with you”. Using Pretty Peacock ink I stamped it in the bottom right corner on the front of the notecard.

PLAYING WITH PAPER

It was only at this point that I started to think about a background for the design. There’s a number of paper packs I could have looked at, however I wanted to avoid any that are temporarily out of stock. So in the end I found what I needed in the Hello, Irresistible 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. The abstract background design really reminded me of our rainy sky, which was perfect for this project.

I began by cutting the sheet to 5-1/4″ x 5-1/4″, this would give me enough to decorate the front and inside of the card, plus the envelope. From this piece I first cut off a 1-3/4″ strip and fixed it to the envelope using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow). Then I trimmed off the excess DSP with Paper Snips, using the edge of the flap as a guide.

Then I cut the remaining DSP into two, so I had one piece 3-1/2″ x 4-1/8″ and the other 3-1/2″ x 1-1/8″. I set the larger piece aside for the moment, while I glued the small strip on the inside of the Note Card up against the top edge.

Now it was back to the stamp set for the rain drops image, and I reached for the Pretty Peacock ink pad once again. After inking up the stamp I ‘stamped off’ twice on some scrap paper to remove most of the ink. Then, making sure the raindrops were in the right direction, I stamped them onto my last piece of DSP. I repeated this process (stamping off twice each time) until I’d completed my rainy sky.

With that done I glued the DSP to the front of the notecard, up against the top edge, before adding the tortoise using Stampin’ Dimensionals. Job done.

It was only after I’d finished this notecard that I discovered a full-size card on a similar theme. If you’re interested you’ll find it in my blog post Irresistible idea.

Now it’s time for porridge and coffee, while we still have the power to make them.

PRODUCT LIST

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES – You won’t find the Hello, Irresistible DSP in the Stampin’ Up! catalogue as it’s part of their Online Exclusives range. This range changes regularly as new items are added and others are discontinued. More seasonal products were added on September 6th so make sure you check them out. Just remember to order right away as there’s no guarantee how long Online Exclusive items will remain available.