Two Mother's Day Cards and Two Challenges

A few days ago I entered a card recipe swap on Stampin' Connection, an online community for Stampin' Up! demonstrators.  My task was to use a product from the upcoming Summer Mini catalog. I chose the category "Mother's Day."  It wasn't until after I commited to the swap that I realized that I didn't purchase many preorder items from that catalog,  (Trying to use some self-control here!)  The only item I had to work with was the Strength & Hope stamp set.  I have two versions:

Oops! I forgot to trim my ribbon on this one.

The second card is actually the first one that I made.  Although I do like the Paisley Petals designer series paper, something about it bothered me.  That's why I created another card.  Here's some neat things I did on this project:

1.  I  colored the taffeta ribbon by rubbing it over my baja Breeze ink pad.  

2. To get that cool border around the Word Window punch, I cut one piece of card stock using the Decorative Label punch, then re-fed it the opposite way back into the punch.  (Can't remember where I saw that idea to give credit.)

3. Immediately after stamping my butterflies, I poured clear embossing powder over them and heat set it. A second butterfly is on top of the first one. I simply followed the pattern on the butterfly to cut a smaller image.  The antennae are "attached" to the bottom butterfly.

I'm entering this card in two challenges this week, Stamping 411 and SUO Challenges.

Stamps: Strength & Hope, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Always Artichoke, Night of Navy 

Ink: Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Night of Navy, Always Artichoke 

Accessories: Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper textured impressions embossing folder, Petals-a-Plenty textured impressions embossing folder, Word Window punch, Decorative Label punch, Scallop Trim Border punch, heat tool, clear embossing powder, Whisper White taffeta ribbon, pearls, sponges, dimensionals

Happy Stamping!

Susan

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Clematis 'Bourbon' Perfected!

Over the past few days I've worked on the 'Bourbon' every little chance that I got.  No, I wasn't drinking bourbon.  I created another clematis!  It all started after I wrote the last post.  I wanted to make one using Rich Razzleberry to sponge the petals.  One thing lead to another and I created a wooden fence background for the clematis to climb.  Here it is:

First, I rounded the corners of the fence planks, then sponged them with Soft Suede ink.  After I punched the Melon Mambo flower petals, I sponged those with Rich Razzleberry ink, punched a 1/16" hole and put them all together on a brad.  I purposely arranged the petals in a random design.  That's how they're found in nature, right?  For the stems I cut a Pear Pizzazz piece of card stock about 1/8" wide and used a stylus to make a vein down the center.  Then I folded the strip in half and rolled it around the stylus to soften the fibers and sponged them with Pear Pizzazz ink.  I wove the vine around the fence pieces to make it look like it was really climbing the fence.  I rubbed the Melon Mambo and Regal Rose clematis buds across Very Vanilla craft ink and let them dry overnight.  Then I sponged the tips with Rich Razzleberry ink.  The leaves were folded in half and sponged with Pear Pizzazz ink.

Stamps: none
Paper: Woodland Walk designer series paper, Paisley Petals designer series paper, Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Regal Rose
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla craft ink
Accessories: Blossom Petals punch, corner rounder punch, 1/16" circle punch, brad, sponges, dimensionals

Several years ago I bought my mom a book about clematis.  She has about six different varieties growing in her garden and loves all of them.  This card is for her : )

Happy Stamping!

Susan

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Clematis 'Bourbon'

Gardening has always been a great hobby of mine.  Years ago in my BC (Before Children) era, Randy and I planted all kinds of plants - mostly herbs, vegetables and flowers.  When I was pregnant with Bradley, my college roomie Sue came to visit for a weekend.   At the time, Randy was out to sea.  A hurricane had just blown through the east coast and knocked down some our our fencing and the trellis that 'Henryi' climbed.  I have some great photos of my eight-months pregnant belly and Sue trying to fix things.  (I'll have to figure out how to scan the photos into the computer later.)  We laughed really hard over that one because we were absolutely no good at construction work.  I was so sad to leave my Clematis 'Henryi' when we moved from Virginia to the Netherlands.  Wonder if it's still there.

A few days ago, I stopped by the house of my friend and downline, Linda.  She was in need of some card stock for her upcoming Blossom Petals punch class.  While I was there, I got to see a paper clematis that she made using the punch.  Too cute!  (Maybe I can get a photo of her card to post.)

Today, amidst the chaos of having four kids inside the house, I browsed a few gardening sites and found clematis 'Bourbon' and decides to recreate it.

 




(This photo is a little bright and doesn't capture the card's true colors.)

The petals are made out of Melon Mambo card stock.  I added two veins in each petal with my bone folder, then sponged each petal with Cherry Cobbler ink.  (I tried Real Red ink and it didn't look right.  Rich Razzleberry might've worked, too.  But I didn't try it.)  I cut the width of the ribbon down and fringed the edges. It kinda mimics the center of the flower.  And here's how I did the center:



The piece was about three inches long and 3/8" wide.
I cut very tiny strips about 1/4" down the length of the strip.


Linda shared a little "trick" with me.  Instead of using Tombow monoadhesive to hold all of the petals together, she used a brad.  It's covered up by the center of the flower.  I put a glue dot in between the flower and the flower center, then adhered the flower to the card with a dimensional.

Stamps: none
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Paisley Prints designer series paper
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories:  Blossom Petals punch,  corner rounder punch, sponges, 1 1/4" striped Pumpkin Pie ribbon, glue dots, Tombow monoadhesive, dimensionals, 1/16" hole punch, brad, bone folder

That card got me to thinking about how I miss the gardening that I used to do.  I haven't planted too many things since we moved into our new house six years ago.  One thing we did plant was a clematis.  Some day I'll get my hands dirty again.  For now, I'd rather be taking care of the kids and getting my fingers a little inky!

Happy stamping and happy Easter!

Susan

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