GARDEN MEADOW AND A SALTED BACKGROUND

Have you watched my Learning With Friends Technique videos?  Do you ever wonder what I do with all those "extra" technique sheets that I create?  Too often, I stick them in a box to use later -- but then never do.

If you are a regular follower of my website, you know that this week we are trying something  "new".  I'm calling it hodgepodge week.  So, you are seeing a little of this and a little of that.  One of my thoughts is that maybe I can make use of some of those "leftover" technique sheets.

So, today's card does just that!  It was made with one of the Salted Background sheets we created during last week's Learning with Friends.  

This was my favorite one made with Thick Basic White cardstock and Pretty Peacock, Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight ink.  So, I used it for the background behind my Garden Meadow Arch.  The "salt spots"  show up really well in the Pumpkin Pie area.

The arch, gate, boots, garden tools, flowers and the sentiment are all from the Garden Meadow Bundle.  

The flowers and boots were colored with Stampin' Blends and the garden tools were stamped on Silver Foil and then die cut.  All stamped images have coordinating dies, so that makes quick work of putting this card together.  No fussy cutting required!

I die cut two of the gates and trimmed the opposite sides off of each so that I could have a gate that opened.  Cute, right?

The sentiment was positioned toward the right side of one of the Nested Essentials Dies and then after die cutting the left portion was trimmed to make it better fit the card.

The most difficult part of this card was deciding which section of my completed technique sheet to use for the "arch".  I decided to maximize the amount of blue in the arch, so that left me with a "scrap" strip on the right which was mainly Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie.  I used that strip to add some color to the inside of the card.  I also stamped and colored the basket of flowers for a bit more pizzaz.  

Use this link to download a free Tutorial.

This wraps up another week of blog posts.  I hope you have enjoyed the ideas and have found some inspiration!

I'd love to hear your comments.

Product List

Garden Meadow Bundle (English)

[162741]

Nested Essentials Dies

[161597]

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock

[159229]

Silver Foil Sheets

[132178]

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[159276]

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad

[101406]

Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad

[150083]

Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad

[147086]

Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad

[147094]

Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154883]

Lemon Lime Twist Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack

[161682]

Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154897]

Petunia Pop Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack

[163828]

Pretty Peacock Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154895]

Brushed Brass Butterflies

[158136]

Baker's Twine Essentials Pack

[155475]

Stampin' Spritzer

[126185]

Water Painters

[151298]

Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

[149653]

Add All to Cart

PANSY PETALS IN EDEN'S GARDEN

When you are running short on time Designer Series Paper is always a great solution to make a quick card.  Today's card uses the Pansy Petals paper.

I used three different patterns from the Pansy Petals Designer Series Paper and of course stamps and dies from the Eden's Garden Bundle.  The sentiment and it's background were made with dies from Stitched So Sweetly dies.  If you don't already have this die set, I'm just going to say it -- you NEED it.  There are six different size layers of stitched scalloped rectangle dies, and four dies of various sizes and shapes that are perfect for large or small sentiments.  You can check out the details more closely in the product list below.

The interest in today's card is created more by the layout and the paper than by the colors.  The color scheme for this card is very tonal, but the different shades and patterns of green keep it from becoming too boring.

The flower was stamped on Basic White cardstock with Soft Succulent Ink and then fussy cut.  Yes, unfortunately, there is not a coordinating die for the flower, but the rest of the dies in Eden Dies make up for it.  It is a relatively easy image to fussy cut.

It doesn't show very well in the photo, but I added a bit of clear Wink of Stella to the flower bouquet to provide some shimmer.  Three embellishments called Wonderful Gems have gold flecking inside the gem and add a bit more sparkle.  The Wonderful Gems were in the Holiday Mini Catalog, and I still have a few left, so thought I'd use them.  Obviously, you can substitute with any embellishment you have.

Again, I kept the inside simple.  Did I mention I was running out of time to get this card made and posted?  Adding a strip of the Designer Series Paper with a coordinating solid cardstock border is always a quick solution for dressing up the inside of your card.

A FREE TUTORIAL is available for downloading at this link.  If you ever have any questions on the cards I share, please don't hesitate to drop me a note.

You can leave me a message by using the subscribe section on the right or a comment below.  I'd love to have you subscribe to my newsletter, but you can also use the message box in the subscribe section to just ask a question.

For details on the products I used, please refer to the Product List below.

Product List

Eden's Garden Bundle (English) [157832]	Peaceful Moments Cling Stamp Set (English) [151595]	Stitched So Sweetly Dies [151690]	Evening Evergreen 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [155574]	Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock [159229]
Pansy Petals 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [155807]	Soft Succulent Classic Stampin' Pad [155778]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897]	Wonderful Gems [153536]
Metallics Embossing Powders [155555]	Heat Tool (Us And Canada) [129053]	Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [149653]

Add All to Cart

EDEN'S GARDEN - ON THE DIAG

Today the border die in the Eden Dies set was speaking to me to use it to decorate the edge of one of my favorite layouts -- which I call "On the DIAG".  You probably need to be a Michigan Wolverine graduate to appreciate the name.  The DIAG is green space on the University of Michigan campus where several walkways run across it on the diagonal.  It is a place where events are held and friends gather.  This diagonal layout is one of my favorites, and it reminds me of that special place.  I guess you could say I'm drawn to it like an old friend.

The Basic White background is embossed with one of my favorite things from the new Spring Mini Catalog, the new Gingham Embossing Folder.  On the Basic White Diagonal, I stamped various leaves from the Eden's Garden Stamp Set with Granny Apple Green Ink.  This is such a happy green, isn't it?  After the leaves were stamped, I embossed the panel with the Tasteful Textile 3D embossing folder.

The card base and the diagonal border are Fresh Freesia.   

Have you ever had an idea or vision of what you wanted, but struggled to get it to turn out like you pictured it in your mind?  That was my challenge with the center bouquet on this card.

I wanted to use the large flower from the Eden's Garden Stamp Set for the center focal point.  But I also envisioned a multi-color bouquet.   My initial plan was use Stampin Write Markers to color the stamp with different colors, but I was not able to get an image with which I was happy.  Perhaps DisINKtive stamps are not made for this technique; I'm not sure.

Inking the image with a stamp pad resulted in a much better image, so out came my Stamparatus.  By using the Stamparatus, I could selectively ink various areas of the bouquet with different color ink pads and stamp them one color at a time. It took a little experimentation, but I finally achieved an image I was satisfied with.  What do you think?  Colors I used were Fresh Freesia, Granny Apple Green, Calypso Coral, and Coastal Cabana.  For the tiny Coastal Cabana flowers and dots I just used a Stampin' Write Marker, not the Stamparatus.

After I added the large flower bouquet over the Granny Apple Green leaves on the diagonal strip, I thought it needed some bling, so I tucked various stems and leaves from the Expressions in Ink Ephemera Pack behind the flower.  That was a quick and simple fix.  I need to remember to use that Ephemera Pack more often! The pack has lots and lots of shiny, gold pre-cut trim pieces.  All you have to do is pop them out of the sheet and add them to your card.

For the sentiment I used "Sending Hugs" from the Eden's Garden Stamp Set.  Staying with the theme of gold accents,  I heat embossed it with gold and then die cut with the Stitched So Sweetly Dies.  I will be so sad if these dies ever retire.  

For the inside of the card, I kept it clean and simple.

The sentiment is from the Peaceful Moments Stamp Set.  A die cut Fresh Freesia border was added to the bottom of the card.

You can use this link to download a FREE TUTORIAL with all the dimensions and directions to create this card.  

A complete product list is shown below, but remember, you can always adapt these ideas to use products you already have.

Product List

Eden's Garden Bundle (English) [157832]	Peaceful Moments Cling Stamp Set (English) [151595]	Stitched So Sweetly Dies [151690]	Fresh Freesia 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [155613]
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock [159229]	Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin' Pad [155611]	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad [147095]	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad [147101]
Versamark Pad [102283]	Brights Stampin' Write Markers [147157]	Gingham Embossing Folder [157627]	Tasteful Textile 3 D Embossing Folder [152718]
Expressions In Ink Ephemera Pack [155465]	Simply Elegant Trim [155766]	Metallic Pearls [146282]	Metallics Embossing Powders [155555]
Heat Tool (Us And Canada) [129053]	Stamparatus [146276]	Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [149653]

Add All to Cart