Mystery Solved!

It's Monday and time for a new featured stamp set of the week.  This week I am having fun playing with the Love of Leaves Stamp Set and its coordinating Stitched Leaves Dies.

You might be wondering why the card shown doesn't have any leaves.  So let me give you a little background on where this card came from.

Last week I participated in a Mystery Stamping event held by TX Stampin', Sharon Armstrong.  Sharon is one of the Stampin' Up! demonstrators that is part of the Creativate Team that I participate in, and she is well known for her mystery stamping.  She gives one clue at a time and you complete each clue however you interpret it.  You never know how your card is going to turn out until you complete all the clues and the card is finished.   Since I was planning to use the Love of Leaves stamp set for my cards this week, I chose to use that stamp set for the mystery stamping.  

However, when all the clues were finished, there was no opportunity to use any of the leaves. and the above card was my result.   Only the sentiment is from the Love of Leaves stamp set.

I really liked how the layout of my card turned out (which isn't always the case with mystery stamping), so I decided to see how I could modify it slightly and use a few more products from the Love of Leaves stamp set and the Stitched Leaves Dies.  Here is my "remade" card.

Using the Stitched Leaves dies, I cut out a few leaves from the Harvest Meadow Designer Series Paper and added them to the front of the smallest panel.

What do you think?  Which one do you like best?  The original or the updated version?  I like them both, and I think this is definitely going to be a layout that I will use often.  The nice thing about having the three different designer series panels is that you can move them around into a different layout and have a totally different looking card.

Here is the inside of my card.  On my re-made version I used the "waterfall" stitched die to create a pattern on the left side of the card, and then I added 3 narrow strips of the same designer series paper as used on the card front.  The sentiment is another stamp from Love of Leaves.

Card Inside

A FREE TUTORIAL is available at this link.  

See the product list below for all products used to create today's card.

Product List

Love Of Leaves Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [158245]	Stitched Leaves Dies [153567]	Stitched So Sweetly Dies [151690]	Tasteful Textile 3 D Embossing Folder [152718]	Soft Succulent 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [155776]
Harvest Meadow 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [156494]	Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [159276]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Simply Elegant Trim [155766]	Brushed Metallic Adhesive Backed Dots [156506]
Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [149653]

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Hope is our Anchor

As we have been reminded over the last couple of weeks, our world, our country and our own hearts need to hang on to reasons for HOPE!

I love this sentiment from the Sailing Home stamp set that says, "Let HOPE be your ANCHOR through the storms of LIFE".  I do believe that hope is what keeps us going during difficult days, and hope comes in different forms for each of us.  For some, hope comes through prayer and our faith.  For others it may come in the form of a a phone call from a special friend.  And yes, hope can also come in the form of a special card that arrives in our mailbox.

The scene on this card reminds me of what the water and the sky often look like after a storm has passed.  The water is still a little dark and moody, but calm, and the sky is clearing with hints of pink, purple and blue.  I didn't make the card with that goal, but sometimes things just work out.

I kept the card fairly simple starting with a Basic White front panel embossed with the Tasteful Textile embossing folder.  This is my go-to embossing folder when I feel like a card just needs a little something.

The black and white background from Pattern Party Designer Series Paper was cut with a die from the Ornate Layers Dies and added to the embossed panel on the front of the card.   

To create the sky I created a mask punched with a scalloped oval punch to give just the hint of a couple of faint clouds.  You'll have to look close to see them as I wanted them to be very faint.  The water was blended with Pool Party and Pacific Point ink.  I did use a retired stamp from By the Dock stamp set to create a few ripples, but these could just as easily have been made with a marker.  The ripples were highlighted a bit with a white glitter gel pen which was also used to highlight the water line.

The completed scene was then matted to Pacific Point card stock.  The sailboat was stamped with Black Stazon on basic white.  The boat was colored with a Pacific Point marker, and the front sail was lightly tinted with a Blender Pen and Pacific Point ink.  After coloring, the sailboat was die cut with a coordinating die from the Smooth Sailing dies.  Next, a black/silver striped ribbon was wrapped around the scene and tied in a bow.  The assembly was then adhered to the card base with dimensionals.  All that remained was tucking a silver heat embossed and die cut anchor under the bow and adding the sentiment.  The sentiment was stamped with Black Memento ink, and after die cutting the sentiment with another die from the Smooth Sailing dies the edges were sponged lightly with Pacific Point.

For the inside I stamped another sailboat and colored it as I did for the one on the card front.  I adhered the completed Basic White card to a Pacific Point mat and then to the inside of the card base.  If desired, I can always add a sentiment later when I have a specific purpose for the card or alternatively, there is plenty of room for a handwritten note to someone that needs a little encouragement.

If you would like more dimensional cutting details and step-by-step directions to recreate this card, a free tutorial can be accessed by using this link.

 

Below is a list of current products used to create this card.

Product List

Sailing Home Cling Stamp Set [149457]	Smooth Sailing Dies [149576]	Ornate Layers Dies [152726]	Double Oval Punch [154242]	Tasteful Textile 3 D Embossing Folder [152718]
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock [159229]	Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [159276]	Pacific Point 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [111350]	Pattern Party 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Host Designer Series Paper [155426]	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad [147100]
Highland Heather Classic Stampin' Pad [147103]	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad [147105]	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad [147098]	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad [147107]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]
Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad [101406]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Brights Stampin' Write Markers [147157]	Sponge Daubers [133773]	Blender Pens [102845]
Metallics Embossing Powders [155555]	Heat Tool (Us And Canada) [129053]

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Set Sail with a 3-Flap Fun Fold

NEW 3- FLAP FUN FOLD

A few weeks ago, I participated in the Summer Creativate Retreat.  It's a jam-packed, fun day full of stamping ideas and demonstrations.

One of the demonstrations was a 3-flap fun fold card.  I had not seen this unique fun-fold before, so since I enjoy learning and experimenting with new techniques, it was one of the first projects I wanted to try.  

Most of the examples we saw featured beautiful designer series papers on the various flaps, but since I was featuring the Sailing Home stamp set this week, I decided to see how I could apply it to this fun fold.

The front of the card, shown in the image above, gives no hint to what hides inside.  I kept the front very simple and used a typical nautical combination of colors -- Night of Navy, Sahara Sand, Merry Merlot and Basic White.  The Designer Series Papers are from the Neutrals 6" x 6" pack.

The sentiment on the front is one of the sentiments from the Sailing Home stamp set.  I think this is a great sentiment and have used it often for a graduation card, but wouldn't it also work well for a retirement, a new job, or many other significant life-change events?

The following photo shows the card fully opened and now you can see that the inside is where all the fun is.  It definitely isn't "naked" inside!

3-flap fun fold inside

Isn't this a fun inside?  I decorated each of the three "folding panels" differently.  All have a nautical theme, but each is quite different.  

The center panel is reserved for the sentiments with plenty of room for a hand-written note.  I simply added a piece of the gold striped pattern from the beautiful Expressions in Ink designer series paper on the left edge to give it a bit of pizazz.

On the left panel I created a lighthouse scene.  The top panel has a colorful sailboat floating on a calm sea, and the lower panel has a gold heat-embossed anchor.

All panels are matted with Sahara Sand and Merry Merlot and then adhered to the Night of Navy card.  

When completely closed, the "folding" portion of the card measures 5-1/4" x 4", so it is mounted to a 5-1/4" x 4-1/2" Sahara Sand mat which brings it to the standard card size.

My card is made so the two top and bottom flaps fold in first and then the large left flap folds over them.  But you can also experiment with a horizontal rotation and/or fold the larger flap in first and have the two smaller flaps create the card front.  That would then look like a Dutch-door fold card.  There are definitely a lot of possibilities with this fun fold.

What do you think?  Would you like to give it a try?  If you would like to experiment and make your own fun fold, the cutting and scoring directions are included in the complete tutorial here.

Below is a complete list of current products used to create the 3-flap fun fold.

Product List

Sailing Home Cling Stamp Set [149457]	Elegant Tag Punch [155762]	Sahara Sand 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [121043]	Night Of Navy 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [100867]	Merry Merlot 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146979]
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [159276]	Neutrals 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) Designer Series Paper [155226]	Gold Foil Sheets [132622]	Expressions In Ink 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [155464]	Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad [147112]
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [147110]	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad [147117]	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad [147107]	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad [147104]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]
Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad [101406]	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897]	Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers [147158]	Brights Stampin' Write Markers [147157]	Subtles Stampin' Write Markers [147156]
Metallics Embossing Powders [155555]	Heat Tool (Us And Canada) [129053]

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