You Got This!

Hi everyone, I've got an encouragement card for you today.  I've used the Happy Fall stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs for this one and it has a very summery feel to it.

The images are all from the Happy Fall stamp set, and I've coloured them with Copic markers before fussy cutting them out.  

I used the "So Many Squares Panel" die from Your Next Stamp for the overlay.  It actually cuts a grid of twelve squares, but I cut a few of them out with scissors to allow my pictures and sentiment to fit. 

I ink blended the background using my now favourite summer colour combination of Distress Oxide Mowed Lawn and Cosmic Shimmer Colour Cloud ink in Clear Day.  I masked off the outside area of the card before ink blending.

I stamped and clear heat embossed the sentiment so it would fit in one of the openings of the overlay diecut.  Then I attached the kite with the string to the back of the overlay before gluing it into place on the card front.  Finally, I popped the little squirrels up on double sided foam tape before attaching them in place.  I love how happy those squirrels are!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a happy, creative day!

You've Got Happy Mail!

Hello and welcome back.  I've got a card today that features the Owl My Love and Happy Fall stamp sets from Gerda Steiner Designs, because who doesn't love happy mail?!  Here's a picture of my card.

I used Copic markers to colour in all the images and then fussy cut them out.  I die cut 4 of the wooden frames from a Hero Arts die called Wood Frame.  I used some Distress Ink in Vintage Photo to ink blend on the top frame, and then glued the layers together.

From the inside section of one of the frames, I inked up a grassy green colour, spritzed it with water and blotted up some of the ink with a paper towel.  Once it was dry, I freestyle cut a grassy hill.  

On the card front, I stamped and clear heat embossed the sentiment (which is from the Owl My Love set) below where the frame would sit. Next, I masked off the area outside where the frame would go, and used a cloud stencil (Cloud Edger  from Colorful Life Designs) to create the sky.  I then glued the frame around the inked area.  And finally, I adhered the images with glue and foam tape as needed.  I love that squirrel that is jumping for joy!

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you're having a great day.

Squirrels and Gourds Birthday Card

Hello again! I have another interactive card today that uses the Lawn Fawn Swish ‘N Pop pull tab die and I’ve paired it with the new “Gourds” and the “Happy Fall” stamp sets from Gerda Steiner Designs.  The gourds just make me smile and the squirrels are so cute, so I hope you don’t mind me doing a similar card again.  Here’s a look at the card before pulling the pull tab and after pulling it  

I really wanted the squirrel on the log to disappear as if he was scared by the talking gourds and then reappear hanging upside down in the tree, but I just couldn’t figure out how to make that happen.  So instead, the second squirrel appears from the tree. 

I coloured all the images in with copic markers and cut them out. The trunk of the tree is from an Elizabeth Craft die set just called “Tree”. The leaf canopy was made by adding some Pixie Sparkles (in Copper Splash and Red Oxide) from Cosmic Shimmer, to a piece of white cardstock, and lightly spritzing with water to activate the powder. After it was dry, I added a little Distress Oxide ink in Mustard Seed to get a deeper yellow colour. I freestyle cut out the leafy shape. 

The grass was made by ink blending with Distress Oxide inks in Mowed Lawn and Peeled Paint and then I die cut it with a grassy border that is in the same Tree die set used for the tree. For the sky background, I used the Cloud Edger stencil from A Colorful Life Designs and some Colour Cloud ink in Clear Day from Cosmic Shimmer. 

My card is actually a 5 x 7” card, so to use the Swish ‘N Pop die, I had to extend the pull tab by doing some partial die cutting on the pull tab. I also modified the assembly in order to make the hanging squirrel appear from the left. Here’s how that looks:

Basically, I’ve reversed which hole the pull tab is attached to, in order to make it swing up from the left. I’ve added double layers of foam tape along the bottom, and wherever else I could to anchor the grassy border without interfering with the mechanism. Once I had the mechanism in place and adjusted to allow the second squirrel to hang down, I attached the grassy border and then the tree and remaining images. 

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on a speech strip and adhered it above the gourds. I also stamped the inside sentiment which is from the Gourds stamp set. And then of course, I had to play with the card and watch the second squirrel come out! 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day!