Garden Shed Bloom and Grow Card #GDP207

Hi Craftin' Friends.

Today I made an extra special card. It's not a fancy fold. It wasn't expensive to create. It's extra special because of the sentiment, and because it includes fall and growing themes, which I love. In my former life as a teacher, fall meant new beginnings, full of challenges, promises, and hope.

Are you familiar with a growth mindset? As an elementary school teacher, I tried to model a growth mindset and support my students to develop this kind of thinking. It's pretty simple really. When life seems determined to defeat us, we often think, "I can't." A growth mindset says, "I can't, yet." This small change in thinking encourages us, small or tall, young or old, to keep trying, to persevere, to believe in ourselves, in our capacity to learn and grow!

So today, I decided to participate in the Global Design Project's challenge theme, Bloom and Grow. To me, it's about more than just flowers. It's about that growth mindset. About dreaming, getting rid of negative thoughts, and living a more and better life.  For the challenge I chose to use the Garden Shed Stamp Set from the Annual Catalog. I chose this set because I absolutely love the sentiments and they fit so well with the theme of this challenge #GDP207. Check out the challenge here and play along before September 23rd.

The image on the front of the card was stamped with Memento ink on Shimmery White Cardstock. I gave the background a wash using an aqua painter filled with Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol and dipped into a pool of ink. You can create a pool of ink by squeezing the ink pad (the ink pools on the lid) or tapping an acrylic block into the ink. If you choose the first method, be sure to wipe the lid before closing the ink pad so the alcohol doesn't contaminate the ink pad. The upper background was painted with Pool Party ink, and the lower background was done in Crumb Cake ink. Friends, I am not an artist. (If you are, you can probably tell! LOL!) In general, I just tried to have the color more intense near the ground level and fade out as I moved away from there.

After allowing the background to dry, I painted the rest of the image using the same aqua painter. For the flowers, I just dabbed the brush into Daffodil Delight ink, then dabbed it in the vicinity of the flower. I repeated this, if needed, for a darker yellow. The flowers on the right I just did the centers. For the leaves, I repeated the process with Old Olive ink.

To paint the flower pots and watering can, I decided where I wanted the most intense color and moved out from there. The clay pots were painted with Cajun Craze and the watering can with a very diluted Basic Gray.

Because I wanted my card to be appropriate for autumn, I chose Cajun Craze for my card base, cut portrait style (4 1/4" by 11" scored at 5 1/2"). I wrapped some linen thread around the top of the card front and tied a knot. Then I tied a triple bow and attached it with a glue dot.

To further add to the fall flavor, I added some leaves from the Colorful Seasons Stamp Set and Seasonal Layers Thinlets Dies. I stamped the large veined leaf in Early Espresso and the small un-lined leaf in Daffodil Delight on Vellum. These were die cut out. I also die cut the detailed larger leaf in Early Espresso. For the larger stamped leaf, I colored the back with my Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blend.

To stamp the sentiment on this card, I used my Stamparatus and Memento ink. This allowed me to stamp four times on the same spot to make the sentiment stand out on the Cajun Craze paper. I also used the Stamparatus to stamp the shed image with Memento ink on Very Vanilla cardstock cut to 4" by 5 1/4". This was glued inside the card.

The colored image for the card front was matted with Early Espresso cardstock 2 3/4" square, then matted a second time with Crumb Cake cardstock 3" square. I tucked the Stampin' Blend colored leaf in the upper right corner between the two mats. I tucked the smaller stamped leaf in the lower left corner between the two mats, and tucked the Early Espresso die cut leaf under the Crumb Cake mat, ensuring it didn't hang over the edge of the card. Finally I used Stampin' dimensionals to pop up the matted image.

You may notice that I went outside to the garden to photograph this card. I stamp in the basement and the light is just not good for photos. My furry friend, Ziva, had to join me since I was heading to the backyard, so I had to include her picture as well! She's a)good and faithful companion, and often lies on the large table when I'm stamping (don't judge!).

In case you didn't see my Facebook post yesterday, I wanted to let you know that the Clearance Rack has been refreshed, and there are lots of great bargains to be had. Please use host code TJVQS67G if you're ordering online. Of course, the materials to make the card shown today are also available in my web store on my new updated web page. Why not check it out!

Thursday's Facebook Live will feature one design, three cards, using the Brightly Gleaming DSP and bundle. You won't want to miss it!

As always, happy crafting my friends,

Craftin' Granny

Farewell Lovely As A Tree

Hello Stamping Friends.

Are you a nature lover? If you are, perhaps you are Nature Smart. When I was teaching Elementary School, I often talked with my students about Multiple Intelligence. We would discuss their interests and strengths, and that would help them identify which way they were smart. I often found students who were Nature Smart would excel when we studied animals, or when they had an opportunity to learn out of doors.

Personally, I love nature, and feel healthier mentally and emotionally after spending time out of doors. Naturally, this has led to me loving all of the nature stamps that Stampin' Up! produces. Lovely As A Tree is a beautiful and versatile stamp set, with images that make me feel as if I've been for a walk through the woods.

The first card I'm going to share with you today, is relatively easy to make, and could be used for a Sympathy Card or a Thank You Card. The Tranquil Tide card base is is a standard 5 1/2" by 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4". The Sahara Sand layer is 5 1/4" by 4", embossed with the Woodland Embossing Folder. I used some retired Tranquil Tide ribbon to visually anchor the focal piece.

The focal image was stamped on Sahara Sand cardstock cut to 2 1/8" by 4 3/8". I used the Tranquil Tide ink pad to ink the leafy parts of the image, then used my Early Espresso Stampin' Write marker to colour the trunk and ground parts of the image. After colouring the stamp, I stamped the image quickly so that the marker ink didn't have time to dry. You can "huff" or breath heavily on the image to moisten it, if needed. Next I stamped the sentiment from the Rooted in Nature Stamp Set in Tranquil Tide in the bottom right corner.  I matted the stamped image with a piece of Tranquil Tide cardstock cut to 2 1/4" by 4 1/2". Then I cut a piece of Early Espresso cardstock to the same size as the Tranquil Tide cardstock, and angled it behind the stamped picture. I popped the entire focal piece up over the ribbon. 

To finish the card, I added a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock, 4" by 5 1/4" inside the card. I stamped the three leaf image from Rooted in Nature in the top left and bottom right corners in Tranquil Tide (not shown).

Another masculine card I designed using Lovely as a Tree combined with Rooted in Nature uses a bit of gold foil paper for a touch of elegance. This card could be a Birthday Card or a Father's Day Card, depending on the choice of sentiment you added inside. 

I was inspired to create this card after seeing a group of cards made by Leslie Watkins at Dandelion Cottage Designs. I began with a Crumb Cake cardstock base cut to 4 1/4" by 11", scored at 5 1/2". Next I cut a piece of Soft Suede cardstock to 2 3/8" by 4 1/8". This was glued to the center of the card front. The gold foil layer was cut to 2 1/8"by 3 7/8". Before attaching it, a 1 3/8" circle was die cut from this piece. Then  I glued the remaining foil rectangle over the Soft Suede cardstock mat. The central image was stamped in Soft Suede on a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock, 2" by 3 3/4". I used dimensionals to pop up this layer on the gold foil. 

I stamped the sentiment for the card front in Soft Suede on a scrap of Crumb Cake cardstock. Then I fussy cut the sentiment and used glue dots to fasten the three pieces to the foil circle. I wrapped some linen thread around the card front and tied it behind the spot where the foil circle would be attached. The foil circle was adhered using glue dots over the stamped image, and a double layer dimensionals in the bottom right corner.

Finally, I added two tiny boughs in the top left corner on the inside of  the card (image enlarged to show positioning). As mentioned earlier, you could add a sentiment for a Birthday or Father's Day to complete this card.

The final card I'm going to share today used the Colourful Seasons Bundle along with the Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set. It also used some of the Botanical Butterflies Designer Series Paper (now retired), and one of my favourite colour combinations, Lemon Lime Twist, Basic Black, and Whisper White. To make this card I started with a Lemon Lime card base cut hotdog style (4 1/4" by 11"). The black layer is 3 7/8" by 5 1/8". The polka dot DSP was cut to 3 3/4" by 5", then a 2 5/8" square was cut out to create the opening for the inlaid image. I added some Lemon Lime Organdy ribbon (now retired) to the bottom part of the card to anchor the sentiment, then popped the polka dot layer up with dimensionals.

 The tree image was stamped with Memento on a 2 3/8" square of Whisper White cardstock, then glued inside the square cut out leaving a black border showing. I die cut two leaves in Lemon Lime and glued them to the corners of the square. 

For the sentiment, I cut a stitched rectangle and stamped some leaf images by stamping off first, then stamping in Lemon Lime Twist. The Thinking of you sentiment was stamped in Memento black ink over top. Then I cut a black cardstock rectangle to mat the sentiment. Dimensionals popped this piece up over the organdy ribbon. 

I hope you liked the cards today, and can see how versatile the Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set can be. This set is available for only a short time more. If you'd like to order this stamp before it's gone, just click the Shop button at the top of the blog. For more ideas with this Stamp Set, tune in tomorrow evening at 7 pm. on my Craftin' Granny's Facebook page for my weekly Facebook Live video. I will be demonstrating two stamping techniques using this stamp set. 

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Thanks for joining me today and happy stamping!

Craftin' Granny