Hello again! I just realized that I almost forgot to post my card for my monthly group! The cards themselves went out on Tuesday so most everyone should have them by tomorrow. I originally planned to do a traditional St. Patrick's Day card, but my stamps are a bit limited in that department so I chose to go more toward Spring in general. We are so desperately in need of a bit of Spring around here. Seems like winter isn't ever going to end but, as I write this the sun is shining nice and bright and I'm looking forward to a walk with Buster before my afternoon completely disappears. So, I better get to it here and explain this card.
The card itself is really very plain. Just a 5-1/4 x 10-1/2 piece of So Saffron layered on a quarter sheet of Always Artichoke. The Certainly Celery piece is 3-3/4 x 4 and it's passed through the Cuttlebug Spots & Dots embossing folder. The white scallop oval is punched with a Marvy scallop punch and layered with a large oval punched from So Saffron. I stamped the greeting (Heidi Grace-Greetings) with Always Artichoke and then set these pieces aside for a bit. The scallop edge on the Always Artichoke strip is done with the Slit Punch and the strip is roughly 5-1/4 x 1-3/4 wide before punching the scallops. The flowers are stamped on Whisper White with White Craft ink and embossed with White embossing powder. Once they cooled, I used my sponge daubers to rub Tangerine Tango, So Saffron and Certainly Celery over the top and then cleaned up the embossing with a tissue. (Note: for those who have not tried this technique, regular water-based inks will not stick or dry to embossed images. I cleaned the flowers off when I was done sponging so that they wouldn't smear ink all over everything else- up to and including the fingers of the recipient) At this point, all that remained was assembly. The Cuttlebug embossed piece went down first, then the scalloped Artichoke strip. Next came the flowers and finally the scallop oval and the Saffron oval. These last two are adhered together then attached to the card so that the right end hung off the edge of the card. I trimmed them by hand once they were adhered in place. Last but not least came the ribbon tied in a neat little bow. Since these were being mailed, I tried to make them as flat as possible.
Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Heidi Grace-Greetings
Paper: Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Ink: So Saffron, Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Tangerine Tango, White craft
Accessories: ribbon, white embossing powder, heat tool, Cuttlebug-Spots & Dots EF, Large oval punch, Marvy Oval Scallop Punch, Sponge DaubersLabels: 2009 Monthly Cards, Embossing, Flowers, Sponging, SU Sets
