Month of May Eastern Palace Series - Project #4

Today's project is feminine birthday card featuring products from the Eastern Palace Suite and one of the new InColours - Lemon Lime Twist. 

I'm going to start by saying that the color "lemon lime" has never been high on my list of colors before today.  I came around though after using the new Lemon Lime Twist ink pad, designer series paper and card stock.  

Here's my project and the reason why I'm changing my mind.

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Beautiful You and Eastern Beauty 
Ink:  Dapper Denim and Lemon Lime Twist
Card Stock:  Very Vanilla, Lemon Lime Twist and Dapper Denim and 
Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper
Accessories:  Big Shot, Paper Trimmer,  Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers, Basic Pearls, Eastern Medallions Thinlet Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, 1, 1 1/4 and 1 38" Circle Punches, Basic Pearls, Dimensionals, Tom Bow Glue, Blender Pen, Acrylic Blocks. 
 
Assembly:
Card Base: 8 1/2" x 11" Very Vanilla card stock scored at 4 1/4". 

1st layer: 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Lemon Lime Twist card stock.  Note: Cut out the 2" Stitched Shapes circle, the #1 circle and #10 flower from Eastern Medallions thinlet dies from the center of this layer before adhering it to the base. Punch out the #1 circle die shape with the 1 3/8" circle punch.

2nd layer:  5" x 3 3/4" piece of Dapper Denim card stock.  Note: Cut out a 3" circle with the Stitched Shapes die before adhering to the 1st layer. Adhere this circle to the top center of the 3rd layer.

3rd layer:  4 3/4" x 3 12" piece of  Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper. 

4th layer:  Cut a 3" x 3" piece of Very Vanilla card stock.  Center and cut out the #3 die from Eastern Medallions and punch out a 1 3/8" circle from the center.  Stamp the sentiment "a note for you" in Dapper Denim ink around the outside of the circle.  Stamp the small flower image in Lemon Lime Twist in the corners and add a basic pearl to the center of each.  Use this same stamp to stamp the half circle arches on the medallion.  Layer and adhere the 2" Lemon Lime Twist circle, the 1 3/8" Very Vanilla circle and the #1 Lemon Lime Twist circles together with Tom Bow Glue.  Adhere to the center of the medallion with a couple of Dimensionals.  Add a small basic pearl to the center.  Put a Dimensional on each corner of the back side of this square and adhere over the 3" Dapper Denim circle.  

5th & 6th layers: 1" x 3 1/2" Dapper Denim card stock and 3/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Very Vanilla card stocks. Stamp the "Happy Birthday Gorgeous" image from Beautiful You to the center of the Very Vanilla strip.  Attach this strip with Dimensionals to the Dapper Denim Strip and then attach this piece with Tom Bow glue to the bottom of the DSP layer leaving about an 1/8 of an inch gap.  Adhere 3 basic pearls to each side of this layer.

Inside: 
1st layer:  3 3/4" x 5 1/4" piece of Dapper Denim card stock
2nd layer:  3 5/8" x 5" piece of Very Vanilla card stock.  Add a strip from the Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers along the top edge. 

Stamp the dancing girl image from Beautiful You in Dapper Denim ink in the bottom right corner of the card.  Use a blender pen to draw out the colour from the line images to the dress and hat.  Colour a sash on the hat and the girl's slip with Lemon Lime Twist.  Stamp the "life is beautiful" sentiment from the girl's right side and below her arm. Finally add a touch of Wink of Stella to the hat, the dress folds and across the shadow at the base of the image.

Beautiful You

Normally I would have been finished stamping and fiddling with the inside of this card, however I made a Boo Boo with the blender pen leaving a big smudge above the girls left arm.  What to do?  What to do?  Well, cover it up of course! 

The only way I could think of fixing this mistake apart from starting over was to "cover it up".  I decided to cut out a Lemon Lime Twist flower using the#10 die.  I stamped each of the pedals with the small curlicue stamp from Eastern Beauty in Dapper Denim.  I stamped "enjoy today" in Dapper Denim on a scrap of Very Vanilla and cut it out with a 1" circle punch and adhered this to the center of the flower image.  I glued the flower to the card base above the girl's arm and was finally done!  

I hope you liked the way I mixed the Eastern Beauty stamp set with the Beautiful You stamp set to create this unique birthday card and were inspired to try out this style of card yourself.  I totally fell in love with this Lemon Lime Twist especially  when it was combined with the Dapper Denim and Very Vanilla.  Awesome!  Enjoy! 

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #117 - Heidi's Feminine Anything Goes

It's been nothing but rain, rain and more rain here in the Fraser Valley for the past few months, so although we've got lots of Spring flowers in bloom, we've had an incredible lack of sunshine.  Lets hope the month of May brings a new weather outlook.

Speaking of change, the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge Blog is undergoing some changes too.  The first change is that our Guest Design Artist, Heather Hopson, is taking a break for the summer and hopefully will rejoin us in the Fall. Thanks Heather for inspiring with all your great cards, posts and comments.  Have a terrific summer!

The Watercooler Wednesday Design Team is also excited to announce is the addition of Fiona Whitehead and Judy Markowitz . These two very talented gals have participated in many of our weekly challenges and demonstrated some pretty impressive paper crafting skills. A big shout out and welcome for these two!  

Another change I'm excited about is the lineup for our challenges is changing beginning this month.  Make sure you check out the side-bar on the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge Blog for the new weekly challenges.  I'm sure you're going to be as excited as I am.  Love it! 

Heidi Weaver is starting us off by hosting our first "Feminine" Anything Goes theme challenge. Since we've been covering the boys pretty regularly it seemed only fair that the "girls" get spotlighted too.  Isn't this a great addition to our line-up?  

This challenge is open from May 3rd and the link closes at 5pm Mountain time on Monday May 8th.  I hope you'll join us for this challenge, by linking up your Feminine Anything Goes card.

Here's My Card: 

I've really been wanting to try out the Beautiful You stamp set from Stampin' Up! and this new challenge was the perfect opportunity to get it inky.  Regretfully I'm also showcasing the soon to be retired Balloon Pop Up Thinlet die.

I cut out the DSP with the Balloon Pop Up Die and mounted in on Basic Black card stock. I also used the balloon images from this die cut to cut out the two Mint Macaroon Balloons.  The Sweet Sugar Plum Balloon was cut out with the Double Balloon punch.  I stamped the dancing girl on Very Vanilla card stock and fussy cut out the image with my detail scissors. 

Supplies:
Stamp Set:  Beautiful You #143637
Card Stock and DSP: Very Vanilla, Basic Black and Sweet Sugarplum card stock. Playful Palette DSP Stack #141657, and the now retired Sweet Sugarplum and Mint Macaroon Glimmer papers. 
Ink:  Tuxedo Momento Black, Mint Macaroon, Sweet Sugarplum, and Blushing Bride.
Accessories:  Blender Pen, Big Shot, Trimmer, Tom Bow Glue, Dimensionals, Balloon Pop Up Thinlet Die, Stitched Shapes Oval Dies, Large Oval Punch, Double Balloon Punch, Project Life Black Marker.

The inside of this card is a little unusual in that the free writing space is on the back of the front panel.  I've added another stamped design and birthday sentiment to the bottom inside panel.  Sometimes it's just nice to change things up!   In my opinion, the inside just adds to the WOW factor in this card lay out.  

In this view you can see the whole inside of the card.  Unfortunately it was difficult to photo graph so this image is very small.

I love the openness of this panel and the two balloons.  There is plenty of writing space left for the sender to express their good wishes for the day!  The balloons were cut out with the Double Balloon punch.  The Mint Macaroon balloon is glued to the panel and the smaller Sweet Sugarplum balloon was added with a Dimensional. I drew the strings free hand with a Project Life marker.

This is the bottom inside panel and I've chosen to add one of the stamped female images and the sentiment "Happy Birthday Gorgeous".  I love how the paper from the Playful Pallet stack really adds a soft colourful touch to this card. 

Well that's it for today stampers.  If you have any questions about the layout of this card or the products used please don't hesitate to email me at pennyhanuszak@telus.net or leave a comment on this post.  I'd love to hear from you. 

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Bringing Back Birthdays .... cards that is!

In this day of technology and speed most people tend to respond to special occasions and events by sending out e-cards and Facebook messages.  Sending or giving a friend a card the old fashioned way, is often overlooked by the sender, but the receiver never forgets the delight of picking up the mail and discovering something special, just for them.  It's like getting extra presents!

For my birthday this month I received greetings both electronic and by mail and I was delighted with all of them. Everyone was so thoughtful and it made my day so special.  

I just had to share three very special handmade cards I received.They simply made my day and you couldn't wipe the grin of my face or replace the joy in my heart as I opened them.  Thanks Betty Lee, Phyllis and Heather for not only remembering my day but for sharing in my joy of a hand made card and taking the time to drop them in the mail.  

Betty Lee's card was made with the beautiful Botanical Builder Dies and paper.  The tropical feel of this card just made me so happy.  I loved it!

Oops that stamen got a little bent out of shape when I was photographing this card.  The colouring on this flower and leaf are fantastic.  I also like the burlap die cut in the background.  It really enhances the sentiment.  Great job Betty Lee.

Phyllis' "Beautiful You".  This is like a mini piece of art!

I'm a super huge fan of the Stampin' Up! Beautiful You stamp set  and this card just embodies the versatility you can achieve by adding colour.  Beautiful Phyllis.  I was blown away by the colour mix and artistry in this card, not to mention the good wishes for my day!

Inside and out these cards designed by my wonderful sister Heather, were so awesome.  I'm a huge fan of Graphic 45 Designer papers and Stamps and this one is especially beautiful.  I love that this card is tall.  I'm so used to seeing A2 sizes that it was refreshing to get one in this style.  Something I'll have to remember. 

I love the sentiment Heather used for this card.  It's absolutely so true and I really try to live that mantra.   The stamped image reminds me of one of my favourite paintings by Jack Vetriano, "The Singing Butler".  Awesome!  Thanks so much Heather for remembering me in this way. 

I hope you enjoyed this card share as much as I did.  Once again ladies thanks for making my day!

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot