Eclipse Card - Welcome to Our Block

It seems like folks are either coming or going from our neighborhood.  Last week I showed you a Farewell Eclipse card made for a neighbor and friend who was leaving our community and this week I'd like to share a "welcome" card I made for a new couple who are moving in this weekend.  

I designed this template a couple of years ago when I earned a Hostess stamp set from Stampin' Up! called In To The City.  I fell in love with this set because it has so many bits and pieces that designing a card or creating a story book page is so much fun.  

This retired Hostess Set called In To the City is photopolymer and has so many pieces it's incredible for creating scenes.  The first and second generation stamps make the images easy to colour.  Love it! 

Here's the original card I made:

This card starts with a base measuring 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4".  I've cut two pieces of Old Olive card stock for the 1st layer on the front and on the inside of the card.  They measure 5 1/4" x 4".  For the next outside and inside layers I cut two pieces of Crumb Cake card stock measuring 5" x 3 3/4".  

I stamped my design on the card and coloured it and then laid out the alphabet dies from my EK Success Alphabet dies set to spell HOME.   Once the letters were cut out they were popped up on Dimensionals and then placed back into the negative cut spaces and attached to the card.  The little banner was cut from a scrap of Old Olive and the "Welcome To Our Block" sentiment was stamped in Versa Mark ink and embossed with White Embossing Powder. 

For the inside of the card I stamped some additional houses and greenery and stamped the sentiment "so glad you're hear" in momento black ink.  

Although I may change up the houses I stamp this has pretty much become my template for designing "welcome to your new home" cards.  Now that the Coming Home stamp set from Stampin' Up! has arrived I'll probably change up my housing styles using that set.   

Here's the card's I made today.  

I always like to make duplicates while I have the inks, stamps and card stock out.

As you can see in these photos, I changed up the alphabet lettering arrangement a little bit for each card.  This was simply exploring different styles and not for any particular design issue.  I really like using these broad and bold alphabet letters because they stand out so well on the card front.  

My pledge for 2020 has been to purge and use up retired card stock and accessories from my stash, so I used the retired More Mustard for the sandwich layer and sentiment, and the card base was cut from Real Rust card stock.  

For this particular card template I generally choose a neutral card stock such as Natural Ivory, Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake or Very Vanilla for my stamped layers.  Sometimes I pre-stamp several image layer scenes and when I have nothing better to do or want to do something relaxing I pull them out and just colour in the images. I usually don't cut out the alphabet letters until I'm ready to finish the card.  It's always nice to have extras on hand for when you don't have time to do something from scratch.    

I coloured all the houses and trees with Stampin' Blends.  When you stamp on craft or Crumb Cake card stock the colours are a little murkier than they would be on Very Vanilla or Whisper White neutrals.  I like that look, as it makes the cards look a little more rustic.  The blends I used for the newer cards are Pool Party, Old Olive, Mango Melody, Gray Granite, Crumb Cake and Cinnamon Cider.  Although you can't see it well in these photos, I did randomly splatter some black Momento ink on the images.  If you look at the original card they show up better.

Well that's my post for today.  Happy November everyone and happy stamping!  With the weather turning colder and more rain in the forecast, I anticipate I'll be stamping more so I'm happy I have a hobby like this to occupy my time.  

How about you?  I'd love to receive your feedback on these cards and whether you have repeat cards you like to make ahead.  

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

Penny Hanuszak Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator 

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Hard When You Have to Say Goodbye - Eclipse Card

Recently I had the pleasure of gathering with other council members in our community to say farewell to a friend and neighbor who's moving to another location. While we are happy that she's moving closer to family and old friends, we're certainly going to miss this wonderful woman, whose intelligence, wit and kindness contributed so much to making our complex a great place to live.  I offered to make a farewell card for the group to sign, and I wanted it to be as special as she is.  

Although most would consider the Coming Home and Home Together Dies from Stampin' Up! to be Christmas or winter themed, I knew they would work for other occasions too such as a House Warming or Farewell.  Because I wanted to personalize this card in a really special way, I decided to incorporate my friend's name into the design by making what's called an "Eclipse" card.    

Here's What I Designed:

I love using my Cutter Bee EK Success Alphabet Dies when adding lettering to a card because they are large and bold.  My general rule of thumb is that four alphabet letters from this set will fit comfortably across an A2 card but if your word is five or more letters you need to have a larger card face.  Because I was using five letters I chose a new, all the rage, card style called a "slim line".  The base measures 8 1/2" x 4".  

In my humble opinion, all really good things start with a plan and a template.  Making a template allows me to work with the layout, spacing, backgrounds and colours as well as the placement of sentiments.  

For this card I began with a scrap piece of white card stock that measured 8 1/8 x 3 5/8", and I drew two lines across the length of the card to make it easier to line up both the images and die cuts.  

Next I stamped and fussy cut three of the house images and two of the large trees from the Coming Home set on post it notes.  These cutouts enable me to get the right layout between the two pencil lines.

Once I was happy with the layout I marked the placement with a pencil, removed the post it notes and stamped the permanent images on the marks.

I coloured all the images with the blends so I could get an idea of how the finished card would look.  This also helped me choose a colour for the layer that went between the card base and the designed layer.  I chose Cinnamon Cider one of SU's In Colour series this year.  This layer measures 8 1/4" x 3 6/8".  

Moving on to the background, I put the post it notes in place over the houses and trees and then using a 2" scallop circle I sponged in the clouds with Pool Party ink.  I took the sponging right down between the houses and trees.  Using a Garden Green blend I coloured in the grass and then I stamped the image of the car and the sentiment "Time For a New Adventure" from the Well Said Stamp Set #148796.   

Next I laid out my Alphabet dies, evenly spacing each of the letters. Once they were lined up I tore off a piece of Glad Press and Seal, covering the letters and carefully pressing the air out and wrapping the excess around the card layer.

I've found this to be the one of the best ways to keep my dies from shifting when running them through the Big Shot.  They stay in place well, keep the bits that need to go in the center of the letters and it doesn't take much effort to remove the Press'n Seal when you're done.  

When I was finished with my template and was satisfied, I did it all over again on the actual card.  It was so easy the second time because all the guess work was out of it.  Now I have a template should I decide to make another card in this style, so it was a win, win all around.

The Alphabet letters are placed back in the cut holes mounted on dimensionals.  This gives a really good 3-D effect and depth to the card. 

Although it's difficult to see I added Nuvo drops to the windows  in the car and houses.

I was very pleased with the final card layout and the colouring.  I added a few more details like colouring in the road and adding some smaller trees on the ends.  

For the inside of the card, which I didn't take a picture of before it was signed off on, I added two layers of Whisper White card stock on either side of the card base. Normally I would only add one layer but the additional piece of card stock  provided additional space for signatures.  Instead of just stamping a farewell sentiment for the inside layer of the card I composed a farewell verse and printed this layer off on the computer.  I also stamped a house and some trees on it before adhering it to the card base.   

Here's the matching envelope I made for the card.  Because this  card was presented in person and not being mailed,  I wanted it to look extra special and I stamped three different house and images and some street lamps for this scene.

The sentiment "Wishing You all the best" is from a retired Stampin" Up! set called Blended Seasons.  I thought that was a nice lead in to the card.  

Well folks that's all I have for you today.  I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into how I take a card idea and create a design from scratch.  I'd love to hear how you design your cards - do you case other ideas or do you play with your own ideas.  How about techniques?  Have you ever made an Eclipse card?  

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

Penny Hanuszak, Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator 

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WWC#169 - Charlotte's All Occasions - Anything Goes Challenge

Are you ready for this week's challenge at Watercooler Wednesday?  I know I am, and so is Charlotte who is our wonderful host this week.  Charlotte's  challenge is about making a card or project for "any occasion".  That's right, it could be for a Birthday, a Wedding, maybe an Anniversary...........what ever you decide, because there's so many different occasions to celebrate.  

The WWC169  challenge will be open until 5:00pm Mountain Time on Monday May 14th, so there's plenty of time to make something and join in the fun.  All the instructions and rules for joining this blog challenge can be found here.   I hope you'll play along. 

Here's My Card: 
Friends recently moved into our neighborhood and have been busy doing a full renovation of their new home.  In preparation for their reveal, I wanted to make a special welcome card featuring the 2017 Stampin' Up! hostess set called "In The City" based on a card created by a UK stamper named Monica Gale.  I loved her version but tweaked it a bit to make it my own.  Here's my card.....

Supplies: 
Stamp Sets:  In The City (143771), Petite Pairs (122497) and Holiday Home (135095) 
Card Stock:  Natural Ivory and Calypso Coral
Ink:  Momento Tuxedo Black Ink, Versa Mark and Old Olive, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends. 
Accessories:  Misti Mini Stamping Platform, Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, Big AEKSUCCESS Alphabet Dies (54-80032), Dimensionals, Washi Tape, Very Vanilla Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy and Heat Gun.

Details:

1.  The card base is 8 1/2" x 5 12" scored at 4 1/4"  from Natural Ivory card stock. 

2.  Cut two 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" piece of Calypso Coral for the 1st layer on the front of the card and for the first layer for the inside of the card.  Adhere to base. 

3.  Cut two pieces of Natural Ivory measuring 4" x 5 1/4" for the front stamped layer and the inside stamped layer.  

4.  Place Natural Ivory front cover piece in the stamping platform and create a scene by placing the stamps along the card front and then stamp with Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  Colour the scene with Stampin' Blends.  Spritz lightly with Night of Navy ink.  Ground the building and truck by drawing a line along connecting with houses and defining the road.  

5.  Once the scene has been stamped position the die cuts above the street scene, raising and lowering the position of the letters to make sure all four spelled out the word HOME.  I held the dies in position with Washi Tape and then ran them through the Big Shot.  

6.  Remove the letters and save the center part of the "O".  On a scrap of Calypso Coral cut another set of letters and adhere them to the Natural Ivory  letters. Attach Adhesive Strips to the back of the letters. 

7.  Glue the stamped layer to the Calypso Coral layer and glue to the card base. 

8.  Remove the backing from the adhesive strips and carefully position in place.  Attach the center of the "O" to the card base with glue dots.

9.  On a scrap of Natural Ivory stamp the sentiment "happy new home" from the Holiday Home stamp set.  Cut the words apart with a pair of snips and discard t he word "home".  Glue the other two words "happy" and "new" to strips of Calypso Coral card stock and attach abve the "M" in Home. 

10.  On the other 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Natural Ivory stamp another scene from In the City.  Colour with Stampin' Blends.  Stamp the sentiment "so glad you're here" from Petite Pairs above the houses.  Glue to Calypso Coral layer and to card base. 

I had such fun making this card I decided to make a second one using Crumb Cake and Old Olive card stocks. I also stamped the sentiment "Welcome to our Block" from the In the City stamp set onto Old Olive card stock with Versa Mark ink.  I embossed it with Very Vanilla Embossing Powder and a heat gun and attached the sentiment with Dimensionals to the card front.  I really liked how this turned out, and it will be the actual card I give my friends.  

 

Thanks for dropping by today and checking out my card.  I'd love to have a comment from you.  Which version of my card do you like best?  Have you tried an Eclipse card yet?  What about the In the City Stamp set, do you love it too?  Here's one last look at these cards.   

If you haven't done so already don't forget to check out the Watercooler Main page for inspiration from the rest of the Watercooler Design Artists.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot