Michelle Zindorf CASE - Happy Birthday

My sister celebrated a milestone birthday at the end of May and because she is such a wonderful sister and inspiration I wanted to make a card that would show her my love and how very special she is to me.  

Some time ago I ran across a card tutorial by Michelle Zindorf that featured the stamp set "Elements of Style" which includes a hummingbird and floral image that I love.  Since hummingbirds are very special to me and my family , and this ethereal image was so awe inspiring, I knew I wanted to try my hand at a similar card for my sister's birthday. 

Here is Michelle's card and if you click on her name you can visit the tutorial on her blog site.

Michelle Zindorf's Card:

I think you can see why I fell in love with this picture. Isn't it just magical?

My Rendition:

For my card I decided to do a double card that included a full back card and a gate fold front with a holder for a gift card.    I followed Michelle's excellent tutorial to create the 3" circle with the stamped images.  This was mounted on a piece of Night of Navy card stock cut out with the Scallop Circle die.

 

This is a closeup of the detail on the flowers.  I added small basic pearls to the centers of some of the flowers and a piece of 1/8" satin ribbon which matched the blush blossom marker used to colour the darker parts of the flowers.  I also added some dazzling details to give it some dazzle and sparkle.  The sentiment "Life is a Matter of Moments" from the Elements of Style stamp set was stamped in Basic Black ink.  It seemed to be a really appropriate sentiment for a milestone birthday.

 

I cut a 5 1/2" by 11 piece of Night of Navy card stock for the card base and scored it at the center.  I stamped the Elements of Style flourish image in Night of Navy ink across the front of the card and on the inside right panel.  I cut a piece of Whisper White card stock using the Top Note die and stamped the sentiment "Not just a year older but a year better" from the Bring on the Cake stamp set. 

Inside view of the full card.

For the gate fold card I started with a piece of Bashful Blue cardstock that measured 4 1/4" x 8 1/2" scored at 2 1/8" and 6 3/8".  Two pieces of Old Olive card stock measuring 1 7/8" x 4" were cut and embossed with the Fancy Fold Embossing Folder before adhering them to the front panels of the Gate Fold.

This view shows the layers of the Gate Fold and the card front. The ribbon ties you can see at the side hold the card front closed so the gift card can't slip out. 

Here's a view of the Gatefold card when it's opened.

Two scalloped circles were cut from Blush Blossom card stock. A 3" circle from Whisper White was adhered to the bottom scallop circle.   The front scallop circle was scored and folded in half.

I stamped the hummingbird in basic black ink and then mounted this piece to the base with dimensionals. I used the paper piecing tool and the Festive Pack to add a design to the front of the scallop to simulate flight.  The small sentiment "for you" from Elements of Style was stamped in Basic Black ink on Blush Blossom and then punched out with the 1" circle punch and adhered with dimensionals.  Three small basic pearls were spaced out across the center.

This view shows the gift card inserted in the holder. 

Hope you enjoyed this post.  My sister loved her card, and I hear they just recently used the gift card for dinner at Earl's.

Beautiful Wings Thank You Cards

Along with all the March Birthday Cards, I also need to send thank you cards to a number of folks who've had us for dinner, invited us to play golf and for customers who have orderd from me during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion.
Since I had a number of cards to make I wanted a design that was easy to reproduce and one that I could use for not only "Thank You Cards" but for other occasions too such as "Sympathy", "Thinking of You", "Just a Note", or an "Anniversary" or Wedding card".  I know I won't get bored with the design I came up with and these cards go together so quickly they'd be great for a swap or being made in an assembly line fashion. 

When thinking of what design I would make I remembered seeing a lot of cards and scrapbook pages that have incorporated the Basic Black and Very Vanilla DSP "Newsprint" (117166 page 174 of IB&C). This DSP is the perfect medium for stamping on.  And, by matching the ink, mounting and embellishment cardstocks, and ribbon, it makes for a very pretty and easy card.  I chose Very Vanilla cardstock for my card base and the coloured cardstock and matching satin ribbons I chose were:  Cherry Cobbler, Melon Mambo, Elegant Eggplant, Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive. 

Here are some pictures of my samples.  Hope you enjoy them.  Let me know.

By matching the card stock for the embellishments, the ribbon  and mounting card stock piece, you get a strong colour surge.  I've tied in the ink by sponging and using markers in the same color on the flowers in the swirl stamp.  The leaves are stamped in Wasabi and Pear Pizzazz greens which I've added using markers.  I've also used the 2-way glue pen along the stems and then added dazzling diamonds for a glittery but subtle effect. You can just see the little trails of glitter in the picture above.  I added  Basic Rhinestones to the butterflies for the final touch. 

Inside of the card stamped with the label from Baby Blossoms and the swirl from Elements of Style.  I stamped the label in ink that matched the cardstock on the front of the card and I used my Wild Wassabi and Pear Pizzazz marker pens for the "thank you" sentiment.  It just seemed to tie everything together.

Cards and matching envelopes.

MOJO Monday Sketch 154 - August 30, 2010

It took me a while to decide whether I wanted to do a round or a square card for this week's challenge, and I may actually do both as it was such a fun sketch. The round sketch was just screaming for the "Scallop Circle" treatment, and so I set about making this Sympathy card using that format.

I used Cherry Cobbler, Basic Gray, Basic Black and Whisper White cardstocks, and my ribbons were 5/8" Basic Black Satin and 1/2" White Taffeta. I embossed the Basic Gray circle cut with the Finial Press (115963 pg 214) Embossing Folder. The Sentiment was embossed on Whisper White card stock by stamping the image from Friends Never Fade (118750 pg 99) in Versa Mark Ink and then embossing with Basic Black embossing powder. I then cut the embossed stamped image so that just the sentiment part was used. I stamped the flower from the Friends Never Fade stamp set twice in Cherry Cobbler and mounted the first image to Basic Black, Basic Grey, and Cherry Cobbler circle cuts then layered it with just the center portion of the stamped image mounted on dimensionals to the center of the flower. I removed the prongs from a Clear Rhinestone brad (113144 pg 187) and glued it with Tom Bow glue to the center of the flower.

Inside View - Sincere Salutations sentiment "Thinking of You".  Flower motiff from Elements of Style Set stamped in Cherry Cobbler on Whisper White Card Stock.

I used the Extra Large Scallop Square Punch 119884 pg. 200 to make the background white and black scallop pieces.  See tip below.  The corner piece was punched in Cherry Cobbler using the Extra Large Photo Corner punch 119878 pg. 202, but I used the smallest corner frame and embellished it with non SU rhinestones for some bling. 

Tip on Creating Scallop Border Outlines Without a Scallop Edge Border:

I have no idea whether this is my original idea or I ran across it somewhere, but I've used it several times to help me out in a pinch, so I'm going to claim ownership (correct me if I'm wrong).  Anyway if you don't have a scallop edge border punch you can punch out a few of the Extra Large Scallop Squares, as many as you need for width and depth and you can weave them together.  See these images:

Using the Punch cut out as many scallop squares as you need to make the width and depth of the framework.  Here I've cut 2 white squares that will be mounted on the 3 black squares.  Since the bottom will be hidden by ribbon I did not need to punch more squares.  If the bottom is to show you would need to punch 6 black squares.  Hope that's clear.

To join simple weave the sides of the scallops together and put a small piece of tape across the join to hold them in place.   Heres a sample of two different scallop squares that I've put together.  Just make sure everything is in alignment before you add the layer with the sentiment and glue down the joined scallops so they are flat.  I see mine is sticking up in this photo (go figure?).

Anyways I hope this helps somebody out at some stage in their stamping life.  It worked for me, and no one has ever mentioned anything about my cards being piece work.  LOL!  Enjoy.