Wedding Anniversary Card Using 'Nuts about Squirrels'

 Happy Monday crafty friends!

I am officially celebrating 13 years of marriage to my handsome husband and there's nothing like saying Happy Anniversary than with a handmade card!

I've been behind on using my stamp sets that I've purchased and believe it or not, I hadn't gotten to play with the Nuts about Squirrels stamp set! You can find this adorable stamp set at my Online Store or on page 49 of the Stampin' UP! 2021 Holiday Catalog.

 During the making of this card, I really wished there was a punch or dies for this set. The most tedious part about this was having to cut out all those leaves and nuts. However, I was able to manage.

Cardmaking Tips:

• prepare the Thick Very Vanilla card base background by adding some So Saffron ink with a blending brush, making sure to have the darkest shade at the top.
• for the Sun in the background, you can choose to create a 2 1/2" circle mask while you're blending the ink OR you can simply add a 2 1/2" circle from Very Vanilla cardstock. 
• Use the Cork Specialty Paper to create the tree trunk and the tree branch. 
• Use the oval shape of the Hat Builder Dies to trace the outside of the die onto the middle of the tree trunk. Cut out with scissors. Note: I didn't use the die itself to cut out the shape because I wanted the hole slightly larger.  
• the tree trunk was popped up with dimensionals while the tree branch was adhered directly onto the card front.
• Stamp about 6 acorns using Crumb Cake and Soft Suede ink then cut them out to fill the hole of the tree trunk.
• Use Early Espresso ink to stamp the tree branch two times as shown.
• For the masculine squirrel, stamp the 2 images onto a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock using Soft Suede for the outline and Crumb Cake for the shading. Cut out with scissors.
• For the feminine squirrel, use the reverse stamping technique to stamp it onto a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. The Stamparatus and the silicone craft sheet are extremely helpful with this! Add some eyelashes with your Early Espresso Stampin' Write Marker.
• Stamp about 20 leaves onto Very Vanilla cardstock using Rich Razzleberry, Cherry Cobbler, Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze inks. I stamped the image in full strength ink then stamped again without reinking to get the different shades of leaves. Cut them ALL out with your scissors...while you're listening to music or watching TV.
• The heart was cut out from Cherry Cobbler cardstock.

Inside Card

• The background for the inside of the card was the same as the front except for the sun image. This time I created a smaller mask (1 1/2" circle) to place onto the cardstock while I added the ink with the blending brush. 
• a 1" strip of the Cork Specialty Paper was adhered directly onto the cardstock using tape adhesive.
• The tree branch was stamped using Early Espresso ink.
• the two leaves were stamped onto a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock using Cherry Cobbler ink. One leaf was stamped in full strength ink and the other was stamped off, without reinking. 
• Add the sentiment using Early Espresso ink and adhere 2 more acorns underneath.

Cardmaking Supplies:

The following link provides the full list of products used to make this card, except for cutting tools and adhesives: https://s.tamp.in/x1l9Wv 

I do hope you've enjoyed today's post! Don't hesitate to leave me a comment below. I'd LOVE to hear from you!

Until next time... 

#TGIFC333 Sketch Challenge Meets 'Hippo Happiness'

 Hello Crafty Friends! 

I'm so glad to be back and feeling more like myself after getting sick for a while without any energy to craft! Yeah, I got the 'Rona'...

Anywho, moving onto this week's TGIF Challenge #333.

As I got to thinking about what my layout should be like, I immediately thought of strips of clouds so I went off of this idea and also wanted to use the alcohol technique for my cloud background, since I hadn't tried it. The alcohol technique is where you spread some color onto a piece of vellum with whatever color you'd like of a Stampin' Blend marker then bleed the colors using at least 91% alcohol.

I feel like the design of the card came together pretty close to what I was imagining in my head so I went with it. In comparison to the sketch challenge, I rotated the card to portrait mode and ended up fitting only two strips instead of three.

This unicorn rainbow card has quite a few elements in it so allow me to share some.. 

Cardmaking Tips:

• The card base is from Balmy Blue cardstock, cut to 11" x 4 1/4" and scored at 5 1/2". The card opens from bottom to top.
• Use a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of vellum and your Dark Balmy Blue Stampin' Blend marker to add some color throughout this piece, focusing on the top and bottom edges. Using a waterpainter filled with 91% alcohol, dab the vellum to achieve the desired look. Let dry.
• Adhere the top and bottom edges of the vellum onto the Balmy Blue card base using some Tombow glue and a sponge, making sure to spread evenly. 
• The rainbow piece was also created using vellum. Use a pencil to sketch the outline of the rainbow (mine measures 4" wide on bottom and is 2 1/2" tall). Use the following Dark Stampin Blend colors from top to bottom of the rainbow: Poppy Parade, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Bermuda Bay and HIghland Heather. Using a waterpainter filled with 91% alcohol, trace the rainbow lines to help blend the colors together. Let dry then cut out with your scissors.
• The clouds were cut from 2 1/2" x 4 1/4" strips of Basic White cardstock using the cloud shape from the Basic Borders dies. Pop them up from the vellum background using plenty of dimensionals.
• Use the same colors you used in the rainbow to stamp the starburst image repeatedly onto the clouds as shown. 
• The unicorn image was stamped onto a piece of Basic White cardstock using Daffodil Delight and Granny Apple green ink. 
• The unicorn was placed onto a separate cloud that was cut out from Basic White cardstock using the Give It A Whirl dies.
• Give the card front some finishing touches with adding some Wink of Stella glimmer to the stamped butterflies and then adhering a strip of the black and white sentiment towards the bottom. 

• Bring in the same vellum background to the inside of the card then cut a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Basic White cardstock to trim the top and bottom edges using the cloud border die.

Cardmaking Supplies:

The following link includes a list of supplies used for this card: https://s.tamp.in/X3jeyj 

I sure do hope that you have enjoyed reading this week's post and are inspired to create your own card using the TGIF sketch. 

Until next time ...