June 2018 Card Group Projects

Last Thursday I got together with my ladies for the June card group meeting.  Two of the ladies are celebrating their birthdays in June so there were lots of pretty hand made cards to look at and gain inspiration from.  It always amazes us that all of the cards are so different!

Margaret had requested a dangly tent card and I was very happy to go along with that suggestion as I do love those!  For this card I've dangled a hot air balloon in the aperture against a sky backdrop.  I used a colour combo of Elegant Eggplant, Soft Sky and Berry Burst.  I made an A6 sized card base, cut out a square aperture plus a square frame.  I stamped the SU! 'Watercolor Wash' background stamp onto a panel of Whisper White CS using Soft Sky ink and stamped some clouds.  To make the dangly element I stamped and die cut two hot air balloons, sandwiched a length of clear nylon line between the two balloon shapes and taped the line above the aperture.  I popped up the stamped and die cut sentiment label.

Here's a side view of the card.  In order for a dangly tent card to stand up when on display I glue a W shaped piece of CS on the inside.  I cut a piece of CS to the width of the card x 3 1/2"  and score at 1/2", 1 3/4" and 3" and valley, mountain, valley fold to make a W shape.  I glue just the back piece inside first and then glue the inside panel in place.  I glue the front piece of the W shape to the card front when everything else has been finished.   

Here's the back of the card and the envelope flap.

Up next was a card featuring water stamping which is such a lovely technique, I don't do it often but I always enjoy it immensely when I do!  I applied Broken China and Dusty Concord Distress Inks to a piece of SU! Whisper White thick CS using ink duster brushes.  I then spritzed the old but beautiful SU! 'Vintage Lace' background stamp with water using a spritzer bottle - I gave it about twelve spritzes - and pressed the stamp to the inked panel, pressing firmly.  I used my heat tool to dry the panel, stamped the sentiment, added the rose die cut and glued the panel to the front of a Night of Navy A6 sized card.

Here's a closer look at the water stamped background.  I believe the technique is also known as ghosting.  It's almost as if colour has been bleached away.  I like to use Distress Inks for creating a background for water stamping because those inks blend beautifully and react with water.  You need enough water on the stamp to show a definite, discernible pattern but you don't want to spritz the stamp so much that it is dripping when you turn it down to stamp.  If you use too little water the resulting background pattern is very subtle.  It's so worth it to experiment to find the perfect water spritz to stamp ratio to get the effect you're looking for - it's great fun! 

Here's the inside of the card and the envelope flap.

For card number three I used the sponging mask technique shown by Esther Howard in this video.  It's such a clever way to make a mask and so easy!  I've CASEd Esther's card before and I couldn't resist making another version to teach the technique to my card group ladies!  I opted for a lovely Springtime colour combo of So Saffron and Granny Apple Green and added some Soft Suede.  I stamped the bird onto Crumb Cake CS, die cut and then popped the bird up.  I forgot to put Crumb Cake CS into the card kits and I didn't take any sheets of CS with me so the ladies had to stamp their birds onto Soft Suede CS - which looked equally good!  I did some tone on tone stamping on opposite corners of the card and added the pretty die cut shape underneath the image panel.  

Here's the inside of the card and the envelope flap.

Next time we're decorating a gift box and there'll be a black and white card - thanks to suggestions made by the group!

Supplies for dangly tent card:
Stamps: SU! 'Lift Me Up' set, SU! 'Watercolor Wash' background stamp, Hero Arts 'Yummy Treats' set
CS: SU! Berry Burst, Elegant Eggplant, Soft Sky & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Berry Burst, Elegant Eggplant & Soft Sky
Tools: SU! 'Up and Away' & 'Petals & More' Thinlits die sets, square Nestabilities dies, SU! 'Simply Scored'
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals, clear nylon line

Supplies for water stamped card:
Stamps: SU! 'Vintage Lace' background stamp, SU! 'Happy Wishes' set
CS: SU! Night of Navy & Whisper White (regular & thick)
Ink: SU! Night of Navy, Ranger Tim Holtz Broken China & Dusty Concord Distress Inks
Tools: Wild Rose Studio 'Wild Rose' die, Inkylicious ink duster brushes, water spritzer bottle 

Supplies for leaves & bird card:
Stamps: SU! 'Petal Palette' set
CS: SU! So Saffron, Soft Suede & Whisper White, white copy paper for mask
Ink: SU! Granny Apple Green, So Saffron & Soft Suede
Tools: SU! 'Petals & More' Thinlits die set, Creative Expressions Smoothie ink blending sponge
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals
Ruth