Birds and Butterflies in the Clouds ODBDSLC116

I was going to do a sunny card for ODBDSLC116 Clouds or Sunshine over at Our Daily Bread Designs, but ended up making this card instead. I have never made my own clouds until today, and none of my blue inks are light enough for a sunny sky. I also didn't want to make another challenge card with "The Mighty Sea" because I've entered it into so many challenges, everyone is probably tired of seeing me use it! :-) So I decided to play with two of my newest stamps instead.

For this card, I used Bird Border & Corners again, partly because so many people have told me they didn't know what to use it with, and I wanted to give another example, and partly because it is so pretty, and The Faith Set and it's matching Butterfly Branch Die, because I love using those ODBD custom dies so much!

I cut out a cloud shape from CS, and daubed VersaMagic Aegean Blue over it until I got something that resembled funny looking clouds. (I had to do it twice, because the first time, it was even funnier looking)! Then I added the bottom border with VersaFine Onyx Black. I then stamped and cut out the Butterfly Branch from the Faith set, die cut it, and laid it on my card to try to figure out the best arrangement for the bird corners. To help with that, I stamped them all on white CS and cut around them so I could try them on the paper before I stamped them onto the card. I could be happier with the arrangement, but my mother likes the card. :-) Anyway, I stamped them onto the card, and decided the die cut would look best if I kept it monochromatic, so I colored just the stems and leaves with a matching Copic, and left the butterflies white. Then I mounted it dimensionally on the page.

Bird and Clover Double Twisted Easel Card ODBDSLC114

I finally got a chance to finish this card while the kids were out hiking today. I made it for the Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge ODBDSLC114, which was to make any creation with Our Daily Bread Designs Stamps.

For my card, I used He Watches Me, and once again turned the sparrow into a bluebird because I just love bluebirds. I cut the die with the matching ODBD Custom Sparrow Die.

For the other side, I used the Simple Things stamp set and cut it with the matching ODBD Custom Clover Die .

For the labels, I used the Mother Theresa saying from the Simple Things Set, and a label from the Bird and Butterfly Labels and cut them with the matching Spellbinders Labels Eighteen.

The stamping was done with VersaFine and Distress Peeled Paint, and the label with the saying was distressed with Peeled Paint. All the coloring was done with Copics. I wanted to add a little sparkle to everything, so I used various Jellyroll pens over the copics in many places. (The sparkles don't show up in the photograph, I suppose because they are subtle). I also outlined all the diecuts with a Krylon 18K pen.

I had cut out some ODBD Butterflies to use on the card as well, but they were too large for my design, so I punched some Martha Stewart ones to use in place of them. I mounted the butterflies onto some blue mulberry paper and cut around it so there would be blue inside the butterflies' holes, and used Copics and Jellyrolls on them too.

The background papers are mulberry paper in green, dark blue, and light blue with grasses in it. These were mounted on white CS with my Xyron and cut with Spellbinders Labels One.

Since the card is 5x10, and would be a strange size, I made it so it folds in the middle, so the bird is on the front, and the clover is on the back when folded completely up. This way it will fit into a 6x6 envelope. I had originally planned on making it a triple easel with a vertical Bird and Butterfly label as the center easel, but I thought the card might be more difficult to mail that way, and I wasn't sure I could devise a way to fold it with the center easel.

I'm proud to say that this card won at Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge Thank you so much!

Simple Things and Clover Double Easel Card ODBDSLC113

I was playing with some of my newest ODBD stamps today, and realized this would also qualify for this week's Our Daily Bread Designs Three or More Stamps Challenge ODBDSLC113, so I decided to enter it.

For this card I used the Simple Things Set. I colored the design with Copics, and cut it out with the matching ODBD custom Clover Die.

Then I stamped and colored the ODBD Flower Border to match the clover, and cut it out using the matching Spellbinders Labels Eighteen. The clover and bees from the Simple Things set are mounted dimensionally on top of the Flower Border, even the teeny tiny bees. (Those two little tiny bees at the top of the clover are also die cut with the matching die at the same time as the clover)!

Next, I stamped the Laura Ingalls Wilder phrase from the Simple Things Set, and cut that out with Labels Eighteen as well. I outlined both Labels with Krylon 18K Gold.

Both labels are mounted dimensionally on this K&Co DP, which is mounted onto Core'dinations Gemstones Linen textured Pearlized CS, which is mounted onto ordinary white CS.

I had been planning on making a double twisted easel card with the two easels side by side, but I couldn't exactly remember how they were made, so I decided to add one in front of the other. I didn't know how to do that either, so I just cut some white CS the same width as the white CS the larger label was on. I left the length longer than usual so I could trim it to size when I finished the card.

Next I scored one end of the base in the usual way and folded and attached the larger label. Then I made a tiny easel card using the smaller easel and adjusted everything without gluing until I was happy with the placement. Then I trimmed the base to that length. I added the pink and DP to match the labels to the base of both easel cards, and glued them together. The front easel holds the back easel up, and the pearls hold the smaller one. The photo below shows the card from the side so you can see how it's made.

Thankyou so much for your comments on my last post. They brought tears of gratitude to my eyes. :-)

Lighthouse Card ODBDSLC112

I made a second card for Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge ODBDSLC112 Summer

Living on an island, we hear and see lighthouses every day. During the summer there are lots of lighthouse cruises and a festival, so I thought I would use ODBD's beautiful Keep My Lamp Burning stamp for this challenge.

I stamped the image first on this beautiful nautical paper by K&Co. Then I stamped it again on plain white CS, and stamped the compass again on the white CS. After cutting around the lighthouse and compass, I distressed them with Distress Antique Linen to give it a rustic and rounded effect and applied them dimensionally to the background. Then I cut the other compass out and distressed that and mounted it dimensionally on top of the other white compass so it was raised even more. Everything is mounted on a distressed driftwood brown linen textured sheet of CS, and then onto a distressed ivory card.

The kelp and starfish are on acetate and are from K&Co. The seagull and sand dollar are also K&Co. The seagull is cut from a little stamp that came from the same paper stack as the background paper. Then I used a piece of variegated hemp twine and tied a carrick bend for the other corner.

I am really excited to say that this card was one of the winners at ODBD!

Bluebird Easel Card ODBDSLC111

When I received this stamp and die set yesterday, I knew I was going to have to enter another card into Our Daily Bread Designs ODBDSLC111 Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed or Given, Something Blue Challenge.

I used my new ODBD He Watches Me stamp set to make a bluebird with a yellow thistle, then cut it with my new ODBD Sparrow custom die. (I wrote a brief review about how easy it is to use these dies and how much I love using them here).

I cut some old pink, white, and green paper with my old Spellbinders Grand Labels Four die. The patterned paper is from K&Co. The lacy circle is a Marianne creatable, and the circle inside is some old handmade paper mounted onto old white CS using my old Xyron, and cut out with an old Spellbinders circle die.

The center piece, bird and label are mounted with dimensional tape my mother gave me, and the pearls are Queen and Co which my mother also gave me. I didn't have a die which fit the saying, so I traced around a Spellbinders Labels Four, holding it just above and just below the saying and cut them out with scissors so they would mirror the shape of the card.

The bird and thistle are colored with Copics, and the label is distressed with Distress Peeled Paint.

I am excited to say that this card was one of the winners at ODBD!

Front Pop Out Card JRC_073

I made this card for JustRite Friday Challenge #073 - "Anything But Square".

I don't think this card has a name, so I just called it something that fits the style. I made one of these once before just by trying to figure it out, but Marianne Skjelstad was nice enough to make a tutorial on how she made her beautiful card, so that is what I used this time.

This card uses K&Co. paper, and JustRite's JB-09755 By The Sea Borders & Centers. I used Spellbinders Labels Twenty One to cut the card, and one of their oval dies to cut the stamped part. I used Antique Linen Distress on the edges and creases.

The top photo is the card closed, and the bottom two are what it looks like opened.

Thank you so much Marianne for your wonderful tutorial!

I am excited to say that this card won at JustRite Stampers!

Lighthouse Card ODBDSLC109 Sketch Challenge

I made this card for the Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge 109. It's the first time I have entered one of their challenges, and I thought this beautiful Keep My Lamp Burning Set would be perfect for the challenge.

To make the card, I mounted a brown K & C0 paper with a subtle print onto an ivory colored card. Then I mounted two panels with Blue K & Co paper onto generic brown CS. The blue panels have bits of kelp at the bottom. The lighthouse was stamped using black Stazon onto more of the background paper and cut with Spellbinders Labels Four, and mounted on the darker brown paper, which I cut a little larger to create a border. Then I stamped and cut the compass out of the blue paper and mounted that on darker brown paper. Both stamped pieces were mounted with dimensional tape. The compass is on a higher level than the lighthouse.

The card needed something in the corners, so I added K & Co shells, and mounted them with dimensional tape. I used dark brown jute twine to add a square knot on the left hand side. I hope this knot qualifies, a bow just didn't look right on his card.

I am excited to say that this card won at ODBD!