The Card Concept #96 - Golden Table

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog after an extended absence due to our move.  I'm excited to be back with my teammates participating in The Card Concept's Challenges.  This is actually the last one until back to school starts in the Fall, but I wanted to join in now that we're starting to get settled in.

It's a long process to get moved at this stage of our lives.  We downsized considerably this time around as it just doesn't make sense to have so much room when the kids don't all visit at the same time.  So this time around we converted a bedroom and formal dining room to be studio space for me.  I am already enjoying it so much!  There's a lot of little touch-ups that have to be done on the interior and exterior but this space is just pretty awesome!

For my card for this week's challenge, I wanted to keep the coral blooms as part of my card but I also wanted to include the wood grain of the table that is easily seen in the inspiration image.  And of course, as a girl who loves all things gold, I had to keep that bit as well.

The background paper is some I found at Michael's last Christmas and with the gold, it adds an instant element of texture to my card.  I die cut it with a Stitched Rectangle Die from the WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Die and attached it to my horizontal card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.

The blooms are from Altenew's Beautiful Day were first heat embossed with Versamark and Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder and then I stamped each of the various layers in beautiful coral shades from the Altenew Tea Party Collection and then die cut.  The leaves were stamped in Altenew's Frayed Leaf and Forest Glades before die cutting them as well.  As I was finishing my card, I decided to add a gem to the center of my flowers to give them a special touch.  The sentiment is also from the same Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp Set and is probably the one I use most often.

I'm so glad I got a chance to participate in The Card Concept challenge one last time before summer break.  I linked as many supplies as possible below for your convenience (Affiliate links may be used).  Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you'll come back soon.

Altenew Beautiful Day Shop at: SSS | ALT	Altenew Beautiful Day Dies Shop at: SSS | ALT	Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp & Die Bundle Shop at: ALT	Altenew Green Fields Mini Cube Collection Shop at: SSS | ALT
Altenew Tea Party Collection Shop at: SSS | ALT	Cuttlebug Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS	Gemini Full Size Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS
Mini MISTI Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS | ALT | GKD	PTI Number the Stars Banner Die Shop at: PTI	PTI Stamper's Select White Cardstock Shop at: PTI	Scotch 3M Foam Tape Shop at: SSS
SSS Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Trimmer Shop at: SSS	Versamark Ink Shop at: SSS
Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS	WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Designer Dies Shop at: SSS

Keeping Christmas

Hello there!  It is time for our June 2018 installment of the monthly Keeping Christmas Blog Hop that a group of us who were on The Challenge Design Team together host on the 25th of each month, January through November. Our goal is to show you how to build your stash of cards (or tags) a few at a time all through the year. We try to include all of the tips and tricks to help you get it done and to know that it is do-able so you don't get overwhelmed. Hop along and be sure to visit each blog. There is always a lot of inspiration and ideas to get your creative juices flowing!

Kelly Lunceford

Anita Madden

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman

Kim Heggins

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger (You are Here)

I was not able to participate last month because were were in the middle of a move and I had yet to unpack anything.  Most of my studio has been unpacked now so I am glad to get back in the groove of blogging and creating.  

Because my time is somewhat limited these days I decided early on that I would make something very simple once again. One of the goals of this hop is to show you that using a few minutes whenever and wherever you can, you can do one step at a time to pull a single card together or a group of cards.  My cards are clean and simple and easy to mass produce which is what I try to show you each month.  This month, I really kept it simple by using a large sentiment.  This stamp is from the Year of Psalms Collection at Papertrey Ink.  This particular one is Year of Psalms: October and it is a $5.00 Stamp set.  What a bargain!

I started by heat embossing the sentiment on several pieces of white cardstock using Versamark and Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  Next I die cut them using a Hemstitched Rectangle from Spellbinders.  This is is the middle size.  This added a lot of detail to the panel without a lot of fuss because there's no additional stamping or heat embossing.  I added some patterned paper or cardstock behind the panel using a stitched rectangle die.  I made a few different styles and mounted it to a top folding white card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  For the one card I wanted it to be a bolder look and used a Black Cardbase (True Black from Papertrey Ink) with a stitched rectangle cut from Gold Glitter Cardstock.  I will put a white panel on the inside as well for writing my message.  

As you can see, I was able to pull 6 cards together very quickly.  As always, I do things in stages; all the heat embossing in one stage, then all the die cutting in one or two stages as I have a few minutes, then assembly.  I created some cards where the panel was adhered directly to the background panel and in other cases I used Scotch 3D Foam Tape.  

By using patterned paper in a variety of styles, you have several different looks and this is also a great way to use those scraps of patterned paper that you might have.  You could also make them all the same if that's what you'd like to do.  

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you find lots of inspiration along the hop. The supplies I've used are linked below for your convenience (Affiliate links may be used).

Cuttlebug Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS	Gemini Full Size Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	Mini MISTI Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS | GKD
PTI Stamper's Select White Cardstock Shop at: PTI	Scotch 3M Foam Tape Shop at: SSS	Spellbinders Embossing Mat Shop at: SSS	Spellbinders Hemstitched Rectangle Dies Shop at: SSS | SPB
SSS Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Trimmer Shop at: SSS	Versamark Ink Shop at: SSS
Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS	WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Designer Dies Shop at: SSS	PTI - Year of Psalms - October Shop at: PTI

SSS Beautiful Flowers

Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Flowers

Hello there!  I am so happy and excited to be moved (mostly) and I am ready to get back to card making.  I am pretty irritated with myself this morning because I had a whole blog post done and accidentally deleted it when I went to put my affiliate links in.  A new post is not going to write itself so I just have to chalk it up to experience and move on.

Since we are in a new subdivision, there aren't any mailboxes yet and we're having to pick our mail up at the post office.  I was excited when I went to get last week's mail yesterday and in there was my order from Simon Says Stamp!  I could hardly wait to get home and ink it up but there were a lot of other things requiring my attention yesterday so it was late in the day before I got to ink it up.  I need to get back to those things soon so I have to be brief here - or at least try to be brief.

This week's Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #99 is Coloring in honor of  Kathy Racoosin's 30 Day Coloring Challenge.  This is her 10th Challenge that she is hosting.  Kathy says that even if she only has 5 minutes to color each day that it makes her feel better and that's how she started these challenges a few years back.  I actually think I came on to the scene after those started so I didn't even know about them for a while.  The current challenge is on through the entire month of June, so check it out and join in if you like.

My particular coloring of the Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Flowers Stamp Set was inspired by a rose that my mom had when I was little called "Peace".  You can check it out on Wiki if you like here.  You can see other derivations of this rose there as well or by googling Peace Rose Images.  The particular derivation I like is called "Chicago Peace".  I actually painted this from memory before I thought to google the images and I am pretty happy with my results.  I could have added a bit more pink to the edges of the petals but I love how the rose goes from deep rich yellow to coral to pink all in one bloom.  There's also a recent release of the Peace Rose Forever Stamp. 

I heat embossed the bouquet using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I kept my coloring very simple using my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in Bright Yellow, Olive Green and Dark Green.  I think I could actually have used a fifth color in Pink, but I am going to leave well enough alone for this time.  I'm really happy with how mine came out.

This card is for a friend of mine who celebrates her birthday today.  We met each other 34 years ago as our husbands are great friends and have been for even more years.  She knows we've been moving so she isn't expecting a card and it will definitely be late but she'll still enjoy it and appreciate it.   That is kind of the story of my life this month as I think I've missed quite a few birthdays during this process.

Just for your information, this is a 5 x 7 card.  I couldn't bear to cut off any of the beautiful design to make a smaller card, so I didn't! 

I am thrilled with my new studio space and even have a logo on the way to put on the door so folks will quit asking if it's my "craft room".   The men kind of roll their eyes as if there's no way they'd let their wife have such a room.  I'm still trying to figure out my arrangement of furniture and I can't do it 100% until all of it is here.  My bookcase is the main thing I am missing right now and to be honest, I'm not sure there is anywhere it will fit. I hope it does or else I have to figure out something else.

By the way, this photo was taken at 4:30 a.m.  You can see in the background that it is night outside.  How awesome is it that I can take photos with no flash because of the lighting I put in my studio space?  That was the plan but sometimes plans don't work out so I was excited!  If you're wondering why I was up so early, it's because the dogs woke me up needing to go to the bathroom.  My sweetest little girl, Holly, licks my face until I wake up. When I tried to ignore her and go back to sleep, she kept licking me so I won't fall back asleep until I let her out.  That was the end of my sleep for today. 

I have the latest Altenew Build-A-Flower Release to play with this week and some old favorites that I want to visit so I'll be back soon. 

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  The supplies I've used are linked below for your convenience (Affiliate links may be used).

Cuttlebug Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS	Finetec Mica Watercolors - Golds Shop at: SSS	Gemini Full Size Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS
PTI Berry Sorbet Cardstock Shop at: PTI	Spellbinders 5 x 7 Matting Basics A Shop at: SSS	Spellbinders Embossing Mat Shop at: SSS	SSS Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS
SSS Beautiful Flowers 6 x 8 Stamp Set Shop at: SSS	Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Trimmer Shop at: SSS	Versamark Ink Shop at: SSS
Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS	Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers - 48 Set Shop at: SSS