A Fruitful Thanks - DIC115

Hello all!!!  This week for the UDI inspiration challenge I stretched the design slightly.  (Actually, as I am out-of-town this week, and worked so much on stuff for this upcoming weekend, I am using a card I made a little while ago!!!)  Please Maria, don't shoot me!  Check out the UDI Blog to see the inspiration piece, a gumball machine, and play along if you can!

This card is a "tent topper" card.  You can create these several ways, but I usually like to make mine with a rounded topper.  But, I have made them with a square topper.  On here I used the scallops #2 die, large size, and the Circle Scissors plus to make the inside circle with Shimmery White.  The scallop is made using Daffodil Delight and finished with piercing in each of the scallops.

Now, to make your base, you make it 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 square and when you put the topper on, line it up to make it no longer than 5 1/2.  That way you can still put it into a regular A2 envelope.  I layered my base, made with Riding Hood Red, with Whisper White and Greenhouse Gala dsp.  I used the Daffodil Delight ornate flower pattern.  My sentiment is  stamped in Black Craft and clear embossed.

The white organdy ribbon was tied on my bowmaker and then fastened on the back of the Whisper White layer.  The topper portion was attached using dimensionals.  I get very picky about making sure the image is straight and I don't go past the 5 1/2 length.  Using my grid paper from SU! is perfect for this!!

My stamp set I used is Studio Sketches, and I almost didn't buy this!  This is one of the pre-order sets we could purchase before the new catalog came out.  I am not the greatest with watercoloring, but this set really makes it easier than it looks!  I colored the pears with the Pear Pizazz marker, along the edges, and then used my aquapainter to pull the color up in the rest of the image.  The  Shimmery White cardstock is awesome to watercolor on!!  The apples were stamped, colored the same as the pears using the Soft Suede and Riding Hood Red markers, cut out and popped up with dimensionals.

Actually I don't think I strayed to far from the inspiration piece, as it is a gumball machine and I did use a rounded tent topper and similar colors!

Don't forget to  check out the UDI Blog if you have a minute and play along with us!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

UDI Inspiration - Vintage Printed Apples

Hello all!!!  I hope your week is going good and you find time to relax this upcoming weekend.  I have a four day weekend, and I am sooo excited!!

I've mentioned the Utah Diva group I belong to on here before and now I was asked by Maria to be a part of the Inspiration challenge design group.  How cool is that??  Thanks Maria!!

The inspiration for this week is apples, and you can see it on the UDI Blog.  I am also using this card as my inspiration creation for the weekly Be Inspired challenge I host on Stampin' Connection.

Honestly this card took on a life of it's own when I started working on it!!  I have been playing with the new Distressing Essentials Kit in the catalog, and I just went to town!  Around the edges of the base card of Very Vanilla, I used the Tea Stain ink spot.  What's really neat about these spots, is that once they dry, they really change the look of the project and add a greater dimension.  By using the Tea Stain spot on Very Vanilla, it makes it look like aged parchment.  IMHO!

Since I was going with the aged/vintage look, I decided to use the Torn Frames technique I learned from the Technique Junkies.  There is something cathartic about distressing card stock!  On this panel I also used the Charcoal spot on the edges, lightly, and then went over that with the Tea Stain.  The front of the panel was stamped with the Sanded background stamp in Soft Suede, off stamped twice.  I even used the Tea Stain spot on the ribbon!!  Can't have "new" ribbon on an old card and an antique brad holds it in place!  I even distressed the sentiment punched piece.

My stamp set I used is the new Studio Sketches, which I am so glad I bought, and is a combo of three of the stamps.  I used the wine bottles, bowl of apples and bananas/apples.  All were stamped with brown staz on on watercolor paper.  The images were colored with SU! markers and an aquapainter.  Lots of dimension going on here too!  You can see it better in the close up shot.  Used more of the wonderful Newsprint dsp on here to add to the aged look.

Hope you have time to check out the UDI Blog and see what the other members of the team did!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~