Welcome back to the Artisan Wednesday WOW Blog Hop. There are five Wednesday's in July and with most of us headed to Salt Lake City this week for our annual Stampin' Up! convention, we thought we would have an "anything goes" blog hop. Honestly, it is kind of nice to be set free from the restrictions of our normal blog hop and just create. Of course, our year as the Artisan Design Team ends soon, so several of us will be back to making whatever we want, whenever we want. I will still be creating from a box...only now I get to choose what is in the box and have to pay for it. LOL!
I am looking forward to spending time with my ADT "sisters" this week. There are a few who can't attend convention, but most of us will be there. Although we have spent countless hours this past year getting to know "way too much" about each other, we haven't really spent any time face-to-face. I can't wait to hug every single one of these incredible ladies (with exception of maybe one who may or may not have a phobia about hugging). XOXOXO
Okay, that is enough chit chat...let's look at today's project, shall we? I finally got my hands on the new Striped Scallop Framelits Die. This is a somewhat obvious way to use the die, but I haven't seen it done yet, so I figured "someone has to do it so it might as well be me." ;)
This is a very special card that I made for our ADT team leader, Jane Lee. Words cannot express how grateful I am to Jane for all of the hard work and dedication she has put forth over this past year. Jane is the most amazing person and I just love her so much. There's no denying that we have completely different styles of stamping, but she has always been gracious about my more traditional style of card making. Jane has invested countless hours with our team and it is largely due to her efforts that we are such an incredibly close team. How much does Jane get paid for all of this? Absolutely nothing! How valuable has she been this past year? PRICELESS!
So, let's talk about this card for a minute. I die cut two pieces of cardstock (Basic Black and Whisper White). I glued the black scallop outline to a second piece of black cardstock. Next, I removed the negative white pieces from the other die cut piece and inserted them into the corresponding openings on the black card. After I had filled all of the openings, I used various colors of Blendabilities markers to color each row. It sounds simple, right? Well, hold on there a minute. Making this card required the patience of Job and wouldn't recommend it unless you have been papercrafting for a while. I know what you are probably thinking..."well, gee thanks, Connie". I know, I know...but after all, I am just showing you what I did...how you choose to use it is entirely up to you. Just remember, you've been warned! One more thing to mention...I stamped the greeting from the Let Your Hair Down hostess set with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I stamped it on vellum cardstock so that the colors behind the greeting didn't get lost.
So what did I do with the leftover white frame? I am so glad you asked! I used it to create a mask for this next card.
I can just hear it now..."Are you sure YOU made this card?" Yes, I did. I will admit it is more clean and simple than most of the cards I make, but I want to focus on the technique. I thought the pattern looked a lot like the ocean and I recently noticed that these flowers from the Flower Patch stamp set reminded me of starfish. Am I the only one who sees it? Anyway, I kept it CAS by mounting it on a plain white card base. The greeting is from the Endless Birthday Wishes photopolymer stamp set (Item No. 137553). (Note: this stamp set isn't in the catalog, but you can order it while supplies last.)
To make the mist I filled two Stampin' Spritzers with 91% isopropyl alcohol and then added Pacific Point reinker to one and Old Olive reinker to the other. The more reinker you add, the more vibrant the colors. (Note: you might want to put your project in an old cardboard box and do the spritzing outdoors. I have gotten a little light-headed in the past by accidentally breathing in some of the fumes from the alcohol...just sayin'.)
That's all for today folks. I will be back soon with tons of news and inspiration from our annual convention. Now head on over to see what my very talented friend, Erica Cerwin, and the rest of the design team have in store for you this week.