Don't Pass Out!

OK - watch out... I am going to post more projects today. I know you are shocked, and that's alright. After the crazy week I had, I am just so excited to be stamping again. And I just can't wait until tomorrow to share.

Here's a card I made this morning and I am really pleased with the way it turned out. I hope you like it, too.



Here's a close up so maybe you can see the scallop details.


Here's a peek at the inside. I'm telling you, it's rewarding to decorate the inside of a card. It finishes it off nicely and it really doesn't take a lot of effort.
Things I used: Stamps: Soft Summer and Oval All - both sneak peaks at what is coming out in the new mini catalog in April! Ink: VersaMark, Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana Papers: Whisper White, Rose Red, Barely Banana, Baja Breeze, Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery Other: Black Embossing Powder, Heat tool, Scallop Oval, Large Oval, Corner Rounder punches, Tool Kit, Pop Dots, Sponge, Bleach and Paint brushes.

The technique used here is Bleaching. I stamped the outline image onto Baja Breeze paper using VersaMark ink. Then it is embossed with black powder. Next, I brushed the bleach on with a fine paintbrush. Try your best to stay in the lines. The embossing contains the bleach so it doesn't spread too much. As the bleach dries, the paper will fade. Each color will react differently, so it's always good to test the bleach on a scrap piece of paper first. After the bleach has dried, I colored in the leaves, stems and centers with colored pencils. The ones I used were not SU - sorry, I try to use only SU as much as I can. You could color in using watercolor crayons or ink and an aqua painter. I left the petals of the dogwoods natural (just the bleach) because it's such a nice effect. I wish you could see it in person!! Don't you?

I cut out the Baja Breeze paper so that a little of the image hangs off the sides. Isn't that a neat look? I matted it on Cocoa and then on Rose Red. I paper pierced on the Red. I used the Scallop Oval Punch - also a sneak peek- and the Large Oval Punch to make the sentiment. The Oval All set has 4 stamps, two fit the scallop and 2 fit the large oval. Of course, you see that the large oval fits into the scallop. (Told ya they know what they are doin' out there!) The sentiment is up on popdots as is the Rose Red. It took 3 popdots on the right side of the oval and 1 on the left to get the frame to be even.

For the edge of the card, I used the corner rounder punch to create the scallops and then I backed it with a strip of Baja Breeze. Then I punched the holes in the centers of each of the scallops.

For the inside of the card, I simply used the ticket corner punch on Rose Red and Whisper White papers. I sponged on Barely Banana along the edges of the White paper. Then I used a Close to Cocoa Marker to ink up just one of the dogwood blooms to stamp on the bottom corner. I colored in the center with a colored pencil again here too, just a hint of color.

So there you have it. I'd love to hear what you think.

I'll be back later in the week with some more projects! Have a Stamptacular Day!