FOILED FLOWER

It's been a minute since I wrote and published a blog post. I apologize for that, but life has been throwing a little more at me lately than I am comfortable handling. I promise I will try to do better from now on.

A little more than a month ago, I posted a card, Foiled Rose, I made with pretty much the same technique as I used in this card.  I so loved working with the foil that was wrapped around some chocolate I had purchased from Aldi that I thought I'd make another card with more of the foil.

The look on the foil with this card is much less harsh looking that the first attempt with the rose. That one looked more like crumpled foil, while I think this one looks a bit more refined. I crumpled it a little less and flattened it a little more. If you know what I mean.

As before, once I was happy with the look of the foil, I gently folded the excess to the back of the cardstock I'd used for its base. Then the edges were taped in place.

To make the card look a bit more ephemeral, I used Vellum Cardsock for the flower, colored with Stampin' Blends, to rest on. I like the contrast between the feel of the vellum and the silvery foil.

The base of the card was a brushed silver cardstock, which complemented the foil nicely. Basic Rhinestones also added to the complementary look, to pull it all together.

What about you? Do you throw away your garbage? Or do you look for ways to reuse it in your creative endeavors? 

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Nature abhors waste. And so should we.

- Hendrith Vanlon Smith, Jr., CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth -

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Foiled

Smiles.

#365birds AUGUST 2023

August was a difficult month to concentrate on my #365birds challenge. All told, over that time, our precious granddaughter, 15, was in the hospital for 8 1/2 weeks, as the result of first an open heart surgery, followed a week later by the placing of a pacemaker, after which things did not go as planned or hoped. My heart was completely with her and her parents during all of this. I used my drawing as Creative Therapy. At least, it took my mind away from this awful time once in awhile.

So, I present to you a handful of my Creative Therapy birds. As I always do, above each bird, I will note which day of the challenge it was, the name of the bird, as well as any other pertinent information I gleaned about it.

day 267 - tufted coquette

northeastern south america

day 268 - nicobar pigeon

southeast asia

day 269 - coppersmith barbet

indian subcontinent

day 270- american bald eagle

north america

day 279 - mealy amazon parrot

central america and south america

day 274 - blue-eyed cormorant

west coast of southern south america

day 273 - fairy pitta

northeast asia

day 280 - european robin

most of europe, north africa, central asia

day 281 - blue-capped tanager

bolivia, colombia, ecuador, peru, trinidad, tobago and venezuela

day 282 - emerald-bellied puffleg

colombia, ecuador, peru

day 285 - blood pheasant

nepal, sikkim, myanmar, tibet and china

day 287 - white-browed woodswallow

australia

day 292 - king vulture

central and south america

There are two things I really should mention. Stella, our granddaughter, is something of a miracle girl in that she is back in high school fulltime and has resumed all of her normal activities. The doctors are thrilled with the performance of her heart, as well as the pacemaker. 

Also, I have finished my #365birds challenge. As you notice, I am sharing birds I drew in August, still a couple months away from completion. Stay tuned to learn what I am doing now!

As always, if you would like prints of any of my birds, please reach out to me. I would love and be honored if you owned one of my birdies!

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Pray, and let God worry.

- Martin Luther -

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Worry

Bird

Smiles.

STRIPED THANK YOU

I think it's so cool when Stampin' Up! releases sets of preprinted card bases and matching envelopes. Even though much of the work is already done in these situations, it almost becomes more of a challenge to think of a good and creative way to do these sets justice.

This card/envelope set is a perfect example. A classic blue and white stripe to me dictates something fairly conservative and straightlaced. 

For my card, I decided to go pretty much the opposite: frivolous and playful. And I had lots of fun doing it.

I did stick with the classic Night of Navy and white combination. But I added bubbles and fun inexact stripes to a freely cut out "thank you". Hanging the sentiment on a "clothes line" of navy baker's twine added to the whimsy.

Here you go: a tutorial to make this card. I hope you were lucky enough to snag this card/envelope set while it was still available!

SUPPLIES:

Striped Night of Navy/White card/envelope set

Night of Navy cardstock

White cardstock

Calligraphy Essentials stamp set

Playful Backgrounds stamp set

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Stampin' Blend in Dark Night of Navy

Stampin' Dimensionals

Night of Navy Baker's Twine

Paper Snips

INSTRUCTIONS:

This card's foundation is a premade card/envelope from Stampin' Up!

Cut a piece of white cardstock to 2" x 5". In Night of Navy ink, stamp the bubbles pattern all over, including beyond the edges.

Wrap a piece of Night of Navy Baker's Twine around this piece a bit raised from center, taping the ends on the back.

Mount the bubble piece to a 2 1/4" x 5 1/4" piece of Night of Navy cardstock.

Add this completed piece to the striped card base, a little above the center point.

In the black ink, stamp "thank you" onto a scrap of white cardstock. With a Night of Navy Stampin' Write Marker or Dark Night of Navy Stampin' Blend, draw diagonal stripes on the open letters, not being just too careful in doing this.

Fussy cut the words, leaving a narrow white border all around.

Adhere the cut out words to a strip of Night of Navy cardstock. Fussy cut around it again, leaving a similar navy border showing.

With Stampin' Dimensionals, add the words over the navy twine.

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Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like

wrapping a present and not giving it.

- Arthur Ward -

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Bubbly

Smiles.