Stampin’ Up! Woodland Thank You

My apologies to you all for not posting a card yesterday. It isn’t as though I slept through it, as I get up pretty early. Either I am getting old and slower, or I try to do too much, or I am disorganized. Or perhaps a bit of all three or none of the above! Take your pick! Anyway, I couldn’t get a card done in time to post it yesterday.

My card for today uses very little stamping, and it is a good thing too, as…well, that is another story. The bottom line is that when I made this I was traveling, and I do not usually include my card making supplies in my packing. Consequently, one forgets things. I remembered the essentials-I thought- and could make do with what I had with me.

Lo, and behold! I had NO blocks on which to put my stamps for stamping. Can you beat that??? Improvisation is my middle name, so I used one of my Textured Impressions Embossing Folders. This is really too big to offer control, but it was what I had, so I managed..sort of. I did look around (without being snoopy!) my host’s home (she was at work) to see what might avail itself as a stamping block. Alas, nothing materialized, hence the TIEF as a substitute.

The card base is Crumb Cake with an Early Espresso mat for my previously hand dyed watercolor paper.

A few posts ago I mentioned that I had taken a Natural Dyes and Leaf printing workshop with Australian textile artist Kirsten Ingemar. It was so much fun and I learned a lot. One of the weekend projects was leaf printing, some of which I did on fabric, and some on watercolor paper. Today’s card is one of those prints.

As a result of the dyeing process, the paper is even more textured than it was before the dyeing took place. The result of this was uneven stamping. Now, if I had taken my Stamparatus with me, it would have been an easy fix. While pondering just how I would fix this, I decided I actually like the look that the uneven stamping gave me. Call it a happy accident if you will, I decided to leave things as they are. It just adds to the ‘organic’ and handmade look.

After stamping the sentiment in Early Espresso directly onto the hand-dyed watercolor paper, I wrapped a length of Braided Linen Trim around the panel, taping it on the back. A short length of the same trim is just tied in a knot. This card is for a man, so, no bows. I used Liquid Glue to adhere the completed panel to the dry embossed Early Espresso mat. The Woodlands Textured Impressions Folder goes so well with any nature themed card, but especially so with my leaf prints. These leaves are from a birch tree – a perfect match for the embossed panel!

The mat was adhered to the card base with Liquid Glue as well.

The inside uses the Winter Woods (tree trunks), Rooted in Nature (leaves) and All Things Thanks (sentiment) stamps. The sentiment is in Early Espresso and all else is in Crumb Cake ink on a Crumb Cake panel. This left me a bit of room to write a personal note.

Did I mention I was traveling and had limited supplies?? How about NO ENVELOPES! No envelopes either to decorate, or with which to mail the finished card! Oh, my. Both had to wait until my return home.

However, you get to see the card, which is the important part anyway.

The host code for October is EV7ETS99. When placing an order of $50-$149.99 from my online store, use this code to earn a free gift from me. For orders over $150, DO NOT USE THE HOST CODE, as this will nullify any rewards you earn from Stampin’ Up! You will still get your free gift from me. And, you will earn bird eggs. For complete details on customer rewards, go here.

You also are eligible for my online class tutorials if you place a (pre-tax and shipping) $50 order through my online store. These tutorials use the most wonderful Winter Woods Bundle. So, don’t delay! Place a qualifying order today.

There is more to come tomorrow, so stay tuned.

CARD CUTS: Crumb Cake: card base 4-1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5-1/2″, inside sentiment panel 3-3/4″ x 5″; Early Espresso: dry emobssed mat for front 4″ x 5-1/4″, inside mat 4″ x 5-1/4″; Watercolor Paper: hand dyed and trimmed to 3-1/4″ x 4-1/2″

Product List