Floral Thank You

 

As I mentioned in my last post, this card is for Susan, the receptionist at my physical therapy place. Now that I am done with my therapy I want to thank the 2 ladies who made my therapy experience such a good one.

Once again, I loved playing with the Basic Grey Archaic papers. They are just my style. I love their aged look. It might seem a bit quirky to mix floral images with that top stony-looking paper, but I like it. Just don't ask questions about why, because I don't know why!. :-P

I used the Martha Stewart Embossed Zigzag punch on white cs. There is an easy way to get your punched area to line up properly. Cut the piece you want to punch. Then start in the center of your paper and work out to the right and then to the left (or vice-versa). I learned this the hard way. Martha probably mentioned it on the packaging, but that was in the trash so fast I hadn't enough time to read it. I just wanted to USE the punch! Lovely, it is. I added 2 different-sized pearl blingies as you can see. Just picked this pattern randomly. I also ran a line of the tiny ones along the brown ribbon above the punched piece. Unfortunately, it's a bit crooked, but I am letting it go to keep my perfectionism tamped down.

I stitched the 2 Archaic papers to the black cs by first putting a couple of short lines of mono adhesive on them to keep them still. Then I stitched. The same was done on the floral piece. You don't need to put adhesive around the edges. In fact, if you do you will have one sticky sewing machine needle. If that happens, just clean it with Goo Gone and it will be good as new.

Speaking of the floral piece, I stamped a flower from Stampin' Up! Petal Prints by coloring the stamp with markers, huffing on it and stamping. Then I stamped the shadow image for the flower with Basic Black ink using the Stamp-a-ma-jig to align the black image slightly to the left so the other colors would be visible underneath. I made a random pattern of the flowers.

I then spritzed the whole thing with water to soften the ink edges a bit. Then I let it dry thoroughly and ran it through the Cuttlebug using the Tiny Bubbles folder. I really tortured that poor paper! THEN I spritzed it with my one and only (so far) Copic marker (Special Black) and THEN I touched up the flowers with some Twinkling H2Os which I hadn't touched in so long. I glued it down to some Always Artichoke cs and then black and stitched that sucker. Yes, it got quite a workout, as did I!

The 3 antique brass mini-brads were one of the first things I added. I hope they don't clash with the pearls, but you know what they say: "pearls go with everything", right? And I think it works. You could say this is my "outside-the-box" card thanks to my choice quirky combinations.

On the main Chocolate Chip cs I stamped the SU Canvas background stamp in Chocolate Chip ink. I think it adds a nice "texture". I love that stamp and can't believe it's already retired. Are they crazy?? I can think of some stamps that I wouldn't mind seeing go, but Canvas??

The inside is yadda yadda yadda, you know the directions if you saw my last few cards. Basic Grey Archaic paper, a stitched smaller piece, on and on. Oh yeah, I accidentally forgot and wrote in this card before I took pics. Let's just say the handwriting adds a "homey touch". ;)

Phew! Can't believe I got this up tonight! Thanks for looking! Tomorrow I need to get these cards mailed out. Blessings!

Stamps: SU Petal Prints, SU Curvy Verses, SU Canvas

CS: Chocolate Chip, Black, Basic Grey "Archaic", White, Always Artichoke

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Basic Black

Markers: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel. Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke

Other: Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder, Martha Stewart Embossed Zigzag punch, Sewing machine, Pearls, Greenish-brown grosgrain ribbon, Black gingham ribbon, 3D-Dots, Antique brass mini-brads, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Burnt Umber and Iridescent Oyster Twinkling H2Os, Copic Special Black marker, Inkworx air art gun