Hello friends!! It is finally Spring and as I am writing this post, it is snowing to beat the band. We are only supposed to get 2-6" overnight, so that's not too bad. Much better than the one about twelve days ago that dumped at least 16" in the city where I live. It was the heavy wet snow that would have been perfect for building a snowman. Did I do that? Heck no, I stayed inside and drank tea and stitched.
Anyway....this card was created for the current Lawn Fawn Blog Challenge # 169 - Inspired by a book, movie or song. Well, we have a wedding this later this summer so we are all about weddings right now. I am a huge Carpenters fan. I have loved them for as long as I can remember. So I chose "We've Only Just Begun". I used a line from the song for the sentiment.
For the front of the card, I used a piece of yellow patterned paper from the What's Sewing On Petite Paper Pack and a small piece of yellow paper from the Spiffy Speckles Petite Paper Pack. I used Claire's ABC's for the sentiment on the front of the card and on the inside, The front is heat embossed. I don't know what brand or even what color the heat embossing powder is. I bought it a long time ago and I want to say it was from Martha Stewart, but don't quote me on that.
For the front of the card, I used the Large Stitched Rectangle Stackables. Once I had heat embossed the sentiment, I used the outside of the Secret Garden Window to cut a "window" in the patterned paper. I cut a sheet of Speckled Eggshell in half widthwise, so that my paper measured 5.5" x 8.5". I scored the paper at 4.25" and folded it in half to form a card. In order to make sure that my window in both the patterned paper and the card line up, I laid the patterned paper on top of the front of the card and then placed the piece of paper that was cut from the center of the Secret Garden Window Die, in the center of the opening. * I put a little removeable adhesive tape on the back of the window piece to hold it in place before I do the next step.
Once I have the window in place, I line the die up on top of the window and then send it through the die cutter.
Before I glue my acetate and paper layers together, I lay a piece of scrap cardstock cut to 4.25" x 5.5" inside the card. Using the arch from the Happy Couples stamp set, I stamped it on the cardstock through the window where I want the couple to appear in the window. You can now remove that piece of cardstock and finish stamping your couple along with the top hat and veil if you choose. This is going to be your guide for stamping on the actual inside piece of the card.
You can now assemble the window on the card front. I layer in a piece of clear acetate between the patterned paper and the cardstock. Having the acetate layer allows a place for the flowery part of the Secret Garden Window to rest. I use liquid glue to glue it in place.
I lay my guide card in my Misti making sure it is snug to the lower right corner. Since I am stamping directly on the card inside, I will be masking the different layers for the image. I start by laying the top hat and the veil directly on top of the guide stamp and the close the door of the Misti on top. I will place the card inside in the Misti, making sure that it is snug to the bottom right corner and will stamp it on the card. I have cut the top hat and veil on the sticky part of a post it note and then cut it out directly on the lines. This is your mask. Once the ink on the hat is thoroughly dry, I will apply the masks on the pieces.
I will remove the card inside from the Misti and then place my guide card back in the Misti, and place the dogs from the stamp set directly on top of the guide and then shut the door of the Misti so that it is now correctly placed to stamp on the card inside. Once that is stamped, and the ink is dry, cover it with a mask created the same way as the top hat and veil.
The arch is done the same way to finish the stamping. You will need to mask the arch so that you can ink blend on top of the stamped image leaving it in pristine condition. I have my YouTube video linked at the bottom of this post if you want to see the process.
For the ground, I used the Hillside Stencil and Bundled Sage Distress Oxide Ink. I then used the stencil to mask off the area I just ink blended so I can work on the sky. I used the Cloudy Stencil with Spun Sugar Distress Oxide Ink to place my clouds.
Once I have peeled off the masking, I can start coloring my image. I used Copic markers in the following colors:
V91, V93, V95
R81, R83
G20, G40, G82 Wedding Arch
G40, YG63 Secret Garden Window Leaves
N0, N1, N2, N3
E30, E31, E33
YR30, YR31, YR21
When I had finished the card, I felt like the inside needed something up in the sky, so I stamped in some butterflies from the Butterfly Kisses stamp set.
On the front of the card, I felt like the flowers and leaves on the Secret Garden Window needed a little color so I used some of the same Copic colors I used for my couple to add just a little. I cut some extra leaves and flowers using the extra dies that came in the set and added them in the corners of the card.
I had a great time making this card. Of course, I was playing all my favorite Carpenters songs while I was doing it.
Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you have been inspired to make your own window card. Have a fantastic day!
Sandy