Sunday, January 10, 2021

Twofer Challenge #34 - FLOWERS

Hello friends.  Welcome back and Happy New Year!!  We're looking forward to another FUN and CREATIVE year with you all, and seeing how we can stretch our stamps, dies, & stencils each month to come up with TWO DIFFERENT cards for TWO DIFFERENT occasions using the SAME stamp, die or stencil!  Are you ready for this month's challenge??  We're looking for FLOWERS this month and you can check it all out right HERE.


  I had a new Altenew stamp set to play with called Paint-A-Flower: Spider Mums and came up with  Birthday and Hello cards...


 Let's take a closer look at each one...


My birthday card uses my favorite CAS style, and I simply heat embossed the image in white, and then used a couple sponge daubers to blend in the ink colors.  The sentiment comes with the stamp set, and I finished the card simply with a black border and white card base, and a few clear sequins.  Easy peasy and pretty!


My 2nd card has a bit of a WOW factor to it and uses a technique that I saw Gina K do on one of her Stamp and Chat lives.  It's a bit time consuming, but I love the way it turned out.  You get as many colors of cardstock as you want (I chose to go in rainbow order) and stamp and heat emboss the image (using your MISTI) on each color of cardstock you chose.  It's important to start with the same size cardstock (5 1/2 x 4 1/4) and stamp them all in the same spot in your MISTI, so you end up with 6 or 7 colors that are all stamped EXACTLY the same.  Then you simply cut them into strips (mine were 1/2") and start placing them on a thin piece of cardstock or printer paper that is also A2 size.  Once you get all your pieces adhered you can trim it down or leave it that size.


I chose to trim mine down and then mat with a black layer and attach both to a white card base.  Before I added my black mat, I added a piece of vellum on a diagonal, and then added a "hello" die cut (one in black and one in white that I glued offset) from Catherine Pooler Designs.  Because you will have so many strips of cardstock in each color left over, you could technically make a lot more cards...if you're in to mass producing!  I made 3 and then put the rest of the strips away for me to find 10 years from now and wonder what the heck I was saving them for!  (Sorry...just the way my brain works!!  Haha!!)

I know you ALL have flower stamps, dies, and stencils, and we can't wait to see the gallery flooded with all your DIFFERENT cards!  If you need a little more inspiration, make sure to check out what the rest of the DT and our Special GD's  (Viv and Brenda) came up with right HERE and then play along with us.  This challenge is open till the 24th

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!


19 comments:

Anita in France said...

That's such a delicate, pretty image, Marcia ... lovely with the softly sponged, spring-like shades ... positively dreamy! The bold colour strips on your second card are wonderfully eyecatching ... the white embossing really pops against them ... love that we can see through the vellum to those fabulous blooms! Hugs, Anita :)

Viv said...

Stunning makes Marcia!

oldpunca said...

Your cards are awesome. The card that you call easy-peasy (for me it does not look like easy) is the fantastic CAS. I need to remember this to try it out ones. I like the precise work of your rainbow card. The vellum is clever added and the big sentiment with the shadow is the perfect eye catcher.
Have a great year 2021!
Hugs, Sonja

Birgit said...

Two beautiful inspiration pieces here Marcia! The embossed card with the ink blending is so soft and pretty while the other card really packs a punch of color. I love them both! The vellum strip is a nice way to soften a place for the two toned sentiment die. You're amazing my friend! I would find myself in the same place 10 years from now when you unearth those extra strips. ;0)

Brenda in IN said...

That is a great stamp you used for this challenge. I love how you partially colored the white embossed bloom on the first card. The second card is a stunner. It's bright, cheerful and looks so happy. That looks like something that once I got it stamped, I'd never get it put together right! You nailed it!

Julia Aston said...

Two beautiful designs using this wonderful flower stamp Marcia! The first card with the white embossed stems and soft sponged color is so calmly pretty and your second card is so bold and bright with the white embossing over all the strips of color! xx

Bonnie said...

Oh oh, I see another flower stamp I'd love to add to my already overgrown stash! Wow! Love the white embossing with the sponged colors! So feminine and the narrow black mat really sets off the pink and green! I really admire your strips of color that are cut so evenly! LOL, I can't cut straight with a straight edge or paper cutter, but I love this idea! So bright and happy.

Darnell said...

Oh, don't make me laugh, Marcia! It hurts when I do, but I had to let out a roar when I read your comment about keeping those snippets of rainbow embossing and finding them 10 years from now. DON'T KEEP THEM, lol! I did a similar design a few months ago with a million strips of pastel glitter paper for a design I love. I made a few, but then had to move on and now I've got all these narrow strips of glitter paper!

But, seriously, your card designs are fantastic! I love the way you just loosely sponged the color on your first card (note to self) and, of course, the cleverly made rainbow card!

Thank you for your best wishes about my back. I'm sorry to hear that you know all to well how painful it is. Take care and keep safe! Hugs, Darnell

Linda W. (ScrappinBari) said...

Two fab cards with the spider mum, Marcia! Just love the white embossing on the colorful strips and the pink flowers done by sponge dauber!!

Loll said...

Both your designs are beautiful Marcia! I LOVE the soft and delicate pink with white heat embossing. You know I'm a CAS girl at heart, so that one speaks to me. But I have to say that the rainbow striped card is so fun! I love how you've done it with the white embossed outline and large sentiment banner. So cool. I can just imagine the puzzled look on your face when you come across the leftover pieces 10 years from now. :) Made me laugh! :) xx

Ros Crawford said...

Wow! Two wonderful cards and both couldn't be more different... Got to say I love the softness of the first card... beautiful!

Happy Dance said...

You made me laugh this morning. I have bits and bobs that I've kept because I might NEED them to make more cards like the ones I'd already made...uh-huh...not so much! When the little girls come and invade grandma's craft room, they often end up on their artwork. Working hard to overcome oversaving! Your cards...
That birthday card is stunning. So beautifully CAS, and in such pretty colors. It is gorgeous. And your striped/strip card was worth all the effort you've put into it. Bright, vivid, and a real eye catcher. That 'hello' die works so well against all those bright colors, too. Great cards! Stay safe. Bev

Colleen said...

Wow factor is right, for both cards IMHO! So very pretty and so very bold, love them both. thanks for the inspiration my friend!

Kara Lynne said...

Wow, Marcia! You weren't kidding about that "WOW" card! What a wonderful technique, and I was laughing about keeping those little strips with good intentions. I love your ink blending and the soft look of your birthday card too! Happy new year my dear friend! I hope this year is filled with many blessings for you and your family!

Lisa Elton said...

Wowza!! Two beautiful cards, Marcia! I especially like the birthday version!

Cat Craig said...

Beautiful cards, Marcia. I am especially loving the softly inked one.

Linda said...

Two fantastic cards, Marcia. Love your sponged card and the one with the strips of cardstock is so pretty too. I missed the part about saving the rest of the strips and after reading some of the other comments had to go back and see what I missed. And I had to chuckle too.

Carol L said...

I really like how both cards turned out, but I'm especially fond of the birthday card with that soft, pastel look and those gorgeous flowers lightly sponged with color! The strips must have taken quite some time and patience to put together, but can I just say WOW to how it looks all finished? Great job on this twofer!

Vicky Hayes said...

It never fails to amaze me how different stamps can be when you use different techniques with them. The spider mum looks amazing on its rainbow background with the bold sentiment and also on your CAS card sponged with soft smudgy colour. Vicky x