America the Beautiful

 

Hello y'all!  

We have been watching Olympic trials all week so we have really been feeling all the patriotic vibes as our country's team is being chosen and the flags are waving all around!  There'll be Tour de France (and Tour de Fleece!) starting toward the end of June, then July 4th's Independence Day celebrations, and then the Olympics will begin on July 26 in Paris!  Lots to look forward to!  I'll be praying for the safety and success of all our athletes, along with continuing prayers for our country, its leaders and all of those who serve.

I'm really loving this new Patriotic Background and have enjoyed shuffling through my Stamp Simply sets to see how this stamp or that one would work with it.  Today I'm pairing it with the praying hands from our new-ish Pray Without Ceasing bundle and a couple of sentiments from one of our older patriotic sets, Patriotic Sentiments.  

For the inside, the sentiment is stamped on a fish tail banner, embellished with a heart-shaped button from stash.

I've got the melodies "Oh beautiful for spacious skies" and "Proud to be an American" floating through my head now, and I hope you do too!  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Patriotic Background
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Pray Without Ceasing Stamp Die Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Patriotic Sentiments
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Fishtail Sentiment Banners
• May Arts 3/4" Ivory Canvas - 30 Yard Spool - Plain
• Petaloo Botanica Baby Blooms - Red
• May Arts Baker's Twine - 110 Yard Spool - Kraft
• button from stash

More New Stamps!

 

It's no secret that I love making patriotic cards, so I was really thrilled when we at Stamp Simply added several new stamp sets to our already awesome patriotic line!  Don't you just love this background stamp?!  It works great on its own, and it is equally amazing for layering with other stamps as well!

For today's card I stamped the background on white card stock and colored it with Copic markers. I stamped the top and bottom of the stamp on scraps of kraft card stock and layered those on top, adding the sentiment stamp onto that bottom panel. A few pieces of patriotic designer paper and some die cut stars and voila`!  This is a 4.25 x 8.5 inch tall card that fits into a business size envelope.

I used our gorgeous new Liberty Bell stamp set for the inside.  I absolutely love how these sets all work so well together.  They have lovely detail without being overwhelming to color, and the coordinating dies make them so easy to use. 

This card makes me think of a long-ago trip to Philadelphia and Washington DC when we visited lots of the famous landmarks that commemorate the birth of our nation and the wisdom of our founding fathers.  I feel so blessed to live in the United States.  We will proudly fly our flag to celebrate Flag Day tomorrow and gratefully celebrate American freedom every single day of the year!  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Patriotic Background
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Liberty Bell Bundle
• Echo Park Stars & Stripes Forever 6x6
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Patriotic Stars & Stripes (Old Glory)
• Memento Full Size Dye Ink Pad - Tuxedo Black
• brick red distress oxide ink
• Copic markers

Another new stamp set!

 

Hi y'all!  

Today's project features another of our newest Stamp Simply sets, the Great Lakes freighter, the Edmund Fitzgerald bundle.  

The designer paper I chose for this card's background is  reminiscent of rusty metal, while the center section is meant to allude to dark foggy skies and deep icy waters.  The ship was stamped on ivory card stock, die-cut with a coordinating die, and colored with Copic markers.  I colored the edges of the cut-out to match the paper underneath so that they blend and recede.  

You might recognize this sentiment from Gordon Lightfoot's song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  I was a junior in high school when the ship sank on November 10, 1975.  Gordon Lightfoot recorded his tribute song during December of that same year, which dramatically raised awareness of the accident.

While this stamp set includes the image and verse that pay tribute to the 29 men who perished in that terrible accident, it also contains sentiments of leadership, strength, direction and hope.  It's a great set for making masculine cards like this one.  

 

Here is the inside of my card using another sentiment from the Great Lakes freighter set...so up to this point, the card uses only stamps from this new set.   

However...I couldn't resist a little extra embellishing!  Here it is with the addition of a helm wheel from one of our other sets, the lighthouse set He Stilled the Storm.  I love how these Michigan-themed sets mix-n-match so well together.  

A closer look...

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Great Lakes Freighter - The Edmund Fitzgerald Bundle
• Craft Consortium Metal Textures 6x6
• May Arts Baker's Twine - 110 Yard Spool - Kraft
• Copic markers
• button from stash
• optional helm wheel from Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - He Stilled the Storm Bundle