Happy Independence Day!

It's almost the 4th of July weekend, so I could not resist giving our Stamp Simply patriotic bundle one last hurrah for the holiday! Here I have paired it with our Spring/Summer Seasonal Wreath bundle...I stamped the wreath on some Sunset paper, going for the look of a straw wreath form wrapped with a few grapevines and accented with that beautiful eagle, some stars and pearls. (I've used grapevine wreath forms and straw wreath forms before, but have never combined them IRL, so maybe now I'll have to give that a try!) 

For me, our new patriotic set with the majestic eagle has become this year's Summer favorite so far.  It looks gorgeous on just about any background whether colored traditionally or in patriotic red, white and blue.   I love the way it looks here against an "evening fireworks" kind of background, a selection from Ink Drops Ocean.  

I used distress markers to apply color directly to the 4th of July stamp from Patriotic Sentiments.   

I used sparkly Delicata ink to stamp a sprinkling of stars on the inside, with one die-cut star cut from Sunset Ink Drops paper. Couldn't resist splashing a little more gold on the card inside and out, especially considering that there will be fireworks this weekend!  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Seasonal Wreaths Spring/Summer Bundle
• Stamp Simply Patriotic Bundle
• Craft Consortium Ink Drops Ocean 6 x 6
• Craft Consortium Ink Drops Sunset
• Memento Ink
• Delicata Ink
• Stamp Simply Fishtail Banner
• Spellbinders Small Circles Dies
• Red Pearls
• distress oxide inks
• distress markers
• Copic markers

Patriotic Shadow Box Card

The Fourth of July is right around the corner, so today's project has a patriotic theme.  If you have visited the homes of any members of our military maybe you've seen an "I love me" wall or corner used to display awards and certificates.  That's the inspiration for this patriotic shadow box card.  

Before I share how this card was constructed, I'd like to share this:

Stamp Simply

To make the shadow box I selected two sizes of Spellbinders' squares to use as both templates and dies.  First I aligned one inside the other on my designer paper, and traced inside each with a pencil.  The distance between the two dies will determine the depth of the shadowbox.  (This will not collapse to fold flat, so if you make this dimension very large, the card will require a box for mailing). 

Next, use a scoring tool (I used a ruler and a ball-tipped dry embossing tool) to score along the outlines of both squares.  Then, with a metal straight edge and an Exacto blade, cut the largest square diagonally from corner to corner making an X that divides the square into four flaps.  

If you're planning to stamp a sentiment directly onto your designer paper, you'll need to finish your stamping before proceeding further with the construction of the shadow box.   

Finally, fold the flaps mountain/valley style so that the shadow box walls are perpendicular to the card base.  Adhere the ends of the flaps and conceal them by covering the center of the shadow box with die-cut squares that will contrast/complement your focal design.  For my card I used our more traditional version of the US flag to go with the Pledge of Allegiance stamped below.  

The USA stamp, the American Hero sentiment and the tiny outline star are all from our Old Glory set.   I love interchanging the various elements of our awesome Full Patriotic Bundle which includes a more stylized version of the flag along with a set of stars, an eagle, lots of sentiments, and various coordinating dies.  

Supplies:

• Red White & Blue bundle
• Pledge of Allegiance
• Old Glory
• Craft Consortium Wood Textures
• Gold Pearlescent paper
• Fishtail Banners dies
• Spellbinders Standard Squares small
• Spellbinders Standard Squares large
• Memento Full Size Dye Ink Pad - Tuxedo Black
• Delicata Ink
• red pearls
• Copic markers

A Botanical Specimen

I found a real biological specimen (a cicada, not sure I've ever seen one IRL before! photo at the end of this post!) on our sidewalk yesterday, so today's Stamp Simply project is a Botanical Specimen card!  I've used several sets from one of our floral bundles to make this card.  The daffodil is one of my favorites, and I love this bundle because (besides the beautiful images)/(like so many of our sets) the sentiments work interchangeably so well together.  I adore this font combination!  And honestly, just about anything Tim Holtz is another favorite!

I wish I would have thought to make the inside of the slide from vellum or transparency.   I am gonna have to make another one just to see what it would look like!

And OH!  Voice of experience on those little tiny numbers/letters on these TH dies...tape the back side with tape!  Do not use glue because it seeps through and makes a mess!  I actually experimented adhering them three different ways.  Above, I just removed the tiny letters and let a darker piece of card stock peek through.

Next I left the letters in place and glued the whole thing to another piece of card stock.  Even trying to use the minimum amount of glue, it seeped through and I had a hard time (with a gum eraser) trying to un-stickify it!  I still haven't gotten it all off!

So finally, plain ole Scotch tape to the back side is what worked the best!

The bonus for a card like this is that even though florals are generally thought of as feminine, this streamline no-frills version would really work for a guy as well.  

Supplies:

• Floral Bundle #2 (daffodil, thinking of you sentiment; just because from poppy set)
• Baby Bundle (love you sentiment, heart die-cut)
• Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Specimen
• Pearlescent gold card stock
• Memento ink
• Split Pea rhinestones
• Burlap string
• Copic markers
• eyelets!
• crop-a-dile 
• button from stash

And just in case you are curious:  

Simple Ordinary Things

My clean and simple card for this week is about everyday reminders seen in simple, ordinary things...like the sparrow in the bushes outside your home.  All around us every single day there are visible reminders of unseen spiritual things with simple but profound messages if we will just slow down and open our eyes, hearts and minds.  

Sometimes when life gets busy or feels complicated or overwhelming we forget to look, and a card with a gentle reminder will nudge us to remember to seek those moments of quiet solace. 

I chose to ink all the edges of this card with distress ink and splatter the papers with distress oxides.  Without those details this card would have been even faster to assemble!

This is one of my favorite SS stamp sets because of its beautiful imagery and comforting scriptures.  The delicate leaves/branches and the sweet birds are quite lovely and they're not difficult to color!  And then there's that swirling music staff!  After all, the name of my blog is "With a Stamp and a Song!" 

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - God Will Take Care of You Bundle
• Craft Consortium Brick Textures 6x6
• Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Tag Collection
• May Arts 5/8" Twill - 30 Yard Spool - Sage
• Memento Full Size Dye Ink Pad - Espresso Truffle
• Copic markers
• distress oxides/inks 
• clear Wink of Stella

American Eagle Dad!

When I first saw our American Eagle stamp set I knew that I'd have to make a "leather" jacket with that iconic eagle!  It goes perfectly with this cool embossed metal designer paper which is probably one of my very most favorite masculine prints ever!  

I stamped the eagle on a 5.5 inch square piece of copy paper and made a rough sketch of a jacket with a pencil, inking in the lines with a black marker when it felt like the proportions were working. I then made two copies of the template on card stock, one to leave "whole" to use as a base for the paper pieced one made out of "leather" embossed card stock.  (Make sure to label the pieces of the one you plan to cut apart so you know what goes where and which is the right side!  If you click on my sketch you should be able to print it actual size if you want to use my template).  

Keeping the jacket's proportions correct meant that the jacket sleeves would overhang the 5.5 inch card base, so I opted to cut a 7.5 inch square base and glue the 5.5 inch card into the center of it.  That gave the jacket room to "breathe" and also provided the opportunity to add a border  of Stars and Stripes which really boosts this card's curb appeal!  

I wanted to give another option for those of you who might not have leather textured card stock.  This black jacket version was made by dampening thin black card stock with a spritz of water and then crinkling it over and over to get the desired effect.  With thicker card stock it looks even better to actually peel the layers of dampened card stock apart...and that produces an effect that almost looks like suede!

Here's the inside of this one with brick textured paper.  I couldn't decide what to use for a border (thought I had some screw brads from way back when but I couldn't find 'em) so I just changed the placement of the sentiment on this one.  

Supplies for tan "leather" American Eagle jacket card:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - The American Eagle Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Typewritten Year Round Greetings
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Typewritten What You Mean to Me
• Echo Park Let Freedom Ring 6x6
• Craft Consortium Metal Textures 6x6
• Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Postale
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Stick Family Sentiments
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Fishtail Sentiment Banners
• Copic markers
• paper piercer

Supplies for black "suede" American Eagle jacket card:

• same as above, substituting Craft Consortium Brick Textures 6x6