Hello everyone! I have an easel card featuring Simon Says Stamp's Big Thanks Autumn. This stamp set is gorgeous with this big floral and leafy arrangement and the sentiments are beautiful. But first .... a tale to tell!
I take Annie, my just turned two Coonhound, walking each day. She is timid around new people but I try to expose her to new situations to build her confidence. Yesterday was beautiful and we went for a walk down by the lake with my sister and her dog. There were a few people out and Annie was anxious. We took the dogs into a fenced area for a free run. I did not let Annie off the leash immediately as I wanted her to settle down and heal. My sister found a ball in a pile of leaves, unbeknown to me, and threw it for her dog. Annie is a born retriever and made a sudden dash for it. Not being prepared, I took a hard fall ... swollen knee, scraped and bloody hands AND a swelling on the top of my hand ... the right one of course. Thankfully my fingers are fine ... so I can type this post!!! But I can not lift anything nor can withstand twisting movements ... ie. opening a door. It is my sister's birthday today so after the two of us get together for our small celebration, I will head to emergency for an x-ray! Sigh! Okay, I am finished with my rant! On to the card!
The Easel
I used patterned paper for the card base. Because I was working with P13's The Four Seasons Autumn 6 X 6 paper pack included in Simon's November Card Kit, I had to join matching panels together with a ½" hinge that was trimmed from one of the pieces. This piece was also die cut with W Plus 9's Trellis Background (this die has been discontinued but any background die will work) before joining the two sheets together. I used Sookwang Doubled Sided Tape as it is a reliably strong adhesive and good for a hinge. The sides were trimmed to match the width of the die cut and the hinge was creased at the join of the papers. After the card was folded and burnished, I used a protective sheet of card stock over the die cuts, the bottom was trimmed to length of the die cut panel. The front panel was then creased in half ... again using protection over the delicate die cuts.
The Elements
The image was stamped in a stamping platform with Simon Says Stamp's Intense Black Ink, a Copic friendly ink. The stamp was left in place for embossing after the colouring was complete.
The image was Copic coloured as follows:
Berries RV63, 66, 69
Flower Centre E47, 43
Petals Y17, 11
Leaves BG99, 96, 93, 90
BG18, 15
YR09, 04,02
R29, 24, 000
The background and edging around the image was filled in with E49, a rich chocolate brown and then embossed twice with fine detail gold embossing powder. The image was fussy cut and attached to the lower half of the die cut panel.
The Sentiment
The big 'THANKS' sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with gold on vellum paper twice . The secondary sentiment was stamped with Black Versafine ink. As this ink takes a while to dry, I embossed it with clear embossing powder to prevent any mishaps! The vellum was trimmed down into a strip and wrapped and adhered around a slightly wider piece of the patterned paper. This panel was adhered to the bottom of the inside of the card and forms the STOPPER for the easel.
Finishing Touches
The berries were embellished with Nuvo Glitter Drops, White Blizzard. Tiny sequins accented the image. Larger sequins topped with Nuvo Crystal Drops, Morning Dew, highlight the sentiment.
