Card Swap for Grand Vacation

I was feeling quite challenged about what type of card to make for Grand Vacation swaps this year because I am ever conscious of just how talented the people are that earn Grand Vacation; they are the top of the tree and they produce the most amazing work.

I am usually torn between doing something that is true to my style (you know square and a little over the top) or simple so that people can copy them for workshops. . . but then I get to thinking, these people know how to do workshops. . . they do them all the time - that's how they earn Grand Vacation lol. So I fell back on what I am comfortable with.

Here is my Grand Vacation swap for 2015:

Base card is Mossy Meadow, mounted with Whisper White, layered with Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper and then layered again with Whisper White.  Ovals were cut out of the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper and top layer of Whisper White using the Oval Thinlet Dies.

As you know I am all about texture and layering so I added the Tea Lace Paper Doily between the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper and the Whisper White.  I also embossed some Whisper White card stock with the Fun Frames TIEF and fussy cut the whole thing out including the middle rectangle.

Behind the oval frames (before I adhered them together I stamped the script writing image from the By the Tide set in Smoky Slate three times one under the other. I stamped off before stamping on the Whisper White (so its second generation) so that it would not be too dominant.

I used the leaves and flowers from Butterfly Basics - I just adore these stamps and am so happy that they are being carried over to the new annual cattie. The fern leaves are stamped in Mossy Meadow ink. I simply stamped each generation of this image so that the foliage would appear to be layered. The stamping is below the Fun Frames layer.

The smaller flowers were stamped on Whisper White using StazOn Black ink. I coloured the flowers with an aqua painter using Blushing Bride, Cherry Cobbler and Mossy Meadow Classic Ink pads. I highlighted the centres with Dazzling Detail. Of course I fussy cut them and adhered them to the card with glue dots.

Beautiful Bunch is such a great set and the fact that it has a matching punch is a bonus. I love them so much and use them heaps. . . The feature flower is made using this set.

Like the smaller flowers I stamped the blossom from the Beautiful Bunch stamp set in StazOn Black on Whisper White card stock three times and coloured them with an aqua painter and Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Ink. I then punched them out with the Fun Flower Punch. I turned the flowers over and distressed the back side of them with a folding bone until the card stock was quite distressed. I stuck two of the flowers together with the petals off set.

With the third I turned it over and then folded the petals back up to make the centre of the flower. To keep the dimension and glue the petals I used bathroom silicon (from the hardware shop). The reason for choosing this is that tombow took forever to dry and was quite heavy. I used a dollop about the size of a nickle (10 cent coin in Australia). Silicon is lighter in weight and dries faster. It also stops the centre from being crushed in the post.

You can see the dimension here:

My goal for the card was to have it represent a tropical garden. . . one that has lush blooms and creeps and intertwines.

I hope that you like the card and I hope that the people who received them were happy with their swap. I was certainly delighted with the ones I received!

All of the items used are available at my shop on line - check it out on the side bar.  Special mention should be made of By the Tide which is on the Retirement List and may only be available while stock lasts up until 11.50pm AEST.

Mahalo
Shanni x