Avant Garden – NC Demos January Blog Hop

Welcome to the January North Carolina Demos blog hop!  I hope you enjoyed Sharon Maranich’s posting.  She is such a talented stamper!  Thanks for stopping by to see my project for this month’s blog hop.  I hope I can inspire you with a card made using the Avant Garden stamp set from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.

My blog is dedicated to frugal stampaholics.  The Stamped Greetings motto is – One stamp set, Three designs, Endless possibilities.  This week, I have focused on the Avant Garden stamp set.  If you missed the first two designs, you can click here to see the first design and click here to see the second design.  Today’s posting is the third design using this set.  It was inspired by one of the pictures in the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  After all, CASEing is a great way to get comfortable with new stamps, inks, and embellishments.  I always like to add a little personal twist to make the design my own.

Here is the picture of the card in the catalog.

Here is my take on a card using the same basic layout.

 

I would be flattered if you CASE my design and hope that you do!  You may want to take the following tips into consideration when you do:

  • The most challenging part of this card is getting the many layers on the card front to line-up and look flush with the card edges.  Patience, tape, and a ruler are the tricks that I used.  After I stamped the flowers and leaves (all on one piece of Peekaboo Peach card stock), I cut the stamped piece at a diagonal.  The sentiment was stamped onto a separate piece of scrap Pumpkin Pie card stock.  Additional pieces of scrap Peekaboo Peach and Emerald Envy card stock were taped and then glued to add the border colors between the stamped flower pieces and the stamped sentiment.  Tape is a real life saver to make sure you have the border colors just where you want them before gluing them down.
  • The base for the card is a Crumb Cake note card.  I love the note cards and matching envelopes.  They are the perfect size for a quick card and perfect for this type of design.
  • The burlap ribbon and linen thread add a very earthly, yet elegant, finish to the design.
  • There were a few alterations to the design that happened and the card was created.  I have really just accepted that I need to allow myself to experiment when making cards.  This card didn’t turn out exactly how I had envisioned it.  And, to be completely honest, it actually turned out better than I had originally planned.  Allow yourself to take the journey of creativity.  You’ll be amazed at the results of stamps, ink, embellishments, and a dash of trying something outside your comfort zone!

Be sure to continue the blog hop for this month.  All the participants are listed below.

Tamra Davis

Jo Anne Hewins

Michelle Irinyl

Tracie Evans Langley

Sharon Maranich

Laurie Meier <– YOU ARE HERE

 

 

 

 

Key products that I used to create my card are shown below.  If you click on any picture, you’ll go to my on-line store.

Happy stamping!
Laurie