Welcome Home

Hello, welcome to my blog!! 

I want to start out by thanking everyone for the support and nice comments you all leave for me. I truly appreciate the support of this blog!! I enjoy card making and bringing my creations to you, this wouldn't be possible without your support, so again, thank you!!!

Today, I have two cards for you that are made using the brand new stamp set called Welcome Home by Beth Silaika for Gina K. Designs. This is an adorable set that features birdhouses, birds, a branch, a couple of greetings and many versatile sentiments. This set is great for welcoming a new baby or neighbors, has anniversary and birthday greetings and even includes sentiments for all four seasons, so this set can be used year round! 

For my first card, I chose to make a card to welcome new neighbors. I will be doing some light ink blending to frame my panel. To color my images, I will be water coloring using Gina's inks with water brushes. To create shadows, I will use the coordinating dies for my images and pop them up on foam to create a dimensional look. For my second card, I will be doing simple ink blending over a mask. I will create a wood grain look for my birdhouse then attach it to the die cut tree branch. Let's get started!!

I will be doing all of my work today on my Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat.

To start, I take a piece of watercolor cardstock and place it into my MISTI Stamp Positioner. I then prep the panel using my Anti Static Powder bag. Next, I stamp my images from the Welcome Home Stamp Set using Amalgam Obsidian Ink, add Black Embossing Powder and heat set with my Heat Tool. Using the coordinating dies from the Welcome Home Die Set, I cut out my images, running them through my Big Shot Die Cut Machine. I end up using two of the three images on my card. *When doing water coloring, I like to emboss my images as it makes it easier to control the ink without having it bleed into another color or out of the lines.

Using my Glass Mat as a palette, I press some ink onto the white glass. Using a Water Brush filled with clean water, I pick up Faded Brick Ink and paint the front of my first birdhouse. I add the ink to the left side and fade out towards the right, creating a bit of a shadow. Next, I add Honey Mustard Ink to the roof of the birdhouse, again adding the ink to the left side and fading out. I then go back and add a little more Faded Brick Ink to deepen the shade.

For the second birdhouse, I pick up the ink with my Water Brush and add Blue Lagoon Ink, adding it on the left side and fading out. For the roof of the birdhouse I add Fresh Asparagus Ink, adding on the left side and fading out. I again go back and add another layer of ink to the house to deepen the color. *After my card was complete I still didn't think the blue birdhouse was deep enough in color so I added a little Blue Denim Ink which you can see in the finished card.

To create shadows for my birdhouses, I use the coordinating dies from the Welcome Home Die Set and cut out of Black Onyx Cardstock, running them though my Big Shot. I then use Liquid Glue and mount the water colored birdhouses on top of the black die cuts, offsetting a bit to create a shadow effect.

For my card panel, I use the smaller rectangle die from the Master Layouts 1 Die Set and cut out of Kraft Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. Using my Blender Brushes, I blend Kraft Ink around the sides and corners, fading out towards the center.

Next, I blend Warm Cocoa Ink around the sides and corners, again fading out towards the center. For my final color I add Charcoal Brown Ink just around the very edges to create a little depth.

Taking the biggest rectangle die from the Master Layouts 1 Die Set, I cut out of Black Onyx Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. I then use Terrific Tape and adhere my blended panel onto it, creating a nice even mat around my panel.

Using my Scor Buddy and take a piece of  5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Tomato Soup Cardstock and score it at 4 1/4", this creates my side folding card base. I use Terrific Tape and adhere my panels to the card base.

I now place the card into my MISTI and layout the stamps from the Welcome Home Stamp Set to figure out my placement. I remove everything and pick up the greeting with the door of my MISTI. I then stamp my greeting using Amalgam Obsidian Ink. ***Ask me why I didn't stamp my panel BEFORE mounting it to my card base... insert eye roll, LOL!!

I now line up my sentiment and stamp it just under the greeting. Next I stamp the bird and trail, stamping everything with Amalgam Obsidian Ink.

I thought my stamping looked a little flat and boring so I decided to mount the sentiment on a strip instead of just leaving it stamped. There is a die from the Welcome Home Die Set that is to cut out a post for the birdhouses, however, I found it is the perfect size for the sentiments also! I use this die and cut out of Kraft Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. I add some Adhesive Dot Runner to the back of the die cut then place it into my MISTI. I choose a sentiment from the Welcome Home Stamp Set and stamp the strip using Amalgam Obsidian Ink.

I cut three more strips then stack and glue them to the back of my sentiment using Liquid Glue. I then glue over the stamped sentiment, giving it the dimension I was looking for. I add Foam Tape to the back of the birdhouses and mount them to the card front and this finishes off my first card.

For my second card, I start by taking the smaller rectangle die from the Master Layouts 1 Die Set and cut out of White Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. Next, I cut down a piece of Masking Magic paper to 3 3/4" x 5" using my Tim Holtz Guillotine Paper Trimmer. I then take the biggest die from the Double Stitched Oval Die Set and tape it onto the center of the masking paper piece using Purple Tape then run them through my Big Shot. 

Next, I remove the release paper and adhere over my white panel.

Using my Blender Brushes, I blend Soft Stone Ink over the top third of the oval opening. Next, I blend Moonlit Fog Ink onto the center of the oval, blending back into the previous color and fade out toward the bottom. For my final color, I blend Blue Lagoon Ink fading it back into the previous color. I go back through each color and blend where the colors meet to create a soft blend. I then carefully peel off the mask.

To create a wood grain texture for my birdhouse, I place a piece of Kraft Cardstock into my Scor Buddy and score every 1/4". I then lightly drag my Warm Cocoa Ink cube down the scored edges to create the wood grain look. 

I place the piece of cardstock into my MISTI and stamp one of the birdhouse images from the Welcome Home Stamp Set using Amalgam Obsidian Ink. I then use the coordinating die from the Welcome Home Die Set and cut out my image, running them through my Big Shot.

Next, I take the branch die from the same die set and cut out of Black Onyx Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. I then punch a small hole at the top of the birdhouse and knot a piece of twine through it, then tie the twine around the branch die cut.

I add pieces of Foam Tape to the branch die cut and birdhouse then adhere them onto my blended panel and cut off all of the overhang. 

Next, I place the panel into my MISTI and stamp a greeting from the Welcome Home Stamp Set using Amalgam Obsidian Ink. I then stamp a sentiment from the same stamp set just below the greeting.

Taking the biggest rectangle die from the Master Layouts 1 Die Set I cut out of Black Onyx Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. Using Terrific Tape, I adhere my blended panel onto the black panel.

Using my Scor Buddy, I place a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Ocean Mist Cardstock into it and score at 4 1/4", creating my side folding card base. I then adhere my blended panel onto the card base using Terrific Tape and this completes my second card.

I hope you enjoyed today's cards! This stamp set is perfect for the bird lovers and birdhouse collectors in your life. With so many sentiment choices, the card possibilities are endless!! Come back on Monday, when I will have two cards made with the Wildflowers and Weeds stamp set. I hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

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Happy Stamping and God bless!!

Jeannie