Friday, March 21, 2008

Light of the World



My oldest son came down with one of those icky stomach bugs, so we had to postpone our trip to Baltimore for a few weeks. The good news is the time I spent on extra laundry and steam cleaning carpets was rewarded with a little bit of unexpected stamping time last night and today.

The first stamp release from Our Daily Bread Designs, called Light of the World, came yesterday. This card didn't turn out exactly like the vision in my head (which was a little too big for my stamping ability!), but I do still like it. I had not done one of the shadow box cards before. I also tried a new-to-me technique, which is the salted background. SCS has some great tutorials on both. The links will take you right to those tutorials. For the salted background, I painted watercolor paper with Night of Navy and Bordering Blue reinkers, sprinkled with table salt, spritzed with water, and then dried it with a heat tool. I brushed off the dried up salt before stamping the Bible verse in Jet Black Staz-On. I drew inspiration for my card from this card that Laurie Schmidlin made using the same stamp set.

Tip: I cut my ovals with the Creative Memories cutting system. This cutting system (and most, it seems) only cuts mats in 1/8" increments. I much prefer the narrower 1/16" increment. I read this little tip on someone's blog several months ago (I wish I could remember whose so I could give credit). In this case, where you're cutting out a hole, cut your two inside layers the same size (if you're not cutting out a frame, but matting an image instead, you'll cut your two outside layers the same size). For the middle layer (white here) use scissors to trim away just a tiny amount. Of course, it will be uneven when it is hand-cut, so take the edge distresser and rough it up a bit. Now it's supposed to be messy, so the unevenness isn't a problem.

So, this is my first-ever offical design team creation. Isn't that fun?

Now, last but not least, would you like to win this stamp set? Check out the blog candy celebration, which is in the post right below!

Stamps: Light of the World (by Our Daily Bread Designs)
Paper: watercolor paper, Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, So Saffron, Always Artichoke, Jet Black Staz-On
Accessories: aqua painter, table salt, water spritzer, paper piercer, sponge daubers, distressing tool, silver brads, corner rounder punch, pretties kit, three for you punch, 1/4" punch

14 comments:

pescbrico said...

This is such a great card again! :) I really love what you are making with this stamp set!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic card. Thanks for offering that tip about using the Creative Memories cutting system. I've got it, too, and am always wishing for the 1/16" edge.

Happy Easter - Regina Davis

Regina Cornelius regcorn@zoominternet.net said...

wowzers!!! you have set your bar very high as this being your forst design team submission...it is beautiful! great job!

Angel said...

LOVE your card and am so glad we are on this design team together!

June Houck said...

WOW!!! At least I can say, "I knew you when..."

Jennifer Meyer said...

Just beautiful Amy, your watercoloring is gorgeous along with the fun design. Have a great weekend, Jennifer :)

Dawn Easton said...

Amy, this is breathtaking! Wonderful design! Thank you so muc for the tip on cutting and matting. I love that look!

Maren said...

Stunning! I love the scallops along the top! Such a pretty card!

Anonymous said...

Amy you did an awesome job on this!!!

Judy Rozema said...

Absolutely fabulous! I love the design on the sides. The showdow box looks fabulous, as does the salted background. Beautiful colors too!!

Anonymous said...

This is so beautiful!! I love the design..and your coloring is gorgeous!!!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful card, Amy! Thanks for the tip on cutting shapes for matting! Love the set!

Corie said...

Simply GORGEOUS

Julee (Vervegirl) said...

Oh, I just love shadowbox cards. all those brads on the sides give a fabulous feel to the card. Sorry I'm commenting so much all in one day, but this is the first time I've had in about a week to "blurf". Love everything I've seen! :)