God Bless America

Sorry so long without any updates! Busy time of year, huh? I've had two of these three cards in partial stages of completion since the end of last week and finally got them finished last night. They all use the powerful new patriotic sets released earlier this month by Our Daily Bread Designs.

For this first one, I've (once again) turned to a vintage look. I can't help it - I just love how well these sets look with a little aging and distressing! The eagle is from the set In God We Trust, and the sentiment is from God Bless America. I stamped in Versafine Onyx black onto watercolor paper, clear embossed, and then colored with a water brush and reinkers.


For this next one, I went with a more vibrant variation of the red, white and blue color scheme, which is easy to achieve with the fantastic patriotic papers available in the ODBD store.



The gorgeous, lifelike image of the American flag is watercolored with a water brush and reinkers. After it dried, I colored in the stars with a white gel pen. I trimmed down the image a little bit to show a little more of the background paper.


Last, I wanted to show how these sets aren't limited to patriotic colors. (Well that and I just couldn't wait to break into my new Wisteria paper pack by Basic Grey, which just arrived yesterday - LOL!)



The oval on top of a Top Note diecut is one of my go-to arrangements - love the way it looks! I accented with some paper pleating, which I almost entirely covered up (oh well!) and a flower and flourish combo. Easy!

Thanks for stopping by!

By the way, I usually post a My Favorite Things project on Wednesdays to go along with the weekly What's Up Wednesday feature. Since I took so many days off, I'm a little behind, so My What's Up Wednesday is probably going to be a What's Up Thursday ;) Which is a good thing, because I can't wait to incorporate some of Susan's tips for working with buttons! She has shared some great ideas in this week's How'd They Do That tutorial. Be sure to check it out!



God Bless America:
Stamps: In God We Trust and God Bless America (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Paper: SU Ivory Naturals and Night of Navy card stock, Canson watercolor paper, red and white dps are Creative Imaginations (same sheet, red with stars on one side and white with red grid on the other); blue star print unknown (but I just got it at Michael's or JoAnn's a week or two ago, so it's current)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Antique Linen and Vintage Photo; SU So Saffron, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Sahara Sand and River Rock
Accessories: water brush, 1/4" circle punch, distressing tool, SU vintage brads, PTI button, May Arts burlap string, Spellbinders circle Nestabilities and double-ended tag die, sewing machine

Grand Old Flag:
Stamps: God Bless America (ODBD)
Paper: PTI white, SU Real Red, Canson watercolor paper, Masterpiece Studios dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; SU Night of Navy, Real Red, Cranberry Crisp, Baroque Burgundy, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Martha Stewart flourish edge punch, paper piercer, ribbon from stash
Size: 5 1/2" square

Abraham Lincoln quote:
Stamps: God Bless America (ODBD)
Paper: SU True Thyme, Almost Amethyst; Basic Grey Wisteria; Canson watercolor paper
Ink: SU True Thyme; Ranger Antique Linen and Vintage Photo distress inks
Accessories: SU Top Note die and Pretties half-back pearl; Spellbinders oval Nestabilities; amethyst twill (unknown); sewing machine; BossKut flourish die; Martha Stewart branch and flower punch; Dew Drops; Kaiser pearls