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As we sat on the bank of the river (at our farm) on the 4th of July, this amazing bald eagle swooped in and lit in the trees on the opposite bank. He stayed long enough for me to go back to the camper for my camera, return to the bank, and take a series of shots before he took flight up the river.
What a beautiful sight! Thank you, to our national bird for this Independence Day visit.
Ddd
...to be in the right place at the right time. In this case, it was being down on the farm at about 6 pm when this rainbow dropped from the sky.
I'm hoping this is God's promise that the rain is over for the summer. We've had quite enough, thank you.
Ddd
As assigned - make a stand-up card. My dimensions are not as per the original design but I made it work like I wanted to. There are Z-fold wings on each side that fold to the back. The card then stands on its own.
For this birdhouse image I drew in light vertical lines to look like wallpaper. They get washed out in the photo, though. The center panel of the card was Cuttlebugged for texture and then the center aperture cut out with Nestabilities. The white stamped piece is actually mounted on the back to show through the aperture.
I slit both sides to feed ribbon through and tied a bow off center. This is a counterbalance to the stamped greeting tag in the upper left. That tag is mounted with foam dots.
Ddd
Back with the bib pattern. For this one I used a verigated thread and then picked up the same colors in the decorative sticker and the background paper. This paper is more from the 'scrapbook page-a-day' calendar.
I had another of the vellum text stickers and placed it on yellow cardstock before trimming out. Since the pink heart matched the paper this time I did not cover it with a flower!
I mounted the bib and text on foam dots and then added rhinestones to the skateboard wheels and the dot on the 'i'.
Ddd
I stitched up these roses in gold metallic thread thinking they would make a great card for a 50th anniversary. When I ran across the super-shiny gold cardstock I was really excited to get this put together.
I ran the gold through the Cuttlebug folder for texture and mounted the stitched panel on foam dots. The gold peel-off greeting was added to a piece of cardstock that matches the folded base card.
So hard to photograph metallics, this is much brighter in person.
Ddd
I started with the leaf stitched on burgundy cardstock with orange thread. Next I chose the background paper and then the 'definition' cardstock. Some cutting, trimming, corner punching, layering, and the addition of a text tag and some gold peel-off leaves and ...
... this is what you get.
Ddd
Here is another of the stamps from the set with text embedded in the flower image. I kept the coloring very soft on this to reflect what one would find on the seed head itself.
The image was torn out to keep the casual feel and I also tore the background paper which also got a sheer ribbon tie. The pink layer and the printed background are layered flat and the stamped image is on foam dots.
I added sticky pearls to the center of the seed head and to the upper right and lower left of the card front. "Best Wishes" in gold peel-off stickers are added to the text in three places.
Ddd
This image came from a recent travel brochure and I stamped the greeting right on the picture. The layers are all colors pulled from the photo.
I sliced the folded edge enough to thread a ribbon through and helf the ends in place with an adhesive-backed silk flower.
It took about as long to explain it as it did to make it. So simple.
Ddd
When I bought this stamp set of birdhouse images I expected it to be really neat to work with. But I soon realized that stamping the birdhouse on white and mounting it on color makes it look goofy. One would normally see through the bars to the background.
So for this one I used colored pencils to mimic the background color in the image and trimmed close around the birdhouse and chain. The backing piece was cut out with Nestabilities label 11 and embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, using only a portion of it for the top and another part for the bottom.
The piece was then brushed lightly with distress ink to bring up the texture more. I added a piece of calligraphy behind it and corner punched to mimic the edges of the centerpiece. A ribbon was added as a carrier for the gold peel-off greeting stickers.
I stacked chololate cardstock base, calligraphy, leafy piece and them popped up the birdhouse on foam dots. As a final touch I tied a bow in some soft cord to make it look like the birdhouse is tied to the chain.
Ddd
Back to stamping today...
It's been a while since I used this Anna Griffin stamp. Love it! I colored it with watercolor pencils and blended with an aqua-brush. I picked up a new Nestability die that is not a small of scallops as my usual one. I like this for a more elegant feel.
The background paper is from an old 'scrapbook page-a-day' calendar. I tied on a ribbon and then added a clear sticker that is placed on the same cardstock as the base card and trimmed around.
Both the stamped image and the text sticker are on foam tape for dimension.
Ddd
The stitching on this bib looks better in real life as the photo does not give the full impace of the yellow on yellow. I trimmed around the outline and added a sticker to the bib.
I found some great printed paper for the background and added a vellum text sticker. That sticker had a pink heart on the right which did not reflect the color scheme at all so I popped on the yellow flower and tucked in a fold of checkered blue ribbon to 'give it a reason for being there'.
This turns a 'frilly' bib into something a baby boy might wear.
Ddd
Back to the studio today. I did some more stamping and colored with watercolor pencils and aqua-brush. Then I used two different Stickles to color the image and added sticky pearls to the lily centers.
Layers of card are either cut with Nestabilities or given punched/embossed corners and then mounted directly or raised on foam dots for variety.
As a last touch I colored some paper flowers and layered them at the bottom of the image. These got sticky pearls in their centers like the stamped ones.
Ddd
A few days ago I got a travel brochure with a great illustration I had to use. There was postal smudges and advertising text in the sky portion so I cut the whole sky away. Then I inserted a great atmospheric sky that I had saved from an old calendar.
I backed this with olive green cardstock and placed brads at the four corners and added the stack to a folded brown card base.
I used scraps of the same colors to stamp the greeting with ColorBok chalk ink and added a single row of piercing. The two ends of the piercing got brads of their own and the panel was placed on the card with foam dots for 3D effect.
I love it when supplies come 'free' in the mail.
Ddd
Wild roses grow along the roadside too.
I think this is a clemantis. If I am wrong, keep it to yourself!
The color on this shot is not a true as the other florals. This is really quite a dark purple bloom. I think the direct sunlight washed it out.
Winding its way around the fence behind a neighborhood mailbox.
Ddd
Oregon Grape, despite the name, is totally unsuited for making wine, juice, jelly or any other edible concoction.
I didn't realize the leaves turned red in the summer - thought that was an autumn 'thing'.
Growing in the ditch...
Ddd
I know this isn't really a daisy. In fact, it is a weed. But you could still play the game!
Such a wet spring has left few beautiful blooms on local roses. Fortunately, a few have survived but the leaves seem a little 'rusty' in places.
These are miniature roses - about twice life size in the pictures.
Ddd
Really? Nah, it's just plain Lily.
These beauties are WAY down the road. I pass by them every day as I drive in and out so I wanted to get a close-up look at them. Worth the trip!
All these shots were taken about 6 pm. That explains the angle of the light.
Ddd
Actually, more photos from down the road. My next stop was the gorgeous poppies across the road. These look like paintings instead of photos and I especially like the backlit ones for the intensity and variety of colors.
Thanks to my neighbors who grow all the flowers so I don't have to!
Ddd
