Well, if there's one thing I can say about 2020, it's that this year has led to me leading a completely different life from anything I've ever led before.
One boundary that it has pushed is my social interaction online. I have had a chance to be online far more than I ever have which led to a delightful discovery of a particular blog hop, which in turn led to a very active Facebook group of card crafters. As it turns out, they participate in blog hops at least once a month, so I decided to once again try something new. The challenge was to pick a fellow blogger in the group and CASE one of their creations. This also meant learning what CASE meant. Turns out, there are two different meanings: Copy And Share Everything or Copy And Selectively Edit.
After all this learning and deciding to be brave and try something different, I chose to CASE Karen at Misplaced Mojo (the next stop on the hop). I was inspired by her watermelon greeting cards.
Since I didn't have the same stamps, it turned into a selective edit. They are pretty cute, if I do say so myself!
Making these couldn't be simpler! I needed:
4 white cards (4.25in x 5.5in, made from two pieces of cardstock), 1 piece of pinkish red cardstock (this one was leftover from another project, but 8.5in x 5.5in should suffice), and scraps of light and dark green paper (cut to .25in x 8.5in, or whatever you have on hand).
Of course I also needed stamps to make the watermelon seeds and sentiments to finish out the cards. In this case, I used the raindrops from the Simon Says Stamp Falling Backgrounds set, the big "smile" from the Hero Arts Stamp and Cut, and sentiments from Stampin' Up ("Thinking of you Sweet Friend" and "Celebrate Every Moment" from Honey Bee; "These are the moments we'll look back on with joy" from Peaceful Moments).
And of course finally some basic supplies: a stamping platform (personal preference), black ink, glue, paper trimmer (not shown), and scissors.
First step was covering the pink paper with "seeds." The raindrop shape worked perfectly. To fill it up, I just kept scooching the paper along so it matched up with the next edge of the stamp, creating a fairly seamless pattern.
Once I finished one side, I turned the paper around and began again.
When I was finished, I had a delightful page full of seeds. Not a watermelon I'd want to eat in person, but perfect for the card.
After that, it was time to cut it up. Using a paper trimmer, I cut along the small blank space between my two batches of seeds. Then I cut those sections in half, one horizontally and one vertically.
Then it was a simple matter of gluing. I arranged them on my cards, knowing I could deal with any overhang after.
I followed up with my strips of green. It's important to leave a little gap of white to represent the pith. Then add your lighter shade of green, topped with your darker shade.
To finish, I grabbed my scissors and trimmed off the excess. Then I played around with the sentiments to see how I wanted to stamp each one on the card. That determined if it was a side or top fold. Before I knew it (an hour tops?), I had an adorable set of 4 cards!
Looks like I'm ready to send some summery greetings!
I'm so excited I'm trying something new and I can't wait for you to make the hop to see Karen's creation!