Presents and ice cream

Here they are at last: the final two cards I made at the craft retreat way back in April. Whew! I really expected to have shared all of these much earlier, but I wasn't able to spend as much time blogging as I anticipated. But better late than never, right?

So to wrap everything up, here are a couple of fun birthday cards. As it turns out, both of these cards were also part of a color challenge I completed during the retreat. The retreat organizer selected three colors that I had to use (in ink and/or card stock), and I could add in whatever neutrals I chose. The first card has a more masculine color scheme, and the second is a bit more feminine.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Build-a-Cake (Close to My Heart)
Paper: Whisper White, thick Whisper White card stock; Sea Glass, Peacock card stock (Close to My Heart)
Ink: Sea Glass, Peacock, Saffron (Close to My Heart)
Accessories: White crochet thread (DMC), Mono Multi liquid glue, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

As you might guess from the name of this stamp set, Build-a-Cake, these pieces were designed to build a fancy layer cake. But when I looked at them, I saw presents, so that's what I made. I stamped each image multiple times on white card stock using the three colors from the challenge (Sea Glass, Peacock, and Saffron) and hand-cut the images. I paper pieced a few of the images to create multi-colored presents and then glued them to a piece of Peacock card stock in three stacks. I mounted the panel on Sea Glass card stock and used Dimensionals to attach the entire piece to a thick Whisper White card base.

Since this color scheme had a more masculine feel, I didn't want to add a lot of fancy embellishments. (No sparkles! Sob!) So I tied some white crochet thread into three small bows and used Glue Dots to add a bow at the top of each stack. I had enough stamped images left over to make another card with this same design - I love when that happens!

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Sugar Rush - Scrapbooking, Cricut Artiste Collection Birthday, Curlicue Alphabet (all Close to My Heart)
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip card stock; Raspberry card stock (Close to My Heart)
Ink: Raspberry, Goldrush, Lemon (Close to My Heart); Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Liquid Glass (Close to My Heart), corner rounder, Layering Circles Framelits dies, Dimensionals

This color combo -- Raspberry, Goldrush, and Lemon -- had a more feminine feel to me. But rather than using the colors to make a girly floral card, I decided to make three fun ice cream cones with chocolate sprinkles. I stamped the images on Whisper White card stock and cut them out -- the cones by hand and the ice cream scoops with Framelits dies. (I was happy to discover that they were the perfect size for one of my Layering Circles dies.) I adhered the cones to a piece of Whisper White card stock, layered it on Raspberry card stock and adhered the panel to a Chocolate Chip card base with Dimensionals. I added a Chocolate Chip banner over the cones and covered the sprinkles with Liquid Glass to give them a little texture and shine.

To play off the ice cream images, I wanted to add a "sweet" sentiment inside the card, but the one included with the stamp set, "Life is sweet," wasn't exactly what I was looking for. So I created my own sentiment. First I inked just the word "sweet" from the sentiment stamp using Raspberry ink and stamped it slightly above the middle of a layer of Whisper White card stock. Then using a small alphabet, I stamped the words "Hope your day is" with Chocolate Chip ink. I think it turned out pretty well, but can you spot my little boo-boo? I accidentally stamped the letter s in "is" upside-down. Oops! I don't think it's too noticeable, though, since the word "sweet" is really the focal point of the greeting.

And that's the end of my craft retreat cards! Thanks so much for stopping by!