USA Memorial Day 2013

Happy Memorial Day 2013!  This is Memorial Day weekend, a good time to honor those who fought for our country, and those that still do so.  It's time to remember the Red, White, & Blue, and celebrate the flag we hold so dear.

Today's card is my take on celebrating the Red, White, and Blue with Stars and Flourishes from the Liberty Clear Stamp from Bo Bunny Stamps. I took a white pearlized card base and tried several ink types to stamp on the pearlized side of the card.  First I stamped the star design with the Love Letters Red Memento dye ink. The stamp slid on the slick surface of the card, and smeared. Next I tried inking the stamp with  Majestic Blue Versacolor pigment ink. I knew the pigment ink would take longer to dry on the slick surface of the card, so I was very careful when stamping not to smear the image.  It worked well, but before I got the heat gun to it to dry the ink, I laid my hand in it and smeared the design anyway!  We all have problems now and again.

Luckily, I had another piece of the pearlized stock from the 12 X 12 sheet, so after trimming it down to A2 card size, I folded it inside out, which put the pearlized side inside the card. I then used my two inks mentioned above, to stamp the star and flourishes on the card.  After the ink dried, I took my die cut Star Stax from My Favorite Things, and matched the star size die that matched the star on my stamp. Next, I ran the front of the card through my Cuttlebug machine with my all over Star embossing folder.  I then cut out the inside of the stamped star with the die, and adhered a printed paper with writing behind each opening.  I took the piece I cut out with the die, and cut the next smaller size star from it and switching the colors, put the red cut-out inside the blue star opening, and the blue cut-out inside the red star opening. This gave a little more dimension to the stamped stars on the card front. Using the flourish stamp that accompanied the star with flourish stamp, I stamped it along the lengthwise sides of the card, and then die cut tiny blue stars with the smallest die in the set, and poped them up with foam tape bits to give still more dimension to the front of the card..

After I got all my stamps, dies, and pop-ups positioned on the front of the card like I wanted them, I covered the inside of the card front with a rectangle of red card stock. From the photo you can barely see the print and pearlized finish on the inside of the card. I'm not sure whether I will be able to find some type of permanent marker to write inside the card with or if I will have to write on the red side with a white pen or marker for my greeting.

To finish off the card, I wrapped some peppermint twine from Lawn Fawn, twice around the fold of the card and knotted it on the outside.
I had two white star die cuts left in my scrap pile, so I wrote the letters "USA" on one, and glued it back-to-back around one end of the twine for a dangle embellishment.  I would have loved to add some bling to the card, but there was so much going on with the front of this card, I dared not add more bling.

I am entering this card in the Little Scrap Pieces-Fun Friday Challenge:" Let's hear it for the Red, White & Blue"

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, stay safe, and cherish this time with your family. If you have a little extra time, create something crafty!  See you soon.

Mindy