Twofer Sunshine

Firstly I have to apologise, these two cards weren't in the same room at the same time so I had to cobble together a photo of the two together.   They're both new (though the second is almost identical to one I made back in March) it's just that the first was needed before I had a chance to finish the second.

I'd also like to apologise for not posting very often lately, I just haven't had much time for blogging.  I'm nearing €1000 raised for the orphanage program I support in Tanzania.  The last few weeks have been pretty manic - word has been getting around and I've had more orders than I can really cope with but I know that will die down soon when everyone in Luxembourg goes back to their home countries for the summer - particularly as almost everyone is now fully vaccinated.  

Not that I can go home - Australia isn't too keen on letting anyone in as they try to keep their Covid numbers as close to zero as possible.  I really had hoped to see my poor old mum and if I kicked up enough stink (and paid enough money) I could probably get there but when there are so many Australians in much worse circumstances than mine trying to return, I'd feel a little guilty - only a few thousand are allowed in each week.

I really love the Twofer challenge - to use the same die or stamp differently!  It makes me look at all my dies and stamps in a different way.   This month the challenge prompt is is 'Sunshine' - either Sun or Sunrays.  My common element is this cute little sun die from a dinky little set called Village Sky from the Frantic Stamper.  When making the first Vintage Champers card back in March, I found the sun die was perfect for creating the wax seal you might find on the neck of a champagne bottle.  I have other suns, and initially I was weighing up various options, but then an order came in for another Vintage Champers card so that made my mind up for me.  

Here's a closer look at the first card - Vintage Champers Cheers.   The champagne bottle die I used is  a very basic outline die only.  But I found by selectively cutting just the neck from another textured card stock, wrapping a strip of black around the neck to hide the join and placing the sun die over the strip to bind it together, the champagne bottle starts to come to life.  The glossy accents also helped!  The first time I made this card, it was for a friend and I wanted to downplay her age but the person who ordered this card had no qualms about declaring her friend's age very boldly so I added two balloons with gold letters to match the gold accents in the patterned paper.  Cheers seemed more appropriate than Happy Birthday - and the fit was better!

 Here's a closeup of the label which I mocked up using Wordart within Microsoft Word.  I looked at various bottles of Champagne (hic!) to get ideas for what to put on the label.   The name, place of birth and year of birth were included to make it really personal.  

The second card was much simpler, again another order.  This was for a friend of mine for her son who is stepping out into the big wide world.  Apparently he loves fast cars so we thought the Vespa would be a wee joke. 

The scooter is from Taylored Expressions.  When I pulled out the set, I found I had cut several white ones on a previous occasion (must be about four years ago) so I went with that and cut the little parts from some blue card stock I had lying on my desk (from a project I'd just finished) with a coat of glossy accents once assembled for dimension and shine!  I grounded it on a sentiment banner carrying the a line from one of his favourite songs (Have it All from Jason Mraz).  A little grass (Crealies On the Edge Grass) separates the spotty road from the blue sky, with the sun and some clouds from the same set finishing off the scene.

I'd also like to enter this card in the Pixie's Snippets Challenge for June.  The clouds, sun and blue bits on the scooter were all snippets.  These tiny die pieces are a great excuse for hanging onto even the smallest pieces of card stock.  This month the challenge is honouring the memory of Ruby.

I'd also like to enter my cards in the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be over the moon!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate