Live in the Sunshine - Shaped Notecard

Today is the perfect day to share this card with you.
The sun is out this morning and after the yukky, on and off downpours we had here yesterday, it's truly a welcome sight!
Monday we had snow, Tuesday, sun; yesterday, pouring rain; today, sun - anyone betting that tomorrow will be some form of stuff falling from the sky??
Guess I'd better check the weather report........

So for today, I'll "Live in the Sunshine". Actually, I try and do that everyday. It's easy to let circumstances and people drag you down, but really the key is not to let it happen. We're the only ones who have control over our emotional choices and it's a tough life lesson when we're going through it.
My daughter Emma was pouring out her heart last night on the way home from skating. She's having a tough time with another girl on her team who just doesn't like her. She's spent the entire season going out of her way to make Emma miserable. Emma doesn't understand, especially in light of the fact that she's friends with EVERY other girl on the team. At 14, it's hard to see that some people are just difficult, period. Whatever their reasons, there are some who choose to make those around them miserable. Sadly, like we told Emma last night, the world is full of girls like this one and hard as it may be, it's best to learn how to deal with them now and hold on to the truth that NO ONE can make you feel bad unless you let them. We can't control the thoughts and actions of others, but we can control ourselves - and that lesson makes all the difference!

Bah! I've been talking an awful lot lately - hope you're ok with that. Well, I guess you wouldn't come back if you weren't! Ha!
Today's card just reminded me of this conversation last night so I shared.

Now about the card.
I signed up for a Vintage card swap at Leadership this year. I've never done that before and you know I love that style, so I figured I'd give it a whirl.
This card was one that I also featured at my Open House last month - kind of trying it out, ya know? Well, they loved it so I went ahead and kept it as my swap design.
One thing I did differently was to use Stampin' Write Markers on the swap cards. My sample, shown here, used sponged daubers and q-tips with ink pads to color in the flowers and I just wanted a deeper color after I pondered it a bit.

I actually created the card using the new Framelits Labels Die Set. All the cardstock pieces were cut with them, so easy!
The stamp set is the coordinating Apothecary Art - honestly, this seems to be the most popular set from the New Occasions Mini so far judging by the samples I've seen. About 1/2 the swap cards I've received this season so far have used it!

The greeting actually comes from the Full of Life stamp set. I stamped it in Basic Black then cut it out with the right size Framelit. It's sponged in Blushing Bride, blinged up with a couple of pearls and popped up over the ribbon with some Stampin' Dimensionals.

The main image was stamped with Versamark ink then heat embossed with Basic Black EP. (I did use my now retired Embossing Buddy to de-static the cardstock first, but you can also use a new dryer sheet for the same purpose)

Once it was embossed, I cut it out with the matching size Framelit Die. I sponged the edges with Crumb Cake then the color was added to the flowers and leaves - Blushing Bride and Lucky Limeade. It was attached with Stampin' Dimensionals to the Blushing Bride card front underneath. Once it was attached, I threaded the Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon underneath and tied it off in a bow. I think I used 18" of ribbon, but don't quote me on that!

That card front was just a piece of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" cardstock (easier to just use a 1/4 sheet of cardstock), cut out with the largest Framelit in the set, then sponged with Crumb Cake ink.

Here's a look at the back side so you can see how I did the notecard itself:

I cut a piece of Whisper White at 4 1/2" x 8 1/2" (you get two card bases out of one sheet of cardstock this way and the strip leftover from the end is large enough to use for the greeting here.).
It's folded in half and I placed the folded edge just below the cut line of the Framelit so when it ran through the Big Shot Machine, it would create a folded note card.
It's adhered to the Blushing Bride card front with Tombow Multi Adhesive.

All in all, it's a very easy card to make, just a few steps, that's all!

Well, I'm off here now to get to work! I've got cardstock to cut and swaps to make!! :)
Have a wonderful, SUNNY day!
~~Robin

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