Building a Life I love

Intro

Hi Friends!!! This card inspiration come from the sentiment first. This doesn’t happen often for me so I ran with it. I have a serious addiction to the Simon Says Stamp reverse sentiment sets but I almost never remember to use them. When I remembered that I had the new(ish) Be You set, I decided to dig thru and find one to use. We can blame it on the adrenaline that is still in my system over launching this site, but the “Create the life you love” really speaks to me. And nothing motivates me to get work on building the life I want quite like coffee… and so this card was born.

Background

I thought it would be so fun to create a custom background for this card. I started out by stamping the Concord and 9th Weathered Wood Background Stamp with Ground Espresso Distress Ink onto brown card stock. Any time I stamp with distress inks, I use my MISTI platform so that I can stamp 2 or 3 times. This really helps to make sure the image stamps clearly since distress inks can bead up on your stamps. Then I moved to my splat box, which is just an old Simon Says Stamp shipping box that I spray and splatter into to protect my desk.

I used a small pointy brush to splatter some Ground Espresso and Black Soot Spray Stains onto the paper. Once that dried for a few minutes, I mixed some water and Dr PH Martins Bleed Proof White on a palette and splattered that on too. ( I got mine on Amazon)

I trimmed down my panel to be 4 in x 5.25 in and ink blending more Ground Espresso Ink along all the edges. The next step was to glue it down to an A-2 sized piece of black card stock. (4.25 in x 5.5 in)

Main Image

I used the MFT Stamps Cafe All Day Die-namics to die cut Copic X-Press It paper. Then I took all of the pieces and used Copic Sketch Markers to color them in. I am in a sucker for Starbucks (not sponsored hahahah) and so I decided to pay homage by adding in some green to pop against all the neutrals. It sounded fun to create a logo for my coffee so I grabbed my MFT Stamps BB Sweater Weather in the Woods Stamp Set. I stamped out the little owl onto the coffee sleeve and traced the inside of my washi tape to add the circle around him. I always use a Copic Multi Liner when I add my own lines to my copic projects to prevent smearing.

The Cup: W3, W1, W00
The Sleeve: E35, E33, E30
The Owl: E37, E35, YG67, YG63, E30, E40, YR18
The Whipped Cream: E30, E41, E40, E33 (dots)
The Lid: C5, C3, C1, Blender
The Sentiment: YG67, YG63

Finishing Touches

I used liquid glue to adhere the sentiment, whipped cream and the lid down flat to the panel. I also glued the coffee sleeve down to the cup. Tucking sequins under my die cuts makes my heart happy so I popped the cup up with thin foam squares. This gave me the perfect excuse to grab the Captivating Cactus Sequin Mix from Pawsome Stamps. I like working in odd numbered embellishments so I added 7 sequins in a diagonal pattern across the card.

This card makes me want to grab a coffee and get to work. I hope you are also feeling inspired and I appreciate you more than I can explain. Happy crafting Friends!