Land That I Love

Independence Day is usually a holiday that gets skipped right over in my card making studio … not exactly sure why, but the products and papers are usually not something I'm drawn to, and I don't have any stamps in my stash (but would love to find some good fireworks explosion stamps).   

However, this year there were several collections that caught my eye and were available in 6" papers, so some people will be receiving some 4th of July cards this year.  One of the things I miss most about celebrating the holiday since moving to Iowa is being able to shoot off our own fireworks.  As kids, saving-up our allowance and choosing our fireworks to shoot off that night was always such a big deal.

These cards are all inspired by the patriotic display in this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge.

All papers are from We R Memory Keepers Yankee Doodles Collection.  The elements are from the 12" Tag Doodles Sheet.  If possible, I always try to buy a 12" sheet of tags or other designer elements to coordinate with my 6' papers … it makes putting cards together much easier.

The first card uses this week's Unscripted Sketch.  I added a clear gem flourish that reminded me of the explosion of fireworks.

The next one uses this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch.  I used my very neglected star embossing folder on the red squares and added some distress ink to cover where the paper split & bring out the texture.  For this one I used a pearl flourish for my firework display.

The final one uses this week's Just Add Ink Sketch.  Since I didn't stamp anything on the card, I used lots of Distress Ink on the edges to help tie it all together.

One of the things I really love about this set are the number of slightly patterned solid papers.  I wish more companies would do that, so we have coordinating borders and pages to stamp on.  This one has two different shades of red & blue as wel as white all with a subtle grid pattern.