Concord & 9th Feature Friday

To say that I am happy to share today's projects with you would be a huge understatement.  I'm absolutely delighted!  This month I'm honored to be a guest designer for Concord and 9th - a company near and dear to my heart.  (I guess that's what happens when you get to meet the people behind the company...such good people!) 

Today we are featuring the new (and amazing!) Triple-Step Floral Frame Bundle and the October Card Front Die Bundle.  I quickly fell in love with these products, so I made a bunch of cards.  I've got lots to share today, so lets get started!  

Funny enough, as soon as I saw the Quilted Card Front Die  (one of the sets in the October Card Front Die Bundle), I thought Christmas.  I just had to make a Christmas plaid!  

The die made the process super easy.  I simply cut 1/8" strips in Poppy, Sprout, and Clover cardstock, and then used the stiched lines from the die to guide placement when I was gluing them down.  

I decided a big, bold sentiment was the way to go, so I stamped "merry & bright" from the Ornamental Stamp Set and fussy cut it out.  I also paper pieced one of the little holly clusters from the stamp set using clover and poppy carsdstock.

I wanted to make a companion card and was convinced I could turn Triple-Step Floral Frame into a Christmas design.  The design of this set is truly amazing.  The entire floral frame is achieved in three steps, but only two stamps.  I stamped the leaves in Clover Ink.  Then I stamped the flowers in Poppy Ink, flipped the stamp upside down, and stamped again,  (By stamping twice - once right side up, once upside down you fill in all the flowers in the frame.)

The Triple-Step Floral Frame Bundle also includes idividual flowers and leaves, so I stamped and die cut a few of those to add some dimension to my design.  I stamped the extra leaves in Sprout Ink and popped up just 4 of the flowers.  I chose a sentiment from the Snow Flurry Stamp Set, an oldie but goodie.  

I used the scalloped frame in the Triple-Step Floral Frame Dies to cut the entire panel out and popped it up onto a Clover cardstock base that I had cut with the Stitched Stripe Card Front Die.

I was still mulling over colors/design for my next card set, so while I was thinking I just started stamping for fun.  I hadn't planned on sharing this next card, but in the end I figured, why not?  It's a true one layer card, but I used the scalloped frame in the Triple-Step Floral Frame Dies to make it a fun shaped card. 

I used Sprout Ink for the leaf layer, but while it was in the misti I went back and stamped the corner leaves a second time in Clover Ink.  Next, I stamped the flower layer in Oceanside Ink, flipped it, and stamped it again in Ballet Slipper Ink.  I left it in the misti, inked up just a few of the little fowers in Poppy Ink and stamped again.  Then I stamped some of the flower details in Poppy.  I wanted the dark green color scattered throughout the design, so I used a marker to go back and color over just a few of the light green dots.    

Okay, after I finished the last practice card, I was ready to go for my final design.  The colors I chose were Oceanside, Peacock, Midnight, and Stardust.  I've gott a say I love how these turned out!

I used just the Triple-Step Floral Frame stamps on this one.  Midnight ink is a deep, deep navy, and I used that to stamp the leaves.   The flowers are Oceanside and Peacock.

I used a partial sentiment from Triple-Step Floral Frame ("sending") and then finished it by stamping hugs with the Bold & Brushy Stamp Set in Stardust Ink. I really appreciate how alphabet sets allow me to create any sentiment I want, especially when I have a recipient in mind when I'm creating the card.  

My final card features the Quilted Card Front Die.  It makes a beautiful stitched background, and I wanted to highlight that a bit more.  I found some dark teal floss in my stash that matches the peacock color almost exactly and stitched a diamond shape using the quilted lines.  

Then I die cut all the pieces in Fresh Cut Florals Dies Edition 1 twice using Oceanside and Peacock cardstock for the flowers, Midnight for the leaves, and Stardust cardstock for the berries and flower center.   Actually, I cut the flower center 4 times to give it more dimension.  

I flicked some really old Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine Spray on the flower petals.  They shimmer beautifully!  Then, I built my flower, putting foam tape between each of the layers, so it has lots of dimension. 

Finally, I tucked the leaves and berries in, and added a sentiment strip using a sentiment from the Painted Peony Stamp Set.  You can't go wrong with any of Concord & 9th's sentiments.  The fonts are always beautiful.  

Did you manage to make it here? I'm curious...do you have a favorite project.  Here's a quick peek if you need to refresh your memory after such a long post.  Lol.

Thank you bunches for visiting today!  I hope you'll check out the other projects the designers made this week on the Concord & 9th Blog.  I'm humbled to be among this bunch.  And don't forget to check out the entire new release at Concord and 9th.  SO MUCH to love!  I hope you are headed into a lovely weekend, friends!