Today is the first day of Spring! I decided to celebrate with my First Day of Spring Hello Spring Card! Even though we are having probably one last really cold day in Houston, it is the first day of Spring even if it doesn’t feel like it.
Today is called the Spring Equinox but it doesn’t officially happen until 5:24 PM EDT. The term Equinox comes from Latin words meaning “equal night” with the length of day and night being nearly equal in all parts of the world.
For my card today, I thought I would use my new set of alphabet dies, the Alphabet A La Mode Dies. You will find them on page 61 of the Spring Mini. I loved the skinny look of them and it looked like there would be fun ways to use them! Aren’t we always looking for new and interesting ways to make our cards?!
This is a Slimline card, as we call it. I cut the card base of Bermuda Bay cardstock at 6″ x 6″ and scored it at 3″ to make this style of card. The Basic White layer is just a tiny bit smaller than 3″ x 6″ so 2 7/8″ x 5 7/8″.
I cut out the letters with different colors of the Brights cardstock. I used Melon Mambo, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green, and Gorgeous Grape. Unbelievably, I remembered to use the Adhesive Sheets so the skinny letters would be like stickers and I wouldn’t have to use teeny tiny drops of glue on the back. I just needed small pieces of the adhesive sheets on the back of each color of cardstock. After they were diecut, I just peeled off the protective layer and stuck the letters onto the Basic White cardstock on the front of the card.
But first, always do your stamping first! I sort of did, and sort of didn’t. I did figure out how the letters would fit on the card and saw that there would be enough space to stamp the “hello” from the Biggest Wish Stamp Set in Memento Black ink. It’s just the right size! After I had that stamped on the white piece, I was ready to adhere the alphabet letters. I figured out where the center of that piece was and started placing the letters off to the sides of the center. Then I saw how they ended up, if they were fairly even with the sides of the card and adjusted them accordingly. It helps to use a ruler along with Grid Paper to have a straight edge to help place the letters evenly at the base. Or make them more whimsical and tip them different ways, then you don’t even have to try to make them straight!
After I had the “hello” stamped and the letters adhered, I knew I wanted to add flowers in the corners. I started off stamping and coloring in some flowers, cutting them out and placing them on the two opposite corners, but I didn’t like that. I ended up using the flower clusters in the Sentimental Park Stamp Set and stamping those with Memento ink. It was dangerous to stamp right on the card with the letters already adhered but I took a chance and it worked out!
I felt like the Stampin’ Blends would be a bit too strong in their colors for this card, so I switched to Watercolor Pencils! I don’t use them often enough but they are fun and satisfying to use just like the Blends! Just add some color with the pencil, it doesn’t have to be perfect, then use a Blender Pen to smooth out the color. The Blender Pens were some of the first things I purchased after I heard about Stampin’ Up! They have just a little bit of moisture which works with the Watercolor Pencils. There are two different assortments of pencils in the Online Store so you can choose which colors you might use the most.
I hope this First Day of Spring Hello Spring Card inspires you to enjoy your first day of spring, and maybe even make a spring season card!
