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InKing Royalty Blog Hop meets The Library Challenge # 38

Jul 24, 2019 | InKing Royalty Blog Hop, The Library Challenge | 14 comments

Welcome to InKing Royalty’s July Blog Hop!

This year’s Blog Hop themes are inspired by a single word – and this month, our projects are centered around SUNSHINE. The Sun is the single most important source of energy for life on Earth – it guides our clocks, calendars and planting schedules. We may be enduring a heat wave this week, but we still associate the Sun with positivity, joy and renewal. We are excited to share our creations with you today! After you read my post, I hope you’ll hop over to the next person on the list found at the base of this post.

The Library Challenge and Sunshine!

One of the blog challenges in which I have enjoyed participating in the past is The Library Challenge, and I think the theme of challenge #38 fits with the InKing Royalty Blog Hop theme of Sunshine. Challenge #38’s book title is Five Weeks in a Balloon, by Jules Verne, and the project inspiration can come from the title, cover, or story.

Here’s the cover:

five weeks in a balloon book - Google Search

How does this book relate to sunshine for the Blog hop? I am so glad you asked. I can’t imagine taking a hot-air balloon ride on a stormy, rainy day. The perfect weather for this kind of adventure is SUNSHINE, so there’s the connection.

Here’s my card:

A Go-To Die Set

I’ve said it before, but the Rectangle Stitched Framelit die set is one of my all-time favorite sets, partly because I love the double stitching on each die. However, my most favorite reason is because of the amount of cardstock I can save by using these framelits on the mats of cards!

For example, in this card, the background Balmy Blue cardstock is the middle of a mat for another card. I chose the appropriate sized die for the frame based on the size of the middle mat, and then used the rectangle dies. I now have the two pieces I needed for the frame card and another center piece for a different card.

Here’s an example cut I cropped from the Granny Apple Green cardstock base:

I found that I absolutely love (!!!) the color combination of Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel, and Granny Apple Green when I played along with the Paper Players #450 challenge. I decided to go with Granny Apple Green balloons, the largest of which I stamped off. The smaller balloons also in Granny Apple Green, colored the baskets with Blueberry Bushel, then fussy cut the balloons. I stamped the sentiment in Granny Apple Green as well, and cropped it using the Stitched Shapes dies. I used Blueberry Bushel marker to color in the stitched ditch

The Balmy Blue Background Cardstock

When I was finished with the balloons, I used the cloud stamp (3 clouds, one stamp, wonderfully easy) and StazOn Cotton White ink for the clouds. The resulting light white and lighter white clouds gave the Balmy Blue some much needed texture.

After I got the frame and base put together using dimensionals, and then dry fit the balloons and sentiment piece, I thought I needed something else. The Whisper White Polka Dot Tulle added some interest without bulk, so I threaded it through the frame. I really thought I would wind up with a square knot, again, as always because I am “bow challenged”. But, to my surprise and glee, I created an actual bow! YEAH!

I popped all the pieces up with dimensionals and again realized I needed something else, more specifically something flat and not popped up. Therefore, I grabbed the bird stamp, stamped it a couple of times and it finally felt done.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you’ll hop along to the next stop on the blog hop, Lynn Holcun at Avery’s Owl. You don’t want to miss all the inspiration found in this group!