Welcome to ODBD July Release Blog Hop!!

Hello friends of ODBD! Welcome to the July 1 release blog hop!  This is a very exciting day for me because it is my first day as a Guest Designer for Our Daily Bread Designs and it is also my very first blog hop.

If you came here from Julie Warner’s amazing blog you are in the right place.  If you just happened on my blog you might want to go at Our Daily Bread Designs Blog and start from there.  If you find that any links are broken, just return to the ODBD blog where you can find the entire hop listed in order.  (You can always go on to the next person and check back later for the missing one.)

The Hop will run from 8am EDT July 1 until 8pm EDT July 2. The winners will be announced on the ODBD Blog on July 3.  There will be FOUR great prizes!  Three Prizes of One Free Set of Choice AND One Grand Prize of the complete Bread Basket Bundle!

Here is what you need to be qualified to win one of these prizes:

v Hop to each designer’s blog and leave a comment.

v Return to the Our Daily Bread Designs blog and leave a comment telling us that you have completed the hop, making note if there were any you could not comment on

v Answer the question on the ODBD blog in your comments (not all the designers’ blogs).

Now, on to my project.  I am absolutely thrilled with these new stamps.  There are a total of six sets released this month and the hardest decision was which one to stamp first.  With July 4th around the corner. I could not resist using the Old Flag Background and the Not Forgotten sets.  I have been making a lot of cards with brayered backgrounds and decided to use a similar technique, only I sponged the ink on this time.

I started with a white card base and embossed the striped pattern using my Scor-PaI.  I sponged ink around the edges and on the embossing.  I made a small slit in the card fold so I could run sparkly red ribbon through it, tied a knot on the front, and added a fabric covered brad to the center.  I embossed a rectangle of striped, decorative paper with a striped embossing folder and sponged the edges with linen and blue distress ink.  This is layered on red cardstock and placed on the left side of the card.

For the image, I used a Spellbinder die to cut a circle and used removable tape to place it on the right side of white coated cardstock. Then I sponged Distress inks around the circle, adding darker layers toward the outer edges.  I removed the circle and stamped the Old Flag Background in dark blue. Then I stamped the sentiment from the Not Forgotten set with Fired Brick Distress ink.  What inspiring stamps!  I added the image to layers of white, red, and blue, then adhered this to the bottom right hand side of the card.  All layers were first sponged with ink around the edges to give the whole card a more aged look to go with the beautiful distressed look of the flag image.  I was tempted to add some jeweled swirls to this card but decided to hold myself back this time to keep a more simplified, masculine feel to the card.  Instead I decided to add three dark blue pearls to the left of the image. 

From here you need to hop over to the talented Betty Wright to see what she has waiting for you.  Thank you for stopping by on this exciting day and enjoy the hop!!

E. Marie