My (Sandy)'s swap
Julianne's swap
Sue's swap
Autumn's swap
Deb's swap
Pam's swap
Amy's swap
Vicki's swap
Marilyn's Swap
Nancy's swap
For our June downline group meeting which we call Diva Day, we did a card exchange (or swap) with our 3"x 4" swaps again. This months theme was patriotic. You can see that there were many interpretations of "patriotic" including just using patriotic colors, to patriotic activities and more. I took patriotic to real heart. And what to do for a swap really stumped me. I ended up running the idea by my husband whose immediate thought was "liberty bell", as it represents patriotism to our country. I liked the idea. I had to borrow the bell punch, once again, from my friend Jeny. Other than that, it seemed like I had some good supplies to do justice to the bell.
I used our copper foil paper and sponged the edges in black. The new woodgrain paper stack was a perfect addition to the copper bell as the stand that holds the bell. I even cut out a little chunk of the bell to represent the crack. It was simple and effective. The picture does not show it well but the navy oval is cut out with the stitched framelits dies for added texture.
The other 9 swaps are adorable! I love them and couldn't wait to have time to turn them into grown up swaps, meaning full cards that are 4 1/4" by 5 1/2".
Below see how I matured the mini swaps. What do you think of this mini swap idea? It grows on me every time we do a swap.
I am finding, as I work on the mini swaps, that they tend to look best with a centered focal point, not always true, but that seems to work pretty consistently for me. And you want to know which one I struggled with the most? My own! Go figure. I am not entirely happy with the final card, but it works. And I can add words later.
Mine grown up
I wanted the liberty bell to still stand out, so I left the background fairly plain. The copper mesh on the sides brings the focus back to the bell.
Julianne's grown up
The whimsical flower she had on her card made me think fun background. I used the Playful Background to fill in the card base. That is all I added and it really makes that flower pop now.
Sue's grown up
Her card was very finished looking already so I didn't want to add much or it would distract from the cute birdcage.
Autumn's grown up
Again, another swap that stood out on its own, just add a scrap of Pool Party paper and call it done!
Deb's grown up
I thought the strips in the Playful Backgrounds stamp set created a stars and stripes look to the card and makes the central focal point like a star or fireworks.
Pam's grown up
Another card that is fairly finished in nature already. More Pool Party scrap and a card base and it is done.
Amy's grown up
Amy's card has a vintage feel already and I thought the lace would further add to the feel of the card. More Pool Party and done.
Vicki's grown up
Vicki's swap was beautiful as it is, and I didn't want to take away from that, I had these leftover pre-embossed pieces from a previous project, add a little navy banner to make it pop off the background. done!
Marilyn's grown up
Yet another stamp from the Playful Backgrounds stamp set. Her card already had a nice stars and stripes look to it and I didn't want to go overboard and add a blue or navy background. I kept it neutral and added the fun polka dots.
Nancy's grown up
I used another extra pre-embossed piece and flipped it so the de-bossed image showed. It adds to the fun flower look of her card swap, and gives a little texture.
Cyndi's Bonus project
We found that our swaps fit nicely in this little wood crate framelits die. I had already turned my cards to full size grown up cards when I took this picture, so I filled it with what else, chocolate! So many uses for this cute wooden crate.
Our team (fearless) leader Sue has already made her swaps into full cards. Follow the link to see the ingenious way she used them! Sue's swaps
I hope you have been enjoying watching the process of turning mini cards, or almost like card candy, into full grown cards.
I hope you had a fun and safe Fourth of July week with family and friends. I know I did!
Thank you for stopping by, Sandy
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