Tuesday, July 12, 2016

United We Stand


Hello friends and visitors! I have layout for you today to celebrate unity between neighboring countries and to honor the friendship I have with many bloggers to the North. I was going for a Folk Art look. Emerald Creek Dares is having a challenge to celebrate nations, and I wanted to blend the borders between Canada and USA with my project. That blob you see on the upper right is Canada and USA!



Lots of layers on this and plenty to look at; I really piled it on! I've got corrugate board for the base,  American flag scrapbook paper, and hand designed card. I threw in a couple of Tim's Pocket Cards for some good vintage fun.

There's stenciling using Tim's Stars and  stencils I made using  the negative from Tim's
Fall  Foliage Thinlits -- maple leaf die and a maple leaf punch.



For the focal layer, I started off with a mop up piece.  I had stenciled some stars with cracke paste (I think) and run through some leftover Blueprint Sketch ink puddle. It really looked terrible, and probably should have gone in the round file, but I keep everything! I was able to salvage it by heat embossing the stars using Emerald Creek's Clear Matte Embossing Powder and then spraying with Distress Abandoned Coral Spray stain. I added Barn Door ink randomly for depth. and embossed sparklers with an old stamp and Emerald Creek's Easter Parade Embossing Powder--it's not just for Easter! You can see just a hint of the shimmer, but it's quite sparkly in real life! I stamped and embossed the sparkles on the bottom most American flag layers, too--you can just barely see it in the photo above. I heat embossed in white on the top American flag layer by using Ranger's embossing dabber  on the reverse side of the stars stencil and flipping it onto the paper before sprinkling with powder. It doesn't look like much since it's all but covered up, but it adds some shabbiness to the scrapbook paper. The corrugate and scrapbook paper layers were each given a coat of Distress  Vintage Collage Medium.



The maple leaves were die cut and painted with Barn Door Distress paint and the tips heat embossed with Emerald Creek's Burnt Copper Leaves Embossing Powder.


I fussy cut around Canada and United States from one of Tim's pocket cards and inked with Barn Door and Blueprint Sketch. Sorry, I had to leave our Alaskan and island and more Northern Canadian friends off, but I think you can understand why!  But you are included! A Chit Chat quote typically uttered by the Americans is meant to show my friendship toward our friends across the border, and I blurred the lines of the border as another way to say we are united.


To the right you see one of the Pocket Cards put to use and to the left I heat embossed stars and maple leaves (only one showing here) using the Clear Matte. I painted the  corrugate  background using Barn Door and Chipped Sapphire Distress paints after coating the board in gesso and embossing.



I colored some file folders with Blueprint Sketch Distress spray and Barn Door Distress ink and a tiny bit of  Frayed Burlap ink and die cut two tags using Tim's Tiny Tabs and Tags and Tag and Bookplate dies. I painted a cotton scrap with Barn Door and the punch stencil  and some vintage seam binding using Distress inks in Chipped Sapphire and Barn Door.





I want to stress this is NOT a card! It is quite large, measuring approximately 8 by 11 inches. It is also quite thick as you can see by the photo below.


I am sharing this with the following challenges:
Scrapy Land Challenge #45-Anything Goes I used 3 different Sizzix dies.


Thank you for stopping by today and for all your wonderful comments!I read and appreciate each and every one of them!
Hugs and Blessings!
Sara Emily

UPDATE: Tremendously honored!

Honorable Mention at Emerald Creek Dares :)

24 comments:

  1. Sara, such a fabulous project! Love how you united the countries and all the layering and textures! Thanks for taking on the Emerald Creek Dare! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG, Sara Emily, what a glorious united countries piece and what a super cool idea! I love everything about this and especially those fabric additions and a fantastic layering! A patriotic mixed media crafting gem, that's what it is! Big applause for such a marvelous piece of art, my friend! Lots of love to you! Branka xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow Sara, this is just incredible!! I am loving your subject matter, the idea of blending the border of Canada and US, wouldn't it be nice if we could do that in real life too!! You have merged us together beautifully!! So many wonderful distressed layers, loving the corrugated cardboard! The stars and the Maple Leaves, everything looks like it was meant to be that way! Love all the different textiles, how amazing it must be in person! I wonder what the flag would look like??? You most certainly thought outside the box for this project my friend, at it came together seamlessly! Well done!! hugs :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my goodness, you have perfectly united the USA and Canada, Sara Emily!! This is spectacular!! Wow!! I've been staring at it for the last ten minutes, trying to absorb every amazing detail!! The layers are stunning!! The details are just gorgeous!! I love the stars and the maple leaves!! I just don't have enough words to describe this!! It's patriotic perfection!! Love, love it!! Have a great day my friend!! Big hugs :)

    Lisa
    A Mermaid's Crafts

    ReplyDelete
  5. OMG indeed - first -- United We Stand is the perfect sentiment - both for the world and I particularly feel for the US.
    Now forgive my stupidity - is this an album? I know it is not a card. And with all the layers. I want to go inside so bad I could spit!! This is truly incredible Sara Emily - I love it!!!
    Sandy xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your sweet words! This is a layout, and could be hung on a wall. Can't open it, so unfortunately you won't be able to go inside! I'm happy you like it, and you've given me inspiration to make an album. So many ideas, so little time!

      Delete
  6. Your use of colors and textures is wonderful! I especially love all the small details. Your piece really pops!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is such a wonderful project! I love the symbolism that you used and how you included both Americans and Canadians. You also did a great job incorporating all those Emerald Creek embossing powders. Thanks for joining in the EC Dare :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, if countries could blend their borders as beautifully as you made here...! It's a powerful and vibrant colours layout, I love the layers of course. Fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow Sara, this layout is a great 'fusion' of two wonderful countries, perfect, in fact! I love the red, white and blue, the fabulous layering, the fabrics, the symbolism - everything! Stunning... I do love those gorgeous maple leaves.... A stunning layout! Hugs, Anne xx

    ReplyDelete
  10. wow wow wow Sara - your work is always stunning - but I adore this one - its layers are fabulous - brilliant! Hugs rachel x

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stunning work Sara, this card looks amazing with all the layers and details you have added, I pinned it before I got past the first photo and from there on the post and photos just got better and better, love it xxx

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow - this is amazing, Sara! I LOVE the heavy layering on this fab project! And the colours are absolutely brilliant! Thank you so much for playing along with us and sharing your beautiful make with us at Emerald Creek Dares!

    Claudia x

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow! What an incredibly beautiful patriotic card! I love that you included Canada with the maple leaves since their holiday is also this month - and yes, since they are are good neighbors to the North! It's wonderfully, and interestingly, layered with all that fabulous distressing. Stunning creation, Sara! hugs, de (who hopes your garden does well through the heat - I also hand water quite a bit even though we have the nearly daily rains!) xo

    ReplyDelete
  14. Sara whenever I come by I always regret I don't visit more often, but no doubt you know what it is like.... So glad I did not miss this one though, it is truly stunning and amazing with all these fantastic layers and textures! And what a timely piece with all that is going on in the world right now!! Oh and of course thank you also for adding it to our challenge at MMM!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sara Em!! What fabulous layers of color and textures!! This piece is really a beautiful tribute to both countries and with the colors and recent events in Paris, I am believe France could also be included in our unite!
    Your talent and creativity never ceases to amaze me dear girl!! love & hugs,Jackie

    ReplyDelete
  16. Absolutely stunning Sara, amazing layers and such attention to detail, this is so wonderful I hardly have words! Just a fabulous representation of the unique friendship and relationship between our two great nations, thank you so much for sharing it and for joining our Nations Celebrated challenge at Emerald Creek Dares! Deb xo

    ReplyDelete
  17. This project is amazing, so many different elements and textures to explore. Thank you for joining in this months challenge at The Artistic Stamper.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Beautiful!! Just a wonderful project - love the two countries blending together! And the fireworks, the colors and textures are amazing! Thank you so much for playing with us at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  19. This is one of my favorite projects of yours. The depth is jaw dropping amazing! And the color and earthiness is a joy! Love, love it! Hugs, Autumn

    ReplyDelete
  20. It warms my heart to see this - especially with such division in our nation. Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for playing along with the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  21. this is gorgeous, as usual. i love the canada usa 'blop' lol. It's stunning! Thank you so much for playing with the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!

    -Rachel
    rwkrafts.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. Yet another fantastic piece of creativity Sara Emily . All those layers of patriotism depicting the blending together of the canadian and American borders make for wonderful harmony .
    hugs x

    ReplyDelete
  23. Awesome layout, love the details! Thanks for joining us at the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving your comments...they mean so much to me.