Freshly Brewed at TCC

I love making coffee/tea themed cards so when I saw the inspiration photo for The Card Concept I was thrilled!

I was inspired by all that beautiful woodgrain, the colors and of course the mug. 

I grabbed some white cardstock and some ink and began to do some ink smooshing. This is such a fun technique - if you haven't given it a try I highly recommend it. I started with the pinks. I smooshed some Rose Petals, It's a Girl and Be Mine inks from Catherine Pooler onto my craft mat and gave it a few spritz of water. Next came the fun part. Take your cardstock and press it into the ink and give it a little smoosh. Pick it up and move it to another spot and give it another smoosh. Now dry it with a heat gun. Keep doing this - adding more ink to your craft mat - until you're happy with how it looks. When I was done with the pink I wiped up my mat and then did the same thing with some Black Jack ink. Next I inked up the Hardwood stamp set from Stampin' Up with Black Jack ink, stamped it off onto some scratch paper and then stamped it onto the card panel. SO MUCH FUN! Seriously! You have to give it a try!

I die cut 'happiness' from Verve's Happiness in a Cup 3 times - once in Catherine Poolers Mirror card stock, once in white card stock and again in craft foam. I glued them all together offsetting the top layer so there's a hint of a shadow from the grey underneath. I used a circle die from Stampin' Ups Stitched Shapes Framelits and cut it from the Mirror card stock. The sentiment is from Verve's One Cup stamp set - stamped in versamark and heat set with white embossing powder - the mug is stamped from Verve's Happiness Is stamp set and shaded with a grey pencil crayon. The coordinating mug die is from the same set as the happiness die. Both the mug and the sentiment are added to the panel with craft foam - LOVE that stuff!

Okay, so now you've seen how I was inspired - how are you inspired?

Need some more ideas?

Check out the rest of the DT's cards HERE and I hope to see your card in the gallery.

Let me know if you try the ink smooshing technique.

I'm submitting this card to the Seize the Birthday coffee or tea themed challenge.

Happy Stampin'

and thanks so much for visiting!

shopping list:
stitched rectangle stackables (lawn fawn), craft foam (Michaels), pencil crayon (Prismacolor)