WCMD Netherlands

Hello from West Virginia!

My husband and I are taking a 10-day road trip to New England to see the changing of the leaves, and we've made it to West Virginia where we have stopped for the evening.  We only have two rules, one is that we are making no hotel reservations because we aren't planning the trip out but rather we are going where inspiration takes us.  The second rule is that we aren't eating at any chain restaurants but are only eating local cuisines, for better or for worse.  Other than that, we're going where inspiration strikes.  Pictures will be forthcoming.  

Speaking of inspiration, today I'm showing one of the four cards I made for the recent blog hop over at StampNation for World Card Making Day.  The country featured in this inspiration photo is The Netherlands, and you can read about their customs on the StampNation Challenge #13 here and why orange is featured so much.

 

I decided to use the colors of the Dutch flag (red, white and blue) and add a touch of orange in keeping with Dutch customs.  In doing so, I made a little pinwheel to represent one of the most famous Dutch icons, the windmill.  

The red and blue panels were first adhered to the black mat and then embossed with a swirl embossing folder.

To make the pinwheel, I punched a small square from double-sided paper, cut slits from each corner nearly to the center, then folded each corner down and adhered with sticky dots.  I finished it with a small orange rhinestone and adhered it to a white seam binding double bow.

Surprisingly I didn't have a single decent stamp of tulips (another super famous Dutch icon), so I checked to see if Dahlias are grown in The Netherlands, and they are!  (Plus I really wanted to use this stamp).  I first stamped the white circle with this stamp in light gray ink, stamping off first for a lighter impression, then I colored the main image with Copics and layered it onto a doily die cut.

And that finishes my card representing my interpretation of The Netherlands.  Someday I hope to visit that lovely country!

Thank you for joining me today and I will be featuring more cards in the days to come.  And pictures of beautiful countryside as well!

Happy crafting!