Celebrate National Girlfriends Day by creating something handmade for a friend with the Essentials by Ellen Leading Ladies stamps and dies! We are so happy to have Brandi Kincaid, the talented artist behind the Leading Ladies, here today to share a beautiful project she made for a friend! And she’s sharing a little sneak peek of the new Teacher Lady (coming Sunday, August 5th)!
National Girlfriend’s Day is upon us, and what better excuse to celebrate some of the amazing Leading Ladies in our lives with a little gift!
Like all days, I was short on time and long on ideas, wanting to make both a card and some fun packaging for the gift, so I decided to merge the two and make something that would both house the little token for my friend, and serve as a place to write a special message to her.
For this project, I grabbed one of the Leading Ladies who’s yet to make her debut (soon, though!) because my friend is a teacher, and it’s such a big, incredible part of what she does with her life that I wanted to create a scene that reflected her amazing work.
As with all my Leading Ladies projects, I like to begin by stamping, coloring, and cutting my pieces so I have pieces to choose from as I build my scene. For this one, I’m using a selection of Copic markers in her favorite colors. Once I have everything colored and cut out, I’m ready to begin the plotting and planning stage.
I’ve got a notebook and a lovely copy of her favorite book to give my friend, and both are so lovely that they don’t really need to be wrapped, but I do need them to stay together cohesively. One of my favorite things to do with the Leading Ladies is to imagine the scenes they might inhabit, so it wasn’t long before I thought of this lady standing in front of a chalkboard holding a sweet message. I wanted to make the card one that would hold a lovely ribbon in place to keep the gift together, decorate the top of the stack, and allow me to flip it over to write a note, so I decided to make this little scene the wrap/card combo!
To make the chalkboard, I’m using some of that awesome woodgrain paper from the shop that I built the bookshelf with on a previous card. I’m also going with a green chalkboard, but black would be great, too! I measures the top item on my gift stack to ensure the card/board would fit on top of it nicely. Now that I’ve got all the main pieces, it’s time to assemble! I made sure to cut the green rectangle just about 1/4 inch smaller than the woodgrain on all sides so that it looks as though the chalkboard has a nice frame. I also want to add a sentiment to the chalkboard, and because I want it to be a nice opaque white, I will stamp and emboss it. Of course, I grabbed my go-to large phrases – the Plant Lady Says set.
After the board it done, I take a piece of white cardstock that’s the same size as the board, write a message to my friend on one side, and making sure to add glue/tape only to the top and bottom edges, adhere the two pieces together. This gives me a space between them to slide the ribbon for tying around the gift, but also means the ribbon can be removed, and the card saved.
Before I tie this card around the gift, it’s time to add the Leading Lady! Filling her arms with accessories, she’s just like my dear teacher friend, always juggling a thousand things, but always making it work!
Time to add this card around the gift and tie a big bow on the side!
I can’t wait to share more about this release of the newest members of the Leading Lady family soon, but for now, thanks for joining me in making a little something for National Girlfriend’s Day!
Supplies List:
The Essentials by Ellen LeadingLadies – Teacher Lady will be available on Sunday, August 5th!
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