Happy Independence Day!

Hello, again, from Carol! Today marks the federal holiday for Independence Day and so I thought I would share a card I made using the Waving Flag stamp image from QKR Stampede. I absolutely LOVE this image and will never tire of it! I love the simplicity of the design and the movement depicted in the image. I have used this stamp for Memorial Day and Flag Day projects and pulled it out, once again, for Independence Day! Speaking of Independence Day, did you know that the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence on July 2, 1776? A Committee of Five then drafted a document, the Declaration of Independence, and after debates and revisions, the document was approved on July 4, 1776. Did you know that in Bristol, Rhode Island, the first celebration of Independence Day, was marked with the firing of 13 gunshots at morning and as evening fell. That same year, in Philadelphia, the celebration was marked with a congressional dinner, toasts, speeches, prayers, music, parades, troop reviews, and fireworks. Ships in the harbor were decorated with red, white and blue bunting. Did you know that in 1778, in celebration of Independence Day, General George Washington provided a double ration of rum to his soldiers and had an artillery salute? We owe our tradition of celebrating this day to John Adams, who wrote in a letter to his wife:  ". . . It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, . . . bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more." What fun little facts! OK, on to my card!! In honor of Independence Day, and with the Declaration of Independence in mind, I wanted to create a card with a vintage/Americana/folk art look to it:

My focal image, of course, is the Waving Flag stamp which can be found here in the QKR Stampede store. To achieve the look of old parchment paper, I started with Stampin' Up!'s Very Vanilla card stock and rubbed Memento Desert Sand over the entire piece of card stock. Then I sponged the following colors: Vivid! Straw, Brown and Taupe (in that order), then rubbed the Desert Sand over the entire piece again. The edges were then inked using Memento Rich Cocoa ink. The date was printed on my computer, cut out with a Nestability Oval die and layered onto a piece of card stock that was cut with a Nestability Scallop Oval die, then adhered with dimensional foam. The Waving Flag was colored with markers and stamped off twice, then stamped a third time for the focal image (I wanted an older, faded look for the stamped image).

Be safe today as you celebrate Independence Day!! Thanks for stopping by and spending time with us today at QKR Stampede.