Again, this background paper is a print I'm really loving right now. It works well being paired both with white or with cream, and it also takes nicely to brown distress ink. The top card's "thank you" was cut from my previous post (great way to save paper!), while the bottom two were stamped on. As I mentioned in yesterday's posting, be sure you have multiple doilies on hand when making cards with them. I had to stamp several different times before I got a centered word. TIP: Something that may seem obvious (but took me a few tries to realize!) is that you should stamp your word on the doily BEFORE gluing it onto the card, this way you can rotate the doily to where the saying looks most centered. I've also discovered that using two doilies instead of one really helps the design. The white is bolder when you use two, but using only one looks more delicate.
I love the pink background of this card (I love it so much it's the background to my blog at the moment!). I filled in the heart with glossy accents to give it more texture. And I used my cuttlebug to emboss hearts onto the envelope. I really like the feel of this thick gold ribbon, but it was a Christmas roll that I can't find anymore. The hardest part of this card was placing the small pieces from the word "thank you" in their proper places (in the t,h,a,k,y,and o).
I love the touches the cuttlebug brings to envelopes! The hearts embossing folder is from the Paper Studio. Their folders are much less expensive and work just as well as Provocrafts. My only complaint is that they are just slightly smaller than this typical card size (as you can see on the right side where the embossing stops).
I love the background paper because it reminded me so much of party ribbons. When cutting out thin words with the cricut, be extra careful when pulling them off the mat, and when gluing. Looks great, but requires a lot of patience and exact placement. The edges of this card were distressed to incorporate the brown tones.
I've recently started to use doilies in my projects and I love how elegant they make cards feel! It's been difficult to find glue that doesn't bleed through, as you can see on the front of this card. Tape shows through as well. TIP: I've figured out that putting white glue and using my fingers to rub it on the doily is the only way to get rid of glue lines. Doilies are very fragile, however, so be sure you have a few extras before you start your project! I ripped several my first few cards!
I really like this country-feeling color palette. The card ended feeling pretty thick because of all the layers, but since only one layer was patterned, I believe I achieved my desired overall look.
- Although usually I buy paper in single sheets, the bonus to buying stacks is that they typically come with coordinating colors. The floral pattern came in a stack called "The Linen Closet" by DCWV, and it came with the similar shade of blue.
- The embossed flower was made from a cuttlebug (small) embossing folder set called "flowers". The "thanks" was cut using the cricut.
- Almost everything was edged with brown distress ink, again for that country feel. The brown middle section was also distressed using Tim Holtz's handheld distressing tool (which makes the paper look slightly worn or ripped).
The idea for the front of this card came simply from a present. I liked this masculine paper that reminded me of wrapping, and then added the bow to keep with that theme. I loved the happy birthday written in wire - wish I could say I did that but it was purchased from Big Lots. The only way to keep it secure was to use the smallest brads I could find (Recollections). The balloon stamp, which might look familiar, is from Stampabilities.
This background paper was absolutely perfect for making this size of a card. It came from one of my favorite stacks called Spring Feast, made by First Edition Paper. The sheet, 12x12, allowed me to have four sections (meaning four card backgrounds). I like the empty space positioned in the corner because the flowers stand out better. The "thanks" stamp is from the dollar section at Michaels, and the brown paper was distressed using Tim Holtz's paper distresser. The background was also edged with distress ink. Although simple in design, I really like the overall feel of this card.
I liked these colors - light blue, brown, and white - because they are a soothing combination. The gypsy was fully utilized in this project, and in doing such I was able to get all the pieces to fit together accordingly. One of my favorite flowered stamps (on the envelope) was from the dollar section at Michaels. The thank-you background was enhanced using foam tape, and the edges were lined with glossy accents.
Even though it's past Easter, I still wanted to post this card because you can the basic idea for any holiday. In this case, I was lucky that my husband was chosen to be the Easter Bunny at his workplace, and I had the opportunity to make these Easter cards for our family. They were very simple - I matted our photos, cut decorative egg paper, ribbon, and added a bunny cut-out (from a Child's Year). I've found that A Child's Year is very useful for small, themed shapes as accents.
