Congrats card for youngest granddaughter & FREE envelope file!!!

OMG........we are getting SO old!!!  So our youngest granddaughter on my husband's side just got engaged.......where in the world did the time go?  Seems like just yesterday she was a toddler sitting in my lap at the computer and now she's getting ready to graduate from graduate school in April and before long she will be getting married.  She and Andy will be in town this weekend and we will be having a little celebration with them, so I just finished a card I want to give them.

When I got the news, I had just finished turning a rectangular frame stamp, "Scroll Scissors Frame 476" (which you can find here) into a square cutting file and I thought WOW...this will make a gorgeous "congrats" card!  Here is what I came up with.

I don't know exactly what color this Recollections paper is....one minute it looks powder blue and the next it looks pale green..............so I guess it is a lovely mixture of blue and green!!!  It is from the Michael's Recollections "Seaside" 65 lb. collection.....all I know is that it is gorgeous!!!  After taking the elements from the stamp and making the 5.25 inch square frame with a circle aperture, I decided I wanted a circle frame for the card center, so I designed it using the same design elements and then I designed a "border", "signature label" and "envelope flap" as well!  I did not have a "congrats" die, so I designed one using the "Samantha Font" that I just recently purchased............I LOVE that font!  I cut three of the "congrats" and glued them together and used my "Clear Wink of Stilla" on the top layer.  I used my Spellbinders circles dies to cut a white scalloped frame to go beneath the circle frame I designed.  The little matching pearls were created by me using The Frugal Crafters method for making enamel dots......there is a link to her YouTube video in my previous blog post.  I used foam tape to elevate the frame from the base card and then I actually cut a piece of self-adhesive fun foam to elevate the circle frame.  To finish off the card front, I just added four "Mark Richards Pearl Perles".  Here is a close-up photo.

When I got ready to do the inside of the card, I got to thinking that it would be very lovely to use velum so I took the border that I had designed and made a cutting file for a vellum mat with the same outer edges as the border so that I could adhere a border on the top and the bottom.  I printed my message on my Canon printer using the matte setting so that I would lay down more ink and then as soon as the printing finished I used some clear embossing powder and heat set it so that my message is embossed...much more elegant than regular printing!  I used the "Samantha Font" for the entire project.  Here is a photo.

Here is a photo of the back of my card showing the "signature label" that I designed to match.

I decided I needed a really elegant envelope to place this card in and the cardstock that I wanted to use for it is some Core'dinations Great White Smooth Texture that I purchased from Joann's some time back and is 8.5x11, so I had to use an envelope cutting file that I had designed some time ago that is cut in pieces and then glued together,  Here is a jpg so that you can see what the cut file looks like.

I love this envelope design because it enables me to use letter size papers and cardstock to make envelopes that I would normally only be able to cut on 12x12" size papers.  If any of you would like my cut file you can download it free here in Studio and SVG formats!  Enjoy!  I had an extra "congrats" cutting that I adhered to the front of the envelope and I cut a Spellbinders heart to seal the back.  Here are some photos of what my finished envelope looks like!

I just about forgot to post this photo showing the envelope flat that I designed!!!

Hey, thanks for stopping by............please don't forget to leave comments as I love to read them and don't forget to download the free envelope file.  Hurry back!!!

Finished Card Size:  5.5"x5.5" Square

Papers:  Recollections "White" 110 LB Cardstock {card base), Recollections "Seaside" Collection 65 LB. Cardstock, Staples "While Inject Vellum", Core'dinations "Great White Smooth Texture"

Tools:  Silhouette "Cameo". Sizzix "Big Shot", Ranger "Heat It" 
Accessories:  "Clear" Wink of Stella Brush Tip Marker, MarkRichards "Pearl Perles",  Hampton "Clear" Embossing Powder, Suze Weinberg "Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel", "Samantha Italic Pro" font by Laura Worthington, Spellbinders ""Standard Circles SM (S4-116)", Petite Scalloped Circles SM (S4-117)" and "Photo Corners (S3-107)"

OK y'all, I've got lots to talk about and to show...........

you!  First of all, a couple of weeks ago I was introduced to the Wink of Stella Brush Tip Markers and WOW...I love them!!!  My introduction was from this video and blog post by Jennifer McGuire, which also got me to yearning for some Tim Holtz Distress Markers and Watercolor Paper!  I went ahead and ordered a set (Clear, Silver and Black) of the Wink of Stella Brush Tip Markers from 7 Kids College Fund and had a blast with them when they arrived about ten days ago and I particularly LOVE the Clear one!!!  By the way, 7 Kids is a great site to purchase from, their customer service is great and my order arrived quite quickly!  Then this past Saturday I stopped by my local Joann's, armed with one of their 50% off coupons, plus a Michaels 40% coupon and guess what?  They had the Tim Holtz Distress Marker Sets (5 per set) on 40% off, so I picked up a couple of sets...love them.  They coordinate with the Distress Ink pads.  Don't have the watercolor paper yet, but it's on my list...LOL

Now for the other thing I've been into.....there is a site online called all-free-downloads.com and you can download some really cool vector images and after looking through them, my imagination started running wild with ideas for using them on cards.  A dear online friend of mine and her husband just purchased a new home and I wanted to send them a "congrats" card...so when I saw this image, my card started coming together!  The images at their site are .eps format, so I took it into Photoshop and copied it to a new image and saved it as a JPG.  Here are some photos of what I came up with.

Close-up of the little bird.

And an inside view!  I used the "KG Somebody the I used to Know" font.

Please excuse my photography skills but I think you can get the idea!  What is so cool is that you can make a really fantastic card just using the vector images you can download.  Everything on this card is done using my Canon Printer and the "print and cut" technique on my Silhouette "Cameo".   I went into my software and traced the little bird's body so that I could prop her up on pop dots and the only other thing I added, which you can't really see in my photos is that I used the Clear Wink of Stella Brush to add some glitter, plus I created the text on the card front using my Silhouette software and the "2 Peas Mr. Giggles" font and cut it with my Cameo and then added some more of the Wink of Stella Clear to give it so much glimmer!  Also I did emphasize the eye on the little bird with my Black Wink of Stella Brush Tip marker.  My friend loved it!

The other great thing about the vector images you can download is that you after you take them into Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and make them JPGS, you can import them as patterns into your cutter software.  When you look through all of the vector images you will be amazed at what you can choose from!  Go check it out!  I've made another card using one of their images, but I cannot post it until the end of the week............so hurry back and I will see ya then!

Finished Card Size: 5.5"x5.5" Square

Supply List

Papers:  Bazzill "Smooth White" and Bazzill
Tools:  Silhouette "Cameo"
Accessories:  ZIG "Clear Wink of Stella Brush" and "Black Wink of Stella Brush" (bird's eye)