"Thinking of You!"

A dear friend of mine is going to be receiving this card in the next couple of days....but I won't name her because she does not know it yet!  I water colored the background, and then used stamps from Altenew's "Peony Scrolls" set to stamp the flower, leaves and scrolls with VersaMark, added some white embossing powder, heat set and then water colored them using my Gansai Tambi watercolor set that I love.  I decided to do two more of the flowers which I cut with my Pazzles Vue and popped them up on foam tape for dimension and added some Wink of Stella.  I cut the butterfly with my Silhouette Cameo and added some Wink of Stella as well.  For my sentiment, I made a "fishtail banner" using my Cameo, colored it black and made the text white using the "Corinthia" font.  I had to make it a print and cut file in order to get the text to be white and I have to say that I love the look.  I have several stamps that I could have used but they would not have fit on my banner and of course, I just had to add some sequins....I am addicted!!!  

For the inside I used a panel of Champagne shimmed cardstock and used the same stamps with VersaMark and white embossing powder and heat set and I found a poem online that said what I wanted to say.  I used the "Flair Roman" font, printed with my Canon printer and I used the "photo matte" setting so that it would lay down more ink and then heat embossed it using clear embossing powder.

For my "signature label" on the back, I made a cutting file of one of the peony shapes with a mat and cut on my Cameo.  Once again, I used the "Corinthia" font.

I used some 24# Georgia-Pacific paper to make the envelope and added a panel of parchment paper to the front and used the same stamps to decorate it.

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon!

Finished Card Size:  A2 (4.25"x5.5")

Supplies List

Papers:  Strathmore 140# Cold Press Watercolor Paper, 65# Recollections "white, black & pink, 110# Recollections "ivory" cardstock (card base), Southworth 24# "Ivory" parchment paper

Stamps:  Altenew "Peony Scrolls"

Ink:  Tsukineko "VersaMark Watermark"

Cut Files:  Fishtail Banner, Butterfly & Signature Label (all by me)

Fonts: "Corinthia", "Flair Roman"

Tools: Pazzles "Vue", Silhouette "Cameo", Ranger "Heat It", Sizzix "Vagabond", WeR Memory Keepers "Envelope Punch Board"

Accessories:  "Clear" Wink of Stella Brush Tip Marker, Pretty Pink Posh "Sparkling Clear" sequins, Zing "White" embossing powder, Spellbinders  "Card Creator A-2 Matting Basics A, "Gansai Tambi" 36 Color Watercolor Set.  

"Pensant à vous" card.....

which in French means "thinking of you".  Now, I know you are wondering why I did it in French.  I did it for a "Ways to Use It" challenge (WT514) over at Splitcoast called ~Speaking "Foreign"~ and it is also for the "Try a New Technique" challenge (TLC516) called ~White Out~ (which is to represent our cold, "white out" winter weather).  I actually made this card to send to a very special friend and the challenges actually gave me the inspiration I needed to design it!  So here is my photo of the card front.

As you can see, I did it all in white to represent winter time...even though here in FL it is definitely not "white out"...LOL  But, it is somewhere!!!  I just got my new Pazzles Vue on the 9th and this is the first project I've done using it.  I will have an entire separate post just reviewing the Pazzle Vue coming up real soon...so be sure to check back!  I found an image of a garden trellis online and turned it into a cutting file...I used the Recollections 110 lb. cardstock and my Vue cut it like it was butter!!!  The tree, seagulls, cat, bird, garden trellis and sentiment were all cut with my Vue or my Cameo.  I used the "Seriously Delerious" font to design the cut file for the sentiment and I did use white embossing powder and my heat gun to emboss the sentiment.  I used some white flock on the kitty and some "Clear" Wink of Stella on all the birds. The label, leafy images, and gate with fence were cut using dies.  The "bushes" in front of the fence were cut with a punch.   Here are a couple of close-up photos.

For the inside of the card, I decided to use my gate and fence die again and use the "inlaid technique".  I cut the gate and fence out of the bluish cardstock and I saved the tiny pieces of blue to do the inlay.  Then I cut it again out of the white cardstock, inlaid it and the tiny blue pieces to finish it off.  The text inside is computer generated and printed on my Canon Pixma, using the "Corinthia" font.  Here is a photo.

So, now I had to come up with an idea for the back of the card as I always add a "signature label" and since I had the blue gate and fence already cut, I decided to glue that to the back of the card and place my signature label above it....that way there was no waste!!!  Here is a photo....what do ya think of that?

So, now we are down to the envelope and I remembered a special envelope that I designed back in 2011 for another 5.5 inch square card and decided to use it for this card.  The front of the envelope is plain white...but check out the back!!!

When I did this design, I needed to use a piece of letter size card (because I don't have that particular paper in the 12x12 inch size) to cut it on my Pazzles so I had to make that top flap too short to make it fit...........so I just did a "flap extender" using another piece of card that I glue beneath the original flap and problem solved.  I used two different Martha Stewart punches to decorate both flaps!!!

This card was fun to make and I hope I captured the essence of winter and I hope my very special friend likes it!!!  Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to come back by for my review of the Pazzles Vue!!!

Finished Card Size:  6" Square

Supplies List

Papers:  Recollections 110 & 65 lb. White Cardstock & 65 lb. Colored Cardstock, Bazzill Smooth White Cardstock

Ink:  Tsukineko "VersaMarkWatermark"

Tools:  Pazzles "Vue", Silhouette "Cameo", Spellbinders "Grand Calibur", Ranger "Heat It"
Accessories:  Spellbinders "Labels Two" & "Garden Gate" dies, Memory Box "Small Olive Branch" die, Martha Stewart "Branch", "Cherish" & "Arch Lattice" Punches. "Clear" Wink Stella

I designed some great "designer paper"

using my Craft Robo, part of a Silhouette file called "Sketch Flowers_C00036_27011" and my black "Silhouette Sketch Pen".  By the way, I absolutely love the Silhouette Sketch Pens....they work so great!  At any rate, I think my designer paper looks as good as any designer paper I've purchased from the craft stores!  On the three largest flowers and the stamped sentiment I also added some "Black Diamond" Stickles.  To finish it off I added some satin ribbon and a bow and some half pearls.....very simple but elegant!

For the inside of the card I decided to use the black cardstock and a white gel pen to make a frame to tie it all together.  There is space in the center to add my personal sentiments!

The possibilities are endless for creating our own original "designer papers".  I hope you enjoyed this and I look forward to hearing your comments.  Thanks for stopping by!

Finished Card Size:  5 1/2"x5 1/2" Square

Supplies


Paper:  Bazzill "White Smooth", Ampad "Embassy Black", Best Occasions "Black Metallic"
Stamps:  Sentiment by Inkadinkado "Spring Blossoms Clear Stamp Set"
Ink: Memento "Tuxedo Black"
Tools:  Craft Robo, Ellison "Big Shot"
Accessories:  "Black Diamond" Stickles, Recollections "Black Half Pearls", Offray Ribbon, Silhouette "Black Sketch Pen", Sakura "White Jelly Roll" gen pen, Spellbinders "Labels Nine"

"Faux Suede" Technique

OK, so I've been playing today! I decided to do the "Technique Challenge" (TLC241) at Splitcoast Stampers and this is my first try at this technique. If you would like to play too, you can find it here! First of all, please click on the following image to get a larger view:


The wine/burgundy cardstock the I used for the "faux suede" is some that I've had in my stash for years and I'm sorry, but I don't know who made it. I actually just started out to practice with it, but when I got through preparing it, I decided it was a "keeper", so then I started selecting other papers to go with it. I chose some black cardstock and a piece of "Wild Rose" patterned paper...I thought they all looked great together! I decided to keep my color scheme to the wine/burgundy, black and white. I used the same wine/burgundy cardstock (without making it "faux suede") for the outer labels frame. For the die cut corners, I used a piece of black from the Best Occasions "Metallic Paper Pack" since the shinny look of it matched the black satin ribbon that I used. This was a fun technique and I will certainly be using it again!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!
Finished Card Size: A2/4.25"x5.5"
Supplies

Papers: Provo Craft Color Wheel Palettes "Wild Rose Bitty Pad" (patterned paper), Best Occasions "Metallic Paper Pack" (black metallic), Wine/Burgundy CS, Recollections (black CS)
Stamps: PSX (F-1741) "Asian Bamboo Shoots" and Inkadinkado "Spring Blossoms Clear Stamp Set (Thinking of You)
Ink: Tsukineko Brilliance "Graphite Black" pigment
Tools: Pazzles "Inspiration Creative Cutter", Provo Craft "Cuttlebug"
Accessories: Spellbinders Nestabilities "Labels Four", Provo Craft Cuttlebug "Vintage" die, Offray "Black Satin" Ribbon, Range "Black Diamonds" Stickles (flower centers), Flower Punches