Floral & Gingham Vellum cheery Happy Birthday card

I typically don’t work with vellum too often. Like many folks, I find it somewhat daunting to use in that vellum isn’t porous (like paper or card stock is) and adhesive usually  is visible through it. Plus writing also shows through it. So, there are  many issues related to using vellum to consider in your card design. But I loved the new Floral and Gingham Vellum pack, and decided to overcome my hesitations!

So here’s the card I ended up designing:

I don't have the corresponding stamp and die set so I had to improvise and punched flowers using a long ago retired flower punch punched in Daffodil Delight and Lemon Lolly card stock colors. 

The embossing folder used for the Balmy Blue strips is the Distressed Tile embossing folder. I've used this folder many a times and have loved the look each time. And the Hexagon Punch was used for the sentiment. I didn't like the white edge of the sentiment label on the vellum so I punched an "edge" of hexagon punch and adhered it behind it. This added a border "mat" and at the same time, a touch of dimension!

Normally when you write in a card with the vellum on the top, you can see through it and see the personal words written in it. So I added another card layer, 10.5x4" and scored in half, and adhered that to the inside of the card base. This allowed for a layer of card stock that would hide any hand written words. 

and rather than do my usual of adding a scrap strip of the DSP on the inside of the card I decided to STAMP the borrow border. I used a stamp from the January 2021 Paper Pumpkin Kit called Sending Hearts. It had an adorable combo of 6 mini flowers and hearts. Stamping it repeatedly created the perfect border! And to reduce any confusion, I also stamped on the "cover" of this inside flap:

And to show the border off, I cut off about 1" off the top of the inner panel. Well I think I covered it all. Hope you enjoyed this card! And remember to have an awesome day!

Splendid Day Celebration Card in Fresh Freesia

The Splendid Day Specialty Designer Series Paper pack is so elegant with its pastel colors in foil and white! Though I loved the set from the moment I set eyes on it, I wasn't able to use it until recently. Part of the "too nice to use" mental block...I wanted to do it justice and so...I had difficulty starting to use it. So two years or so after it retired, I finally got the courage to...And I loved the way it turned out!!

I used two Deckled Rectangles dies in Fresh Freesia and Basic White. For the ink, I used the retired Mint Macaron and for accents, I used the negative "leaf" pieces that I normally would have discarded. Love the look of them. I added a small white leafy die cut in front to tie all the "white" elements on the background foil, and the white focal panel together and added a few jewels.

If you have this set and haven't used it yet or played with it in a while, bring it out and make something beautiful with it! 

Inspiring Imperfections bundle /Kintsugi Inspirations Suite / Kintsugi Inspirations SDSP

Soooo excited that Stampin’UP! has finally released an Asian influenced stamp sets after a hiatus of several years! This is the first card that I’ve made from this stamp and die bundle, Joined Together 3D Embossing Folder and Specialty Designer Series Paper. I realize that I forgot to add the flower accent embellishments to this card, but it was sent to a male so I usually don’t add bling to guys’ cards! (Phew!)

Here’s the card:

Before I get into the detail of the card, let me explain what Kintsugi is. “Kin” means gold and “tsugi” means to join or mend. Hence the term is used to describe the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with veins of gold between the broken pieces. Each break adds to the history of the vessel and so, this sentiment is most appropriate!

The recipient of this card is the one person I often chat family history with. So rather than a “happy birthday” on the front as a sentiment, I used one of the stamps in the bundle since it was absolutely fitting our friendship.

I only stamped twice for this card: the sentiment and the chrysanthemum. The flower was stamped in Memento Black and colored in using watercolor pencils in Pacific Point and Garden Green (my watercolor pencils predate the recent Color Refresh). The vase is fussy cut from the Specialty DSP and I sponged it with Gorgeous Grape and Misty Moonlight. 

Can you see the gold “crack”? It was die cut in gold foil and added to the vase after. I used the frame from the Framed Scenes Dies to emphasize the embossing folder design.

Then I did something different by layering it on a mat of Misty Moonlight and then onto a 5.5x11” piece of the specialty DSP that was scored at 4.25” like the typical card base. It was lighter in weight than Basic White card stock so I added a panel on the inside plus a strip of the DSP.

I loved playing with this set and can’t wait to work with it some more. But first, I need to get a birthday card for a very special young lady of 6 years mailed…June has been a busy month for personalized birthday cards…hoping to post them all here on the blog as time permits…

Thanks for stopping by…have a wonderful day!