Floral Friendship Card

I am a subscriber to the Taylored Expressions "Key Ingredients" kit club.  Each month, subscribers have the chance to order additional items at 10% off with free shipping to coordinate with the shipping of the kit.  Some months I spend a lot and other months, I just let the automatic shipment of the kit proceed without adding any extra items to my box.

This month - I did order a lot of odds and ends from the Deals section along with some stamps and dies.  I also ordered a Hello Luscious Card Kit  (click HERE to see) with paper by Basic Grey.  One of my favorite things about the card kits is the lovely Perfect Package box that is included for you to decorate to hold the cards.  I will show you one of my projects with the box soon.

I really like the variety of colors in this paper - it's always fun when colors seem to cover a very wide range of tastes but then settle into a color scheme.   I matted the paper with dark red on the card and cut sentiments in red, however, I decided that it would be fun to highlight the lilac floral on the sentiment strip and used a lilac cardstock to mat the paper.

I thought that the sentiment was hard to read directly on the patterned paper so I cut an additional strip of vellum to help set it off a bit.  I use the Creative Memories Frosted Photo Splits to adhere vellum and they virtually disappear when you burnish the vellum to the paper.

I wrapped some satin ribbon around the card topper and added three gems from the Kaiser set that came in the kit.  Then I used some foam squares to raise up the sentiment strip.  The sentiment is from the die in the Cuttlebug "Forever Friends" card combo set.  I did save the dots to the eyes when I cut it, however, I realized that the tiny gems would be more eye catching over the "i"s.

The foam squares add some dimension and the Creative Charms Vintage Poppy with a Jewel Brad center pulls everything together.

If you look closely at the design of the paper you can see that the poppy is nearly a perfect match for the stream of red and pink flowers in the background.  This simple card would surely be a nice treat for an old friend far away.  I think I will try sewing on the layers of the next card I make with this kit.   I have sewing on the list of things I need to do more of this year!

Our weather was beautiful Wednesday - sunny and 70's.  We need to sort out the deck and patio for the rest of the family to enjoy when they visit in a little over a week (and I am still sorting in the craft room so I can't get outside as much as I'd like!).  I think everyone must be very busy with end of the year activities - I noticed that the message boards seem quieter and there aren't many people walking around in town.
I hope that you are all staying safe from the terrible storms - the news coverage makes us realize how lucky we are to have a place to live.

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Simple Turkey Card

 I was at Joann's recently and a saw a new line of embossing folders.  They are designed by Basic Grey and made by Sizzix.  There were quite a few sets available and each one was packaged with a small die.  I had a 50% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket so I decided to try these out.  The set I chose included the Diamonds and Snow Cap A2 embossing folders and a cute die that says HO3 ("Ho" to the 3rd power or "Ho,Ho,Ho"!).

I tried the Diamond embossing folder on a piece of heavy Bazzill cardstock.  The impression was very deep and sharp.  The look is very different on the two sides of the cardstock.. The side with the diamond lines embossed (above)  looks like an ice cream cone or waffle.

The side with the diamond lines debossed looks more like a quilt

So I had this piece of lovely embossed cardstock just looking for a home and decided to pull together a very quick and simple card.  I used an A2 card base in yellow textured cardstock and added an orange layer cut at 5 1/4 by 4 inches and then added my embossed layer which was originally cut at 5 by 3 3/4 inches.  Heavy embossing can actually make a piece of paper or cardstock "shrink" a bit so the layer might look a little smaller.

Whenever you are adhering a heavily embossed layer to a card it is a good idea to use a strong adhesive and place it close to the edge on all four sides (with some extra in the center for good measure).

I just made some ATCs (artist trading cards) for a swap and I had a few extra pieces left on my table.  These were also done in three layers - a green 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 base, an orange 2 1/4 by 3 1/4 layer and a top layer of printed texture patterned paper at 2 by 3 inches.  (I'll show you the ATCs that I made another day). 

The colors were very autumnal.  I looked at the seasonal embellishment sets that are new this month at Creative Charms and I could see that the turkey from the Thanksgiving Multi-Dimensional Chipboard Stickers would be a great fit in both color and size.

The turkey is layered with lots of detail and glitter.  The thickness of the chipboard makes it very substantial and it is a perfect focal point.  I like the card as it is but I might consider adding a stamp that says "gobble, gobble" (or something along those lines!).

That's all there is to this card - lots of simple layers, some deep embossing and a great embellishment.  You can use the same simple plan for many cards.  A Cricut cut and layered image for the center area would take a bit longer to make so if you are in a hurry, try a premade embllishment.  The advantage to using the Cricut for creating the center image would be the ability to customize the size to fit perfectly.

There were quite a few different sets of embossing folders - I think I'll have to add a few more of this type to my never ending collection! 

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