Just A Little Note

Happy weekend, lovelies!

Whew, what a week.  All I can say is, I survived!  I hope you did, too, and that you get to have a little “you time” this weekend, to do whatever it is that makes you feel sparkly.

While I was at Simon Says Create last weekend I had the opportunity to meet Leanne from Paper Rose Studio in Australia.  I had never heard of the brand before and so I was so glad that she took the time to show me a sampling of their stamps and dies.  Big thanks to her and Paper Rose Studio for sending me home with a collection of things to play with!

The Gum Leaf Border die, in particular, caught my eye.  I love how it cuts a strip out of the middle of your card front and leaves behind a pretty botanical silhouette.   I’ve backed it with Distress Ink Blending, here, but I can imagine shaker cards and tone-on-tone cards in my future!

I started by die cutting an A-2 sized piece of Neenah Solar White 80# Classic Crest cardstock.  Even though this is a semi-intricate die, the pieces fell right out.

Then, on an A2-sized piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock, I blended three Distress Inks: Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, and Spiced Marmalade.  I went direct-to-paper, rubbing the ink cubes directly onto the cardstock to get quick saturated color.  Then I used foam in blending tools to add more color and blend between the colors.  I only used a pouncing motion which I find is a great way to blend Distress Inks on bristol smooth cardstock which has a coating that allows ink to sit on top of the paper for a bit. When I use a rubbing motion, I tend to just rub the ink right off of bristol smooth.

I set aside the inked panel to dry while I stamped the sentiment, which is from the Paper Rose Hello stamp set.  I inked up just the first four words of a longer sentiment with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and stamped it onto a scrap piece of Neenah which I then trimmed into a strip.

To assemble the card, I adhered the die cut panel over the inked panel, and then adhered the sentiment with foam tape for dimension.  Then I adhered the card front to an A2-sized card base.

Thanks so much for coming by!