This card I started to case from a card created by Jayne Mercer called Love Defined. You can find her blog HERE. I started off trying to make my card exaclty like hers, but it kept evolving more and more. I would lay it out and think hmmm...it needs some texture or it needs some color. So this is what I ended up with.
Stamps: Valentine Defined, Perfect Punches
Cardstock: Whisper white, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Versamark, Pink Pirouette
Markers: Pink Pirouette, Sahara Sand, Real Red, Basic Black
Accessories: Scalloped Oval Punch, 1 3/8" x 5/8" Oval Punch, Silver Brads, Needle Tool, Mat Pack, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive, Final Press Textured Impressions Folder, 5/8" Real Red Satin Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Heat Tool, Paper Snips, shimmer paint mist.
I started off with a piece of Whisper White cardstock cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4" on the long side. The card front was run through the Big Shot in the Final Press Textured Impressions Folder and then sprayed with shimmer paint mist. You can't really tell in the photo, but the textured card front has a very fine subtle shimmer to it.
Tip: To make the shimmer paint mist take a fine misting bottle, I used one of those travel hair spray bottles that I emptied and washed out. Fill the bottle with rubbing alcohol and add just a couple drops of shimmer paint into the bottle. It really doesn't take much. Shake up the bottle and spray onto your cardstock. Set your cardstock aside for a minute or so to dry and it's ready to be used. This gives you a very fine subtle shimmer to your card.
Next I cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock 2" x 5 1/2" and rubbed the entire thing with my Embossing Buddy. This little guy keeps the embossing powder from sticking to your cardstock in un-inked places. Very helpful tool! I stamped the tree image from Valentine Defined several times across the top of the cardstock in Versamark, covered the stamped images with Clear Embossing Powder and heated the embossing powder. (For a tutorial on Heat Embossing click on the Tutorials tab at the top of the page.)
The embossed tree panel was adhered to a piece of Pink Pirouette cardstock cut at 2 3/4" x 5 1/2". A piece of 5/8" Real Red Satin Ribbon was added around the panel and adhered to the back. The greeting "love" from Valentine Defined was inked up with Real Red and Basic Black markers, breathed on to re-moisten the ink and stamped onto a scrap of Whisper White cardstock. The "love" was punched out with the 1 3/8" x 5/8" Oval Punch and set aside. The scalloped oval greeting from Perfect Punches was stamped in Pink Pirouette ink on a scrap of Whisper White cardstock and punched out with the Scalloped Oval Punch.
The "love" oval was adhered to the pink scalloped oval and Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive was used to add a line of glue around the "love" oval where Dazzling Diamonds glitter was added to give the greeting some sparkle. After the glue dried, which only takes a couple of minutes the scalloped greeting oval was adhered on top of the Real Red Satin Ribbon with Stampin' Dimensionals. The Needle Tool and Mat Pack were used to pierce a hole through the cardstock panel on either side of the scalloped oval and a Silver Brad was added in each of the holes. This panel was then adhered to the card front.
Now for the colorful tree. The tree image was inked up with Sahara Sand, Pink Pirouette, and Real Red markers, breathed on to re-moisten the stamp, and stamped onto a scrap of Whisper White cardstock. The tree was trimmed out with Paper Snips and then the entire thing was inked with Versamark, covered in Clear Embossing Powder, heated with the Heat Tool, and then adhered to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals.
Whew! That was a lot of steps. Isn't it interesting how you start a project with one picture in your head of how it will look and as you go along working on it the project evolves into something entirely different?
Well...Now I'm off to create something new! Have fun stamping!
