Thinking Inking

Women of Life Goes Slightly Shabby: CPS 60

Tonight I wanted to quickly share my CPS card for the week. Be sure to check out Sketch 60; there are some gorgeous cards there! I turned the sketch upside down this time, because when I looked at it upside down, I could see the possibility of flowers on long stems.

I didn't have buttons the right color or size, so I used a little Sizzlets button die that I've had for several years--pretty useful! For the ric-rac stem, again, I didn't have the perfect color. However, I do have a large bundle of  white ric-rac, and a collection of Copic markers! I colored the white ric-rac with BG72. Product links are found below. Have a wonderful day!

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Credits:

Stamps: Women of Life and Mixed Messages by PaperTrey Ink
Ink: Berry Sorbet (PTI), Rose Red (SU), Antique Linen Distress Ink
Paper: Little Girls Biography Collection by Cosmo Cricket
Cardstock: Berry Sorbet  by PaperTrey Ink and Natural Smooth and Light Baby Pink by Prism
Accessories: Berry Sorbet twill tape by PaperTrey Ink
Tools: Cuttlebug Tiny Tags die, Sizzlets Button Die

Sweet Violets meet Twinkling H2O's

I have a vintage floral piece for you today--SU's Bloomin' Wonderful, paired with a couple of CHF backgrounders, French Script and Scalloped  Lace. I'll keep the babbling short tonight since it's almost morning. . .

I stamped the focal image on watercolor paper with Black Brilliance ink, then heat set it before watercoloring it with Twinkling H20's  in these colors: Bougainvillea, Plum Blossom, Key Lime, Moss Green, Buttercup, Yellow Rose, Burnt Umber, and Cinnamon Brown. By the way, I colored a couple of pieces green that were probably supposed to be violet, but I was on violet-overload and thought that the image needed a bit more greenery.

I distressed the edges with the side of my scissor blade after applying some Distress ink. I stamped the French Script backgrounder in Old Photo Distress ink and the lace in white craft ink, then added more distress ink. Ribbon is SU's Kraft Taffeta. I used an A Muse twinkle sticker rhinestone on the SU clippie at the top to dress it up a bit.

This image reminds me of my great grandmother for some reason. . . I hope that it brings the sweet scent of talcum powder and grandmas to you too! Have a wonderful day, and thanks for visiting.

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Credits
Stamps: Stampin' Up (local demo's), Cornish Heritage Farms
Cardstock: Prism Majestic Purple Medium, China
Paper: watercolor paper
Inks: Black Brilliance; Antique Linen and Old Photo Distress inks; white craft ink
Paints: Twinkling H20's by LuminArte

Fathers, and Ponds, and Garden Flowers, Oh MY!

It's that time again--PaperTrey Release Day that is!  I've been working on pieces for several days now, while trying to fit blogging pieces and submissions in here and there as well. (Whew!) That means that I have a LOT to share tonight! I think that I'll stick to pictures and stamp set names rather than explaining the whole process. More projects, more views, and complete supply lists are posted in my PaperTrey Ink Gallery here. As always, you can click on any image to enlarge it.

This was one of simplest pieces, but it pleased me.  I used some snapshots that I'd taken of my husband and son, took the color out, then added a touch of warmth back in and printed them out at 2-1/2" x 3" to fit a $3 frame. I then used Staz-On White to stamp sentiments from Father Knows Best. In one frame I had to mask the sentiment and stamp part of it in Staz-On black. That was a bit tricky, but do-able with acrylic stamps. The pictures are darker than they look; taking a photo through glass proved to be almost as tricky as stamping that one sentiment!

This tree from Father Knows Best was one of my favorites; I'm not a huge retro fan, but the concentric circles in this tree top really intrigue me! I used punches and a Spellbinders Plain Rectangle die on this one, as well as my SU Perfect layers tool to get the Suede Brown outer mat cut. I tore a layer of PaperTrey Spring Moss to serve as grass, then attached it to the stamped tree base before die-cutting it to get an embossed edge on the grass layer as well as the rest of the focal image. I am always in need of good sentiments, and Father Knows Best fills the bill beautifully.

Pond Life was another set that I loved after working with it for a couple of hours. Having an eight-year old son, and living in the country, I'm pretty used to "critters" of all varieties. (I still scream when I see a snake, no matter how many times my husband tells me that most indigenous snakes here aren't poisonous.) I already shared the wood duck Father's Day card with you, but I'd still like to share  my Birthday Fishes card. Who could resist these little guys? There's a cool frog in this set as well!

On the feminine side, I have some of Alli's flowers from Garden of Life to share; I made four cards with this lovely set--a single and a set of three coordinating cards. Here's a group shot of the three-some and a detail from the single card (masked with a Spellbinders Nestability Square and airbrushed with a Copic Airbrush System and a B000 marker). All colors are PaperTrey except for the Intense Teal (Prism) on the Aqua Mist card; I needed a darker shade to set off the scalloped trim.  I'm a flower-stamp lover!

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Finally, here's a tiny little shirt that I folded out of the new patterned papers; I'll probably attach it to a tag one day, but I wanted to post it here as a close-up peek for this month's patterned papers.  The shirt pattern is here, and I just "winged it" on the tie, then tucked it under the collar. A knot was totally beyond me at this size!

Well, that's pretty much a smattering of everything that I've been working on for the past few days. I truly appreciate your taking the time to visit, and I hope that you get a chance to go see the PaperTrey Ink April gallery!

 

PaperTrey Sneak Peek -1: Pond Life

I had the hardest time deciding which new PaperTrey set to "sneak peek" today! When I played with my first set I was sure that it was my pick--until I played with the second set, and then the third set. (You get the picture!) So I am sharing a very simple card tonight and showing you a couple of tricks that I thought enhanced it.

Incidentally, I am so glad that we have some GUY sets this month!  My husband asked me for a birthday card this morning; as many cards as I make, I did not have one suitable male-birthday card ready. This set should help with that problem!

First, some hints on inking the duck. I Googled "brown wood duck," thinking that I remembered such a creature from reading science books with my son. I found him, but he was quite the colorful character! I scrolled on down and found that his non-breeding plumage was much drabber and simpler to replicate.   So I chose some Versamagic Dew Drops for my duck image: Sahara Sand, Gingerbread, and Mango Madness. I love using Versamagic Dew Drops with acrylic stamps because I get such good coverage, paired with a rich matte finish. (You can click on pictures to enlarge, if you wish.)

I used my lighter colors first, the Sahara sand on his underside , breast, neck, and part of his head, and the mango madness on his bill.

I then added the darker Gingerbread color to the top of his body and stamped him on PaperTrey Stamper's Select White cardstock. (In real life, the difference between the browns is a little more pronounced.)

On the cattails I decided to use flocking. (Mine is camel color from CHF, and I found a caramel latte at Ellen's store.) I stamped the reeds in PaperTrey Spring Moss, then used Versamagic Gingerbread for the cattail stems and Jumbo Java for the cattail heads, then Aquatic Splash for water circles.

Next I used a Sakura Quickie Glue pen to apply glue to the cattail heads. (Work quickly, dumping a generous amount of flocking on each one as soon as you get the glue on, then gently pressing it on. The glue dries quickly!) I emptied the excess flocking off and back into the jar. (It takes so little that you might have some left to will your grandchildren, but it's a cool effect!)

Here's what the finished cattail heads looked like. (I still needed to brush some of the excess flocking off of the lower part of the picture!) These are very simple steps, but they add to the card. Don't forget to check out Nichole's final sneak peek! Hope to meet  you at the release party at the PaperTrey forum at 10:00pm EST tonight, April 14.   Thanks for visiting!

Hearts Knit Together: Card and Inchie Charm

It's been a busy weekend!  I've gotten a lot done, though I can't share all of it quite yet.  How about some bits and pieces? I finished up this card and inchie charm set just yesterday.   Color inspiration and patterned paper came from  Cosmo Cricket's  Little Boys Biography Collection. I've always loved this paper, and the colors just seemed to be perfect for balls of  yarn.

The buttons are some that I picked up in a large bag at a superstore; I'm finding myself drawn to buttons lately as opposed to eyelets or brads. I think it's because I've seen so many beautiful creations online that use buttons, ribbon, and lace. (Okay, it's the influence of some amazing CPS girls. I'm hoping that they rub off on me!)  Grosgrain ribbon is PaperTrey's  Spring Moss, and scalloped cardstock is Prism  Desert Coral Dark. (In real life, it isn't as much darker than the printed pattern  at the top as it looks in the photos.)

Stamps are Basket of Yarn for the card and Knit One, Purl Two for the inchie charm as the focal images, and Faux Ribbon for the card front sentiment. I used my Stampin' Up word window punch to punch the sentiment, and my  plain and scalloped square dies to mat the inchie charm.

I'm still not sure if I like the writing on the charm; it's my own handwriting. I think I might try it again with something other than my handwriting on it! By the way, if you need further information on soldering, there is a well-written and photographed tutorial here. And if you would like more information on inchies, you'll find a dedicated inchie blog here. (You don't have to start with a tiny stamp; just cut a 1" square mask and look for interesting areas.)

To color the images, I used the Copic Sketch markers pictured here. The marker end with no number on the end was an empty Copic marker that I filled with a mixture of clear blender fluid and YR31 to get a muted yellow glow.

I'll be posting a PaperTrey Sneak Peek in a few hours. Don't forget to check Nichole's and Amy Rysavie's blogs for today's sneak peeks! Thanks for visiting.

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Credits

Stamps: Lockhart Stamp Company, PaperTrey Ink
Dies: Spellbinders Paper Arts Company
Punch: Stampin' Up (local demos)
Paper: Cosmo Cricket
Cardstock: Prism
Soldering, Inchie, and Copic Supplies: Ellen Hutson, LLC

You Make My Heart Sing!

Music is important to me. My parents made me take piano lessons for several years of my childhood, and I have used that knowledge, though gained reluctantly at the time, for almost all of my adult years in some sort of ministry capacity.  When we decided that our second-grade son was ready to start piano lessons, I briefly entertained the idea of teaching him myself.  Since we home school, however, we thought that it was important for someone other than mom to be his piano teacher. (Any of you home schooling moms out there know exactly what I mean! By the end of a long day, it's great for your child to have a fresh face to impress--not one that is already wearied with a day full of expectations and occasionally hijinks.) It was a good decision.

I can truthfully say that my son has the nicest piano teacher that there ever was! She very obviously cares about him, and he in turn adores her. She has a gift for teaching children, being both interesting and animated. I was sitting at the computer answering e-mail a few nights ago during B's piano lesson when I overheard snippets of a conversation on note value. Mrs. G had already introduced him to whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes, but she was adding eighth and sixteenth notes into the mix. My son quickly saw the pattern and wanted to know if there were still shorter notes: thirty-second notes and sixty-fourth notes were his answer. I could tell that he was delighted over these notes for some unknown reason. What I didn't see was what happened after that: his teacher told me the next night that he reached over, threw his arms around her, and exclaimed, "I just love piano!  I have always wanted to play the piano!"

That little vignette was the inspiration behind this card: You make my heart sing! (Try to ignore that little voice in your mind that's adding "Wi-uhld thing. . ." in front of this sentiment!) I used a couple of my Wordsworth and Rubber Soul sets to stamp it. The bird, branch, and sentiment are from Heart Sing, and the musical score that I stamped on top of the Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste paper is from Lyrical Love. For inks, I used Versamagic Dew Drops in Red Brick, Gingerbread, and Tea Leaves. I couldn't quite fit the bird on without covering part of the type or having an awkward layout, so I trimmed around the bird and branch, then popped them up on foam tape. I dotted some White Opal Liquid Pearls on the bird's pattern. Speaking of Liquid Pearls, someone asked me several days ago how I got them to flatten instead of staying in little points. (Sometimes mine do have points.)  But the best way that I have found to help them round at the top is to apply them, then give the cardstock a thump or two from underneath with your forefinger and thumb. That seems to help flatten them out a bit, somewhat like bumping a cake pan on the counter to get any large air bubbles out before you put it into the oven.

Base cardstock is Neenah Classic Cream, and mat layers are Prism Ferro. Taffeta is Stampin Up's Basic Gray; I love taffeta! I used a punch to make room for the ribbon so that it wouldn't be so far over to one side. The photo corner is also made with a Stampin' Up punch, and the mini brads are from Making Memories. (I go through a lot of antique copper mini brads!) I use Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink to age the edges of almost everything that is not a fresh, clean, graphic style. I like the Antique Linen because it is subtle and not prone to leaving tell-tale ink sponge-smudges on my cardstock. It has a natural aged look. When you darken the edges of the cardstock, you are helping direct the viewer's eye to the center of the card, because we tend to look toward the lighter areas. Now obviously not every style needs antiqued edges! But if they are compatible with the style that you are creating, they serve a visual purpose.

I hope that you have a heart-singing moment today, though I doubt that it will be over thirty-second and sixty-fourth notes!

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Don't forget to check Lisa Johnson's and Nichole's blogs for the latest PaperTrey sneak peeks; Alli Miles and Candice Aguilar have been posting some cool pieces as well!

Celebrate Today Birthday Gift Card Folder

How are you at choosing gifts? I have to admit that when it comes to gift selection, I'm not always the best. For instance, I now know better than to choose clothes for my teenage niece! One gift that is truly a one-size-fits-all is a gift card to the recipient's favorite store or restaurant. As I was working on a gift card enclosure a few days ago, I came up with one that I thought might be helpful to share with my blog friends. I have attached a .pdf template with measurements. Download Giftcard_Holder_DO_4_08.pdf

This partially open view shows how the top flap tucks behind the scalloped circle piece in order to keep the folder shut. You can slide the ribbon off and slide it back on, but the card will stay shut with or without the ribbon on.

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The interior has a scalloped asymmetrically curved top flap, a panel for your sentiment and signature, and a pocket panel for the gift card. That's the gist of it! If you'd like to see my step-by-step process, keep scrolling. . . and scrolling. . .

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1. I began with a piece of cardstock cut to 4-1/4" x 11", then scored at 4-1/4" and 8-1/2"  leaving a 3-1/2" flap. I used my Spellbinders Paisley Nestabilities to trim the flap asymmetrically. If you are crunched for time, you could use a Coluzzle template to round the top flap, or simply use a corner rounder on the edges of the top flap.
      
      
    
2. Next I placed my paisley die blade-side down on only the top edge of my PaperTrey Stamper's Select White cardstock. If you look carefully, you can see the score line; that is the score between the top flap and the body of the card.  The tricky part is in the next few steps! If you are using a corner rounder, you can skip to step 6.
      
   
    
3. To avoid getting an unwanted crease on your cardstock, place your white spacer plate only on the part of the template that needs to cut. This particular white plate is one that I had cut into accidentally and warped, so I used an old pair of scissors to trim it slightly so that I can fit it through my Spellbinders Wizard without bumping into the side of the machine.
      
   
    
4. After cutting the cardstock, place it on the tan embossing mat and run it back through the die cutter to get an embossed edge. You can't see it here, but to avoid getting an unwanted crease, I will take this little die/cardstock stack and move it to the bottom end of my plate before sending it through the machine. That way I won't get an impression from the part of the paisley die that I am not using.
      
   
    
5. This is what my embossed edge now looks like.
      
   
    
6. I saved the scrap that I cut from the white cardstock base in order to line up my patterned paper (from the 6" x 6" Pink Patterns pad), then cut and embossed the patterned layer. (I realized after I'd already finished taking pictures that I showed the plain paisley die here, then ended up choosing to use the scalloped paisley die for this layer--mea culpa!) Alternative/simpler idea: you could use temporary adhesive to attach the patterned paper right on top of the cardstock in step 4 and cut them both at the same time. Then you would trim 1/16" off both sides of the patterned paper, attach it permanently to the scalloped base flap, and skip this step!
      
      
    
7. This is what my finished flap looks like now.
      
   
    
8. Next, I used my Stampin' Up Word Window Punch to punch the bottom panel of the cardstock base. Be sure to slide the punch in as far as it will go; that way it will be simple to align for your second punch. (One punch will not yield a wide enough opening for a gift card. ) I left about 1" on either side of the card unpunched.  This view was shot after I had punched and then folded the cardstock on my scoreline to let you see the punch from the back side.
      
   
    
9. I cut a piece of patterned paper 4-1/8" square to cover the outside lower part of my card. (NOTE: you may need to trim just a sliver (1/32" or so) of cardstock from the bottom edge of the card in order for it to fold perfectly flat.) If you look carefully, you can see a lighter area where my base layer is punched for the gift card. This patterned layer is to cover the hole and form the rest of the pocket. When you use adhesive on this layer, you must take care to put no adhesive where the card will need to slide into the pocket. I used a short length of 1/8" redline tape at the very bottom of this layer to keep the gift card from coming through.
      
   
    
10. This is an inside view after I added the patterned paper on the outside. You can see the slot for the gift card, backed by patterned paper from the card front, where my paper piercing tool is pointing.
       
    
     
11. I stamped flowers and leaves from the Boxes, Bags, and Tags set that coordinates with the Pink Patterned paper, then used my Spellbinders circle dies to cut a flowered layer and a mat layer. (Mat layer is cut from PaperTrey's Sweet Blush cardstock. Ink is PaperTrey's Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet, and Spring Moss.)
       
    
     
12. To attach the round scalloped layer, I used foam tape only on the bottom third. This is important since the scallop will also serve to hold your card shut.  If you get the foam tape too high, you won't be able to tuck the top of the flap under the scalloped circle.
    
    
13. This is how your gift card will stay shut--by tucking the top flap under the scalloped circle. I also added a Sweet Blush Stitched grosgrain ribbon as well as a tag (sentiment from Mixed Messages). The ribbon can be slipped on and off; it doesn't need to be untied in order to open the card.
    
    
14. Inside of the card is stamped with PaperTrey's Birthday Basics set, with a cut-out, Stickled flower from the Boxes, Bags, and Tags set added at the gift card slot.
    
    If you click on any of the pictures in this LONG tutorial, you should  get a larger view. Enjoy, and thanks for visiting!  Heather Nichols has a great  PaperTrey sneak peek for you today, and I'm quite sure that Nichole will have something amazing as well!

Post will be up around 7pm. . .

Thanks for your patience!  I'm in the middle of some new release pieces and other assignments, but I do have something that I can share later today.  I still need to draw a measured diagram for it. I think I can be finished and have it up by early evening though.

There are a couple of cool sneak peaks at Nichole's and Taylor's blogs!  Have a lovely day.

Bloomin' Poppy

Told you that I'd stick to stamping tonight! Although I've been trying to avoid ordering stamps until most of the ones that I own have at least touched ink, Laurie Schmidlin pushed me over the edge on this SU set, Bloomin' Beautiful.

I stamped the poppy on watercolor paper in Onyx Black Versafine ink and heat set it before watercoloring it with Twinkling H2O's. (They were lonely.) I chose Ruby Red cardstock for my background, then inked the Aida Cloth background stamp with Real Red and stamped the background. (Ruby Red ink wouldn't have shown up quite enough.) I then overstamped the background with a couple of SU swirl sets, one in Antique Linen distress ink, and the other in Adirondack Espresso ink.

The sentiment is a portion of the definition stamp included in the set, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and trimmed to fit into the SU Aged Copper hardware. Ribbon is a dark brown satin or taffeta.  The square copper brads are from Making Memories. I used a black Sakura gelly roll pen to dot the center of the poppy, and I sewed around the edges of the watercolored image randomly before distressing its edges and mounting it on a dark brown cardstock. Well, that's it--a return to stamping roots! Of course, my patterned paper is lonely now. . .

CPS Challenge 59: Digitial or Hybrid

This week's CPS Sketch 59 was definitely a stretch for me!  I am fairly competent in graphics programs and thought that putting together a completely digital card would be a piece of cake. Three tries and several hours later, I decided that I'd better just go for hybrid (meaning partially digital--perhaps only digital papers, or even a computer-generated sentiment)--and let myself off of the "completely digital" hook.

If you own more stamps than you'd care to admit to the general public, you might be wondering what the point of digital elements would be anyway. Well, let's say that you don't have the perfect sentiment: it's really pretty simple to find neat free fonts and print your own. I love digital papers too; I've bought far more of them than I've actually used though! I like the idea of starting with a digital file and changing colors to get a color scheme that I want to work with and that goes with my traditional inks and papers, (which I did here.) I also really like the idea of scrapbooking digitally so that I can print off multiple copies for the grandparents, aunts and uncles. Even if you aren't ready to purchase digital kits (which are relatively inexpensive), you can find free kits at most digital sites. The other things you would need is a graphics program of some sort. One common one is Adobe Photoshop Elements--a simplified and considerably less expensive version of Adobe Photoshop. If you'd like to play with a digital program before committing to a purchase, you can normally get a free trial version that will expire after 30 days--very nice to be able to decide if you would use it or not!

Another question that I have been asked regarding using digital papers is what kind of printer I use, and whether it is cost-effective, considering the cost of ink.  I have a two or three year old Canon Pixma iP 3000--an inkjet printer that was less than $100. I bought it because at the time Consumer Reports rated it highly and said that it was fairly inexpensive to run--just what I was looking for! I have been using generic ink in it almost the whole time that I've had it, so ink costs are negligible. I get my best print quality when I use good paper, such as an all purpose matte photo paper, for printing my digital backgrounds that I intend to use conventionally. I also tweak my printer settings to best quality, and sometimes higher color saturation as well.  I am NOT claiming to be an expert in this area--just dabbling in digital. If I were really ready to commit to digital scrapbooking, I'd love to have a large-format printer that uses six colors of ink and is rated archival. . . (No, that's not in my foreseeable future.) If you are considering playing with digital images and printing them out, be sure to check out not just the cost of the printer, but also the cost of inks for that printer.

On to the card (detail shown above): For digital papers, I used the  Flower Stand by S Bartolini and Shabby Miss Jen from Shabby Miss Jen
Stamps: "hello" tag from Mixed Messages by PaperTrey Ink
Accessories: fun foam flowers are cut with a Spellbinders S4 072 Flower Creations die; pink taffeta ribbon by Stampin' Up; Cotton Candy Stickles; brad is Two Scoops by Basic Grey

Now, just so you can see just why I decided to go hybrid rather than all digital, I'll attaching my all-digital try first. (Humility is good for the soul, right?) I know how to add drop shadows, but seeing printed shadows still isn't quite the same for me as being able to see actual raised elements and being able to feel texture on a card! (You can click on any images on my blog and get a larger version.)

Compare that to the hybrid version to which I added some Stickles, a tag stamp, a couple of mat layers of cardstock, ribbon, and some fun foam flowers that I die-cut. It makes a difference! Still, digital design has great possibilities and is great fun to experiment with.

Some of my favorite digital shops are these:
The Shabby Princess/Shabby Shoppe
Shabby Miss Jen Designs
OScraps
Jen Wilson Designs
Digital Design Essentials

For some great information on how to start playing with digital images, check out this post. If you have some digital shop favorites, feel free to list them in the comments section following this post. Tomorrow night, I'll stick to stamping! Have a lovely day!

 

Apples for the Teacher: Inchie Charm

Here's a new twist on "apples for the teacher," an apple inchie charm!  I had colored a few fruit-inchies last week and wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with them.  Tonight I started playing with this Apples in Chintz   image and trying to think of how to present it as part of a whole.  Spotlighting came to mind; remember when we  stamped a simple line image, re-stamped it, colored the second image, then used a circle punch to punch out the colored image and layer it on top of the  original line image?

That's the concept that I used here. I stamped the monochromatic base layer of the main image (Lockhart) on Prism China cardstock, then colored it with a Copic W-1 marker and a white Prismacolor pencil. Next I die-cut and embossed it with my Spellbinders Nestability Plain Square dies. The background papers are Flirt by Memory Box. I picked them because of their painterly look, trying to play up my framed artwork theme.

The inchie apples were stamped in Black Brilliance ink and heat-set, then colored using the Copic markers shown on the left.   I used three silver mini brads to tie in the color of the soldered frame and help balance out the visual heaviness of the top of the card.

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For the charm,  I trimmed my colored image to 1" square, cut a backing from a patterned paper, and sandwiched the layers between two 1" glass squares. I taped the edges with copper tape, burnished them well, then fluxed and soldered them. (If you would like to learn more about how to make a soldered charm, you can find step-by-step instructions here.) If you already have a soldering iron, you can get other necessities here; if you do not have a soldering iron, the Creative Art Kit contains everything you'd need to get started.)

If you are interested in playing with inchies, you may want to visit the new Inchie INKlings blog; there's a monthly challenge posted and a prize attached to it. Thanks for visiting!

If you've e-mailed me in the past few days, I'm slowly working through the e-mails. I've had some satellite internet outages this weekend, as well as some other challenges. Thanks for your patience.

 

No Winter lasts forever. . .

It's a vintage night--I needed to distress something! I wanted a soothing color scheme for this card and a nostagic look, so I choose a Scalloped Lace background, French Script, and Silhouette Blooms 1, all by Cornish Heritage farms. The tag sentiment is from Mixed Messages by PaperTrey Ink, and the inside sentiment is from Say it in Script Lizzie Anne Designs. I colored directly to rubber with my Stampin' Up Cameo Coral and Old Olive markers, then stamped on Prism Natural Smooth cardstock. Background layer is Prism Blush Red Light, stamped in white craft ink, and mats are in Spring Willow Medium. I stamped the French Script background in Antique Linen Distress Ink, then sponged, scuffed, and rolled its edges to resemble an old letter. 

For the centers of the flowers, I used dots of Petal Pink Liquid Pearls. (They are subtle; I thought that white liquid pearls might be a bit distracting.)  To add a bit more texture, I used linen thread (SU) to hand-stitch the edges of the letter-layer down. Ribbon is PaperTrey Spring Moss Satin, and hardware is We R Memory Keepers Coppered Out hardware.

I love this Say it in Script set!  The sayings are great, and they include my favorite font as well (Scriptina). Besides the sentiment , stamped in Always Artichoke, I repeated parts of the flower sprig on the inside of the card, stamping off so that it would be light enough not to hinder type readability.

Have a lovely weekend!