Hi there! So I will be honest with you here: I find blogging difficult sometimes. Life is so hectic with four kids, a hubby with a demanding full time job, release projects, project assignments, hops, occasionally illustrating…. sometimes I will forget to blog about cards that I’ve created months earlier. These cards are a perfect example. I created them in February of this year, and I was cleaning out my photos on my phone and realized that while I had created these cards, edited the photos, and added watermarks… I had forgotten to blog them. (Sigh.) Better late than never though, right? These cards are a testament to the power of colored cardstock and embossing folders, in my opinion. I used the absolutely beautiful (though not really new anymore) Four Petal Etched Thank You dies from Spellbinders. These dies have such a large variety of blooms that you can easily create multiple looks that are completely unique. Let’s get started with my cards!
I feel like I will never tire of blush cardstock. It’s so classy to my eyes, and multiple layers of blush cardstock layered together creates such an elegant, luxurious feel to my cards. I purchased some Mahogany cardstock from Spellbinders (if you haven’t checked out Spellbinders’s collection of colored cardstock, you’re missing out!) and it was perfectly paired with my favorite blush cardstock (which I can’t seem to find anywhere anymore… sorry about that! But the Barely Peach cardstock from Spellbinders is a really close match. It’s a little bit more yellow than this blush, but it still pairs nicely with the Mahogany cardstock.) I created my semi-monochromatic card pair using those two colors as my starting off point!
My first card pairs the beautiful, large blooms from the Four Petal Etched Thank You dies with the coordinating Four Petal Floral 3D Embossing Folder. The detail on this embossing folder is truly spectacular, and it leaves a large smooth area in the center to create your focal point, but this can easily be covered with other die cuts to make it look like the entire panel is embossed in that beautiful floral pattern. I used a blending brush and some coordinating pale rose colored ink to blend around the edges of the card front and add a bit of a vintage feel to the background.
To create my sprig of beautiful flowers (don’t they look like dogwood flowers?), I used the same blush cardstock to die cut the pieces for several blooms, then used the blending brush to blend the coordinating ink around the edges of the petals, creating these lovely vintage pink blooms! I die cut the branch from some Mahogany cardstock, and the foliage pieces from some lovely mint cardstock to keep the arrangement nice and light. I arranged the blooms and foliage on the branch die cut, then die cut the centers of the flowers from some rose gold glitter foam and adhered them to the center of the flowers.
To create the greeting, I paired a sentiment from the new Thanks Enclosed sentiment die set with the older Be Bold Lowercase alphabet die set to create a custom “hugs enclosed” greeting. I backed the “enclosed” with its coordinating outline die cut, which I cut from some heavyweight vellum. The rose gold glitter foam adds the perfect amount of dimension without having to die cut a ton of layers or fuss with foam tape! The final touch was to add a few blush pearls for one last textural element.
My next card uses the smaller florals included with the Four Petal Etched Thank You to create a beautiful flowering branch, similar to what you might see out your window right now! I die cut lots of the teeny blooms from some more of the beautiful blush cardstock and layered them together. I die cut the branch from some more Mahogany cardstock and layered the flowers and foliage on the branch, creating a lovely, delicate dogwood branch.
To create a ground for my floral branch, I die cut a Fluted Rectangle die cut from some more blush cardstock. I love the classy feel of these Fluted Classics dies. They’re all basic shapes, but add that extra bit of interest with the debossed pattern around the edge (and a few of them are on a really good sale right now!). I die cut the included “thank you” greeting from the Four Petal Etched Thank You using some more rose gold glitter foam and adhered it to a strip of vellum that I had notched on the end to create a banner. I folded the long edge over the edge of the blush rectangle, hiding my adhesive on the back
For the background, I ran a full size A2 panel of Mahogany cardstock through my Platinum 6 using the Tufted Embossing Folder. Such a beautiful, subtle pattern, a perfect backdrop for florals! I adhered my rectangle die cut and floral branch on the embossed background with some foam adhesive. Finally, I added some more blush pearls to the center of the flowers to add a little more texture to this super-textured card!
Well, that’s all I have for you today. I also wanted to share that Spellbinders is hosting their Warehouse Sale. There are splendid deals starting at $1 (yes, only a dollar!!!), and a few of the products that I’ve used today are included in that sale, so if you’re in the market for some amazing deals, be sure to check them out!! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!
