Thank You Card Marathon Part IV

 It has been a while since I brought you lovely readers another instalment of The Great Thank You Card Marathon of 2015.  Today I felt an explosion of flower power was in order.  Nothing like flowers to brighten a gloomy day, right?

This batch of cards used the Flower Patch stamp set and dies which I was looking forward to trying.  They really give a strong pop of colour, but it really took me such a long time which I didn't expect.

It probably is faster for others, but Arthur makes things a challenge at times despite having a MISTI which makes stamping much easier.  With more frequent use, I'm sure I'll find ways of speeding up the process of stamping these lovelies.

I loved the background paper which looks like newspaper articles about tea so I had to leave a little showing, but not so much as to distract from the fact that it is a thank you card not something related to a kitchen tea or other such event.

 I also love placing the flowers so the petals and leaves extend beyond the card base.  I made sure (using an envelope) that it wasn't to such a large degree that the cards would be considered larger than standard size

 
 
I didn't layer the flowers with as much dimension as I would have liked, but it was important to remember that many of the cards would be going through the post and if they're too fat they'll incur extra postage or risk damage.

I am also not thrilled with the shade of brown ink I used for the flowers.  Maybe something a bit darker...and being less heavy handed with it!
 

 

Despite having to stamp layers of petals on to of each other rather than cutting a new layer, the different parts of each flower in the stamp set still really added an interest to the flowers and the ability to mix and match means unique blooms.

 I look forward to trying more combination with this stamp set and using a lot more layers.  I was surprised at how versatile it was - I have seem both modern and vintagey cards with the same flowers and it seems to work almost every time.

Thank You Card Marathon Part III

Well I'm back with another instalment.  I've been busy with lots of new stuff, but for now here is another taste of the thank you cards.


I'm not sure exactly why, but these cards weren't sure I did that particularly well.

I used Core'dinations cardstock to make it interesting without overpowering the paper.

The sentiment was a hassle but it was something i had been meaning to try.  I used the current Whole Lot of Lovely Hostess Set.  I wanted to emboss only the word part of the sentiment in gold, while colouring the rest with markers.

 I'm not sure I could have done it without MISTI since the markers leave a lighter impression and require repeated colouring and stamping in the same spot.  This was something I wasn't even going to attempt with the stamp-a-ma-jig.

We got there in the end and despite leaving it to dry and generously rubbing down with the embossing buddy, I still got gold powder particles over the rest of the sentiment, but not too severely.  I must admit I do sort of like that look!

The way to emboss only the text was to use a versamark pen but I had hoped it would be more juicy.

Lastly, some crochet trim, pearl and a gold doily to finish.  Phew!

Stampin' Up! Products Used:

A Whole Lot Of Lovely Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Snail Permanent Adhesive	Stampin' Dimensionals	Stampin' Trimmer	Embossing Buddy
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Au & Nz)	Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Island Indigo A4 Cardstock	Bone Folder	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Metallic Foil Doilies	Pearl Basic Jewels
Many Marvelous Markers	Big Shot

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Thank You Card Marathon Part 2

If you haven't seen the first post about the Marathon, you can read about it here.

This is another set of 4 cards.  The first two pictured are made using the Afternoon Picnic colourway and the last two use Tea for Two.

I stamped a retired stamp called Love is Kindness and after stamping on watercolour paper using StazOn Ink, I used the Inktense pencils and the aquapainter.  I used the linen thread to tie around the bunch of tulips at about the same spot as the printed twine was.

                          

I added some layers and lace wrapped around the first 2 layers and stamped the banner (from the Endless Thanks stamp set) on vellum in StazOn before heat embossing the sentiment from the same set in gold.  Despite using the embossing buddy, some grains got on the black border, but I actually liked the way it looked.

The banner needed to be fussy cut since there isn't a matching die and a few pearls provided the finishing touch.

 

Thanks for stopping by and hope you visit again and read about some of the other cards from this set.

Stampin' Up! Products Used:

Sahara Sand 7/8" (2.2 Cm) Lace Trim	Linen Thread	Endless Thanks Photopolymer Stamp Set	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Aqua Painters
Island Indigo A4 Cardstock	Stampin' Dimensionals	Snail Permanent Adhesive	Bone Folder	Jet Black Stazon Pad
Stampin' Trimmer	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper	Heat Tool (Au & Nz)	Versamark Pad
Embossing Buddy	Paper Snips	Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock	Vellum A4 Cardstock	Pearl Basic Jewels

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