Background/Foreground

While I dabble in many other types of papercrafting/crafting, I am at heart a cardmaker. I think in many ways it has for me the same appeal that creating ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) does. You have a limited blank space--or canvas--upon which to laydown your ideas, thoughts, and designs. Though there are many different sizes and shapes of greeting cards, I tend to work in the A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") size the most. Every card maker has their own set of "patterns" that guides their work. Do you start with the paper choices first? The event or sentiment? The design idea or embellishments?

Even though I do have a specific pattern to my card building, many times it is just altered by happenstance. Sometimes it will be finding a terrific piece of decorative paper that inspires an entire card. Other times, it might be a person or place that gets inspiration flowing. Sometimes, I think we tend to be too rigid in our patterns and methods. When you let the card make itself, you can find surprising results. This particular card is an example of that for me.

While I LOVE decorative and designer papers as much as the next crafter, sometimes I love to play around with textures and stamps to create my own background images and patterns. What surprised me with this card is the seemingly lack of cohesiveness between all of the elements of the card. What sounded like a wreck in my mind, actually turned out to be an interesting end result (or at least I thought so).

The materials list for this card project is as follows:

paper: Stampin' Up! textured cardstock in Crushed Curry (5 1/2" x 8 1/2"); Stampin' Up! cardstock in Kraft

inks: Stampin' Up! Classic Ink in Soft Suede

stamps: Papertrey Ink fleur di lis tile stamp from Giga Guide Lines set; Stampin' Up! Vintage Labels (#119122)

embellishments: K & Co. Grand Adhesions Butterfly from the Que Sera Sera collection

tools: Stampin' Up! 1 1/4" circle and scalloped circle punches, Stampin' Dimensionals, Scotch ATG 714 adhesive, Stampin' Up! sponge dauber

To begin, I scored my base cardstock at 4 1/4". I then used a single image stamp to repeatedly stamp the background image over the face of my card. I used a sponge dauber to take the same ink and darken the borders on all edges of the card. Because the paper has a textured finish, the stamping has a raw look to it and the imperfect imprinting adds a certain old-world charm to it. The sentiment is stamped on a punched circle of the Crushed Curry cardstock--and then stamped again with the circular frame border. I layered the circle on a scalloped punch circle of Kraft cardstock that has been sponged with the Soft Suede ink to darken it. Stampin' Dimensionals were used to attach the sentiment to the card. The butterfly embellishment was a weird afterthought that in hindsight is an interesting contrast to the repetitive pattern on the background. Though it's not clear in the photographs, the die-cut butterfly has a layer of clear transparency film on top of it to which glitter has been applied. It gives the butterfly a nice sheen and a bit of light reflection which helps it stand out from a busy background pattern.







Don't forget that Sunday is the deadline to enter Giveaway #3 (see sidebar for details). May your background always be pleasing and always star in your foreground. Keep crafting!

Card Spotlight: Textures

I recently received my first sets of Spellbinders Nestabilities Embossing and Cutting Dies. I chose the classic oval and scalloped oval sets as my first purchases. I hadn't had a chance to try them until last night, when I felt the urge to make a card. Though this is the first project I've used the Nestabilities on, my main focus for this card spotlight was showcasing layered textures on a card.



The base for this card is plain white cardstock scored into a standard horizontal bi-fold shape. I used a piece of woven textured DCWV printed cardstock as the mat for the card. I was drawn to the contrast of the powder blue background and the printed creme floral image. Before adhering my mat to the card base, I wrapped a piece of baby blue grosgrain ribbon from Pebbles around the mat.

I used the Nestabilities dies to cut the scalloped oval from the DCWV Luxury Mat Stack. The plain oval was cut from the DCWV Once Upon A Time Mat Stack. They were adhered with my Xyron 510. I used two Studio G clear acrylic stamps for the greeting. They were stamped using Tsukineko Brilliance in Pearlescent Sky Blue. I also used the same color to ink the edge of the plain oval. It's a terrific color and ink and it adds a subtle bling to your stamped images. The final step was adhering the scalloped plaquette to the card base. Here I decided I wanted to go with an offset for two reasons: 1) I didn't want to take away from the beauty of the floral portion of the mat; and 2) I think straying from the obvious placement (dead-center of the card) creates its own visual interest. There's just a hint of ribbon on the left side of the plaquette, then a larger piece running across the other visual element of the card.



The purposeful layering in the construction of the card creates several layers of eye-pleasing texture: from the mat woven texture, the ribbon texture, the plaquette texture and implied texture, and finally, from the depth created by the chosen stamping ink.



When working on your projects, always consider adding layered elements and create contrasting textures. Not only does it creat visual appeal, it also provides a tactile appeal as well.

Create--and keep crafting!