Tag Archives: velum

Inspired by Stamping’s Summer Bouquet

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I’ve had this stamp set for quite a while now, and I thought that it was time to actually use it.  It has such a lovely cluster of magnolia blossoms and some wonderful sentiments, too!

My Empty Nest Creations Magnolia Blossoms Hugs Card

I started by gold heat embossing the flower image onto a 4×5.25″ piece of Distress Watercolor Card Stock (using my Tim Holtz Stamp Positioner made it very easy to get a good impression).  Using Distress Oxides and a waterbrush, I painted the flowers and buds (Fossilized Amber, Frayed Burlap), leaves (Iced Spruce, Peeled Paint) and the background (Broken China).  As you can see, all of the coloring is very, very soft.  I really wanted the outlined images to be the highlight.

The greeting, from the same stamp set, was gold heat embossed on velum and folded under the watercolor piece so I could attach it.  I chose a pearlized, textured green cardstock (I think it’s from Die Cuts With a View) as the card mat because I wanted the light blue watercolored background to stand out a bit.  My last step is usually to add a few little sequins or Nuvo drops, but I really wanted the card to have a very, very soft, pastel feel, so I chose not to add anything else.  All that was left was to adhere it to a Bazzill Alpaca top folding card base.

Thanks for visiting!

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Do You Struggle Making Sympathy Cards?

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I don’t know about you, but I always hesitate just a bit when someone asks me to make a sympathy card for them.  It’s really pretty difficult finding a design that will work for everyone…male, female, family member, friend or simply an acquaintance.  If you google for ideas, you’re not going to find that many to spark your creativity.  It just isn’t a very popular card to make and post on social media.

I think I’ve come up with a design that just might work for any recipient.  I think it’s also a design that could work for almost any greeting, too.

My Empty Nest Creations Sympathy Cards using Poppystamps Die and Distress Oxides

Using a Neenah Solar White 110# top folding card base, I masked off a rectangle that would fit within the die cut window piece.   (Note that my die cut window piece is not quite center cut from the 4×5.25″ piece of white card stock.  I left a slightly larger bottom on my frame for visual interest.)  For the colored backgrounds, I used Distress Oxides Seedless Preserves (purple) and Salty Ocean with some Faded Jeans (blue) around the edges.  To add a little extra something, I spritzed some water and removed the droplets with a paper towel.  I die cut several pieces using the Hampstead Stem die from Poppystamps and glued them in place on the color backgrounds.  Using a sentiment from Bo Bunny Sentiments stamp set, I black heat embossed it onto a strip of velum.  Initially, I was going to use a white heat embossed greeting, but I really love how the black just pops off the background.  All that was left was adhering the white frame with foam tape.

I could see this card design with many different color combinations, die cuts and greetings.  I’m excited to see what other cards I can come up with using this versatile card design.  I hope you give it a try.  I’d love to see what you come up with 🙂

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My Apprehension with Large Floral Background Stamps

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Let me start off by saying that I absolutely love all of the large floral background stamps out there.  I really do.  I am in awe of the beautiful cards that card makers create with these large stamps.  That said, I’m also a little bit nervous to try and make a card using them myself.

It was The Ton’s Peony Crush Cling Background stamp that got me to give it a try.  It is probably one of the most beautiful floral background stamps that I’ve seen.  This is the card that I made…

My Empty Nest Creations Purple Peony Card using The Ton's Peony Crush cling background stamp

I started off by stamping the stamp onto Bristol paper with Versamark ink.  I heat embossed it with Zing Silver Metallic embossing powder.  For coloring, I decided to use some Zig Clean Color Brush Markers—Deep Violet for the flowers, Olive Green for the leaves and Light Blue for the empty spaces.  I have to say that I’m still learning how to use these markers.  It’s definitely going to take some more practice until I’m completely happy with my results.

For my greeting, I cut a strip of velum and chose some sentiments from Technique Tuesday’s Fringed Dahlia stamp set.  I heat embossed it with the same silver embossing powder.

I trimmed the floral piece down to allow for some matting.  I adhered the velum strip to the floral piece by attaching it on the back side.  Using fun foam for dimension, I attached the floral piece to a piece of white card stock.  For the final mat, I used a piece of Swiss Dot card stock in a light purple.  All of this was attached to a white, top folding card base.

Once it was all put together, I realized that it needed just a little something more.  I found a few light purple sequins, and attached them to the velum strip.  That was exactly what it needed.

I hope you like it!