Hey Friends! It’s EK, and I have a little secret to confess. I don’t buy much printed paper or cardstock. I know…gasp. The truth is when I do buy printed paper, I tend to hoard it and never use it for fear of wasting it. So, to prevent the build up of unused paper, I simply don’t buy it. But that leaves a lot of my crafting projects pretty bland. So I simply stamp my printed papers, and then I always get what I want. And frankly I have found that designer Ilse and Charlene’s stamps are perfect for my stamped ‘printed’ paper.
Step One: Pick two pieces of coordinating cardstock and die cut it with the Stitched Indented Rectangle die set so it can be layered. I went ahead and die cut the centers out of my base pieces so that I didn’t waste good paper.
Step Two: On the largest base piece, blend ink over the paper using the Story Telling stencil. I used Tea Dye Distress Oxide because it was only a shade darker than the paper and would be subtle.
Step Three: On the smaller base piece, I hand stamped floral and fauna from the Spring Fling stamp set. I used both Abandoned Coral and Crushed Olive Distress Oxide to create this print.
Step Four: Adhere the two layers together using 10mm Clear Double Sided Adhesive. Adhere the base layers to an A2 card frame.
Step Five: On the large focal panel, hand stamp images from both the Spring Fling stamp set and the Words & Layers stamp set. Again I used Abandoned Coral and Crushed Olive Distress Oxide to coordinate the ‘paper’ with the layer below.
Step Six: On the smallest die cut panel, pull out the Story Telling stencil again and the original ink color and blend the ink through the cut outs.
Step Seven: Adhere the two smaller die cuts to the larger two with 6mm Clear Double Sided Adhesive forming the layers of the card.
Step Eight: To finish the card, stamp an image from the Poppy Dream stamp set onto some watercolor paper. I used Tea Dyed Distress Oxide.
Step Nine: Using some coordinating water-soluble ink, watercolor in the poppy. I used both Abandoned Coral and Crushed Olive Distress Oxide.
Step Ten: Fussy cut out the image and adhere it to the card frame using a liquid adhesive.
Step Eleven: Using a stamping platform, stamp the sentiment onto the card from the Words & Layers stamp set. I used Walnut Stain Distress Ink and adore how the letting of the sentiment matches the style of the stencil.
Step Twelve: Finish the card by adding Transparent Crystal Craft Drops to both the flower petals and the sentiment. Let Dry.
And just check out how gorgeous the floral image becomes with the Craft Drops on it. It turns out stunning!
So what do you think? Do you like my hand stamped ‘printed’ paper? Let me know in the comments below.
Until then, happy crafting.
Hey Friends! It’s EK, and today I am make some unique graduation cards for a very unique time. Right now nothing feels or looks normal, so crafting a few high school graduation cards in the traditional way seemed inappropriate. So I thought, it might be fun to create a unique look for these graduates who are learning to grow up too fast. I found that designer Suzanne’s A Way With Words Be Brave Bold Yourself die set was perfect for the look for which I was aiming.
Step One: Blend some water soluble ink over Watercolor Paper trimmed to 4.25×5.5 inches. I used Distress Oxides in Victorian Velvet, Dusty Concord, and Frayed Burlap in an ombre corner to corner blend.
Step Two: Spray the Watercolor Paper with watercolor spray. I used Distress Oxide in Tattered Rose.
Step Three: Let the ink spray dry. I just love how this turned out and find the look a little romantic.
Step Four: Die cut the inked paper with the Stitched Indented Rectangle die set.
Step Five: Die cut the graduation sentiment from the inked paper with the Be Brave Bold Yourself die set. I choose to use the sentiment ‘Be Brave, Be Yourself’. The really cool thing about die cutting the way I have, is that you can make two separate cards from this one die cut. You can use the negative inked paper and the die cut works to create two unique cards.
Step Six: Using 6mm Clear Double Sided Adhesive, adhere the inked cardstock to a piece of Lavender Soft Finish Cardstock trimmed to 4.25×5.5 inches.
Step Seven: Set the die cut sentiment back into the open spaces, and adhere the negative die cut pieces back into the open places using some Kids Choice Glue.
Step Eight: Adhere the the lavender cardstock to an A2 card frame using 10mm Clear Double Sided Adhesive. To finish the first card, add a few drop of Transparent Crystal Craft Drops.
Here is the finished look of the first card using the negative pieces of the die cut from the Be Brave Bold Yourself die set.
Step Nine: To create the second card, die cut a second trimmed piece of Lavender Soft Finish Cardstock with the Stitched Indented Rectangle die set. Adhere the Be Brave Bold Yourself die set die cut piece onto the cardstock using Kids Choice Glue.
Step Ten: Add some heart stamping from Susanne’s A Way With Words Love & Hearts Collection stamp set using some pale purple ink. I used Distress Oxide ink in Victorian Velvet.
Step Eleven: Adhere the cardstock to an A2 card frame for the finished look.
