My mother-in-law's birthday is next week so I thought a special card was in order. With that in mind, I set off to go through my favorite blog list and find the perfect bit of inspiration. I found it, not surprisingly, on Amy Sheffer's blog Pickled Paper Designs. Visit if you want to be dazzled by her talent. Trust me, you won't be disappointed! For my card, I adapted Amy's design to the papers and elements I had on hand, and am happy to say it turned out pretty well. The paper from K & Company is absolutely gorgeous and perfect for my hubby's mother.
Here are the details:
Stamps: One of a Kind, Fern background
Ink: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Vanilla craft
Paper: K & Company -Hannah, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Sage textured (American Crafts)
Accessories: ribbon (Martha Stewart), Chipboard frame (my stash of unmarked), large oval punch, medium oval punch, antique copper brads, 1/4" punch, 5 petal punch, boho blooms punch, deckle scissors, sponge, dimensionals
The card is a 5-1/4 inch square- 10-1/2 x 5-1/4 folded in half - of Sage textured. Layered on the front are three pieces of K & Company -Hannah designer paper. The bottom layer is 4-3/4 inch square that I deckle cut and sponged with Chocolate Chip to give it a bit of antique look. On top of that I added two 1-1/4 x 4-1/4 strips of coordinating patterened paper also deckle cut and sponged. Before adhering all these pieces to the card front, I tied the ribbon around the front. Note: originally I tried to run these pieces through my sewing machine, but I had a little issue with my thread tension and the edges sort of self destructed on me. Hence the deckle scissors to correct the problem. The frame is a chipboard piece I had in my stash painted olive green. Once it was dry, I inked up my Fern background stamp with Vanilla Craft and stamped it over the top so it wasn't so plain. The frame is adhered to the card over the top of the deckled pieces and in the center there's an oval, cut freehand, around a punched Always Artichoke oval. The sentiment is stamped on Very Vanilla in Ruby Red and sponged with Chocolate Chip. I adhered it to the Artichoke Oval and punched each end so I could add a couple of small antique copper brads and then mounted it up on dimensionals so it would pop off the card a little. Last, but not least, the flowers are punched and layered with brads in the center to hold them together.
TIP: To get the flower petals to curve up a bit, lay each one on a soft mat and use an embosser to swirl around in the center of the flower. The paper will stretch a little and the petals will naturally curve upward. Cool huh?
Happy Birthday Myrna! Love you!
Labels: birthday, Flowers, Hodgepodge Hardware, Martha Stewart, Punches
