When You Care Enough…

By | August 8, 2016

…to send the very best.

Yes, I know that I’ve ripped that off – that phrase is connected to a well-known card company just like the term “kleenex” is to any box of paper tissues! But did you happen to notice that over the past few years, the big name greeting card companies have started to copy us?

Yes, they have. My dad pointed this out to me one day. Mass-produced cards have always used glitter, but now you’re as likely to see sumptuous ribbons and colorful strings, popped-up elements, buttons, metal and other embellishments… well, you know, the stuff we use to make our cards unique! You know what they say, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!” 🙂

And we know that when you care enough, you make your cards yourself!

Wonderful Roses2

Like this one, for example. My mother will be celebrating her 82nd birthday in the middle of this month. Mom loves roses, and she loves pink. Luckily I just got some new Blushing Bride Sequin Trim so I took a few sequins off and used them as accents around the sentiment. The three-step stamping roses and leaves plus the sentiment are part of the 18-piece Picture Perfect photopolymer set on page 140 of the catalog.

Wonderful Roses detail4

I stamped a rose and some leaves on the white oval, and then stamped some others on scrap cardstock and cut them out, arranging them over the flat images with SNAIL adhesive and Stampin’ Dimensionals for depth and interest. Can you see the hint of sparkle that my Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush gives to the rose petals?

I am loving my new Layering Ovals Framelits. There are 15 ovals, some with round edges and some with scalloped, and they layer so nicely together, I don’t know how I ever got along without them! We also have new Layering Framelits in Squares and Circles too – all of them are found on page 193 of the catalog.

Wonderful Roses side2

 

One other special thing that I did on Mom’s birthday card is to make a tile-look background with my Simply Scored Tool and a Sponge Dauber. After scoring 1-inch squares onto the Pink Pirouette cardstock, I masked each square with scrap paper and just applied a little Blushing Bride ink on the top right-hand corner and a little along the top and right side of each square.

Here are the colors that I used on the Wonderful Roses card, along with Whisper White:

You can click on any color swatch to see other products that Stampin’ Up! offers in these colors.

Here are the supplies that I used to make my mother’s card; click on any picture for more information or online ordering:

Price: $110.00

Hey, this is the first time I’ve ever tried the tile background, and it was fun and easy! Here’s a challenge: try a technique that you’ve seen but never done, and share your results in the “comments!”

 

 

2 thoughts on “When You Care Enough…

  1. PaperPuff

    Lovely card for your mum. I know what you mean about shop-bought cards: so many of them now say ‘hand finished’, which seems to mean somebody stuck a bow on it or a bit of bling. I was in a boutique-y gift shop at the weekend and they had very pretty ‘hand finished’ cards, but the prices were really steep for something that would cost pennies to make!

    Reply
    1. ValoryDegree Post author

      Very true! We have a well-known card company headquartered right here in our town, and their cards on the store shelves with glued on jewels and other doo-dads are quite expensive.

      Reply

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