A bit of inspiration

I know it's been a few weeks since I've shared any cards, but that's about to change. I still haven't posted all the cards I made at the craft retreat back in April (was it that long ago already?), so here are a couple of cards that feature inspirational quotes or sayings as the focal point.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Book Club (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Whisper White, thick Whisper White, Basic Black card stock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Flower Fair, Layering Squares, Stitched Shapes Framelits dies; Liquid Glass (Close to My Heart); Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack; Dimensionals; Mono Multi liquid glue

This is a pretty straightforward card, so I'll just give you a couple of tips about the daisies. The die I used to cut the flowers has five petals, so I cut two of them for each flower and layered them together, offsetting the petals. I glued a So Saffron card stock circle to the center of each flower and coated it with Liquid Glass to make it shiny. I gently curved the petals up and attached the flowers to the card with Dimensionals.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Plot Twist (Taylored Expressions), Geo-Graphic (Paper Smooches), Choose Joy (Papertrey Ink), Delicate Details
Paper: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla
Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Burlap ribbon, Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz), corner rounder, sponge

I used stamps from four different companies on this card, which is something I don't do often. But I think it works well here. I used Soft Suede for the card base and layered on a piece of Crumb Cake card stock that was 1/4" smaller than the card base on three sides. I stamped background dots along the left side of the Crumb Cake card stock and sponged all the edges with Crumb Cake ink.

The pocket is Baja Breeze card stock with a lace image stamped across the top and faux stitching drawn along the other three sides. I also stamped a Soft Suede heart in the lower right corner. I sponged ink along all four edges of the pocket, but it still feels a little plain to me. I think I also should have stamped it with a texture-style background stamp, such as a linen or denim. What do you think?

Here is the tag that fits inside the pocket. I stamped the sentiment and sun accent on Very Vanilla card stock, trimmed the top corners at an angle and sponged the edges with Crumb Cake ink. Instead of adding a tassel, I took a small piece of burlap ribbon and stapled it to the top of the tag.

I could have attached the tag to the front of the card and used it as the focal point that way. But I really like the idea of having it be a separate piece. This way, the recipient could use the tag as a book mark, attach it to the fridge or tuck it in the corner of a mirror to have a frequent reminder of the encouraging message.

It might be fun to have a whole stack of pocket cards, without the tag inserts, made and ready to go. Then when I wanted to send one I could just stamp an appropriate message (or image) on the tag, place it in the pocket and write my message inside. I'll have to file that idea away for future stamping projects.

Alright, I think I have just a couple more retreat cards to share, which will be my next post. And then I'll start on more recent cards and projects. Thanks for stopping by!