One of my online cardmaking friends, Kate Deignan, has great layout ideas for using patterned paper. Last month she shared one of those layouts on the 12 x 12 Cardstock Shop blog ("Patterned Paper Handmade Card Template"), and I decided to use it for my July Christmas cards. I pulled out the Joyful Christmas Flora 6 x 6 paper pad (Carta Bella), found some coordinating card stock in my stash, and got to work.
The layout I used required two 1" x 4" strips, two 1" x 2-3/4" strips, and one 1-5/8" x 2-7/8" piece for the center. It was fun (and a bit of a challenge) to mix and match the papers and find combinations I liked. I used about half the pad of paper and ended up making eighteen cards, although not all of them used that layout.
For the focal images on these cards, I used a variety of dies (branches, deer, trees, etc.) as well as some images I cut out of the patterned paper. I used enamel dots, sequins, buttons, and twine for embellishment and added some shine with gold card stock and a sparkle gel pen, which unfortunately doesn't show up in the photos. The die-cut sentiments were made with the Joyful Christmas Messages stamps and dies (Hero Arts).
I'm pretty happy with how these cards turned out, but they took me a lot longer to make than I thought they would. Trying to settle on just the right focal image, embellishment, or what have you was slow going. I need to stop thinking I'll be able to crank out cards when I'm using patterned paper! :)
Thanks for stopping by!
1 comment:
What cheerful cards! Thery re perfect for Christmas with all the beautiful colours! Thay make me think of celebrations, a party maybe, and definitely Christmas! You're so good at measuring and getting all the dsp the right size. All that measuring would seriously do my head in, and I would most certainly give up way before getting one card made! Well done:-) Sunshine
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