Thank You card

One of the great things about card-making is the immediate gratification. They don't take long to make, or take much paper and you really don't need to be super creative to make them. They can be easy especially if you use a pattern like I do. I took this one from the Wishes book and it's a pattern I return to again and again, as you will see tomorrow in my next tutorial.

For this particular one I used our brand new Sweet Home paper. It will be available on September 1st and it's just gorgeous. This is a 6" by 6" card so you need to cut a card base out of cardstock that measures 12" by 6", score it in the center and fold it. Cut the Indian corn blue cardstock 6" by 6". That's your card front. Cut the garnet pattern paper 4" by 6", the striped pattern paper 4" by 6", the Indian corn blue flower paper 2" by 4" and two 1 1/4" by 1 1/4" pieces. You will also need one 1 1/2" by 3" piece of white paper (not shown). I realize that only consultants out there have this paper but adapt your paper to make a totally unique card of your own.

Distress all the pieces with a sponge and Indian corn blue ink if you like. Distressing is a look I like to help differentiate the multiple patterns but you can skip this step if you don't like the look.

Take the 6" by 6" card base and have some fun with it, creating a pattern using the groove in your trimmer, a dry embossing tool and a sanding block. An embossed background is like making your own pattern paper and it only takes a few minutes.

Using a border punch of your choice, cut a border on both sides of the striped pattern paper.

Glue that to the Garnet pattern paper, I went slightly off center on purpose. You can put it smack in the middle if you like.

Glue down the long dotted paper off center on the striped pattern paper. Add the squares, you can line them up straight or go diagonally like I did.

Take that whole piece and add to the embossed card front, again I went slightly off center so I could put brads on the left side later.

I used the Kanji Phrases stamp set, it's so pretty. This particular word says "thank you." Stamp it on your white paper. Our acrylic stamps are see through so you can have perfect placement. Make sure you utilize the foam sheet that comes with every stamp set. Lay it down under your paper and press your stamp firmly for a great impression.

Add to your card as shown, or anywhere you want. The most important thing is balance so if you put something "heavy" on the right side like this phrase, you need to balance it on the left side with something like a ribbon, buttons or brads. Now stamp the words "thank you" directly on the pattern paper.

Dot your white rectangle with some Indian corn blue ink and a wiry sponge, it tones the bright white down. I had some leftover brads from the Tickled Pink promotion we had a few months back, they were perfect for this. Add five brads about an inch apart, one 1/2 inch from the left side. Glue the whole thing to the card base and you are finished. Tomorrow I will do the same card pattern, using the same paper but with a few twists. Isn't this fun?