Perfectly Parchment Cards

I used to do parchment craft with my sister when I was younger, but when she left home I no longer had access to it - being the youngest has it's pros and cons! Thankfully the other year I inherited a set of parchment craft tools and some stencils, so I just had to buy myself some paper in order to get back to it!

I really enjoy doing parchment craft, poking the different sized holes through the parchment, and applying pressure in areas to almost "colour" the paper white. It can look so effective, especially when combined with solid colours and simple embellishments.

The most difficult part about using parchment paper in cards is finding the right adhesive, as many show through. I personally found it best to work the adhesive around the design so it was best disguised, for example PVA behind a white area, glue dots behind a highly patterned area, or adding a split pin as part of the overall design. It can also work to leave a larger border around it to stick it down and then frame with another piece of card. I think I need to buy myself some more stencils!

The Perfect Cup of Tea [Card]

How beautiful is this cup of tea?! I found it in a series of free printables of British biscuits here. It includes watercolour illustrations of (my favourite) party rings, custard creams, and this gorgeous cup and saucer. I mounted the cup and saucer on some cream hammer card, and pink polka dot paper which is included in the printables. I used Liquid Pearls for the added details - you know I can't resist a bit of shimmer or sparkle! A lovely, pretty, summery card. I think I'll be using these downloads a bit more in the future!

Pua Sketch [Moana]

We're a bit Moana-mad in our household. No, we don't have any children... But who can resist songs as catchy as "You're Welcome" and characters as adorable as Pua the pig?! Not us, that's for sure. Though personally I'm more of the village crazy lady!

Anyway, when deciding on a Birthday card for my husband I couldn't resist doing a little sketch of Pua for him. I drew it in 2B, which is basically my favourite pencil ever, and added some colour with some very old WHSmith colouring pencils. They still do a good value pack of 36 colouring pencils, but I find my old ones have softer leads.

Totally Turquoise: Butterflies

Whilst on my turquoise spree last month I also got a bit distracted with some other free printables I found on Create and Craft. Specifically, these Debbi Moore Flutterby Dreams.

 

The PDF file includes some lovely imagery to use as card toppers, as well as some sentiments and paper. I opened the PDF in Photoshop to tweak the images so that it only printed the elements I wanted and at the sizes I wanted, and assembled the bits to make these two cards.

I added extra sparkle to both cards with Liquid Pearls, mini gems and pearlescent paper. Some of the shapes in this download are a bit fiddly to cut, but with a bit of patience they worked out ok!

Totally Turquoise

When I was very young, I was convinced the word "turquoise" had the letter 'b' in it. Odd, I know.

Anyway. Have you ever finished several card making sessions only to realise all the cards you have made are in the same colour scheme? That was my accident last month. Not that I'm complaining, they're rather pretty! Turquoise is a lovely colour, it's soft without being overtly feminine, and it's fresh without being garishly bright.

I found that this embellishment was a great size to use with my circle punch. The great thing about printables is that you can adjust the scale when printing if it's not quite fitting right! I layered it up with some other circles, including some I cut from a silver glitter tape that I love and some small gems.

I forgot to properly photograph this card, so I'm afraid this is just a snap from my phone. I used an amazing glitter embossing powder which happened to match perfectly with my pearlised deep turquoise paper! These mini gems are great for adding extra detail to cards, and rather than mounting the stamped card on top, I punched through the turquoise to see the flower below - it's a small difference but it made a nice change for me!

Turquoise carries the neutral tones of grey, brown and cream beautifully, and this time I added some "bling" with Liquid Pearls. This is another great product for adding to cards, especially when you want a thin card to travel through the post!

I used the glitter tape again with this card. By simply sticking lengths of it to a piece of card, it becomes something you can use as a paper, for example with punches. It's so sparkly the joins aren't obvious! I love how this card plays with different scales of the same pattern.

I think most of the imagery I've used in these cards, for example the embellishments and patterned papers, were all free printables found online. I'm not sure of exactly where, but Sizzix is definitely worth checking out :)