Textured Background

Spellbinder's Impressabilities embossing stencil was used for this background.

A few hints on using embossing folders and stencils: 1. slightly dampen the paper with a fine mist of water
2. let the paper dry completely before attaching to card base
3. for a textured shape (like a Spellbinder's Label) cut the shape first and them emboss
4. use white core papers and sand just the very top of the texture to expose the white
5. to accent the texture, brayer over the top with a slightly darker ink
6. ink the embossing folder or stencil and quickly emboss.

Outside My Box

This is a card that was published in the Card Sketch Challenge of Stampers Quest online magazine in March. My normal card size is A2 or 4.25x5.5 inches. Also known as a quarter fold as it is the size of a quarter of a sheet of standard 8.5x11 inche cardstock. This card sketch was long and narrow.

The front of the card is stamped with a paisley Tim Holtz image from Stampers Anonymous. I used VersaMark ink and fineline gold embossing powder. The edges were then sponged with a medium brown dye ink.

The light turquoise bars have been embossed with a Cuttlebug A2 paisley folder. How did I get that paisly white? I sanded it. The paper is what is called "white core". This means that when you look the edge of the paper carefully you will see three distinct layers of color. In this case there was turquoise, white and then turquoise. After embossing the raised portion is literally sanded with sand paper and this removes the turquoise layer, letting the white show through.

The bars and the phrase are layered onto a medium brown cardstock and trimmed to a narrow border.

The final touch was the slightly darker turquoise ribbon with a ribbon tassel attached.