Saturday, February 22, 2014

Japanese Blossom Card

The Close To My Heart Spring/Summer catalog is always my favorite.  I love the flowers, bugs, and springy colors.  This year is no exception.  

One easy way to make a bunch of cards is to use one of the "Quick Cards" stamp sets (there are 3 currently available).  One of the new ones is called Quick Cards - Japanese Blossom.  It's a single square image with a beautiful flower, some Japanese (Chinese) characters and a sentiment in English.  (I know the character on the lower left is LOVE.  Haven't gotten a translation yet on the words on the right.)


I tried inking the entire stamp with Saddle, and that looked ok, but I wanted to try making the outline of the  flower orange.  So I inked the entire stamp in Sunset Ink, then carefully "rolled" the edges of the stamp in Saddle Ink.  I had to make sure to "hit" all four corners, the Japanese characters, the postmark and the English sentiment at the bottom with Saddle, so it would be darker than the flower.  I like that look better than the single color.

Alternatively, you could ink the entire stamp in Sunset, and use a sponge dauber with Saddle on it to go around the edges.  Better control of the ink, I think.

I then used craft chalk (CTMH used to carry them ages ago) to color in the flower and the leaves.  It gives the image a wonderful, soft look.  I love using chalks...plus they are very forgiving; you can be pretty imprecise with them (unlike markers).

I also sponged around the edges of the stamped image (with Saddle).
And a little Almond Glitz Glitter Gel (retired) in the center of the flower.  (I know, Glitter and Japanese-calm really don't go together, but I figured it was just a tiny bit of glitter...)

I used paper from the new Balloon Ride Paper Pack on the left and Sorbet card stock on the right.  The mat under the flower is Desert Sand (but Kraft works great, as well).

The ribbon is 3/8" Colonial White Grosgrain Ribbon (retired), which I inked with the Saddle Ink and a Sponge Dauber (love 'em!).  I used Miracle Tape from Viva Las Vegas Stamps (http://www.vlvstamps.com/) which is like Terrifically Tacky Tape or 'redliner tape' (but cheaper) -- to stick the ribbon to the card.  Plus, Miracle Tape comes in a huge assortment of widths!

I hope you are inspired to try "rolling" your stamp today!

Lisa