New Beginnings

It's the monthly Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Party, and the theme is New Beginnings. How lovely for April, don't you agree? I decided to make a wedding card.

Rhinestones are clear and sparkly in real life!

I started with this pair of cameos from the Cameo To Go set, stamped in Mango Madness Versamagic Chalk Ink on blue matte coated cardstock. I surrounded them with a label border from the Rescue Remedies set. (I cut away the sentiment from the inside of the stamp to leave the border. That's one of the nice things about excellent quality photopolymer stamps like those from Waltzingmouse - you can cut them apart and not worry about them tearing.) I cut this couple out with a Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four die, and created a mango mat (cream cardstock rubbed with the same chalk ink) with the next size up.

Finished card 5.5 X 7 inches.

The background for this card was made by pouncing the mango chalk ink over the flat (unraised) side of an embossing folder, then running cream cardstock through my Cuttlebug. This impressed the ink on the lower level of the cardstock and left the relief (raised) areas free of ink. There is probably some clever name for this technique, but I can't think of it right now!

Besides the gratuitous bling of the rhinestone flourish, the other feature of this card is the "reverse rosette" placed in an oval window in the lower half of the background. I got this brainwave in the middle of the night and took time off work this morning just so I could try and execute it!

I glued three of the smallest strips from Tim Holtz's Mini Rosettes die set into one huge Slinky-like oval. Using the tip I shared in this post, I corralled the Slinky in a Creative Memories oval cutting template (thick acrylic) to arrange it to my liking.

Inside oval template.

Here's an angle shot of the reverse rosette peeking out around the edge of the oval background. I added a slim melon oval (cardstock coloured with the same ink) to set it off.

Compact Sentiments set, embossed mango ink.

This reverse rosette made the bottom of the card quite thick, so to balance the depth of the upper portion of the card, I stacked two layers of foam tape and affixed to the underside, which matched the rosette depth perfectly. This card will not be mailed so I won't be getting dirty looks from the postmistress!

Just a parting shot of the lower half of the card featuring a greeting from the Compact Sentiments set. Sure, I might have got a similar effect using ruffled lace instead of pleated paper for the frame, but I enjoyed the challenge of trying this out and seeing if I could make it work! Thanks for sticking with me this long. Now head over to the blog party and see what other New Beginnings are being celebrated!

Framed reverse rosette.