Inspired by Color

Usually I choose my papers to go with the colors in my photos, but sometimes the papers themselves serve as inspiration.  I found this paper in a book about heritage photos, and just HAD to use it.  I loved the way the turquoise perked up the otherwise drab photos and pulled the eye to my focal photo.

Love a Cat Focal

Today's card is one I made for my daughter who loves cats.  The cat was made with a parchment embossing technique. I embossed the cat using a stencil, then colored in the ears, eyes, nose & mouth with Smooch paints.  I then stamped the sentiment with white pigment paint and added a bit of pink to the hearts after it had dried.  The vellum is attached to the rest with 3 heart-shaped brads.

Flower Multi-frame Die Set

Today's post showcases one of my new toys - Nellie Snellen's Flower Multi-frame die set.  It give's the cute doily-like effect that you can see on this card focal.  Looking at this card again, I realize how well this die would pair with my favorite lace border punch by Martha Stewart.  That would really have enhanced this card if I had thought about it BEFORE I finished it! Just imagine a white strip of paper behind the "tis the season ribbon" border punched both sides with the lace border punch! 

Anyway, this Flower Multi-frame die set comes with a couple of smaller doily dies - one of which I used on the first card I showed in this blog post, three plain circle dies, and a cute little button die. I love die sets and Nellie Snellen makes some really cute ones - and I find they're often less expensive that those from some of the better known die makers.

Outline Stickers Scraps

On this card you can see several techniques shown in posts over the last month - stamping with white opaque ink and then coloring it with chalks, papier piecing the border of the mat, and embossing the die cut.

But there is one more money-saving idea on this card.  The sentiment is the OUTSIDE of an outline sticker - the leftover.  It was originally silver, but was colored with alcohol inks to better match the card. The cream from the background shows through to form the actual words.