I decided to play with some new dies, and this is what happened:
I got the new Simon Says Stamp Highlight Frames dies, and they make this very cool, skinny border with a fun shape that lends itself to all sorts of options. The set comes with three dies -- a heart, a circle, and a square -- so I opted to use the circle and stick a heart on it. I'm weird like that.
Even though this is a very simple card, I managed to turn it into work. I cut the die out of the green-ish card stock to make the opening, then cut it again out of white. I then cut a piece of printer paper just smaller than the green panel, and stuck the top part of the green to the printer paper.
Then I nestled the white strip up against the green, filled in the narrow space with the green strips, then scrunched the bottom skinny white part up against the green strips. Lastly, I added the bottom part of the green panel, and stuck in a white circle.
I have a bunch of die-cut hearts on my desk that I made from a left-over tag that was used to clean up ink from my craft mat*. I thought the colors were close enough to use them here.
Here's another version, just flipped, and with a different heart:
Here's yet another version, where I used the colored die-cut piece with a white card panel:
I actually made this one before the green ones, and I decided I liked the colored backgrounds better than the white. This heart also has a lot more color in it. And I might need to break up with colored embossing powders, as there's a halo of red around that sentiment, even though I used my powder tool. Sigh. Next time I'll use red pigment ink and clear embossing powder.
In other news, I discovered that my cache of SU Poppy Parade card stock (red panel) is a darn close match to Simon Says Stamp's Lipstick Red (die-cut). Sometimes that hoarded card stock from forever ago comes in handy.
I'm going to see what else I can cook up in the craft room today. Thanks for stopping by!
* Back when I took the Online Card Classes: Creative Chemistry 101 and 102 classes, one of the things Tim suggested we do was use a tag to pick up left-over inks from our craft mats. No need to waste! While clearing out some boxes last week, I found one of those tags, and I die-cut a bunch of hearts out of it. Those hearts now live on my desk, and I'm using them!
Stuff I used: SU Poppy Parade card stock, Bazzill Navajo card stock, and the following:
Cuuuute cards! Love those SSS dies. Uh-oh.
ReplyDeleteOhhhhhhh schnazzy die set!!! Love that!!
ReplyDeleteFabby cards to boot!
Those dies are on my wish list. Way to go on the red matching! Score!
ReplyDeleteClean and simple, but beautiful. I'm with you on the colored embossing powder, it rarely looks good. Silver, gold, and white are the only colors I use, and even then it rarely looks perfect when I use the powder tool or the little embossing buddy thingie.
ReplyDeleteI totally get the appeal of the thin border dies. I'll probably not be able to live without them much longer myself. Love your simple cards, love that you made them not simple. A gal after my own heart!
ReplyDelete