Are you ready for spring? I sure am. Here on the east coast, we are expecting a snow storm again, and all I can think about are flowers and warm weather. That was the inspiration for today’s projects. I am so excited to share my first post as new Design Team Member.

I used Curious Metallic Cardstock for both cards today, and it just so happens that this line is on sale this month so I’d take advantage of it if I were you! To begin, I die-cut two colors with different cover plate dies. For the leaf pattern, I die-cut Curious Metallic Ice-Gold Cardstock and for the doodle lace pattern, I die-cut Curious Metallic Ionised Cardstock. They’re both 92# cover weight and have such a beautiful subtle pearlescent shimmer to them.

I also die-cut the floral pattern in watercolor paper so that I could add another layer to my card that would reflect spring. I cut out the flowers and leaf patterns from the rest of the doodle lace pattern (as you can see in the upper left side). These pieces will be layered over the gray. Gray is such a non-traditional color when it comes to floral cards. Lately, I have been experimenting with non-traditional looks for my work as it helps me to get outside of my comfort zone. For the leaf pattern, I decided to use an alcohol ink background that screamed bold colors. The Ice Gold Cardstock would tone it down for sure. Do you ever just have backgrounds or images sitting around from old projects that you never got to use? That’s one of the best ways to use cover plate dies and colored backgrounds. I had this alcohol ink one done a few weeks ago and it was perfect to coordinate.

I used my watercolors to color the floral and leaf shapes that I cut out. My style of watercoloring is loose so basically all I do is add a light shade and then layer on other colors or darker shades of the same color once the previous layer has dried. It’s purely experimental, and it’s exciting to see how each piece will turn out. As I set those aside to dry, I took the gray piece and glued it to my white cardbase in size A2 (4.25″ x 5.5″ when folded). My favorite white base to use is the Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock! Afterward, I used foam tape to mount all the coordinating colored pieces to go over the gray. Look how gorgeous it turned out! 

For the sentiment, I stamped it onto watercolor paper using VersaMark embossing ink and added White embossing Powder, which I heat-set with my heat gun. Then I watercolored using black to give it a somewhat gray look to match my background. I finished it off with some black watercolor splatters.

For the next card, I simply mounted the die-cut leaf pattern over the alcohol ink background with foam tape for dimension. Both were then glued to my white cardbase. 

For the sentiment, I stamped it with VersaMark embossing ink onto black cardstock and added gold embossing powder, which I heat-set with my heat gun. I trimmed it down and glued it over my base. One of my favorite things to do is use sentiments on black cardstock since it’s a nice contrast from colorful backgrounds. Black goes with everything! Since it’s a partial sentiment, I wanted to add hearts to complete the phrase “love everything about you.” I die-cut hearts using black and Silk Glitter Kings Crown Gold Cardstock (my favorite!)

It’s hard to tell in the photo, but up close, you can see the metallic shimmer of the Ice Gold Cardstock. 

If you have any questions about my work, I’d love for you to leave a comment below! Let me know if you want me to share more process photos and instructions. I’ll be happy to accommodate. Be sure to follow CutCardstock on Facebook because they always have sales and lots of inspiration from the new Design Team. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Best,
Rubeena
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