Congrats card...

Hi! I am back today with a card that I made for a friend's daughter who is going away for higher studies.

This card gave me a chance to play around with some new techniques and also stretch my creative energies in finding alternatives to expensive craft products.

The base is white handmade paper. I created the coloured panel by using a stencil from Itsy Bitsy and some texture paste. Only I made the texture paste from scratch by mixing together some talcum powder, Fevicol, white acrylic paint and water. Very easy and much cheaper than anything available in the market! I coloured it using pigment inks.

The sentiment is a Sizzix die, which I cut four times and layered. I used the Faux Metal technique demonstrated by the very, very talented Jennifer Mcguire. You can check it out here. I loved the way she combined gold and silver embossing powders in the video. Since I have only gold powder in my stash, I decided to experiment with the stuff I already have. Some time back Jennifer had done a video in which she created her own glitter embossing powder by mixing some fine glitter and clear embossing powder. So I tried it with some copper and silver powders that I had on hand. And it worked beautifully!

I also decorated the inside of the card.

Entering this in the following challenges:

CAS(E) this Sketch #86

I used the sketch. Only I turned it around a bit.

The Card Concept Challenge #15 - Colour Challenge

I used the colour palette and was also inspired by the lacy votives. I guess my style would be Clean and Layered.

So that is all for now. I made two more cards using my 'texture paste' which I will post later.

Looking forward to hearing what you think of my DIY efforts!

Love,

Nan

P.S. Also posting in the following challenges:
Less is More Week 182 - Anything Goes
The card is definitely CAS - my usual style!

Addicted to CAS Challenge #43 - Celebrate

Card swap...

Hi! I made a bunch of cards for Swap Central India last month. I was really thrilled when Swap Central restarted, after a break, as I have enjoyed each and every swap I have participated in!

I had to wait till the cards were officially 'revealed' on their blog. So here I am, finally, with my set of cards.

The first card is a square 'Thank You' card.

The base is pink handmade paper. The DP is actually a tissue paper that is attached to some thick card stock using cling film. I had seen the tutorial for this a long time ago. Unfortunately I don't remember where. I tried it and it works beautifully! The sentiment is computer generated and printed. Some green twine and pearls finished the card.

For the second card, I went with a CAS but layered look.

The base is gold handmade paper. The DP is created by gluing diagonal strips of assorted papers onto a piece of scrap paper. I love this technique as it gives a lovely, rich look and also uses up all the scraps of paper that I hate to throw away. This particular strip is left over from two previous cards. You can check them out here and here. 

I used gold embossing powder for the sentiment. The floral gems are from my stash.

The third card uses a new technique that I tried for the first time. The original tutorial is by the amazingly talented Jennifer Mcguire. You can check it out here.

Supplies used are green and pink hand made paper. The embossing folder is from Itsy Bitsy. I used green and pink pigment inks for the embossed panel. I did struggle a lot to finish this card as nothing seemed to work after I had assembled the layers. Finally I decided to keep things simple and heat embossed the sentiment in white.

I used some tiny pearls to add a little bit of glamour to the card.

The final two are my favourites.

The card base is water colour paper. The panel is coloured using acrylic paints in blue and red. The butterflies are punched and then covered with glitter. I also covered the flourish die cut with glitter to make it pop.

I stamped the sentiment using my favourite Micia stamp set and dark blue sketch pen.

The fifth card turned out so much better than I imagined that I almost didn't send it!

The background is handmade paper, coloured using acrylic colours in pink, orange and yellow. I used my favourite Chloe Stem die by Memory Box. 

The sentiment is computer generated and printed on translucent paper. I added some pearls to finish the card.

Here is a consolidated image of all the 5 cards.

I really enjoyed this swap and am looking forward to the next. You can check it out here.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Love,
Nan