Asian Inspired Red Flowers

For the past several months, I have been creating a lot of Asian themed cards.  I really love this red flower paper.  It is from this Asian inspired heavy embossed pad that I got a few months ago.  I should of wrote down the name of the pad before I tore out all of the paper.  Live and learn.  The paper is really heavy and tearing the edges adds a great touch to the overall look of the card.

I layered the white card stock card with heavy burgundy paper first.  I sponged burgundy ink from a stamping pad to the paper to give it a little more color.  I then used some tan and green cardstock for the second and third layers.  I tore the edges and inked them with brown, burgundy, and black stamping pads to add some color and worn look.  I then mounted the red flower paper adding the same stamp ink to the sides.

The card itself is very simple but elegant.  I decorated the inside of the card as well.  If you are interested in purchasing the card, visit my etsy store
http://www.etsy.com/listing/48482927/asian-inspired-red-flowers-blank

Materials Used
Acid Free White Cardstock
Tan and Green Cardstock
Asian Red Flower Heavy Embossed Paper
Burgundy, Brown, and Black Stamping Pad

Japanese Fan on Pressed Flower Background

The Pagoda Cricut cartridge is fab. How can yoiu go wrong with a cartridge that features Kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese writing). Check out Capadia Designs for great pictures of the booklet and information about the features of the cartridge.

There's going to be a lot that I can with this particular cartridge. I didn't even know here to begin. I figured I should start off simple and chose the fan design1. I love the flowers on the fan. A little painful for my machine to cut out the detail of the flowers. I had to help the cut with an X-Acto knife. Well worth the final product.

The white cardstock card is layered on textured light brown paper I found at Flax's. It was a bit expensive but I really love the texture. It is soft but a little but grainy. It went perfect with the pressed flower paper (also purchased at Flax's). Instead of a straight cut, I ripped the pressed flower paper to give the edges a little more of texture. I think the effect looks great especially with the fan die cut image.

For the fan I cut out several layers. For the base I used black card stock and then layered it with gold cardstock. The top layer with the flower detail was cut using sage green card stock from Bazzill Basics Paper. I finished the fan off by brushing black and gold stamping ink on the edges and on the flowers. The inside of the card is also layered with coordinating paper.

Materials Used
Acid Free White Cardstock
Textured Light Brown Paper (1st Layer)
Pressed Flower Paper (2nd Layer)
Cardstock Colors for Fan (white, black sage green)
Black & Gold Stamping Ink

Matryoshka Russian Doll Handmade Birthday Card

A bought a whole bunch of Cricut Cartridges a couple of weeks ago. CricutMachine.com was having a spectacular sale on all of their cartridges. I went a little crazy but ended up spending under $100.00 on 5 cartridges. You can't beat that especially when most of the great cartridges run anywhere $40.00 to $80.00. I usually buy my cartridges from ebay because I can get them for a fairly reseasonable price. But CricutMachine.com has great deals.

I love my Cricut and find it I find it helpful to get a really good look at the cartridges before I decide to purchase them. The web and blogs have great photos of the booklets for many of the cartridges. Capadia Designs has some good photos of the booklets. Diane posts great pictures of the booklets and has reviewed some of the cartridges. I really wanted to the from the Paisley cartridge for some cards that I had been thinking about but wasn't sure about the rest of the images. Checking out Diane's site sold me.

The Paisley cartridge is awesome and not only do I love the Russian doll image, the whole cartridge has sparked my creative juices. But I am in love with the Russian dolls. Lynn over at A Moment in Time has a great pop-up card design that I am hoping she will let me use for one of my creations.

The card is mounted in three layers (not including the heavy white cardstock paper that is used for the base of the card). Layer 1: I used is this burgundy cardstock that I had for years. I think I got it in bulk at Office Depot for a Psychology poster presentation I did way back in the day. Layer 2: Burning Ember form Bazzill Basics Paper. I love the color. I need to go back to Michael's and stock up on this color for my Fall cards. Layer 3: This paper is rather thin but I love the design. It's from My Mind's Eye's Complete Boy pad. The pad has some great designs for using with die cuts and background work on your cards.

The Matryoshka Russian Doll was made using several cut-outs of card stock from Bazzill Basics Paper. I used scraps that I had so I am not sure what the name of the colors are but I the shades I used are the following: white for the main card, then black to add a little more thickness and for the hair and eyebrows, red for the blush and center of the flower, pink for the lips, two different shades of orange for the head scarf and the flowers. The dress was mad from this gorgeous paisley paper from Anna Griffin, Inc. I love the colors.

The handwritten Happy Birthday tag is layered using the same paper for the used for the layering of the entire card. As usual, I also layered the inside of the card. I decided to add some machine stitching to the front of the card as well as the tag.

If you are interested in purchasing the card, I am selling it at my etsy store
(www.etsy.com/listing/49939832/matryoshka-russian-doll-handmade)


Materials Used
Acid Free White Cardstock
Burgundy Cardstock (1st Layer)
Bazzill Basics Paper - Burning Ember (2nd Layer)
Cardstock from My Mind's Eye "Complete Boy" Pad (3rd Layer)
Cardstock Colors for Matryoshka Doll (white, black, red, pink, two different shades of orange)
Anna Griffin Paisley Paper
Red Packing Cord
Machine Stitching (Brown Thread)