A Touch of Gray: Handmade Cards for Every Occasion: Roses for You

I love easel cards. The tutorial over at Splitcoaststampers is so easy to follow. You can do pretty much any size you want to. I chose to make the card about 5 1/2 inches when folded --- primarily due to the fact that I have some envelopes that I purchased that would fit the card perfectly.

Card Challenges:
Mojo Monday 174

Roses for You - Easel Card - Handmade Vintage Inspired Valentine's Day Card

I went to Micheal's on Saturday after dropping off my brother at the airport and ran across these Kelly Panacci Valentine Ephemera Die Cut Cardstock. Super cute and definitely awesome for some vintage looking Valentine's Day cards. I highly recommend getting yourself a pack for your card creations. In making the card I started off using Vanilla Cardstock from Bazzill Basics for the base of the card. I cut the 12"x12" sheet of cardstock to measure 5 1/2"x11". Because I suck at figuring out measurements, I folded the card in half and then folded one section in half. I used a scoring board to help make the folded sections more crisp.

Its all about layering when you are creating cards. I layer my pieces first before I mount them to the base of the card. Also a good idea to do this especially if you are going to do some machine stitching. The front of the card is layered in Whirlpool (blue) Cardstock from Bazzill, cream colored cardstock and this cool designer cardstock by TPC Studio that I machine stitched together. Before attaching to the base of the card, I added the ribbon to the layers card. The inside of the card is layered in Whirlpool (blue) Cardstock from Bazzill. I chose add a little more color and fashion to the card and layered the bottom of the card with a piece of designer cardstock from the Lovely Valentine Paper Collection by K&Company that I had machine stitched. I took another piece of of designer cardstock (cut at 2" in height) from the Lovely Valentine Paper Collection and using the Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page Heart Chain, punched the top of the strip that I cut out and adhered it to the the inside of the card.

Using my Cuttlebug, I die cut three tags and machine stitched each tag to serve as a background for the die-cut rose. I mounted the rose (and the two smaller roses) and the two hearts with double sided tape to add a 3-D effect. Finally, I attached the little girl to the card, tied a little bow, and stamped Happy Valentine's Day. There you have at. Oh...all the edges of the elements on the card have been been sponged with coffee bean stamping ink, water, and coffee to add an aged effect to the card.