Hi friends!
Welcome to Membership Thursday with me! Today I have an adorable mixed media card to share and it’s a colorful and very easy card because of the use of patterned paper! I’ll show you how I get creative with patterned paper to make a card more interesting! I’ll be using February Kit of the Month, Lil Bloomer stamp, Gosh I Love You patterned paper, crinkly ribbon, alcohol markers, brown ink and blending brush, nesting tag dies, and gold paste. To shop these items, hover on the description and click on it.
The bunny in the February Kit of the Month is so detailed and so dang adorable! And there are several other elements to this kit that work so well together!
First, I stamped that little cutie bunny onto a piece of white cardstock using permanent black ink. I also stamped another image from the kit onto a separate piece of cardstock. Then I colored the bunny in shades of brown using my alcohol markers. After I finished coloring, I die cut the bunny and the other stamped image in 2 sizes of the Nesting Tag dies. I inked up the larger tag with a Vintage brown ink doing the direct ink-to-paper technique (the ink ends up being heavier this way). Then I used a blending brush to apply the same brown ink around the bunny, getting heavy handed towards the very edge of the tag to frame the bunny. I adhered the tags together and added a crinkly ribbon above them. You can see the details in the photo below! I also added Glossy Accents to the bunny’s eyes and nose.
Next, I focused on the background. Here’s where things get playful using Unity’s patterned paper, which is the best I’ve ever seen! You can shop the entire line by clicking here. For this card, I used Gosh I Love You paper pad. I grabbed 3 sheets of it, trimming one piece to 5.5×4.25 and adhering it to a white card base. I used a mixed media stamp and applied it to the corners of the card panel with black ink, just to add interest and detail.
Then I trimmed the other two into smaller strips and tore the edges of one of the sheets to create a jagged edge. I inked the jagged edge with brown ink and adhered it over the other trimmed piece. Then I randomly applied gold paste over the pieces for added detail. Then they were adhered to the 3rd full sized piece. I finished by inking all 4 sides of the card panel with the same brown ink. You can see the paper peeking out from behind the bunny in the photo above!
TIP: Choose a variety of patterns from patterned paper. My standard go-to method is 3 sheets of paper – one with a small pattern, one with a medium pattern, and one with a bold pattern.
TIP #2: Play with various ways to “tear” the patterned paper and build layers! There is no wrong way to do this, so just have fun! And don’t forget to add details like the ink blending and gold paste! And save the extra sheets of paper for the next card! If you need help with composition using patterned paper, search for card sketches or search cards from your favorite designers on Instagram!
Last step was to add the bunny with the crinkly ribbon and the sentiment, which was taken from Lil Bloomer. I inked the edges of the sentiment as well to coordinate with the card panel.
I’m so happy you joined me today! To shop the items used in this post, click on the description at the beginning of this post. To learn more about how you can save money and get a new stamp mailed to you every month, click here for Memberships! Unity has several to choose from and you can decide which kit works best for you!
