Saturday, 2 January 2016

Thank You Frame

It seemed appropriate that the first card of the new year be a thank you card; following the lovely gifts that I received for Christmas.  I have been wanting to try out the technique for the background for some time.


I chose three 12" x 12" papers from a K & Co. pad and cut three 2cm strips from each.  I glued them in alternate strips onto a sheet of white copy paper, ensuring that the chevron pattern and the small sprigs on the bright green paper faced the same way each time.  Once the glue was dry, I cut the sheet into 2cm strips; this time creating strips with squares of the original papers.  
These were glued onto another piece of copy paper, offsetting the squares and adding the trimmed off pieces onto the other end of each row to complete each 18cm strip.  Once complete, the whole panel was embossed using the Beautiful Brocade folder by Teresa Collins and Patina and Cast Bronze gilding wax were rubbed over the raised emboss to emphasize the pattern.
The frame was created using the largest and the fourth frame in from Set B of the Double Pierced Square dies by Creative Expressions, designed by Sue Wilson.  I decided that the frame could not be left blank, as it did not link in with the background piece as well as not standing out from the base card (a 20cm x 20cm pre-made card blank).  
I used the Twisted Citron and Peacock Feathers distress inks and a blending tool through the Flourish stencil by Tim Holtz; offsetting the stencil slightly between layers on three corners of the frame.  The Thank You die (Die Sire Classiques, Only Words by Crafter's Companion) was cut twice; once in white and once in a piece of card the same colour as Peacock Feathers; the white sentiment was glued over the Peacock Feathers sentiment to create a drop shadow.  
To finish the card, I trimmed the background panel down slightly on all four sides and glued it to the base card.  I then added 3 narrow strips of tape from the left hand side of the panel and off the right hand side of the card, in order to stick the ribbon into place; this meant that when the ribbon was trimmed, it didn't fray.  The frame was then laid over and the sentiment added in the bottom right hand corner.

No comments: