Gilded Border & Altered Paper

This week’s simple Sunday blog post is short and sweet with an idea for an easy gender-neutral thank you card. This was actually number 23 in my ‘24 cards in 24 hours’ marathon last month. Despite almost running out of time the card includes a couple of simple ways to get more from your patterned paper. This is definitely a favourite theme of mine as the more ways I can find to use my paper the less waste there is. So with markers and Gilded Leafing I set to work.

Create this thank you card with Gilded Leafing detail using the Go To Greetings Stamp Set and Let's Go Fishing paper from Stampin' Up! #papercraftwithme

ALTERED PAPER

I began by cutting a 6″ x 6″ piece of the plaid design from the Let’s Go Fishing 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper Pack (DSP). The pattern is OK but not particularly exciting so I decided to add some extra interest. From my selection of Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers I chose Ivory and coloured either side of one of the darker diagonal lines on the DSP. Then after swapping to a dark Crumb Cake marker I coloured on the right-hand side only of the darker lines going in the opposite dierection.

It’s amazing what a difference that colouring made to the look of the DSP.

Give patterned paper a different look with some simple colouring. #papercraftwithme

With the colouring complete I cut a 2-1/4″ x 6″ piece from my altered DSP. Using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I fixed the DSP to the flap of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope. Then I trimmed off the excess with my Paper Snips, using the edge of the flap as a guide.

GILDED LAYER

For my A2 card base I used my Paper Trimmer to cut a 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ piece of Thick Very Vanilla Card. Then with the long side at the top I used the scoring blade to score it a 4-1/4″. Finally I folded the card along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.

Going back to my altered DSP I cut a piece 2-3/4″ x 4-1/4″ and glued that to my card front, lining it up along the bottom edge. Then I decided I wanted a bit of bling. So instead of reaching for foil or glimmer paper I took out my pot of Gilded Leafing.

I started by putting a line of Tear & Tape Adhesive tight up against the top edge of the DSP on the card front. Then with the backing paper removed I placed pieces of Gilded Leafing onto the exposed adhesive. Once it was completely covered I buffed it up and removed the excess using a clean and dry Small Blending Brush.

With the excess back in the pot I just needed a sentiment for the front of the card. For I chose the largest “thank you” in the Go To Greetings Stamp Set. After stamping it above the gilded line using Early Espresso ink, I only had the inside of the card to decorate.

So picking up what was left of my altered DSP I cut two 1/2″ x 4″ strips. Then using liquid glue I fixed them along the top and bottom edges of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Very Vanilla Card. Finally using more liquid glue I added the assembled layer to the the inside of the card base and my project was complete.

Have you ever tried altering your patterned paper by colouring it?