ELEGANT SIMPLICITY

This week it is TEMPLATE TIME!

All the cards I share this week, both here and on my YouTube video, will be created using the same sketch.  I have been creating cards for many years, and about a year ago I started creating sketches for some of my favorite layouts.  I number them so I can easily find them. Do you have certain layouts that you find yourself gravitating to time and time again?

This week I am using my Sketch #7, and I'll be honest, it is not one that I gravitated to for years.  Rather, I found it in a magazine last year when I was purging "treasures" -- like very, old Cardmaking magazines.  I thought it looked very interesting, so before I tossed the magazine, I decided to create a sketch so I could remember the layout when I wanted to try it.

In fact, I liked the layout so much that I used it as the challenge for my Coffee Club when it was my month to pick the challenge.  This was BEFORE I had tried to make a card using the sketch.  

I'll admit!  My first attempt at using this sketch was awful, and my coffee club friends weren't crazy about the sketch either.  My card ended up in the trash, but seeing the cards that the Coffee Club gals made inspired me to try the sketch again.  Their creations were less literal, and seeing their cards gave me hope!

Today's card uses a technique that I have always loved -- all white or all Very Vanilla cards.  The only cardstock I used on this card was Very Vanilla.  I did use Thick Very Vanilla for my card base because I still have some left, however, there are so many layers on this card that using Thick cardstock for the base it totally unnecessary.

What I love when creating cards in this style is using tons of texture.  Each layer was embossed with a different embossing folder.  I did end up putting a non-embossed layer between each layer to give a narrow separation of the different textures.  (All the dimensions are in the tutorial.)

This technique of using the same color with different textures results in a very elegant, clean and simple card.  My touches of gold are vellum elements from the Beautifully Adorned Ephemera Pack.   The sentiment was heat embossed with Gold Embossing powder.  I love this sentiment from Peaceful Pie, but admittedly, its font is probably a little small for heat embossing.

I continued the Sketch #7 layout on the inside of the card by putting the message layer in the upper left corner rather than centering it on the embossed layer behind it.  The sentiment is from the Banner Sayings stamp set.

For all the details use this link to download the tutorial.  

A list of the products I used is shown below.

Product List

Peaceful Pier Cling Stamp Set (English) [165331]	Banner Sayings Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [167044]	Very Vanilla 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [166784]	Versamark Pad [102283]
Beautiful Pattern 3 D Embossing Folder [167097]	Damask Designs Embossing Folder [165214]	Joined Together 3 D Embossing Folder [165170]	Exposed Brick 3 D Embossing Folder [161600]
Beautifully Adorned Ephemera Pack [166980]	Flower Accents [165171]	Gold Striped 3/8" (1 Cm) Mesh Ribbon [165599]	Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder [165678]
Heat Tool (Us And Canada) [129053]	Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [149653]

Add All to Cart