Thursday, March 20, 2014

Emboss It Blog Hop

Today’s post is part of a blog hop!  I love being part of blog hops because they feature some of the newest product Close to My Heart has to offer.  For this hop, we’ll be featuring the brand new 5x7 embossing folders that debuted in February! 
To follow this hop, you can start here and click the link to the next blog at the bottom of my post.  If you’re already on the hop, welcome!  You should have arrived here from { Michelle Jones’ blog. } If you’re ever lost along the way, you’ll find a list of all the blog posts here.  (this will pop open in a new window and then you can come back here and keep hopping too!)
card-ariana-easter-pleated-paper-front
My card features the Ariana paper collection.  I started by pleated the beautiful floral paper by scoring it at 1” and 1/2” intervals and folding it.  I followed this tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers nearly exactly.
Here’s a couple of my tips: 
  • If you’re going to make several of these cards, score the whole paper from top to bottom before cutting the strips.  You might even want to fold them a bit too.  Folding a large sheet is ultimately easier than folding 6 individual 2” strips! 
  • Ink the bottom edge of my paper before folding (& attaching it to the card)!  I used Garden Green, a retired color since Olive was a bit too dark.
card ariana easter pleated paper
Next is the embossed band that holds the pleats in place and gives them a finished look. I cut my 1 x 4.25” strip and embossed it with our damask embossing folder.  I distressed it using our sanding block from the distressing kit to take the color off the raised edges.  Here’s the fun part:  I then inked the white exposed areas with Blush and Sorbet ink.  The coral color is exclusive to the Ariana paper pack so we don’t have an ink that matches.  This worked!  Use a light hand when inking.  Don’t saturate the paper or it will be very intense and bright. 
For the label, I cut the shape from Art Philosophy in White Daisy at 2.25” as indicated on the Frame Flair stamp set.  The sentiment is from Greatest Love
For the Ariana Coral label that shadows the white, I used my Gypsy (It can also be done with Cricut Craft Room or Cricut Design Studio) to make it .25” wider AND taller.  It was also handy to layout the shape on my Gypsy since I only have 1 sheet of this beautiful Ariana Coral to work with. 
If you just bump up your Cricut dial to 2.5” your label be a little disproportionate because it won’t be just .25” longer.  On this label, it’s not that much trouble.  (Just call me Obsessive Compulsive Cricut Perfectionist)The less square the shape is, the more noticeable it is.  You might thank me later when you do a skinny object. 
Here’s where you’d see the distortion, on a long, skinny shape.  The less square shape. 
image
So much for a simple looking card that had a pleated paper tutorial, embossing & distressing in one and a Cricut Craft Room tricks.  But guess what, we’re done! 
Feel free to hop on over to { Katy Taylor’s blog } to see the next project!
Have a great day!

11 comments:

  1. Great tutorial! and it does look easy enough to follow.

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  2. So elegant and thanks for all the steps

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  3. Really like the look you achieved by adding ink to the exposed white sanded area from the embossing.

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  4. Nicely done, great tutorial and I love how you matched the distressed embossing to the coral color!

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  5. I really like how you inked the sanded areas to highlight the embossing.

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  6. Beautiful card. Thanks for sharing all of your tips, they are so helpful!

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  7. Love the thought of inking the white distressed part in a lighter color! :) TFS!

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  8. Very pretty. The Damask folder is a perfect match for these papers.

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  9. Love this! love the pleats and the sanding and blush and sorbet - of course this paper just makes the card! Nice tutorial too.

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  10. Love the technique of sanding and inking the embossed strip. Will give this a try.

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