Today is Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, the end of the carnival season, so here is a colorful card to celebrate Mardi Gras along with some of my own Mardi Gras beads! I’ve never been to a real Mardi Gras but I’ve been to a few parties with some good food and beads! Everyone thinks of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but it is celebrated in other cities as well. Galveston, Texas has a big celebration, about an hour from Houston.
I made this card pretty easily just using Mardi Gras colors…..purple, green and gold. Strangely enough, I used the leafy stamp from the Sheltering Tree Stamp Set to make the background on the Shimmery White Cardstock. I just wanted a “splattered” look of some kind with the Mardi Gras colors in the background.
To get this splattered look, I just colored the dots randomly with Stampin’ Write Markers in Gorgeous Grape, Daffodil Delight, and Garden Green. I couldn’t even see exactly which ones were colored but it didn’t matter. After coloring on the dots with the markers, I spritzed the stamp with water from a small spray bottle (I use it by my Big Shot for the cardstock that goes in the Dynamic Embossing Folders (the big thick ones!) because it helps make a better impression in the paper. I just left the stamp face up on the table and laid the Shimmery White Paper on top of the stamp. After that, I inked up the stamp again with the markers, spritzed with water, and stamped some of the other areas that didn’t get any color. Nothing had to be perfect because I just wanted that splattered, soft look. The Shimmery White paper was good for this because it can stand up to a little water.
The card is layered with the Mardi Gras colors, same as the markers. The greeting is stamped from the Detailed With Love Stamp Set. It is layered on a piece of Gold Foil. Then to get some real touches of gold on the card, I used the Gold Mini Sequin Trim and just placed it back and forth behind the greeting. I like the way it turned out. Since I was thinking of Mardi Gras while making this card, I could be more “festive” than maybe you would normally be. But I could still use this card for any kind of celebratory occasion!
Stampin’ Up! has the supplies to make cards for any occasions and other projects, too! And if you shop now during March, you can take advantage of the Sale-A-Bration at Stampin’ Up! It may not be Mardi Gras but with every $50 purchase, you get to choose a free product! And that in itself might be better than Mardi Gras for most of us! Use this Colorful Card for Mardi Gras as inspiration to make a similar card for the occasion that you need and get your Stampin’ Up! supplies during Sale-A-Bration!