As I was cleaning up my stamping supplies from making another card, I spied this paper that just looked beautiful (because it IS beautiful!!) and I got everything out again and made this Expressions In Ink Floral Hello Card! I knew I could just make a very simple card because the paper is so pretty and you really don’t need too much else.
I have loved this Expressions in Ink Specialty Designer Series Paper since it came out in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. The artistic designs on the paper plus the gold foiling make it exceptionally beautiful. I started with a card base of Polished Pink, one of the new In Colors this year. You could choose from several other colors for this same card since there are so many colors in the designer paper, like Pale Papaya or one of the many greens we have. Before adhering the designer paper to the card base, I wrapped a piece of Polished Pink 3/8″ Open Weave Ribbon around. I love this ribbon in all the In Colors.
The greeting is in the Artistically Inked Stamp Set. It is stamped in Polished Pink on Basic White and die-cut with a small die in the Ornate Frames Dies. I adhered it to a die-cut Gold Foil piece with the fancy ends, also a die in the Ornate Frames Dies. And to help all that to stand out, I die cut a fancy circle in the Tasteful Labels Dies in Polished Pink. The pink die-cut circle is adhered right to the card and then the greeting is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals. You could add a jewel or two to the greeting if you wanted to.
This is an easy card with a simple card design, maybe only the greeting is a little fancier. It’s all about the fancy paper! Here is a similar cardI made back in July with some added die-cut leaves and the Expressions in Ink Ephemera Pack. Get out your Expressions Ink Designer Paper and make a card like my Expressions In Ink Floral Hello Card.
Okay, that’s really all that needs to be said for this blog post! But since you probably want to know more about the card and the paper, I’ll continue.
When I first saw a Stampin’ Up! video giving us Demonstrators a sneak peek at some of the new Annual Catalog products, I fell in love with this Expressions in Ink Suite! And when I saw it online in the catalog I wanted to order it right away. But it was not on our Demonstrator pre-order so I had to wait just like everyone else. My order just came and I have to say, when I opened this package of paper and looked at the sheets, I just gasped! It is beautiful and striking with the gold foil accents on one side of the sheets. You must have it!
Here are closeups of some of the sheets of paper, but even these do not do it justice!
For the card, I started out copying the catalog sample on page 96 in the upper right of the samples. It turned out not exactly the same. I dared to cut into one of the papers, trying to match the pattern I could see on the catalog page. Then I stamped the large and small flowers from the Artistically Inked Stamp Set plus the small individual leaves. The large flower is stamped in Polished Pink Ink and the small flower in Pale Papaya. The leaves are stamped in Just Jade Ink since the card base will be Just Jade. You can choose from lots of coordinating colors!
Now when I stamped these flowers and leaves, I didn’t give a lot of thought ahead of time to that gold foil piece placed over the top on the sample. In the Ephemera Pack, I was thinking that there would be individual foil cutout flowers, leaves, etc. to place over my stamped images, but there were not! The pack will still be fun to play with, it just didn’t have what I was expecting. Then I realized, I just needed to die-cut a gold foil piece from the Artistic Dies. While my flowers and leaves lined up pretty well with the die-cut, and while it doesn’t and shouldn’t be perfect because this is a watercolor look, I did add another stamped leaf and then got my foil to line up pretty well.
I highly recommend using Adhesive Sheets on the back of theGold Foil Sheets before die-cutting this intricate design, which I always forget, but I did manage to use teeny tiny dots of the Multipurpose Liquid Glue on the back. The greeting comes in the stamp set and I stamped that in Polished Pink Ink and placed it in a lower position than on the catalog sample. For a little extra, I used a strip of the Just Jade & Gold 3/8″ Braided Ribbon, a little frayed on the ends, and adhered just below the greeting a tiny bit. And for a little more bling, I wanted to try out the little adhesive-backed iridescent sequins in the Ephemera Pack. You can see about five of those placed around the card.
This is a relatively easy card to make, using both stamping and designer paper, or rather stamping ON the designer paper, plus the die-cut Gold Foil accent and other embellishments. I suggest you order this paper, or the whole Suite of products sooner rather than later because once word gets out about how beautiful this Suite is, it could be backordered by the time you decide to get it. Hopefully, Stampin’ Up! anticipated how popular this Suite would be and ordered plenty!
You might also consider the June Paper Pumpkin Kit which will coordinate with this Suite! Even if you subscribed before and dropped, you may want to come back just for this kit at least if you like the style of the Expressions In Ink Suite of products!
Here’s another view of my card without so much glare from the foil! I hope you are as attracted to this Suite as I am!
