Learning to make cards seems simple enough, but developing your own style takes time. I spend hours online looking at pretty cards – and just about as much time combing through card making books and magazines – but I am still perfecting the technique.
I love the look of vintage cards – especially Victorian era cards. I love lace, old fancy buttons and nature. Gathering just the right supplies takes time – even if you can buy most of them. Pressing flowers, leaves or other natural materials to use on cards simply takes time. You can choose to use a microwave to speed up the drying process but somehow I have not managed to convince myself I really want to do this. Allowing plant material to dry naturally is far more appealing to me.
Since we are heading into winter – and the garden season was a bust for me, I am using materials I have on hand or that are readily available to buy. Here are step-by-step instructions for one of the cards I recently made. Feel free to duplicate this card or change it to suit your tastes.
The first step was to choose a plain white card and the color of distress ink I wanted to use. I chose tumbled glass because of the blue color. I began by rubbing the ink pad itself around the outer edges of the card.
To help spread the color into the center of the card, I covered my inking tool pad with more of the same color of ink. I began at the edges where the darker color already was and worked the inking tool in continual circles. This gave the card a blue swirling pattern.
Once I was satisfied with the amount of blue on the card, I gave the top of the card a quick spray with Perfect Pearls Mist in heirloom gold. I was sure how much the distress ink would run, but it was dry enough by that point to not react to the spray. I gave the card a quick once over with my heat tool to help it dry faster. I also sprayed the gold ink on the inside of the card just to add some color.
Once the ink was dry to the touch, I chose a piece of handmade lace. I made sure the piece I chose was the right size for the card, then I saturated the back of it with spray glue. I waited about 30 seconds, then pressed the glued side of the lace against the card. Some of the edges wanted to roll a bit so I added some Elmer’s glue to them to make sure they were secure. I added a bird on a hibiscus which I had sprayed with Perfect Pearls Mists perfect pearl spray. I then dabbed at the moisture with a kleenex to create a unique look. I also added a birds nest with eggs – which was also sprayed with the perfect pearls spray.
Although the card didn’t turn out quite like I had envisioned, I think it is ok. Here are a few other cards I made.
