Thankful for You Notecards

I needed a couple of quick thank you cards, so I decided to use some of the Stampin’ Up!® notecards which are precut and scored. I used the same technique on both cards and just varied the accent color on each of them. While I’m using these notecards as thank you cards, they could easily work as Thanksgiving cards as well since that holiday is right around the corner.

For the focal panel, I started with a piece of watercolor paper. Using Basic Gray ink, I stamped the tree base which is from the Totally Trees stamp set. Next, I used Stampin’ Write markers to ink up the leaves stamp. I covered the entire stamp with Crushed Curry ink then randomly tapped on some Cajun Craze and Elegant Eggplant then stamped it onto my tree image.

Using a mister bottle held about 10-12″ above the paper, I gently spritzed on some water until the ink of the leaves began to move. Since the Basic Gray ink is archival, I didn’t have to worry about it spreading. Once I was satisfied with how the leaves looked, I used my heat tool to dry the piece completely.

To complete the scene on my watercolor piece, I added some small rolling hills using Always Artichoke ink. I used a stamp from the limited edition Thoughtful Branches stamp set that was available a few months ago, but they could easily be drawn in by hand as well using the Always Artichoke marker. After adding the hills, I used the blender pen to move the ink around a bit and give the hills some color.

I die cut the watercolor piece using the new Stitched Shapes Framelits. I just love the tiny stitched detail these Framelits add! I love how well they coordinate with the layering shapes Framelits, too. In this case, I used one of the scalloped squares from the Layering Squares Framelits to create a mat using Elegant Eggplant cardstock. I adhered the watercolor panel to it using Tear & Tape.

For the sentiment, I used the Thankful for You stamp from the Sheltering Tree stamp set. I stamped it the same Basic Gray ink I used to stamp the tree trunk. After stamping the sentiment, I adhered the matted watercolor panel to the notecard using Dimensionals. To complete the card and add a little bling factor, I traced over the tree trunk and branches using a clear Wink of Stella pen.

As I said, both of the notecards I made used the exact same techniques. I just varied the shapes and colors. For the second card, I used the stitched circle Framelits to die cut my watercolor panel then used a scalloped circle from the Layering Circles to create a mat using Crushed Curry cardstock. Everything else is exactly the same.

I’m entering this card in the following challenges:

• The Paper Players – the current theme is thankful.
• Stamp, Ink, Paper – the current theme is grateful.
• TGIF Challenges – the current theme is a sketch challenge.
• Sunday Stamps – the current theme is Autumn splendor.