Feathers! and Friends! and Fun! Only one of those was a surprise in this months Paper Pumpkin box – Friends of a Feather. The box is always packed with fun and I love getting together with friends to craft at my Paper Pumpkin Parties. But, I have to say, I had not used feathers in my card designs before. I was missing out. The cards as designed are stunning. The intricate details almost make alternates unnecessary. But I love figuring out what I can come up with.
I have two for you – made from one of the notecards in the kit.
The first is a full sized card and was inspired by this card by Mercedes Weber. For my card, I used a base of Thick Very Vanilla and a layer of Cajun Craze embossed with the Pinewood Planks dynamic embossing folder. I embossed the layer horizontally, which made the planks run vertically on my piece, the same direction as the feathers.
The next layer is from the trifold notecard in the kit. I cut it into three pieces and used one for this. The purple wash is a little subtler in person. I spattered Bright Copper Shimmer paint in the upper left and lower right corners. I still had some of the paint on my brush so I swiped it on the Cajun Craze feather from the kit. The Blackberry Bliss feather is treated with Wink of Stella. and the Coastal Cabana feather has smidge of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint. I was curious about the difference between the two, Wink of Stella and Champagne Mist paint. The paint has a more opaque base. The Wink of Stella is almost absorbed into the paper making it slightly darker and leaving the shine on top.
The tag, stamped with the thinking of you sentiment in Night of Navy is from the kit. I did fishtail one end of the tag. I added a True Gentleman button and a bit of twine from the kit for the bow.
After I used the watercolor wash background, I still had the intricate laser-cut front from the notecard that I couldn’t let go to waste. I used one of my Delightfully Detailed Notecards with the Mint Macaron wash on the front. I trimmed the edges so that the card base would be visible around the edge. The twine nest under the sentiment is from the kit. So is the banner. I stamped the sentiment in the middle with Night of Navy and added a couple of the Night of Navy sprigs that were included in the kit but not specified for use on the default cards. I love how Stampin’ Up! encourages us to be creative by giving us extra pieces and parts.
Neither of these cards was overly complex and both used a lot of the Paper Pumpkin materials. Have you signed up to get a box of happy creativity delivered right to your door yet? You know you want to. Subscribe here.