I ordered the Around the Corner set because I loved the way the sentiment literally went around the corners. I also thought some of the graphics were super fun. But sometimes, you get a new set and your mind goes blank. How am I going to use this to make a really cool card? I went to my go-to source, Pinterest, but still wasn’t feeling inspired. Then I remembered – the ANNUAL CATALOG! Not sure how I forgot about such an amazing resource for how to use our products. There, on page 40, was a great card. I liked the horizontal stripes, the balloons, and the embossed vellum.

For my card, I decided to go a bit more masculine by using a Night of Navy color scheme. I had the perfect stripe paper in the Twinkle Twinkle DSP pack. I layered that on the Night of Navy base and over that I put the piece of Vellum embossed with the Scattered Sequins dynamic embossing folder. With vellum, you want to use the lightest pressure possible, so minimize your sandwich, no shims, just the folder, and one plate, on your base.
The center of the card is a 3-1/4″ square piece of Whisper White. The stamps in the corners are done in Night of Navy. To get the shadow around the words, I used my Stamparatus to line up the image exactly and stamped in Balmy Blue.
The balloons are from my scrap pile. The dotted balloons are in the discounted Tutti-Frutti DSP pack. This is in the Clearance center now – don’t wait if you like it. The other balloon was a scrap piece I had from using ink with a baby wipe to blot color on the paper. At some point, I swiped leftover Vegas Gold Shimmer Paint on the scrap so it wouldn’t go to waste. I used the Balloon Bouquet punch on the various papers. They were added to the card with a combination of glue dots and Dimensionals to add interest. Then I used Silver Metallic Thread as the balloon strings.
Before I mounted the square to the card, I added four Night of Navy brads from the Basic Brads pack. The last step was to add some sequins from last year’s Paper Pumpkin kit. Use an embellishment you have or consider the Faceted Gems as an option.
Finally, just to make this card even more special, I decided to do a lined envelope. I was inspired by the lined envelopes in the To You and Yours Paper Pumpkin kit. It just adds a bit more. This is also a great way to use up the paper in your stash that didn’t speak to you. I cut mine from a 6×6 piece long retired, but in the right color. Cut the paper at 5-5/8″ x 5-3/4″. On the 5-3/4″ side, score the piece at 4-3/8″. Use a bit of Tombow liquid glue to secure it in the envelope, especially on the flap. You can use a shorter length if you don’t want to line the entire envelope. I trimmed the extra smidge that shows on the tapered edges of the flap with my Paper Snips. If want an easier solution for this, the Beautiful Layers thinlit dies includes a die for cutting envelope flap liners.
Hope you enjoy some crafting over the holiday break.