Two Thank You Cards

My mom recently asked me to make 2 thank you cards for her to send. The inspiration for my first card came from this one I had found through Pinterest. I used 5 different embossing folders for the banners: "Bloom" & "Courtyard" by Lifestyle Crafts; "Dotted Flower Rings" & "Stitched Lace" by Sizzix; and "A2 Tiny Polka Dot" by The Paper Studio. (I only wish the embossing showed up better in the photo!)

I first cut my strips just a smidge over 3/4" wide by 5.5" long, then embossed each one. I decided at that point to stamp my greeting, from Simon Says Stamp's "Thanks" set, on my card front panel, so I would know how long to cut my banners. I cut the left banner strip to 3.5" long, and glued it down. I went on from there, cutting each banner to a different length, as in the inspiration card, and gluing them to the panel.

For the ribbon, I wanted black to match the black stamped greeting, but the closest I had in the width I wanted was a dark royal blue. So I used a Ranger Adirondack paint dauber in Pitch Black and painted a length of my blue ribbon. Problem solved! After drying it with my heat tool, I tied that around the top of my panel in a knot. I kept it in place with ATG adhesive on the back of the panel, and a dot of Ranger Multi Medium Matte under the knot on the front. Finally, I adhered my panel to a white A2 card base. Since the panel was only about 4" wide, I trimmed off the remaining 1/4" from the card base.

The inspiration for my second card also came from Pinterest. Because I didn't have an "on the edge"-style die like in that card, I used one of the "Many Thanks" dies by My Favorite Things, and some partial die-cutting. I die cut just the upper part of the letters, leaving a small bit along the bottom edge uncut. I used a craft knife to cut the spaces around the letters free, and cut the cardstock below the word, leaving a strip about 1/8" wide.

For the lower portion, I used the "Mini Aztec" stencil by The Crafter's Workshop. I masked the upper portion of a piece of white cardstock I'd cut to 4.25x5.5". I taped the stencil down over that, and spread Ranger Texture Paste over it. Once I had covered it with a thin coat, I removed the stencil and set the panel aside to dry, while I cleaned my stencil & palette knife. After the paste had dried, I replaced the stencil over the panel. I then blended Distress inks in Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, and Chipped Sapphire over the dried paste, creating an ombre look across the panel. Unfortunately, when I removed the tape masking off the upper portion of the panel, it tore the paper a little. So I just cut that portion off, and adhered the remaining cardstock to the front of a white A2 card base. I used my two-way glue pen to adhere the "thanks" above the panel, and this card was finished!