Picture Perfect Anniversary

The Polaroid 2-step masking technique that was the focus of this week’s Papertrey Ink Make it Monday video caught my eye, so I decided to try it out for myself. I ended up with two cards with the same layout and design.

First up is an anniversary card. I used kraft cardstock and Fresh Snow ink to make the “frame,” following the directions in the tutorial. I used several heart images from the Heart Prints set inside the frame, stamping them in Scarlet Jewel ink. After stamping the hearts, I left the copy paper mask in place and lightly sprayed the hearts with a shimmer mist for a subtle sparkle. I outlined the kraft panel with narrow ScorTape and covered the tape with glitter for even more sparkle.

The kraft panel is layered on a narrow Dark Chocolate mat, then set on a Scarlet Jewel panel and kraft card base. The deep brown sets the image panel off just a bit from the scarlet behind it.

To keep the attention on the hearts, I embellished the card with just a double looped bow made from seam binding. I was a little stumped about what to do as far as a sentiment and finally settled on using a die cut tag made from the Tiny Tags die set and hanging it from the middle of the bow. The tag has the word “love” stamped on it in Dark Chocolate ink—just enough!

Materials Used:
Heart Prints and Holiday tree stamp sets, Scarlet Jewel, Dark Chocolate, and Fresh Snow inks, Scarlet Jewel, Dark Chocolate, and Kraft cardstock, Tiny Tags die, twine (Papertrey Ink); Dazzling Diamonds (Stampin’ Up!); Frost Shimmer Spritz (Tsukineko); ScorTape; seam binding

This wintery version is actually my first attempt at the frame technique. I wasn’t as happy with how it turned out—the frame seemed too solid and wide to me. Other than that, the card is pretty much the same as the anniversary one with a different color scheme and one less layer. On this one, I used a bunch of snowflake images from the Snowfall and Snowfall Additions sets, stamped in Aqua Mist ink. There’s a light coating of shimmer spray over them and teeny, tiny pearls at the centers of the snowflakes.

I used a double looped seam binding bow and tag here, too, but this time, I also added a button to the center of the bow. Even though I wasn’t completely thrilled with this one, the wintery look and feel was a nice change of pace in the summer heat!

Materials Used:
Snowfall, Snowfall Additions, and Holiday Tree stamp sets, Aqua Mist and Fresh Snow inks, Aqua Mist and Kraft cardstock, Tiny Tags die, Hawaiian Shores button, twine (Papertrey Ink); Dazzling Diamonds (Stampin’ Up!); Frost Shimmer Spritz (Tsukineko); self-adhesive pearls (Recollections); ScorTape; seam binding