H2H Challenge with the Color of the Year: Bashful

This week at Heart2Heart we are highlighting projects using Close to my Heart's color of the year: Bashful. I'm deeply in love with this color. Truly, madly, and deeply. I couldn't stop at just one project so I did two, both utilizing the direct to paper technique. As always, products available for purchase are in italics with built in links for your shopping convenience.

For the first card, I began by creating a frame using two MFT stitched dies. Next, I ran Bashful paper through the Rose embossing folder and applied Bashful ink by carefully running the pad over top of the raised portions to highlight the pattern. I kept my ink pad flat and used a gentle hand. Once the ink dried, I cut the "B" out of the center using the Block Alphabet-Thin Cuts set. I backed it with very, very old gold paper with a butterfly pattern, positioning the paper behind the "B" so some of the pattern showed through. I glued the Bashful paper straight to my card base then mounted the frame over top of it with 3-D Foam Tape. The final touch was cutting out the baby's name from the birth announcement, cutting a V into each end, and attaching it to the card with glue on the ends and foam tape in the center.

On this card, I started by swiping Bashful ink over patterned paper from the Basic Fundamentals paper packet (on sale this month!) I kept swiping until I achieved full coverage. It's a little difficult to judge since the ink won't apply evenly. You have to let it soak in and dry some to make an accurate assessment. The paper will curl on you a bit, but it's not a problem. Just place it under a catalog or magazine when it's almost dry and let it sit overnight.

For the background, I started with another die cut from MFT.  I love the extra frill the scalloped border gives this card. Next I added another piece of Bashful paper, this one run through the Buffalo Plaid embossing folder. You might recognize the stitched rectangle behind the elephant. It's the center piece from the first card. The MFT die set I used is stitched on both the inside and outside of the cut which makes it doubly useful.

I stamped the elephant from the Sweet Baby set onto my altered Basic Fundamental paper in Black ink, then stamped just the tail again on the base of the white stitched background. I cut the elephant using the matching die cut, but I didn't like the border. A plain border would have been fine, but the pattern outside the lines of the elephant was too distracting for my taste. Micro-tip Scissors to the rescue. I trimmed close to the line, cutting off the tail completely, then ran a black marker along the edges so no white showed. After gluing the elephant down, I added some shading with markers and then some sparkle with a Shimmer Brush. I stamped the circle "Sweet" in Charcoal ink, added "Baby" from the Baby Animals stamp set in Black ink over the top, cut it out with a circle die, and added it to the card. Finally, I accented with retired Dreamin' Big sequins and Bitty Sparkles.

Because all Fundamental products are on sale this month, I stocked up. You might see more of this Bashful altered patterned paper in the future. (Translation: I loved what adding Bashful did to this paper so much, I covered an entire 12x12 sheet of it.)

Please come join us at Heart2Heart this week. We love seeing everyone's creativity!

Until next time,
Becca