Cut Cardstock:
- Card Base: Early Espresso; 8 ½” x 5 ½” – score at 4 ¼”
- Second Layer: Very Vanilla; 5 ¼” x 4” – cut two
- Third Layer: Very Vanilla; 5” x 3 ¾”
- Scrap of Very Vanilla; approx. 3” x 1”
- Strip of Early Espresso; 4” x 3/8”
Snail one piece of the 5 ¼” x 4” Very Vanilla cardstock onto the card front.
Create the ‘sunset sky’ on the 5” x 3 ¾” Very Vanilla cardstock.
If you have never used a sponge brayer before, practice on some scrap paper first. The technique is not difficult. Roll the brayer several times in ONE DIRECTION on top of the ink pad – this will ensure even coverage of ink onto the brayer. Roll it onto the cardstock several times starting just OFF the cardstock and working your way onto the cardstock, again to ensure even ink coverage. You can continue to re-ink the brayer and roll onto the cardstock until you achieve the desired depth of color.
Using a sponge brayer, apply Daffodil Delight ink onto the cardstock, leaving about ½” untouched at the bottom. Using the 1 ½” circle punch, punch out a circle from a Post-it note, making sure to have some of the sticky part of the post-it note included in the circle, then place the circle onto the inked cardstock towards upper left side. This is creating a ‘mask’ to resemble the sun in the sky. You may have to wait a few minutes for the ink to dry completely before attaching the post-it note circle. You’ll be applying other colors of ink on top of this, and the circle mask will prevent the other colors from getting onto the yellow-inked cardstock. Refer to photo below.
Roll the sponge brayer onto scrap paper to clean off the ink before using another color.
Next, apply Pumpkin Pie ink with the sponge brayer on top of the cardstock, beginning at the top and working your way down. The ink should be a bit heavier at the top and get progressively lighter as you work down so that some of the Daffodil Delight ink shows through near the bottom. Refer to the photo below.
Clean the brayer and apply Rich Razzleberry to the cardstock beginning at the top, and again heavier at the top and lighter at the bottom to leave some of the Pumpkin Pie color showing. Tear a piece of scrap paper and hold it near the bottom of the cardstock as a mask, so that it will resemble the ground. Refer to photo below. Using the sponge brayer, apply Mossy Meadow ink to the bottom part of the cardstock.
Remove the circle and ‘ground’ mask and your cardstock should look like a sunset sky with a beautiful sun and a grassy ground area.
Using Early Espresso ink and the bare trees from the Winter Woods stamp set (available in clear or wood mount), stamp the trees onto the cardstock, making sure the tree trunks are on the green ground area. Refer to finished card photo.
Using Early Espresso ink, stamp ‘Thinking of You’ from the Colorful Seasons stamp set onto the 3” x 1” piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, then punch out with the Classic Label punch. Use mini-dimensionals to attach this piece onto the card front near the upper right corner.
Snail the finished design onto the card front. Refer to finished card photo.
INSIDE:
Snail the Early Espresso strip near the left side of the remaining piece of Very Vanilla cardstock.
Using the small leaf branch stamp from the Peaceful Place stamp set (in clear or wood mount), stamp the leaves with Mossy Meadow ink near the upper left corner. Stamp a sentiment using Early Espresso ink. I used a sentiment from the Blended Seasons stamp set which was only available in August 2018, but there are many appropriate sentiments you could use from the Colorful Seasons stamp set as well as from other sets such as Love What You Do or Petal Palette (also in clear mount or wood mount).
Snail the stamped piece to the inside of the card.
ENVELOPE:
Using Mossy Meadow ink and the leaf stamp used for the inside of the card, carry that over to the lower left corner of the envelope to complete your project.
If this is the first time you have worked with a sponge brayer, it may seem a little labor intensive to you at first, but I know after 5 minutes you will become an expert at this technique and that you’ll want to use this technique on other cards as well!
This color combination is great for fall or Halloween cards. You could also experiment with making a sky background for a Halloween card using darker shades of blue (Night of Navy) and purple (Gorgeous Grape), using a smaller circle punch to mask off a white circle for the moon. You can just see the bats flying through the air!
You could also use various shades of blue for a winter sky for Christmas cards – wouldn’t a snowman look cute? Or put some stars in the sky and the Three Kings from the Illuminated Christmas stamp set (also in clear mount or wood mount). The possibilities are endless! Have fun!
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What a beautiful card! I love the colors you used and the suggestions for making this a Christmas / Winter themed card. Thank you for the clear instructions 🙂
Thank you Stacey!