Mosaic Christmas card

This was one of those lying-awake-in-bed ideas... I wanted to try pressing the March Betterpress Society plate, Teardrop Mosaic without ink.  Metallic cardstock works really well for this, so I pulled out some Emerald Prism Studio metallic cardstock and gave it a try.

                             

After I pressed it onto my cardstock... (check it out below!) I somehow decided that I should try to make it into a Christmas card?

I pulled out my Holiday Blooms die set from Spellbinders, and found a bunch of pieces already cut in cream cardstock.  So I added a few contrasting black pieces, and some metallic gold (for even more glimmer...).  This was an unusual colour combo for me, but I felt like the metallic tones already adding enough excitement to the card without going crazy with colour.  

The sentiment was also pressed without ink - and was from the Christmas Whimsy press plate from last fall.

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Warm painted background

This card is the warm version of the blue watercolour card I posted recently.  I painted them at the same time, doing the same wet-on-wet technique to move the colour around.  I painted both the card base, and a large scrap strip that I used to cut out the bits and pieces.

I hot foiled the grid plate from the March Betterpress Society set, Teardrop Mosaic onto my background using Rose Gold foil - and it's stunning!  The Floral Spray die set from Spellbinders was used to cut the flowers and foliage from my painted scraps.  I had a little metallic rose gold cardstock, so cut the small leaves and flower centers from it for a little shimmer.

After creating my floral grouping, I used the You Are Everything Sentiments plate to press my sentiment in Lisa Horton Copper Pot metallic ink on watercolour paper, and added it with some foam adhesive.

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Floral Mosaic

My second card with the March Betterpress Society plate, Teardrop Mosaic, was done using just two of the teardrop shapes.

I pressed the two floral teardrops on six different pastel colours of regular cardstock, using Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink for a softer look (it was Easter, so I reached for pastels!).  I was originally going to put them in a floral shape, but decide to split them, and add a sentiment across the middle.

 

The sentiment is from the Inkspired Wishes plate set from a few months ago - pressed in Lisa Horton Silver Shine metallic ink, and adhered with 3d foam adhesive.  I matted my white rectangle with a matte silver cardstock, and mounted it all on Art Impressions patterned paper.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop!

Teardrop Mosaic

For my first project with the March Betterpress Society plate set, Teardrop Mosaic, I did some painting!

This set includes the all-over grid pattern press plate, three sentiments, and four patterned designs in the teardrop shape.  I wanted to do a card featuring just the grid background, so I started off by painting a watercolour piece.

Using my set of Gansai Tambei paints, I did a pale turquiose wash on the entire piece, then with the panel still very wet, I started dropping colour around the outside, allowing it to bleed softly.  I made sure to keep the colour random, and made some areas darker than others - then added more of a navy shade in several places.

I also painted the same colours on a scrap strip of watercolour paper, along with a couple of complimentary colours.  I allowed the pieces to dry, and placed them under a heavy book overnight to flatten them.

Using Betterpress Black ink, I pressed the grid and one of the sentiments onto my panel.  *I had intentionally kept the center lighter, as I knew I'd be placing the sentiment there.

I used the Spring Florals stamp set from Pigment Craft Co. to stamp all the flowers and foliage onto my scrap piece, then fussy cut them all out.  The base was trimmed a little, then mounted on a piece of black cardstock.

I arranged all the pieces in opposite corners, then added a few silver pearls as the flower centers.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.