New Catalog Sneak Peek Pemberly Card

I got in some bonus stamping time on my birthday today, as the snow was coming down so thick that my dear hubby couldn't get out of the driveway. I used it to goo advantage, working on another card swap for the new catalog, inspired by the Moxie Fab Cool Tools Diecut Challenge!

I stamped the card background using my new Pemberly WOTG stamp set - I am dying over that beautiful swirly stylized flower! I slightly modified an awesome ghost stamping technique I saw in a Betsy Veldman video. I wanted the effect of the flowers flowing onto my diecut, but I also wanted the dimension of the actual diecut.

I cut my focus embellishment Banner diecut using my Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. I also cut that adorable scalloped border using the same cartridge. The border is actually a double width ribbon border Cricut cut that I love to trim in half and use for edging - double the edging with less waiting!

After I stamped the background images using Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, and Desert Sand inks I covered my card with vellum. I laid the Banner diecut on top of the vellum and used the vellum as a mask to protect my card while I stamped coordinating images onto the diecut so it looks like the flowers are flowing onto the banner diecut. I stamped off the inked images two or three times to get the muted tones I needed on the diecut to let me sentiment really pop at full strength. It was easy to make the images wrap onto the diecut using the vellum as a mask, since you can
(almost) see right through it.
After wrapping the diecut with B&T and some of the new Baker's Twine in Grey Wool, I felt it needed a bit more shine. So I painted a few of my new Bitty Pearls with a dab of pearl paint mixed with Outdoor Denim Reinker to get blue pearl opaques.

Cricut Mat Tip: There's been lots of chatter about the new Cricut mats not being sticky enough. One of the Cruisers got an email from Cricut today that says when you get the new style mats for Cricut expressions (with the dark outline around the edge) you will need to activate the adhesive by running the mat under warm water and letting it air dry or burnish the mat with the plastic cover on top. I just ran my new mats under the water, and they already seem stickier. I wasn't having too big a problem, and I like that they aren't as sticky as the old style mats...but I'm glad there's a trick to amp up the stickiness!