Pattern paper can really make a card interesting and fun… but don’t think you have to stick to rectangles and mats!  Play with your patterns and use them to create different shapes in your backgrounds.  Like this Carousels & Cupcakes designer paper, it makes the perfect backdrop for the pretty and vintage Carousel Birthday stamp set.  Especially when you start coloring and sponging your pieces.

Tips for making this card:

• Go Diagonal! I thought the diamond patterned paper was really neat, but it makes a great border when you cut it down to be a strip exactly one diamond high!  I cut my piece longer than I needed (make your patterned piece about 1” wider than the piece you are glueing it on to) so I could angle it across my card to get the cool diagonal look.
• Make it vintage – I loved the slightly distressed look that you get out of the package from the Cupcakes & Carousels paper, so I kept that vintage feel going by grabbing my sponge dauber and the Soft Suede ink pad and sponging the edges of all the papers I used in the card.  Soft Suede and Crumb Cake are my go-to colors for sponging.  Both are soft and it is just how dark you want to make things go.
• Make your sentiments easy by punching them out! The Thoughtful Banners stamp set gives you lots of great basic sentiments, you can get it bundled with the coordinating punch which means it is easy to add a simple sentiment and not have to worry about not stamping perfectly when you are almost done with your card.  Plus, you can do fun things like add some of the Gold Metallic Thread behind your sentiment for a pretty, shimmery layer.
• Have fun and relax with coloring! The carousel horse from this stamp set is perfect for coloring in.  I actually used the Gold Wink of Stella brush to color in the pole and then used my ink pads and blender pens to color in the rest of the horse.  You can use markers for a darker/richer color, watercolor pencils for an easy color variations, or your ink pads and a blender pen for an easy way to use the colors you already have!

Want to make this at home? Here are the project supplies:

January News, Notes, and Specials!

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