Tuesday 26 February 2013

Promises of Spring by Astrid

Hello everyone and welcome! Can you believe it is nearly the end of February and in less than a month time the official start of Spring has come? Well I for one am certainly ready for a bit of warmth and sunshine!!

Today I am sharing a kind of card book made from two envelopes. Inside are two pockets for tags or gift cards or whatever you please.

This is how to make it:
First put the flap of one of your envelopes inside the other one and then glue them together as shown on the photos.
outside

inside
Next cover  the out side with scrapbook paper. You could of course also just ink them and create your own background, but I have an endless supply of papers and decided that really I should use some of it, also to add more strength to the project.  I inked and stamped over it to add more colour and make it more interesting. For this I used the following back ground stamps: Calligraphic Mat 12 and Chicken Wire Background. I also used various Distress Inks and Dylusion Sprays.
Before covering the inside flaps with paper in a similar way, I ran them through a Texture Fade embossing folder to add texture. I then stamped some images from the Insects and Butterflies 1 set and the Birds of a Feather set in Archival Ink Jet Black, fussy cut them, coloured with water colour pencils and then after the papers were stuck to the envelopes, used them to embellish my project. I'll let the photos tell the story of how ☺...


A few spritzes of Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold added some sparkle still and I rubbed some gilding paste over the raised ambossed bits.
I then made a die cut tag to fit inside one of the pockets and inked and stamped it in the same way using the Birds of a Feather set. Again I coloured the images with water colour pencils and added shadows around the images to add depth.


For the other pocket I computer generated a card with a Spring Poem on it
Finally for the front cover I die cut a label  out of scrapbook paper and then stamped the Caterpillar Words in Jet Black Archival again and finished it all of with some roses and a piece of String to tie it shut.
Well, that's it. Hope you found some inspiration here today to create your own gift card and thank you so much for visiting!

23 comments:

Sarah said...

I have tons of envelopes that could use some help. This is a great way to transform them into something useful. Thanks, Astrid!

Unknown said...

Beautiful!

Ephemera said...

Fabulous idea to use envelopes, so beautiful and creative. XX

Paula Whittaker said...

what a great idea on using envelopes....fab project again Astrid x

Maryann Laursen said...

This project here is so awesome Astrid and I love how it turned out. As always you´ve used such wonderful colors and images for it, so it´s an absolutely stunning result, when it´s finished. I love this one too.

Jenny Marples said...

So much to love about this project Astrid! Great idea for using envelopes and of course your use of colour and embossing is sublime. Hugs, Jenny x

Anonymous said...

Beautiful project!!

Claudia N. said...

This is wonderful, Astrid!

Love every detail and especially the DIY-factor takes it even one level higher for me...to "marvellous!" ;)

Hugs,

Claudia xx

Artyjen said...

What a transformation of envelopes...fab ;)
xoxo Sioux

Redanne said...

A truly beautiful creation Astrid, great use of envelopes and the bonus is that there are pockets to store things - brilliant idea. A x

Inkypinkycraft said...

Gorgeous! Trace x

Margie Higuchi said...

This is a wonderful project and a great idea :) Thanks for the inspiration!!

Marisa Job said...

Just beautiful!!!

Bärbel said...

Eine wunderbare Idee und so traumhaft schön gestaltet! Ich liebe die warmen Farben und die Eckprägungen mit dem feinen Goldschimmer. Auch die beiden Tags sind ganz toll gestaltet.

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

So beautiful!!!

Patricia Howarth said...

Astrid, this is so beautiful, and a really fantastic idea xx

Dorthe said...

This is the sweetest book, such a wonderful idea, dear Astrid- and I love your added papers out-and inside, and the embossing and stamping- on them giving more texture and life! The tags to put into the poskets are lovely, and the hide away idea, so great.
Hugs and thankyou for the idea.
Dorthe-x

Words and Pictures said...

The envelope structure is so great - love that you can insert whatever you like... and your colour blending, stamping and detailing is, as always, exemplary! Beautiful, Astrid.
Alison x

gayle said...

This is sooo pretty, butterflies and swirls right up my street and the colours are gorgeous :) lovely Astrid!

Rossella said...

Gorgeous and inspirational
Rosie x

Robin said...

Absolutely beautiful project! Everything is fabulous and I love the embossed corners.

Hugs,
Robin

Janny Jager said...

Fabulous Idea Astrid
The "book"is amazing .
Love every detail.

Greetings Janny

Geraldine said...

gorgeous creation, and wonderful use of envelopes.