Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Always on My Mind and a Little Candi

Sometimes I just like to stamp. No fancy pattern papers or elaborate layering. Just plain ol' stampin'. That's how this card started, just simple stamping, plus a bit of an experiment.  Oh, and a product that might be new to you.

I'd been wanting to try stamping with distress inks to on kraft card stock for quite awhile. I finally gave it a shot today, and I think the results are kind of neat. Amazingly vibrant, yet kind of vintage-y at the same time, know what I mean?


So here's the quick deets:  Beginning with a white card base, I cut another, slightly smaller white rectangle. Then I cut another rectangle from kraft and adhered it to the white rectangle. Using Beautiful Blooms (PTI) and Ranger Distress Inks, I stamped the leaves and flowers on the kraft, letting them tumble onto the white. Because of the natural properties of the distress ink (slightly distressed looking--hence "distress inks"--those marketing guys are so clever when it comes to naming stuff!), it came out with a slightly vintage-y look, which made me think of old bedspreads and drapes that had been cleaned many times--you know, slightly faded and blotchy looking. That thought lead me to thinking about fabric textures, which made me think about this herringbone-textured embossing folder. So, a quick pass through the Big Shot and voila!

The sentiment (Vintage Picnic Sentiments, PTI) was stamped in chocolate on a scrap piece of white stock, then notched and adhered with pop dots. The "brad" is really a white Candi I inked in the same chocolate ink used for the sentiment.

By the way, if you aren't familiar with Candi's--they're heavy paper "dots" that are shaped to look like brads but without the legs, weight or lumpiness.  And because they can be colored with whatever ink or marker you want to match your project, you don't have to worry about having a matching brad. And, besides,  who hasn't nearly finished a card, only to realize too late that you forgot to add the brad! Yeah, you can snip the legs off and adhere it with a glue dot, but these are so much easier! 

I did have a little trouble finding them locally, but finally saw a sale online and ordered a bunch for only $1.95 a pack.   (By the way, even if they aren't on sale, they're cheaper than real brads. Each pack contains hundreds of "brads" and will last a loooong time!) If you search around, you should be able to find them--maybe even locally. Here's one link I found where you can go to see them. (I've never purchased from this company so this is not an endorsement of this site, just a place where you can see the Candi's!)  Be sure you grab a pack or two of the matching adhesive dots--the perfect tiny size and dimension, with no cutting involved! Yeah.  Oh, one more thing--they come in LOTS of fun colors besides white, plus patterns, even metallic finishes. Cool beans! (By the way, I don't have any affiliation with the Candi's--I just think they're a neat product.) 

Okay, enough of the commercial.  Hope you try something new today. You never know--you may just like it!

2 comments:

  1. I was not familiar with Candi's...but now I NEED them! What a fabulous product...I never have the right color brad, or I have to cut their legs off and add them later...you're a genius.

    Great card, too...love the embossing of the whole thing, and the distress inks look very cool. Well done!

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  2. LOVE the vintage-y, old quilty look to this card. And I've never heard of Candi's before...now I'll have to check out the goodies lol. You are such an enabler.

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