A Lovely Simple Card

I had such a hard time putting this card together but in the end I am happy with how it turned out.  I guess I had a hard time because my mojo was a bit gone and my mind kept jumping around.  Yikes!
This card was made following one of the sketches this week at Raqs Challenge on the Cricut message board.

 

I cut out several things as I was trying to make a decorative frame around the card.  So here is what I did and I wish I had taken photos as I went along (I will try and remember to do that), I love using Stretch Your Imagination for its frames.  The loopy white area is one of the frames on Stretch Your Imagination but the center of it is rectangular and I wanted it to be oval so using my Gypsy I placed an oval shape from George over the rectangle and hid some of the cuts I didn't need cut.  When I do something I usually cut it from just plain inexpensive white cardstock  to see if it is what I really want.  I have a hard time just seeing it on the screen, I need the actual piece, I know the Gypsy is suppose to help you not have to do that to save paper but I still like to see it, plus having a cut out helps me pick out my papers to use.   I liked the way this one looked and liked the size which is 5 1/2 inch square so I decided to use this and started to look for papers.  Well still I am always trying things and playing around I took the frame cutout and covered it with Versamark watermark ink and sprinkled it with white pearl embossing powder and heated it.  I like the way the color looked so I found a paper that went well with the pearl look.   So in this case my sample cut was not a waste.  Of course they never are a waste as I have a tray I throw them in and then split them up and give them to my two sister-in-laws that I got into card making.  The love getting their packets now and then. :)  The background paper I chose is from DCWV Luxury stack, as it has a pearl like shimmer to it.
For the center oval I did the same thing, cutting it out of plain white paper till I got the size and shape I wanted.  The scalloped part was cut from Ashley's Alphabet , and the back part from George.  What would I do without good old George.   The center part I did cut out on an iovry pearl paper and then stamped it with a Gina K stampe from the Hugs & Paryers set and heat embossed it with Champagne Pearl powder.  The scalloped part again I covered with Versamark and covered it with the same Champagne powder, however I did it three times on this to give it a very smooth almost look of metal.  I pop dotted the oval to give the card more depth.  Here is a closer look.

Now I wish I would have given the frame an additional coat of powder.   I also saved the negative cuts (pieces left on the mat) using tacky drywall tape.  I will use it someday on another card.  Here is a picture of it on the tacky mess, I also prayed it with Glimmer Mist to give it a golden orange color.

Well thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my card.  I would love to hear what you think. Thanks

I will be putting this into the following challenges.
Crafty Catz - Anything goes
Paper Play - Sparkle Galore
Paper Pretties - Flowers
Papertake Weekly  - Grow - Bloom

Another way to use drywall mesh tape

Another card I made using drywall mesh tape, but this time I didn't use it to take the cuts off the mat, but used it as part of my card.  This is still one of my favorite cards, you know one of those cards that finds a special place in your memory.  I took the mesh tape and inked it by just rubbing my ink pads on it.  Then I stuck it onto the corresponding color card stock and punched out the flowers using a small flower punch, added colored bling to the center of the flowers.  The grass I inked with green ink and then layered several layers but pulled some of the cross threads out and trimmed it to look like grass, hope this makes sense.  LOL   I put all this behind a "window".  I made the window by cutting out the frame from Stretch Your Imagination several times out of chip board (3 I think) and then once from the yellow card stock.  I glued the 3 chipboard frames together, then cut out a piece of the clear plastic that the Cricut cartridges come in and glued that on top of them.  I Cuttlebugged the yellow and placed it on top (oops I embossed it upside down) to make my "window".  I embossed the paper behind the flowers with Birds & Swirls for the back of the frame.  The happy birthday is a rub on that I placed on a plain strip of white paper them used my corner rounder to round the corners.  The floral background paper is from a K & Company stack.  Hope you like this card and try this mesh tape, would love to see what you come up with!

Here is a close up of the flowers.................

Using Drywall Mesh Tape in making Cards

A year or so ago I read about using Drywall Mesh Tape to remove things from you Cricut mat keeping them in order and evenly spaced.  Here is a LINK Clever Someday where you can read more about it.  It is very reasonable to purchase at any home center or hardware store.  It comes in rolls or sheets.

OK, here is what I did with it.  Below is a picture of a frame I cut out from Stretch Your Imagine and attached to a card base.  The one on the left is the actual frame cut and the one on the right is the negative cut that I lifted off the mat using the drywall mesh tape. 

Here is a picture of the drywall mesh tape that I used.  It is re-positionable and will not damage or rub off on your cardstock.  I picked up all the negative cuts off the mat using the mesh tape, then flipped it over and put my Zig glue on it then placed it on my card base, rubbed it a little let it dry for a few seconds them peeled off the mesh tape and the pieces stuck to the card base. 

Try this technique, it works great.  I have also picked up things like a "Happy Birthday" cut and then stored it still stuck to the mesh tape, that way it all stays together and doesn't get bent.