Ink to Paper February Release Countdown Day 4

Hello and welcome to the 4th and final day of the Ink to Paper February release countdown! Happy Valentine's Day as well! Nothing quite says Happy Valentine's Day like a bunch of spring and Easter cards! LOL! I've decided to showcase this one first, that says "You are loved", since it has a message of love! LOL! I have A LOT to share with you today; four projects in total so I hope you'll get comfy and enjoy!

Each of the four cards I'm sharing today use the new Bouquet Backdrop die and the new Border Bling: Chain Die. I pulled in sentiments from previous days of the countdown to show you additional ways in which they can be used! Also, the last card uses the new Inside Greetings: Get Well stamp set, which is perfect for this time of year!

To begin this colorful design, I die cut the Bouquet Backdrop using watercolor paper and then painted it using a beautiful palette of metallic watercolors that my sister bought me for Christmas. They are the "Master's Touch" brand from Hobby Lobby and they are really nice! It is a double pan set, so it has a lot of beautiful color options. I spritzed the entire die cut with water and got to work painting it with these beautiful springy colors!

I set it aside to dry and got to work on the chain border. I hadn't anticipated painting it at all, but once the idea popped into my head, I ran with it! Unfortunately I didn't die cut it out of watercolor paper, but rather Stamper's Select White Cardstock. Thank Heavens it didn't end up by mattering one bit! It dried nicely without any warping!

I have a tip to share with you when using this chain die; the die cut piece is very fragile and delicate, which I love, but it can be tricky to get it lined up straight when gluing it down. So....I actually dry embossed the Border Bling: Chain Die onto the panel of white cardstock which created a perfect "channel" to lay the chain into. I added glue to each of the corners and then the straight portions in between each link, so to speak, which allowed me to glue it down securely but without a lot of fuss or mess!

I layered the painted bouquet in the middle using foam squares wherever they would fit on the delicate flowers and leaves. I also added some metallic gold and black paint splatter to the white panel for added detail and dimension. The sentiment, which is from the new Bold Blooms stamp set that was showcased on Day 2, is stamped in Jet Black StazOn ink onto a strip of vellum and then wrapped around the white and black panels. The entire focal panel is layered onto a Hibiscus Burst topfolding A2 card base using foam squares.

I added a trio of sparkling clear sequins for added sparkle and shine!

My second card uses all of the same supplies as the first, with the addition of the Banner Builder Basics, which has been fun to use during this release even though it's a little bit older! 

For this card I die cut the Bouquet Backdrop out of white cardstock and then added some ink blending to each of the different leaves and flowers. Once that was done, I spritzed it with water to give it that beautiful oxidized look that I love. 

I die cut the banner twice and layered them together using foam squares after I stamped the sentiment, which is from the Risen stamp set. The tails are also added with foam squares. I added some Raspberry Fizz ink around the edges to give it added detail. The other sentiment, which is also from Risen, is heat embossed in silver onto a strip of vellum. I've done a lot of "tweaked" sentiments on the banners during this release, but discovered a fun tip I'd like to share with you to get them aligned perfectly. For this particular sentiment, I laid my clear acrylic block on top of the actual die. This allowed me to see through the block so that I could get the sentiment perfectly arced like the die. This sentiment just barely fit, so this technique was fabulous!

I die cut the chain out of Smokey Shadow cardstock to pull in the cool tones from the silver embossing. I layered this bouquet on the panel in the same way as the previous card, but found that the bouquet needed some extra "balance" so to speak. I decided to use one of the die cut flowers from the Bold Blooms set and add the same ink blending as the purple flower. I tucked it up in the upper left corner to give the card the balance it needed.

The base of this card is Pale Peony, with layers of Limeade Ice to give it some contrast. I love playing with colors to find the perfect visual balance. You can see that I added some Nuvo drops to the berry branch and here and there around the bouquet; I used the clear ones to mimic the look of dew!

The colors that I used for this bouquet are Simply Chartreuse for the leaves, Sweet Blush, Pale Peony and Raspberry Fizz for the pink flower and berries, Harvest Gold and Summer Sunrise for the large flower, and Lavender Moon and Winter Wisteria for the purple flowers.

You can really see the dimension of the banner in this photo, and the way that I assembled it to really give it a realistic look.

My third card uses the Bouquet Backdrop in a different way; I chose to dry emboss it to give the background a texture and then I added the bouquet from the recently released Birthday Bouquet stamp set to play off of the embossed detail.

When I first saw this chain die, I knew I wanted to try it in gold. If you read my post from Day 2 then you might have read my story about this gold paper. It is incredibly delicate, and paired with the chain die, I almost gave up, but I pressed forward and finally got one die cut! Unfortunately I didn't do the dry embossing technique to lay this chain down, and it was a little tricky! LOL! This gold paper is SUPER fragile, but I think it turned out ok!

The bow is also die cut from the same paper; I glued the ends to the card to keep them from whisping away!

I find myself reaching for this fun little tag that is included in the Tag Creations: Modern Gift Die. It is the perfect fit for many of the sentiments that are included in the Just Sentiments series, this one being from the new Just Sentiments: Easter.

A sprinkling of sequins finish off this Easter design!

This is my fourth and final project for today and for the countdown! I have been using so many pastels, I decided to go for a warmer palette that is sure to brighten someone who is under the weather!

This is actually the first card that I made using these supplies, but I did ink blending on this bouquet as well. I spritzed it with water as well and set it aside to dry.

This particular sentiment, which is from the new Inside Greetings: Get Well, fits perfectly onto this banner. I just couldn't resist using them again and again, as you can see! ha ha!

I used a post it note to cover up the main portion of the sentiment and then added some black ink splatter over the card to strike a color balance as well as add extra detail.

I added some Nuvo drops to this design as well; I played around with sequins, but in the end opted for the drops, which I love!

Well, this brings us to the end of the countdown! Everything will be available for purchase on February 15th at 10 PM EST. Thanks for fluttering by!