Rewind! February Thank You Cards!

Hello, Crafters.

I was really disappointed on Sunday when I realised my February Thank You cards were almost identical to my October 2016 Thank You cards. 

I was so disappointed that I went back to the drawing board, and used my most used stamp set - Lift Me Up - to create something new.............but still using the 2015 - 2017 InColour Envelope Paper!

I was inspired to use the balloon set because I still had on my desk, two tubs of pre-stamped, pre-cut clouds that were left over from my classes the weekend before last!

I don't normally do any stamping in advance for my classes but on this occasion, the projects we were making involved a fair amount of stamping and die-cutting, that I did lots of the medium and small clouds in advance. 

My attendees were given the option of using up to three large and three small clouds, but everyone decided to stick with my design which was one medium and two small.

I used our Notepads and Envelopes for my cards and added a layer of the Envelope Paper. 

The only designs I had left were the Delightful Dijon, Cucumber Crush and Watermelon Wonder Stripes, and the woodgrain effect in Watermelon Wonder.

I chose Tip Top Taupe for the balloon and sentiment, and Smokey Slate for the clouds. 

I tested the sentiment, which is from the Rose Wonder Stamp Set, on a scrap of envelope paper to see what it looked like, but decided it wasn't as visible as I wanted, so I tried again with the darker Soft Suede Ink. 

I still wasn't totally happy with it and decided to stamp the sentiment on strips of white cardstock, instead.

Still using Tip Top Taupe Ink, I stamped the larger balloon and die cut it using the Up & Away Framelits Dies. 
 
Eventually I ran out of ready made clouds and had to make a few more! 

The next decision was, do I add the balloon to a square, oval or circle, and then onto the card base, or adhere it straight to the Envelope Paper. 

I tested to see what each option looked like and it was no contest! 

I used Tombow to adhere the Envelope Paper, the images and the sentiment to the card base.

There was a third tub on my desk which contained some die cut clouds that hadn't been stamped, so I thought I'd use them on two cards so you could see the difference! 

To stamp or not to stamp, that is the question?? See the last two photographs.

I feel so much happier about my February Thank You cards now, and my parcel full of hostess gifts has just been delivered! Yay!

My first job once I've published today's blog is to make tomorrow's video, which will be the wedding favour box I shared here a few days ago. 

Then I can get my happy mail sorted out while I waiting for my video to upload, or download.

Is there a difference between these?  

That's it for today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.