Back to cards ...

My first experiences of papercrafting were as a cardmaker.  Since I discovered scrapbooking, I don't do as much cardmaking as I used to, but I still make cards for family and friends (much more personal than bought ones).

When I needed to make a couple of cards the other day, I discovered some pretty patterned papers I had forgotten I owned.  As 6x6 papers they seemed ideal for the base of a square card (trimmed down a little to fit). The pattern being mostly around the edge of the paper meant that there was a need for a central image or focal point of some sort.  I wanted to use my favourite butterfly stamp but stamping it directly on to the paper seemed a little stark.  So then I remembered a technique I used ages ago ... I found some white tissue paper and crumpled it a little before lightly brushing over a couple of distress ink pads in toning colours and then spritzing with a glimmer mist. Then I stamped the butterfly image on to this with a darker toning colour, tore around the edge and adhered this to the centre of the card ...

... I did this in two totally different colourways and could do it again and again (in fact, I probably will as I think it looks really effective but difficult to capture effectively on a photo).  And as the tissue paper was originally used as wrapping (part of a package from my favourite online scrapping retailer), it was free too! Us scrappers love to recycle :-)