Playing With My Stash

I've run low on solid coloured cardstock and while I'm waiting for my order to come in, I thought I'd play with the kraft and black that I do have and see what I could do with it. I wanted to see if I could do something other than folksy or vintage looks you normally see done with kraft and black.

I pulled out my Mariposa mat stack and made some kraft card blanks and started playing. I was amazed and how elegant the kraft and black could look when paired with the right papers, inks, and embellishments.

The card on the left was made by taking the scraps after I cut the papers and making a mat that I cut down and glued to the card base. The red butterfly on top is matted twice and then placed on dimensional foam tape to make it stick up a bit.

For the center card, I used some Prima Color Bloom sprays on some old flowers I had laying around. And Wink of Stella Gold brought out one of my flowers beautifully. I layered it on top of a flower sprayed with Prima Color Bloom in Worn Leather. The Worn Leather gives a nice brownish gold tone with a nice gold shimmer.

I used the Ranger Distress Stain in Peacock Feathers to colour the blue flower. It's brighter than I wanted, but still looks nice on the card. The tiny butterfly near the center of the card is a turquoise blue; it's hard to see in this picture.

The flower that matches the paper on the right side card was cut out of the scrap I cut off when I made the card and is held with an antique brass brad.

Try your hand at making your kraft paper look a little more elegant. You may be surprised at what you come up with.