My First Spiral Rose and Miniature Envelope - Thank You Card

So here I was on Memorial Weekend playing around in my craft room and getting stuck on how to embellish a card from Cricut’s “Just Because Cards”. The card design I chose to work with features a ladybug and a phrase called Cute As a Bug (key 25), but I wasn’t happy with the choice of papers I used for the card base so it took me in a completely different direction. Since I had chosen to use Colorbok’s Rosewood patterned paper, I just couldn’t envision a cutesy phrase and ladybug being incorporated. The paper has a vintage feel so I wanted to play up on the femininity of the paper. Side note - I got the Rosewood paper pad from Wal-mart for only $5.00.

My Leap Into Spiral Roses

I’ve noticed on Pinterest that spiral roses are becoming quite popular on cards, so of course I had to try my hand at it to see if I could even do it. I thought the general concept of cutting a spiral out of paper would be easy but I found myself looking for tutorials after I messed up a couple of sheets of paper! Thankfully, I found this lovely blog called Kay’s Kreative Korner that kept me from pulling my hair out. Thank you Kay for the lovely tutorial. I found your instructions to be more helpful than some other sites I visited. I used a pencil to get me started in rolling the pink spiral and then finished rolling it by hand. I followed Kay’s tip on inking the edges so I used brown ink and a sponge dauber. I think it helps add some shadows, allowing for the spiral layers to be more noticeable. I then adhered the finished flower together using Zip 2 Way Glue.

So now I had my finished spiral rose and I decided to add a large pearl in the center to help hide my flower’s lacking center! Then I realized that my card needed something else so I cut some leaves using my Mother’s Day Bouquet cartridge in various sizes (1 inch, 1 & 1/4 inches, and 1 & 1/2 inches). This helped embellish the rose but I had a lot of white space on the front of the card and I knew I needed a sentiment and something else that would go with the vintage feel.

“Miniature” Inspiration

Inspired by thoughts of Scarlett at Blue Purple and Scarlett, I made a tiny envelope to slip a literal Thank You note inside! Scarlett’s blog features adorable miniature stationery sets complete with a miniature folder to hold the tiny envelopes and note paper! She created several designs and each has a unique feel to it based on the style. If you check out her site, you will be inspired!

To make my miniature envelope, I used my Wild Card cartridge and used the Scallop envelope (key 1) cut at 1 & 1/2 inches. I also cut the corresponding envelope liner at 1 & 1/2 inches. When the envelope is closed it measures 1 & 1/2 by 2 & 1/8 inches and when open it’s 2 & 3/4 by 2 & 1/8 inches. It’s so tiny and cute! I used a small piece of cream cardstock for the little note and used a “Thank You” rub-on for the sentiment. I then trimmed the note to fit the width of the envelope (just so it can be tucked all the way inside if desired). The note isn’t adhered, allowing for more fun at moving it around ). I inked the edges with brown ink to age it a bit and stuck it into the envelope at an angle so the sentiment can be read. The envelope is raised up with foam dimensionals.

For the inside of the card, I adhered another mat layer of Colorbok’s Rosewood paper and trimmed some roses out of the remaining 12×12 sheet. I inked the edges of the rose image to add some dimension against the mat. I tied a pink bow around the middle of the card to complete it. I like the journal feel of the inside of the card. There’s plenty of room for someone to write a handwritten message, adding to the vintage design as well. Before computers and store-bought cards (I’m thinking Victorian and earlier eras), people corresponded with handwritten letters and would bundle them together with twine or ribbon for safe keeping. And instead of blogging, they wrote their thoughts into well-worn journals. I miss that tactile notion of putting pen to paper and this card makes me smile thinking about those romantic, older times.

Thanks for looking!

Vanessa

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