More kindness, less pressure!

Hello, hello! 

Erica back on the BRI blog today for a quick guest design post. I’ve been quite sad to see lots of negativity in our lovely crafting community recently, I’ve both been exposed to it myself and seen my friends get completely unnecessary negative comments on their posts. I have never really understood the need to always, always speak/write your mind. Especially when it so much easier to just scroll on by. Well, with that in mind, I’ve got two encouragement cards for you today because the world needs more kindness, love and support for each other. 

Now, it’s no surprise I’ve been a little bit extra obsessed with Altenew recently, having been to a workshop in the U.K. last weekend. And yes, it’s entirely possible I’ll be harping on about that for years..! At the workshop, along with a fabulous goodie bag, I was lucky enough to win a raffle prize that had the gorgeous Layered Floral Cover Die A AND the B plate in it so I just had to use them for these cards. They have been on my wish list for ages so talk about score! 

The basics are the same: lots of diecutting and pushing the pieces out to reveal the gorgeous pattern. For my first card I did a ink blending background using Distress inks in Ripe Persimmon and Dried Marigold. This piece I trimmed down and added directly to a card base. Then I ran both plates through my BigShot with white card stock and once all the little bits had been removed, I got some Distress Oxide inks out to add colour to the bottom layer. Perhaps not a big surprise, I went for pinks: Worn Lipstick and Picked Raspberry. I also added a little bit of Twisted Citron where the leaves are. 

The top layer , I left white to add some contrast and to really highlight the outline of the flowers. Sentiment wise, I used a stamp and die set from MFT Stamps called Anything-But-Basic Friendship with it’s coordinating dienamic called Friend Duo. On a strip of black card stock, I first used my anti-static tool and then stamped the sentiment ‘I’ve seen you at your worst and I still think You’re the best’ and heat embossed it in white. For a sentiment that really pops, I love white embossing on black card stock. I also cut out the coordinating ‘Friend’ dienamic three times and layered them up using a liquid glue pen. The top layer I dabbed my VersaMark ink on and dipped the whole thing in the white embossing powder. A quick “cooking” with the heat gun later, it was all done and just needed to cool down before being added to the card. 

Using the liquid glue pen for the ‘Friend’ and foam tape for the sentiment strip, I put the whole shebang together on the card base. 

For my second card, I cut out two of the A plates and using one as a guide, I loosely coloured in the petals and leaves of the flowers, directly onto a card base with my Copic markers. I didn’t want it looking too perfect, so I just swished them around a bit here and a bit there. 

As this was done directly onto the card base, it was a really quick job finishing off the card once the colouring was done. All I had to do was switch the pieces over, as the one I had used as a guide was very messy, and glue down the fresh one. 

For this sentiment, I used one from Altenew’s Be Strong stamp set and I again heat embossed it in white on black card stock and chose the ‘Remind yourself that it’s okay not to be perfect’. Which I think we can all do well to remember at times. It’s so easy to get swept up in the ‘oh, but it must be perfect and what will people think if it’s not’. Crafting should be fun and feed our souls, not be a competition or be full of pressure. 

Aaaaaaand, with that, I’ll get off my high horse (although the view is stunning up here, lol!) and let you go and enjoy your weekend! Which I hope includes some me-time and crafting, completely pressure free. 

That’s it from me for this time, but you can find me and more of my work by following me on my own blog, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest or Flickr. Thanks for stopping by today!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica