Severnista

When my imagination is at a blank and I just want to MAKE cards and not worry about design, I go back to the source. Directly drawing from Papertrey Ink’s card design examples for their Vase Collections, I produced a few cards for birthday, blank and holiday.

With such stellar inspiration I knew I could find elements hiding away in my craft bins that I could use to get a similar look. At first look, I loved the bright yellow foliage and springtime colors. They used patterned paper for the backgrounds. One has a decorative scalloped edge. They all use a vase stamp and die from Papertrey Ink’s Vase Collection which I have featured before here.

I used patterned paper backgrounds from two small 6×6 paper pads: Pinkfresh Studio’s Making The Best of It and The Paper Studio’s Dried Florals. I cut the backgrounds using My Favorite Things Die-namics Stitched Rectangles. I also cut a smaller stitched rectangle from the same set as an extra color and design layer as seen in the inspo cards. If you chose patterned paper sheets from the same paper pads they are already matched in color themes and tones, so less work for you.

For these cards I used the vase stamps and die from Vase Collection 1. The flowers added to the vase are from Papertrey Ink’s Sprigs and Sprays Stamp and Die Set. The decorative edge is from Catherine Pooler’s Bordering Sweet Border Dies: Celebrate Friends Collection Decorative Edge that was gifted to me from their company when I placed a nice order of inks and ink refills. These elements were then all added to Neenah Desert Storm card bases for an organic look.

The next cards use the vase stamp and die from Papertrey Ink’s Vase Collection 13 which has a homestyle butter churn look to it. The vase decoration was stamped in C9’s Dove onto Simon Says Stamp Ivory Cardstock, which also became the card base. The decorative edge was cut using a piece of Dove cardstock that was stamped in Brilliance Pigment Ink with a small background stamp from Altenew called Snowing.

I die cut the stitched background a little smaller than the other cards by 1/8th inch on each side to reveal more of the lovely ivory card base. The greenery is stamped in Catherine Pooler’s Spruce and Sage and the flowers in Peach Fuzz. The vase handle is stamped in C9’s Mushroom and the set does include a die just for it. Another fine detail that makes these vase collections so cute!

Here is a holiday themed card using the same vase from Papertrey Ink. The background is from The Paper Studio Vintage Christmas 6×6 paper pad. The vase in front of the stringed lights image is perfect and homey. I stamped the vase in Catherine Pooler’s Spruce ink. The handle again in C9’s Mushroom. The sprigs are once again in CP’s Spruce and Sage. Another spring is in C9’s Cayenne and Briar Rose. I also added a black ink stamped floral image from another Altenew stamp set called Beautiful Day. This bouquet brings out some of the colors in the holiday string lights background. I also inked the edge of the vase with C9’s Dove to bring it closer to the vintage style of the patterned paper.

Lastly I added an already pre-cut ‘Joy’ from C9’s Holiday Sayings Die set. It seemed to fit the corner perfectly with the vase as centerpiece and standing out from the simply designed background without being too bold itself.

Have you crafted holiday cards yet? Consider the humble vase and get creative!