TUTORIAL: Here For You Always

Hello! My name is Natalie, and this is my first tutorial as part of Loti’s Mama Makes Design Time. I’m really happy to be part of the team and to be sharing this card with you.

You will need:

5” x 7” white card blank

4.5” x 6.5” dark puple cardstock

4” x 6” light purple cardstock

2.5” x 4.5” white cardstock

Sewing machine with white thread or a white gel pen

Double-sided tape

Double-sided foam tape

Masking tape

Flat board e.g. a cllipboard

Brass embellishment

Craft rhinestone

Water-based inks in light pink, light blue and light purple

Ink applicators

Metallic watercolours

Embossing ink pad

Gold embossing powder

Heat tool

Acrylic block

‘Here for you always’ from the Sending Hugs stamp set

Instructions:

1. Create a messy border on your dark purple card by sewing around the edge a few times. If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can create a messy border with a white gel pen instead.
2. Using double-sided tape, stick your dark purple cardstock onto your white card, then stick your light purple cardstock on top.
3. To create the middle panel, stick the white cardstock onto a flat board using masking tape. Tape around all four edges, overlapping by the same amount on every edge. This will create a neat white border.
4. Take your ink applicators and add your inks to the card, gently blending them as you go. Make sure you go over the edges of the masking tape.
5. To add some texture you can mist the applied ink with water from a spray, mop it up with paper towel and then dry it with a heat tool.
6. Sparkle can be added by splattering the inked paper with metallic watercolours.
7. Once the paint is dry, carefully warm the masking tape with a heat tool to soften the adhesive and then peel it off to reveal the white borders.
8. Stick your newly-created panel onto the middle of the light purple card using double-sided tape.
9. You can add any sort of embellishment to the front, but I chose an ornate brass-effect embellishment and added a light purple rhinestone to the middle for extra sparkle.
10. To make the sentiment, use an acrylic block to stamp the ‘here for you always’ stamp onto a spare piece of light purple card. I used embossing ink and then embossed it with gold embossing powder and my heat tool. Next, mount your sentiment onto a spare piece of dark purple card and then a slightly larger piece of white card. Finally, mount it onto the card itself using foam tape to give it some added dimension.

And that’s it! I think this would make a lovely card to send to someone who needs to know that you are there for them.

Until next time, happy crafting!

Natalie x