Hi, There, Stampers!
If you’ve followed me for any time at all, you know that the style of my card-making/stamping is to layer things up and arrange items carefully on my card fronts. But earlier this week I decided to break free from what I usually do and try something totally different. I think I succeeded at least partially.
What is “Shabby Chic”?
I belong to a group of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators that has a stamping challenge each week. Last week it was to create something with a Shabby Chic look. If you’re not familiar with this term, one definition of Shabby Chic that it’s something that “is or appears to be pleasantly old and slightly worn.” I chatted with a few friends about what elements they expected in a Shabby Chic card or scrapbook page (yes, scrapbook pages can have this effect, too). For the most part the answers related to making the edges of papers look scraggly; using soft colors with a hint of brown or gray, maybe even with wrinkles, denoting something that’s been sitting around for a long time; including some things that don’t necessarily seem to go together; and including ribbons or embellishments that have an old-fashioned look to them.
So off I went to try it!
Fussing With Paper Edges
Stampin’ Up! used to have a tool that made messing up paper edges really easy. As I rarely get rid of tools, I was sure I must have it. Alas (that’s a bit old-timey, huh?) it was not to be found. Perhaps Madame Pele and her Hawai’i lava has it in their grasp. Whatever, I found that the edge of my Paper Snips works pretty well. So that’s what I used on the edges of the Balmy Blue print from the Awash with Beauty Designer Series Paper set. This was a particularly good print to use for this card as it almost looks like old-time wallpaper.
Once I scraped the edges of all the card’s layers with the Paper Snips, I inked up a Sponge Dauber with Soft Suede Ink and inked up the edges. I “allowed” the sponge dauber to slip onto the paper surface every once in a while, too.
Creating With Old-Looking Elements
While the print in the Balmy Blue paper looked old in and of itself, the Old Olive Cardstock didn’t look too old even after I fussed with the edges. So I thought I’d see if the Painted Texture 3D Embossing Folder would help it look older. Yay, it did! I even sponged a bit of the Soft Suede Ink on some of the textured lines to make it look even older.
As I looked through my stamp sets I decided that some of the flowers from the Hand-Penned Petals Stamp Set looked like they could be made to look a bit on the old side. It turned out that I could make them look even older by using one of the dies in the matching die set to cut some Distressed Gold Paper. That did a great job of making those old-looking flowers look even older.
Adding Some Mismatched Elements
Once I put all these pieces together, I felt like I needed something to help make the card front look a little more, shall we say, “eclectic.” To me that’s another word for mismatched when it comes to art. I immediately thought of the grid die in the new stamp set, Share a Milkshake. There are other grid dies around, but this was the only one I happened to have in my collection. Again, I used the Distressed Gold Paper which made them look a bit on the old side.
Finally I added some Pastel Adhesive-Backed Sequins to the card front to finish it off. They perhaps look a little newer that I would have liked? I used them anyway.
Tying It All Up
As I often like to do, I wanted to tie this card front up with a ribbon. But it had to have some gold and it couldn’t look too new and shiny. At that moment I was so glad that the Gold & Vanilla 3/8″ Satin Edged Ribbon carried over from the July – December 2022 Mini Catalog. Even better was this ribbon’s proclivity for wrinkling at the least little touch. It looked like it was made for this card!
Here’s Where I Drifted Away From Shabby
Once I added adhesive to all of these elements put together and adhered it to the Balmy Blue Cardstock which was the card base, I realized that this is where I fell a little short on the whole look. I did not “mess up” the card base. The main reason is that I really didn’t know how to do it. But by then I was finished. Heavy sigh.
But then I took one more step. I decided to make up for that oversight by adding a Shabby Chic layer inside the card. I shredded and sponged the edges of a piece of Very Vanilla Cardstock and then stamped one of the images from the Hand-Penned Petals set in the lower right corner. OK, so that perfectly un-scratched and un-sponged card base is still there. But I think it still looks just fine. It’s eclectic for sure!
Happy Stamping!
