A Cup of Tea

• Prepare a 5-1/2″ x 5-1/2″ card base from Dusty Durango. (I aged the edges of the paper with a Sponge Dauber and Soft Suede ink.)
• Layer with a selection of Tall Tales Designer Series Paper. I selected the Old Olive tiny circle pattern, which I aged with a wash of Soft Suede ink and water. I then used a blow dryer to dry the slightly damp paper and ironed it flat with a cool iron.
• Ink the “Create” stamp from Define Your Life with Soft Suede and stamp onto Very Vanilla card stock. Tear the edges, and the age the paper with a mixture of Tea Dye Distress Ink by Ranger and the Soft Suede wash from the previous step. Repeat this process with the “Cc” stamp from Defining Alphabet and the “Violin” image from Music Expressions. Curl up the edges of the images to add texture. (I added just a smidge of color to the Violin image by using Old Olive ink and a Blender Pen.)
• Next take the sheet music and “paint” it with reconstituted Walnut Ink Crystals by Little Scraps of Time and Tea Dye Distress Ink. Dry with a blow dryer. (Tip: I distressed the sheet music by crumpling it first and then smoothing it out before applying the wash.) I then rolled up two small pieces of the music into two tubes.
• Punch a section of the sheet music using the Photo Corner Punch, and apply to opposite corners of the card base.
• Adhere the images to the card base as illustrated. The letter block and the definition block are popped up on Stampin‘ Dimensionals, and are accented with buttons from the Button Latte collection. (Tip: Use a snippet of Dusty Durango card stock to give a finishing touch to the buttons. Plus, Mini Glue Dots are just the ticket to hold the buttons firmly in place.)

I had fun releasing my stress by distressing and aging this card! I guess you would say that I was “de-stressing” by “distressing”! If you have any questions at all about the technique used in today’s card, please Email Me.

Please feel free to leave me a comment and tell me what you think of today’s card. Your comments are very important to me! Until next time…

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Stamp Set: Define Your Life (114950), Defining Alphabet (114952), Music Expressions (113718)
Ink: Soft Suede (115657), Old Olive (102277), Walnut Ink Crystals (Scraps of Time), Tea Dye Distress Ink (Ranger)
Designer Series Paper: Tall Tales (115678)
Card Stock: Dusty Durango (115321)
Tools: Photo Corners Punch (109042)
Embellishments: Button Latte Collection (114333)
Other: Blender Pens (102845), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Mini Glue Dots (103683), Sheet Music