Wednesday, July 25

Painter's Palette Card

Since I didn't do any paper crafting today, (although I did customize my blog header...) I thought I would share an older card with you, dear reader.

This is my version of a card which appeared in the April/May 2007 issue of Paper Crafts magazine. I used PC's painter's palette pattern, but modified the design. It was perfect for my artist friend Shirley Lu, who had an exhibition at a NYC gallery in June. Congrats again, Shirley!

The outside of the card was actually very easy to make, once I had Paper Crafts' pattern. I simply used my 1¼" punch to make the "paint" circles from patterned paper, which I attached to the "palette" with foam tape for added dimension.

Tip #1: To get the sentiment on the circle, I first printed the text on a larger piece of paper. Then I attached a smaller piece of yellow patterned paper over the printed text with repositionable adhesive, and printed it again.

Tip #2: To give the patterned paper more structure, I glued 2" squares of patterned paper to a piece of thin cardboard. (Bonus Tip! Used cereal boxes are the perfect weight and the perfect price!) I then punched out the circles with my punch upside-down so that I could accurately position the punch over the paper.

The interior of the card I designed entirely in Photoshop CS2. I used Photoshop's Custom Shape Tool to create the sun, and then added an Inner Glow layer style to give it some texture and depth. Complete Mr. Picasso's quote, add a sentiment and VoilĂ ! Finished design!

To achieve the full bleed (printing right to the edge of the paper), I again printed my design (which is larger than what appears on the card) on a full sheet of paper, with crop marks where the cardstock should end. I then attached my cardstock to to the larger paper with repositionable tape. I printed my design again, and only the part of the design that I wanted ended up on the cardstock, the remainder printed on the larger paper.

Then it was simply a matter of gluing the completed palette to the front of the card. Yay! Another completed card!

Thanks for looking...

1 comment:

Lisa said...

You are so very creative, this is fabulous.