Ephemera Birthday Card (+ cheap tricks for digi papers)

Happy Leap Day!

Finally a card! It's been a while, hey?
This one is a birthday card for someone special,
made with 2 of those ephemera paper freebies

The Hexagon & the Chevron (with a tight zigzag):



&



For some odd reason, I actually cut out a bunch of the hexagons and
stuck them on a piece of cardstock and did some faux stitching:



The bow
is made using some vintage seam binding
hat was a gift from my Mom for Christmas:



(As you can imagine, I wept for Joy!)



The flower has an amber center made from a little antique crystal
from a necklace that broke. The flower itself is a DIY book-page flower
(Template & link to the tutorial here):

(Sanding digital papers)

Do you find that sometimes
when you print a digital element it just needs
a little extra bit of texture?



Distressing digital papers with sand paper makes them
look like fancy-schmancy papers from a paper pack.

It's so easy to sand digi papers:

Step 1) Print your digi paper image.
Step 2) Let the ink dry a little - if you use an inkjet printer
Step 3) Then simply sand it wherever you like.


And you are not limited to the edges
of the paper, of course:



Sanding all over a digital print
can really help reduce the contrast or soften the look
&
it adds lovely texture that can be quite fabric-like:

A Little Tip: I like to sand the whole sheet before trimming it, or tape a section of the paper down to a card or flat surface first to prevent unwanted tears or bends during sanding.

Another Little Tip: I have sanding blocks but I prefer a little wee piece of 150 grit sand paper, since it gives more control than a block & the scuff marks it leaves are organic shapes instead of the straight edges that a block can leave. (Not to mention, a bit of sand paper is way cheaper & greener than foam blocks!) :-D

(colouring bits of digital paper)



The black measuring tape strip is from
this Echo Park set that I bought at Jessica Sprague...

The numbering was cream, but the blue bow seemed to need something to tie it in, so.... it's coloured with a Pale Blue B32 Copic marker. I printed a bunch of that border (that pasted into another document) to use later -- and they can be coloured any old way.

• Ephemera paper freebies from this post.
• White cardstock & an inkjet printer, Sandpaper
• Echo Park For The Record border coloured with B32 Copic
• Faux-stitching: Paper piercer & Copic multiliner
• Retired S.U. birthday cake stamp from Little Hellos
• Black cardstock, White Color Box pigment ink
• White & gold Prismacolor pencils
  
• Silver Liquid Pearls, White Sakura Souffle gel pen
  
• White thread dyed with Antique Linen Distress ink

Thank You ever so much for checking this out.
Hope you're having a the most lovely week,


P.S. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten that I was gonna link up the Graphics Fairy images used to make those ephemera papers. Just thought that it was about time for a card around here, already!