Birthday Card with Cardinal Kiss and Inked Dry Embossing – Pinkfresh Studio

Hello everyone! I hope your week is off to a great start!

Today I’m on the Pinkfresh Studio blog sharing a soft floral birthday card featuring the beautiful Cardinal Kiss product suite from the Sunlit Manor Release. For this design, I created a textured background by dry embossing the Cardinal Kiss images repeatedly. I also inked the press plate before embossing, which added a bit more definition and helped the embossed images to stand out softly in the background. 

I started by ink blending a white A2 panel very lightly with Grassy Knoll, Bay Leaf, and Coral Reef to create a soft and airy background. After that, I die cut an oval from the center of the panel using a die from the Nested Ovals: Double Stitch die set. I secured the oval back into place from the back with washi tape so I could keep the panel intact while adding texture.

Next, I dry embossed the lower left part of the background panel using the Cardinal Kiss Press Plate after inking the plate with Misty Coast. I repeated the dry embossing two more times in the lower half of the panel to extend the design and add more subtle texture.

For the focal image, I hot foiled the Cardinal Kiss in gold and colored it with the coordinating stencil set in the following colors:
– Stencil 1: Coral Reef, Peony
– Stencil 2: Bubble Gum
– Stencil 3: Bay Leaf, Grassy Knoll
– Stencil 4: Olive

Once the stenciling was finished, I die cut the image using the coordinating die.

I also hot foiled the Cardinal Kiss image again using the negative foil and the Solid Hot Foil Plate, then die cut it.

The sentiment from the same set was hot foiled in gold and die cut, then stacked with three additional die cut layers to add dimension.

To assemble the card, I adhered the background panel to a white card base and added the center oval back in place with foam tape. I then splattered white opaque ink over the panel and let it dry completely.

Next, I layered the stenciled Cardinal Kiss image over the negative hot foiled image with a slight offset using foam tape, and attached the whole piece onto the oval panel. Finally, I added the sentiment with foam tape and finished the card with three Sparkling Champagne Metallic Pearls.

One of my favorite ways to add subtle detail to a background is to dry emboss with a press plate. The relatively deep impression shows up beautifully and adds elegant texture to the background. This time, I also tried inking the plate before embossing, and I really love the result. It gives you both texture and a soft printed look at the same time, which is a lovely way to build interest without making the background feel too heavy. Dry embossing in the background works especially well when you want the focal image to remain the star of the card while still adding extra depth to the design.

I hope my card inspired you today!

Thank you so much for stopping by, and I wish you a crafty week ahead!

TaeEun

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