Thank you card using Nature Walk

We had a teacher training day in Buckingham yesterday so none of my children went back to school. It was a preparing-to-go-back-to-school day. What this actually means is that they all roared off outdoors to enjoy themselves all day and I flapped about at midnight trying to find their PE kits...!

So, Easter is over for another year and all that remains to be done is to finish up the chocolate eggs and send cards to our kind relatives to thank them for sending gifts to the children. Here's my favourite one this year:

It's easy to make distressed, vintage-style cards with Nature Walk, but this is another, more contemporary way of using the set.  I've used a colour combination that has obsessed me this spring - Whisper White on Crumb Cake with fondant colours.

It looks terribly time consuming but once you get used to using your stamp-a-majig, cards like this become very quick and easy. This beautiful, flowing sentiment from the Thank You Kindly stamp set is the perfect partner for the bird cage image and contrasts crisply with the paler colours.

Here's how to make this card:

• Score an A5 piece of Crumb Cake card stock and fold it in half to make a card base.
• Cut a 9.5cm x 13.5cm piece of Whisper White card stock and stamp with the bird cage image using a stamp-a-majig for accurate positioning. I used fondant colours here - Marina Mist, Regal Rose and Not Quite Navy (all stamped off) and Certainly Celery. The central cage is inked up with Marina Mist without cleaning the Regal Rose ink off. This was a mistake - but I love the way it looks!
• Ink the sentiment up in Basic Black ink then quickly sprinkle it with clear embossing powder and heat with a heat tool for a crisp shiny image.

Supplies

Stamps: Nature Walk, Thank You Kindly

Ink: Basic Black, Marina Mist, Regal Rose, Not Quite Navy, Certainly Celery

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Other: Clear embossing powder

You may notice that there is a blur on my central bird cage. This is where my husband spilt a drop of water onto the card, sparking an International Incident! For those who are concerned, I'd like you to know that we are still together and no husbands were actually harmed in the making of this card...

It's Three Minute Thursday tomorrow - my weekly series of cards that can be whipped up in minutes! Do come and join me if you have a minute!