Hey guys! I’m on the Pinkfresh Studio blog today with a set of sweet birthday cards I made with two new releases: Floral Square Frame and Floral Octagon Frame press plates. I love these detailed designs in the small space of a circle or square card. So charming!

I started with two A2 panels of Spellbinders BetterPress cotton paper, one in Porcelain and one in Bisque. For that rich olive tone, I used a blender brush and Bay Leaf ink on the porcelain paper. 

I placed the press plate in the middle of the chase (the magnetic platform) for each of them. I used washi tape to secure the panel to the underside of the platen (the clear top plate) so that when the plate is inked and the whole sandwich is run through the manual die-cutting machine, it will press ink into the paper.

But before I ran it through the die-cutting machine, I picked at the tape on one end of the panel and put a portion of a paper towel between the panel of paper and the platen. (Whew! That’s a lot of “P’s”!) Then, I put the tape back down and ran it through my die-cutting machine, hoping it would make the pressing more noticeable without warping the paper, and I was happy with the results. I did, of course, use all of the shims that come with the system underneath the magnetic chase. I wonder if this method would work with heavyweight cardstock, too.

I used Spanish Moss on the Floral Square Frame press plate for my olive-toned card. And Warm Buff with the Floral Octagon Frame press plate for my ivory card.

Then, I pulled out my pencils and started coloring. I ended up using my watercolor pencils; I just thought they gave slightly more color saturation on this type of paper. But I think I’ll use my Polychromos pencils next time because I have a larger selection of colors in that set. And don’t worry about shading or highlighting. These are tiny spaces; fill in the color, and your card will be pretty!

I used the previously released Folk Edge Square and Folk Edge Circle die sets to cut out my pressed and colored panels. I used fun foam to pop them up over their card bases and strategically glued Glittering Mountains Ombre Glitter drops and Matte gold Metallic Pearls on the cards. I got both sentiments from the With Love stamp set. And I was done!

I hope some of these design choices have inspired you to make something new today! Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Anne