This is a birthday card I created for a friend who is blind. Hence, the happy birthday in Braille on the greeting strip.
I created the flower as per the Facial Tissue Flower tutorial here on Splitcoast. I used thin beading wire rather than thread to cinch the middle after I did the accordion folding, just so I wouldn't have to fuss with tying a knot with thread. I tinted the ends of the tissue layers with a light purple marker. The hardest part was actually pulling apart & ruffling the layers. I did manage to tear a few tiny pieces of the tissue when I was pulling & fluffing the flower, but thankfully it doesn't show in the end.
For the embossed panel, I followed a video tutorial I found on YouTube on embossing toilet paper. Yes - toilet paper! I stacked 5 layers of 2 squares each on top of each other, then transferred that into my embossing folder. I spritzed the TP generously with water, and ran it in the folder through my die cutting machine. I opened the folder, & let the toilet paper sit on the one side of that for a few hours until it had air dried.
After it had dried, the embossed toilet paper panel had little black specks in it. I'm not sure if that was dust or what, but I wasn't enamored with the look. I decided, after thinking about it for a while, to try spraying it with a colored mist in hopes of masking the specks. I wasn't totally sure it wouldn't ruin the embossing, but I figured, what did I have to lose? So I used Teal Color Shine spray, & added a liberal amount to the panel. And it worked - nice, colored, shimmery, & it didn't end up messing up the embossed texture. Yay!
I used Beacon 3-in-1 glue, which is (I believe) solvent-based, to glue down my textured panel to my white card base. I didn't want to risk either messing up the embossed texture or having the spray ink run by using water-based glue. I used the same glue to adhere my greeting strip, & glued down my flower with E6000 glue, just to make sure it had a good strong hold. And that finished this card. I am sure our friend will love it, & maybe even get a kick out of the materials I used!
Date: Friday, November 18, 2022 GMT Views: 212
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