You know you're a real paper crafts nerd when you get excited about an envelope order! Stampin' Up! used to carry various envelope sizes before, including square envelopes that fit 5-1/4" x 5-1/4" cards. I discovered last week that I was finally down to my last one and that I'm also running really low on envelopes that house 3-1/4" x 6-1/2" cards (another favorite). So I went looking online for a place where I could order some more.
I initially checked out Clear Bags, a Canadian provider where I had ordered Vanilla square envelopes before. I could only get the square envelopes from them and was a little surprised by shipping prices, so I went digging online some more. In the end, I stumbled onto Envelopes.com. The shipping prices to Canada were not necessarily better, but the selection was much larger, and I was able to find both sizes I was looking for - and then some more! They have a wide selection of A2 envelopes in various colours, including metallic finishes and even wood-textured ones! The smallest pack you can get is fifty, so you can't exactly go wild with getting many colours, but I let myself get tempted by some of the colours I was the most likely to use regularly. I picked the following:
- #7 coin envelopes in White (3-1/2" x 6-1/2")
- White Square Envelopes (5-1/2" x 5-1/2")
- A2 in Blonde Metallic, a gorgeous soft gold similar to the Brushed Gold cardstock Stampin' Up! used to carry (4-1/4" x 5-1/2")
- A2 in Oak Woodgrain, a Soft Suede color with wood texture (4-1/4" x 5-1/2")
- A2 in Jupiter Metallic, a Real Red colour with a silver shimmer to it, which will be great for Christmas (4-1/4" x 5-1/2")
- A2 in Seafoam, somewhere between Cool Caribbean and Pool Party (4-1/4" x 5-1/2")
- A2 in Mirror, a high-lustre silver (4-1/4" x 5-1/2") (this one is currently offered at half price)
I'm still waiting on the square envelopes, which will get here tomorrow, but the rest of the order shipped right away via UPS and got here in Canada in three days. I didn't expect to receive my shipment so quickly! Oh, and one more cool thing about the envelopes: the flaps already have an adhesive strip on them, so you can just peel off the backing and they are ready to glue in place. I am going to enjoy that detail! (And probably people I sell cards to, since they might not have an adhesive dispenser or washi tape handy.)
So it was those pretty colorful envelopes that inspired me to get stamping tonight after dinner. I liked the Paper Players #403 sketch and wanted to make something inspired by it before the challenge ran out (I wish we could have a couple more days after the challenge post to work on it). The color scheme was inspired by an old ColourQ combo (#319). Ironically, I picked it because it had wood in the combo and I thought I would use the Oak envelopes, but in the end, I decided the Blonde Metallic ones looked better paired with the card. I wasn't sure how the metallic finish would take to stamping, so I heat-embossed instead.(The white coin envelopes seem a nice quality, but I've yet to stamp on them to see if they smear. Fingers crossed they don't.)
By the way, the rickrack border was created with the pinking edge die from the Confetti Card Dies set. The rectangle was too wide for my design, so I placed my die-cut cardstock back in the die, a little bit more in, glued in place with temporary tape and ran through the Big Shot again to take a small piece out and make the piece narrower. The resulting piece created a really delicate rickrack piece, which I reused directly on the card.
Supplies
Stamps: Et bonne année... (Making Spirits Bright - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Blushing Bride, Summer Starfruit, Melon Mambo, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper Stack: Wood Textures, 2014-2016 In Color (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Soft Suede (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink); VersaMark
Accessories: Blonde Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Confetti Card Dies (Concrd & 9th);
Early Espresso Stampin' Emboss Powder, Angle Tag Topper Punch, Circle Punches, Silver Metallic Thread,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Eyelet, Neutrals Candy Dots (Stampin' Up!); Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo); Baker's Twine (My Mind's Eye); Markers (Copic)