Anyone have a neutral-loving friend or family member in their life, like I do? I put together the most neutral of all neutral card & gift ensembles for a dear friend's birthday (while still keeping some elegant glam in the mix at the same time, of course!!) and thought I'd share it with you today for my TGIF post!
I stuck with entirely neutral color palette -- no additional color! I know, I know....you're shocked by this, aren't you? :) It had to be done! My friend loves neutral tones! And besides, it was a really fun creative challenge for me, and I really enjoyed putting this together!
I created her birthday card with kraft and soft gray card stock and just black and charcoal gray inks! Can you believe it?! You can really achieve a lot of monochromatic tone on tone with just those two shades. I also pulled out one of my favorite tag making sets from last Christmas (Tag Team Duo), to create the card. And of course, the addition of silver foiling and silver glitter card stock amped up the glam factor!
Oh, and I used the Big Plans background stamp as a nod to her job as an interior designer!
PRO TIP: To soften up that blue print background and add a bit of feminine detail, I added the strip of card stock at the bottom, stamped in black with Sketched Wildflower Frame. It's a big background stamp, but don't forget, you can always use just a bit or just a strip of those big background stamps, for added detail! You don't have to cover the entire card with them!
PRO TIP: One more tip in this area.....if I'm going to add a strip of something like I did at the bottom, I always like to add a really thin strip of card stock between the two, to sort of "join" those two sections. Think of it sort of like seaming together two different fabrics, with a bit of stitching to hold them together. That's what the skinny strip of glitter card stock did here. But I could have also just used a strip of white, black, or even a dark gray, to create the same connection point.
I turned the card at a bit of an angle here, so you can see the silver foil detail on that tag. It works so well with the silver glittery card stock!
PRO TIP: You could totally create a similar Christmas card with the silver elements set amongst the same neutral color palette! Could be really elegant for Christmas!
I kept it simple on the gift wrap with brown kraft paper and neutral ribbons & twine, added a die cut tag that matched elements I used on the card plus a couple custom gift tags that I made on the computer and then die cut with my Crimped Circle die and lastly, added a few more neutral-y and sparkly bits to accent the bows on the gift wrapping.
PRO TIP: That rectangle sparkly tag wasn't a tag at all. It was just a die in the Tag Team Duo set, to go on top of the large tag dies. I simply punched a small hole and tied it on with the circle tag! I always think layered tags on gifts are just more fun and interesting and they add that extra little bit of detail that makes the gift seem really special....even before it's been opened! Remember that you can literally punch a hole in just about any die cut, and make a tag out of it!!
You could achieve a similar look to this whole ensemble with nearly any stamps & dies you have in your craft stash, so long as you keep the color palette strictly neutral! If you try something along these lines and share on social media, I hope you'll tag me! I'd love to see!
{Neutral Birthday supplies -- click on thumbnails}
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I hope I've given you a bit of inspiration today! Are you a fan of this neutral look, or do you prefer cards and tags with color?
Chat later,
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