Hello, friends! It's time again, for a fun new collection of goodies to be released at The Greetery and this time, it's all about books and love and such, but lest you think it's "only" a Valentine release, think again! There are many items that can be used for a variety of card-giving applications, which I think you'll see among all the Design Team posts today, so let's dig right in and I'll show you what I've made using the new Bibliophile Collection!
Hands down, my favorite card is this one......I love the mix of colors and details and who doesn't love a stack of pretty books just waiting to be read?! I turned mine into a 'thank you' card, but there are several other sentiment options to choose from. I used the new Shelved Stencils, Dies & Stamps to create this fun card.
We have lots of vintage books all around our house....in nearly every room, now that I think about it! Haha. I love to collect them for the pretty covers and and colors! This card makes me want to craft MANY of these paper spines, in a rainbow of color combinations like our real-life books!
I started off by die cutting the book panel -- it's one big die, so that's nice and quick. Next, I stenciled on the books main colors and then used the stamps to add graphic details to the books, as well as the sentiments.
To finish it off, I created my own little bookmark tassel from embroidery floss! It gives it such a fun bit of added interest and movement!
The little navy strips are die cuts that are part of the main Shelved book panel die. You could certainly just use the stencils to add that bit of color, but just as with real books, that added bit of raised texture adds some realistic dimension that I just love! It's a small detail that's easy to do -- just glue the little strips on -- but they pack a big visual punch in real life!
PRO TIP: By keeping all of those book spine strips the same color, it unifies all the books, even though technically, each book is a different color! This is just a little trick to help the colors in your book stack look more cohesive! This trick applies to lots of things other than book spines, too! Say you're creating a card with a variety of different colored flowers on it. Try making all of the flower centers the same color. Same idea!
PRO TIP: One other color tip is to choose your color palette -- I went with five colors so each book is a different color. But then, use those same colors to mix and match the detail layers on each book. I used all the pinks and reds on the pink and red books, mixing and matching the colors and details. And I used both purple inks to add the details on the opposite purple book. Make sense? It's just another way to use a lot of different colors, but they all come out looking cohesive because you've used those five colors multiple times on and on various books so each book looks unique, but like it's part of that color story of books.....like a really pretty, coordinated stack of books that are all part of the same series.
{Book Spines Thank You supplies -- click on thumbnails}

Next up, let's talk about this card first, and then we'll get to the tags.
I used the new Bookish Frames: Romance Edition stamps, stencils and dies, to create this layered floral heart situation. :) The sentiments in the above photo are also a part of that stamp set.
This Jane Austen quote, however, is part of the new Love Stories sentiment stamp set.
And the frame around the whole card front was created with the new Romantic Corners die set. I cut it twice, once from the lavender color and again from white, and just popped out the little white hearts and layered them on top of the lavender ones.
PRO TIP: You could also pop out the lavender heart and inset the white layer down in the opening OR you could pop those bits out and leave them open so the card base behind shows through.
{You Are My Happily Ever After supplies}

Ok, now for this cutie set of book tags! For the record, you absolutely CAN layer these up and make actual little opening books. But for these tags, I wanted to keep them a bit more quick and non-fussy, so I just decorated up the fronts and will simply write the to/from info on the back. Easy peasy. But by all means, layer them up to make little booklets if that makes your heart happy! :)
I used the new Have a Spine: Short Story (clever, right?! That Betsy.....this is a mini version of the previously released Have a Spine set, which is a full-sized card front.
Anyway, I used Have a Spine: Short Story to cut out all the little book pieces, and then used stamps and dies from the new Shelved set (also on my book spine card above) to add all the little details. I die cut all of the 'pages' from gold card stock, and then used colors that coordinated with my card above, for all the layers and details on the tags.
For this one, I used the hearts die from the new Cupid's Arrow die set, to cut out the hearts and then layered another piece of card stock behind them, making the hearts a different color.
And as for this little diary tag, gah! The lock and keys!! The "leather strap"! So darn cute! I used the new Have a Spine: Lock & Key set to cut those details out, mostly from a variety of metallic card stocks....gold, silver and rose gold. LOVE!
I mean, how fun are those?!
PRO TIP: In order to use some of the same colors on my tags, as the book spine card at the top, I chose to cut some of the layers from white card stock and then blend on the color with ink. In doing this, I get a softer shade of that color than if I'd used the card stock of the same color. It's just a way of using color judiciously to get exactly the feel you want for your project!
{Have a Spine: Short Story Tags supplies}

I love this sweet card. It features the new Folk Heart stamps and dies, as well as a sentiment from the new Folk Heart Sentiments.
PRO TIP: Tuck the base of the heart die cut under the strip of card stock and it looks like it's growing up from under the layers!
I stamped various foliage from the set, to create a background that sort of feels wallpapered.
For the scalloped layers, I used gold card stock and the A2 Stitched Scallops die. It cuts a rectangle frame, but I just used one side of it. And the white scallops were cut with the Ribbon Maker: Scalloped Hearts die, from the Pearl paper ribbon that was released recently. I also used that same paper ribbon to add the hearts to the background. Those hearts are also a part of that same Ribbon Maker die!
{With Love supplies}

And one more for today....I LOVE these hearts and have already used them again for a future project so stay tuned for that! These are the Nordic Hearts dies and I just die cut them from two shades of a green-blue card stock and then added some ink shading around the edges of each detailed heart, leaving the scalloped layer plain.
PRO TIP: Doing this darkens up the front layer a bit, so that when you layer it on the same color of card stock behind, the front one pops a bit since it's no longer the exact same color as the one in the back. This is a great tip to keep in your toolbox because it helps you to make do with less colors of card stock by altering them slightly.
PRO TIP: To help my focal point and sentiment stand out from the similar background, I cut the scalloped heart from white card stock. This brightens up that heart and visually pulls it to the forefront of the card, letting the others recede to the back a bit.
I added a strip of scalloped silver glitter card stock along the bottom, that was also cut with the Ribbon Maker: Scalloped Hearts die. That is a really versatile die! It's really wide and has hearts on it, but you can also just use a thin portion of it to create a scalloped strip like you see here.
Lastly, I used the arrows from the new Cupid's Arrow die set.
PRO TIP: To make them more sturdy and stiff, I die cut four layers from white card stock and glued those together, before adding the silver glitter card stock layer to the top.
{Love Always supplies}

I hope I've give you lots of ideas today, to get your own creative juices flowing! Can't wait to see what you'll create using these goodies!
Be sure to leave a comment here and at all the other DT Blogs, to be entered to win one of two $50 gift certificates from The Greetery! AND visit The Greetery Blog for a ton more inspiration today, as well as all of my teammates' blogs!
1. Angelica
2. Dana
3. Dawn
4. Kelly
5. Laura
6. Laurie
7. Melissa
8. Wanda
All the new products go live in the shop tomorrow morning (Wed.) at 10am EST. What's your favorite thing in this release? I'd love to hear!
Thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!
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