Damask Designs

Edit: The two circle punch sizes that I used for the monograms are 1-1/4" and 1-3/8". The size of the notecards are 4-1/4" x 5-1/2", with no fold. Dawn and I are so excited that you loved the notecards!!

Well here she is, Little Miss Smiley Girl. It's Dawn McVey and she's just the sweetest and funniest little thing there is! I found out that Dawn lives very close to the Archivers store that I visit in the Kansas City area. How cool is that? We're just a hop and a skip away from each other. Plus I found out that Dawn was at a Papercrafts stamping class in the KC area that Nichole was teaching a few years ago. I was in KC at the time and stopped in for like 5 minutes to say hi to Nichole. And Dawn was there too but I didn't know her yet! It's such a small world! Anyway, I'm so glad to call Dawn my friend and to have her as a fellow Papertrey Designer. And by now you know that Dawn has taken on another role as a Papertrey stamp designer. Isn't that something? Her first set is called Damask Designs and it's SO DAWN. By the way, my middle name is Dawn. Isn't that something? I wonder if Dawn's middle name is Michelle!!!??

I digress so easily, let's move along to Dawn's new set and some samples. When I first saw Dawn's set, I thought *oh no, it's too fancy for this country girl...I'll never do it justice with my creations.* Wrong-0! It's so fresh and fun to work with, I just love it!! And you guys know how much I love to make stationery/notecards. Dawn's set was the perfect companion for some monogrammed notecards. I used Lauren's Timeless Template called Desktop Stationery to make a holder for the cards. It's my favorite template of Lauren's. You need it.

For all of the notecards, I personalized them as a gift for Dawn, using her favorite Raspberry Fizz color. I used the same design for all of the monogrammed circles.....a border from the Borders and Corners Circles set, the letters D and M from Fresh Alphabet, and a little leaf from the Borders and Corners Squares set. You can zoom in on any of the cards to see the monograms a little closer. I also used Dawn's handwritten sentiments from the Handwritten Notes set. I'm envious of Dawn's hand writing. It's so dang cute!!

This first little duo has the *from the desk of* sentiment from the Simply Stationery set. I know I'll be using it together a lot with Damask Designs. For the card, I used one of the bigger damask images and stamped it so only a portion is on the notecard.

Then I a damask border to create some whimsical cards. I used the loops circle from Borders and Corners Circles to outline the monogrammed circles. (See my masking tip at the end of my post). Again, the *Smooches* is a stamp in Dawn's handwriting from Handwritten Notes.

And here's another duo that uses a damask border. The monogrammed circles are front and center.

And here's the front of the stationery box. I adhered Ripe Avocado Saddle Stitched ribbon all around the box. Then for a fun twist, I stamped a skinny strip of white cardstock with a damask border and adhered it just between the stitching. Fun! I finished off the box with some new Papertrey Vintage Buttons in White and New Leaf. Sentiment is from Simply Stationery.

Now. I wanted to show you the close up of this design. Can you see that the border damask stamp does not go all the way across the card? There is a blank circle on the notecard that the monogrammed circles are adhered to.

Here's how you do that. Make a circle mask...I used a Spellbinders circle and a piece of Eclipse masking tape. It helps if you adhere a scrap piece of the Eclipse tape over a piece of cardstock and then make your circle cut. Peel off the mask and adhere it to your notecard front. You can see that mine is all inky, but it's re-usable because it's a low tack adhesive. Stamp over the circle with a border damask stamp.

You'll have to do the left side and then do the right side. This way you can center your damask pattern evenly on each side of the circle. Peel up your Eclipse tape and you're left with a nice, white blank circle. This is where you adhere the monogrammed circle. Easy peasy, but such a nice look.
So there ya have it. Beautiful notecards that look professional...but with just a touch of homemade. I hope you try them!