Destinations Japan Inspiration | Handmade Cards by TaeEun

Hello crafty friends, I’m TaeEun from Rainbow in November ! I’m so excited and feeling honored to be guest designing on the Spellbinders blog today! I’m a coloring addict and love making floral cards using different kinds of coloring mediums. Today I have four cards to share with you featuring Destinations Japan Collection designed by Lene Lok. I tried to add some artistic feel to my projects by combining the die designs with some coloring !

Pagoda Card

My first card is featuring Pagoda Card Dies and the cherry blossom dies from Sakura Blossoms Dies. The Pagoda Card Dies were designed to make a shaped card. But I used it to create a layered pagoda image.

To make the background I did a light watercolor wash on a watercolor paper panel. I colored the top of the panel in pink, the bottom part in gold brown and let it dry. I die cut the pagoda once from some brown cardstock and two times from a cream cardstock. I stacked the die cuts together on the right side of the background panel slightly offset and inlaid the small pieces in cream into their places.

I stamped my sentiment on the background panel in dark brown and foam mounted it on a kraft cardbase. The cherry blossoms and leaves were cut from some watercolor paper and water colored lightly. I scattered the flowers and leaves on the card as shown in the picture, adhering some of them using foam adhesives. To finish off I went over the flowers with a clear glitter pen.

Origami Crane Card

The second card is showing the Die D-Lites Origami Crane Dies. I used the inlaid die cut technique to create a one layer look.

I colored a watercolor paper panel in light blue, let it dry and cut the Origami Crane at the front. I added darker blue on the same panel after I cut off the first crane and then cut the second Origami Crane from the panel. Next I added navy watercolor to the left side of the panel and cut the last Origami Crane from it.

After all the Origami Cranes were out of the background panel I splattered gold and white watercolor on it and let it dry.  I cut the panel using the rectangle die from Waves Dies Destination Japan and adhered it on a white cardbase. I added thin strips of some navy cardstock above and underneath the panel. I then started inlaying the die cut pieces of the Origami Cranes. I gold heat embossed the outline die cut to add more shine and definition. The sentiment was white heat embossed on a strip of navy cardstock and foam mounted onto the card. To finish off I scattered some clear iridescent sequins.

Waves Card

My next card is featuring Shapeabilities Waves Etched Dies Destination Japan. I didn’t use it as a wavy scene but as a mountain range with some clouds. I chose a color scheme, brown with a hint of coral, teal and warm gray for this card.

I cut the Waves Dies three times from some white cardstock and stacked them all together. To add color to the scene, I dry embossed the waves on a A2 sized white cardstock so that I could see the embossed lines while coloring. I colored it using Copic markers in some BG (teal), E (brown) and W (warm gray) colors. I also colored some of the area with a clear glitter pen.

After the coloring was done I adhered the colored panel on a teal cardbase on which I blended teal colored ink in an ombre fashion darkening to the top of the cardbase. I then mounted the die cut Waves on it. The sentiment was white heat embossed on a strip of teal cardstock and foam mounted on the card. I finished off the card with two teal enamel dots.

Kimono Card

My last card for today is showcasing Die D-Lites Kimono Dies. I also used the Waves Dies to create the background.

I cut the Kimono from some watercolor paper and colored the die cut pieces in black to pink gradient. I also cut the Kimono with the cherry blossom pattern from bright silver glitter paper to take the outline and the cherry blossom for my card.

I dry embossed the front of a black cardbase using Waves Dies Destination Japan and foam mounted the water colored Kimono on it. I added the silver glitter outline and the cherry blossom pattern to the kimono. The sentiment was white heat embossed on a strip of black cardstock, cut in a banner and mounted on the card. I added a thin strip of the silver glitter paper underneath the sentiment strip to finish off the card.

Spellbinders Supplies:

Other Supplies

Gansai Tambi watercolor, Neenah Solar white 80lb cardstock, Master’s Touch watercolor paper, Sentiments from Altenew, Sea Shore mini ink set by Altenew That’s it from me for today! I hope I was able to show you the unique and versatile beauty of the Destinations Japan Collection by Lene Lok. Thank you for looking, crafty friends and huge thanks to Spellbinders for having me as a guest! Wishing you a crafty day! Hugs, TaeEun