Welcome to the Paper Trail where February gives a twist of color to the basic black and white!  If you’ve made your way here from Vicki’s Wizard Hangout welcome…please bookmark my blog and come back frequently…if you’ve started here don’t worry we’re a circular hop and you will eventually wind your way right back to the beginning with lots of ideas for terrific projects.

With the release of the Close to My Heart Spring/Summer 2013 catalog the Paper Trail group had the hard task of figuring out which of the seven new paper packets we’d be featuring…I kept my fingers crossed that the For Always pack would make the cut and lucky for me it was the first one we featured.

I spent the good part of a day crafting with my friend MC…it seems as though I get such inspiration from stepping into her craft room…we always get a good deal of chatting in too!  She is so good for my soul.

Now, for the real reason you stopped by…

I purchased the For Always Card Making Kit which features the colors Slate, Whisper, White Daisy and Smokey Plums.  I loved the accessories and stamp set which helped me make my decision.

I only made one card that followed the Card Workshop Patterns so I could share the versatility of this fantastic set.

Of course I love making cards of varying sizes so I made this delightful 4 X 4 card using the colors from the card packet, but making my own black and white background with the new In the Background stamp set.  I also used the Quick Cards Butterfly – one of the great new A size stamps that are perfect for a “quick card”.  I embellished with some gray bakers twine and slate accents.

I used a technique on the butterfly that I have seen a lot, but not tried until now and will be using more in the future!  I started by inking the entire stamp with Whisper and then added Smokey Plum and finally Slate with sponge daubers.  I love the multi-color shading on one stamp – such a magical technique.

My next card is one of my favorites – a swing card from the Cricut Artiste collection.  The Love stamp in the middle is stamped in Ruby which is such a traditional compliment to the black & white a little Shimmer Glitter Trim and my card was complete.

Of course every princess loves pink and I am no exception.  I used Hollyhock for my accent color along with a scalloped circle with the new glitter paper and topped it off with a left over stick flower from the Autumn Lane collection.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my offerings this month and will hop on over to Betsy’s blog (I got a sneak peek and it is definitely worth the click!).