Rakhi - A bond of love between siblings by Sweta

Hello crafty friends!

I have not 1, but 4 cards to share with you using the Happy Rakhi Stampset. Its a set that celebrates the bond of love between siblings and in India we call that festival ‘Rakhi or Rakshabandhan’ where sisters tie a thread bracelet adorned with beads and embellishments on their brothers’ wrists praying for their long, healthy and prosperous life and the brothers in turn promise to protect their sisters and to stand by them through the good and the bad. Sisters usually also get gifts and treats from brothers. 

So every year to celebrate this festival Kaya and I make our Rakhis (thread bracelets) to send to our brothers and cousins around the globe and we make more each year to fund raise in our community and donate all the proceeds to a local hospital that provides free treatments to those who cannot afford it. 

As it happens one of the community members reached out for Rakhi cards and bracelets in an emergency needing 4 of them within 2 hrs time. 

To start with, I took out 4 white A2 card bases and went to work. I took out 3 background dies (Pagoni Mania, Dance with Me and Craft-a-Round). When I started with the first one using an A2 light coral panel with Craft-a-Round I quickly realized that it would take longer if I was going to make all the panels separately and assemble them on to the card. So as a time saving trick, I used the backgrounds as embossing folders directly on to the front of the card base using a silicone mat in the Big Shot for the other 3 cards. 

Once these were done, I took some Copic friendly card stock and stamped out a bunch of images using Copic friendly ink. I kept the Copic coloring simple, limiting 2 shades per color. I used the group of smaller images all on a single card, keeping them color coordinated. Once done, I stamped out the same sentiment three times on a single strip of card stock again saving time by just alternating inks and not matching card stock to colors in the image. Once everything was die cut it was ready for foam tape and final assembly on to the card. 

Embossed background gave a nice texture to card since there was no other inking in the background or stamping; bring focus on the main image. Once assembled, I could not help but add just a few gems to each of the cards to give that festive touch. And that was how this Friday’s cards came to be! I packed them up with some Rakhis that I had on hand and the lady was so happy to have hand made cards for her to give out on the occasion. 

I hope you’ll give this technique a try and stretch some of those wonderful background dies to work as embossing folders. Also, check out Ishani’s post here a few days ago where she uses them to create something different then a card with the same stamp set.

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Have a wonderful weekend ahead!