I was inspired this week by Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is a popular season after Christmas that precedes the Lenten season here in the south. In 1692, Roman Christians adopted the holiday and French explorers brought the festivities to Louisiana and it quickly became a full-on party before the Lenten season.
The color scheme was said to be chosen by the “New Orleans Krewe of Rex” in 1872 to align with the tri-colors of all “royal” houses and fly over carnivale which was later officially adopted in the 19th Century. “Rex” encouraged everyone to hang the colors along the parade route and beads were passed out to people to embody the characteristics for each symbolic color in the coming Liturgical year. GREEN (Call Me Clover) represents FAITH and aligns with the same in Roman Catholic Liturgy whereby vestments in GREEN represent the Holy Spirit, PURPLE (Gorgeous Grape) is the color of royalty and stands for JUSTICE and GOLD (Gold Foil/Glimmer paper) for the color of wealth and stands for POWER! What a potent combination!
As a surprise gift for my sister’s birthday (which falls during Mardi Gras) and because New Orleans is one of her favorite cities; I created a WREATH with odds and ends from my local craft store. However, I needed a matching card.
Looking for this holiday-inspired stamp set was a challenge; but I opted to rely on a recently retired set, “SIP SIP HORRAY” for my inspiration.
Making a card for Mardi Gras is all about the COLOR! ALL ABOUT SHIMMER AND SHINE and a party vibe!
- CARD STOCK: Basic Black, Call Me Clover, Gorgeous Grape, Gold Glimmer and Silver and Gold Foil Card Stock.
- INK: STAZ-ON Ink
- TOOLS: TUFTED 3D Embossing Folder and TAILORED TAG Punch
- EMBELLISHMENTS: Sparkly WHITE Embossing Powder, Rhinestones.
DIRECTIONS: This was an easy card to put together. First stamp the WINE GLASS using your STAMPARATUS on SILVER FOIL with Staz-ON inks. Use Versamark to stamp the contents of the glass with white sparkly embossing powder — SHIMMER WHITE (149511). Use the TUFTED embossing folder and emboss the Call Me Clover and Gorgeous Grape cardstock before punching TWO pieces each with the TAILORED TAG punch. Arrange in an harlequin design with ALL PURPOSE GLUE.
I am a pack rat, so I had the CHEERS TO THAT (150557) retired dies to cut the “CHEERS” but any great sentiment would work.
OTHER OPTIONS: There are always options from the new product offerings that will provide the same if better result and I recommend the “PARISIAN BEAUTY BUNDLE” from the current Mini-Catalog. The Parisian Beauty Stamp set provides elegant motifs — Fleur de Lis mixed with lovely touches of Paris. This is the French influence that inspires a Mardi Gras card.
I also used the TUFTED 3D Embossing folder and Tailored Tag:
New Orleans Gallery
Please enjoy some personal photos of New Orleans and if you ever go….MUST have cafe au laits and beignets at CAFE DU MONDE FRENCH MARKET on Decatur Street.
