Happy National Coffee Day!

Hello and happy National Coffee Day! What's better than an entire day dedicated to everyone's favourite caffeinated beverage, than 2 cards to go along with it! For these cards I got a bit creative and actually made coffee stained paper for them...so these cards also smell like coffee! They might actually make you think you are drinking the real thing....well, almost!

To make these cards I first started by making the coffee stained paper. I used a piece of mixed media paper, as it would be able to withstand some water compared to normal cardstock, but in hindsight maybe I should have used actual watercolour paper...they turned out okay though. I made some instant espresso as that is all that I had in grain form. I didn't measure out how much, I just went for it 😆 I then added my paper, one at a time and submerged it in the espresso briefly and then laid it on some paper towels for a bit to rest. I then added it again after it had dried a wee bit but this time I only put it in the espresso partially so it would have different layers of depth of coffee (hope that makes sense). I left them out to dry overnight and the next morning I made a wee bit more espresso and added a few coffee rings on the papers. I should have taken photos of the process..oops.

For my first card I printed out the 3 coffee cup image from RachelVassDesigns called Coffee Break on some clear acetate that it made to withstand heat, as normal acetate would normally melt from the heat of a printer (I tried that first, that's how I know). I then added some gold foil to the printed image and added a bit of colour to the coffee cups using Copic markers, but added the colour to the backside of the foiled piece. It adds just a subtle bit of colour. I managed to place the foiled acetate piece almost directly over top 2 of the coffee cup rings....I think it kind makes it look like the cups are filled with coffee that way (well they kind of are). To finish it off I very strategically placed some liquid adhesive behind the coloured parts of the coffee cups, to try and hide it, as obviously anywhere else on this card you would see the adhesive.

For my second card I used tone of the images from the newest release from RachelVassDesigns, Cup of Joe. I coloured it using Copic markers and then cut it out using my Brother Scan N' Cut. This machine is brilliant for cutting out images you may not have the matching die for and also if you have problems fussy cutting, as I do. Once that was done, I adhered it to a piece of the coffee stained paper and popped them up on my ivory cardbase using some foam tape.

And that's it...there you have my 2 cards to help celebrate National Coffee Day! I hope you have enjoyed my cards today, as I really enjoyed making them, although trying to take pics of the acetate card really gave me some trouble as acetate is soooo hard to photograph while trying not to get too much of a glare. I swear I went to every room of my house trying to get some good pics. I may or may not have lost a few coffee beans along the way 😂

There is also a blog hop happening today, so head on over to Rachel's blog for more details and hop along on it to enjoy all the coffee inspired goodness! There are some amazing prizes to be won too, including the chance to win 3 designs on your choice from Rachel's Etsy shop! Yup...3 designs! Head on over there now and hop along!

Thank you all so much for spending a little bit of your day with me...it is always very much appreciated! I'd really love to hear what you think of my cards for today down in the comments and why not subscribe to my blog so you won't miss out on any future posts!

I hope you all have the most wonderful day filled with coffee and crafty fun! I think I'll go and have a cup of coffee now!

Until next time, Michelle 😃

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