A Simple Thank You Card - Understated Elegance

I spent a few days in Manila with Trisha, daughter of a very good friend, Isabelita, who was here for a two week vacation from the USA. We stayed at the fabulous home of Jigs Adefuin and Oliver Ortiz, owners of the prestigious Adefuin Design Studio and ADOR Interiors in Makati Metro Manila. They pampered us with the comfort of their home, great food at fantastic restaurants, fun night life and a foot massage. What a wonderful treat! We had so much fun. I can't thank them enough for the wonderful time. This beautiful couple exudes such elegance in their work and their lifestyle which inspired me to create an elegant thank you card for them. 

 My favorite color is sage green and I love combining it with dark brown and cream colors. I saw a cover for a card folder on Pinterest created by Christina, http://christinamaclaren.blogspot.com/2011/04/card-folder-tutorial-warning-photo.html, using these colors and I copied the layout. I did a print and cut of the cream cardstock layer with a flower from the Silhouette store simply named 'Flower' by Hero Arts ( Design id #17643-picture is color red in the store) and the sentiment that I created. I embossed the green layer with my Cuttlebug using the Sizzix folder 'Branches WIth Leaves' from the Fall set.(set of 2 folders).

Notes on the flower print and cut: 

I tweaked the flower a bit using the edit points/nodes to improve the shape. I cut the stem using the knife tool to turn it into a solid color using the FILL COLOR function. I did thicken the lines of the flower to have a better print using the LINE STYLE function. I ungrouped the flower to isolate the stamen (tiny circles) to make them into a solid color using again the FILL COLOR Instead of welding the stem back to the flower, I  position it back in place and simply grouped everything together. Make sure that you check PRINT LINES OF SELECTED SHAPE under LINE STYLE and DO NOT FORGET to select the image that you are wanting to print and prompt NO CUT under the CUT STYLE. Under the Preferences on my PRINT window, I always have the SHOW PREVIEW BEFORE PRINTING checked so I can review everything before it prints. Sometimes the registration marks are showing correctly on the preview window but they don't show completely on the printout. Make sure registration marks are big and thick enough and are not too close to the edge of your paper. You can make all the necessary adjustments by increasing or decreasing the Reg Marks Margin and Reg Marks Size.

Anyone interested in the card file which includes the base of the card and all the layout pieces along with 

the Thank You sentiment minus the flower, just let me know in your comment. There are tons of flowers and flourishes from the Silhouette store that will work with this layout, all you need to do is insert the design on the layout with the sentiment.

Happy crafting!

Ligaya