Penny Black Paper Lanterns

Today, I’m sharing two cards suitable for celebrations! The Campground community on Martha’s Vineyard has an annual summer event called “Grand Illumination” during which beautiful paper lanterns, hung on gingerbread cottage porches, are lit. The tradition dates from the turn of the 19th century and is the inspiration for my cards.

After applying Distress Inks to watercolor paper and letting it dry, I used Penny Black’s #51-034 After Glow die set to cut out a lot of lanterns. I then played with different combinations of shapes and colors. Because I had so many lanterns, I decided to make two cards – one on a black background and one on a white background.

For the black background, I heat embossing a sentiment from Penny Black’s 30-297 Sprinkles and Smiles with silver powder.

For the white background, I stamped a different sentiment from the same set – Penny Black’s 30-297 Sprinkles and Smiles – in black ink.