STAINED GLASS IRIS

When I'd first received my order of the Graceful Glass 6 x 6" Designer Vellum (page 165 in the Annual Catalog), I cut apart the pieces so they could be used individually on cards. 

A set of four stained glass looking panels came on a single sheet, making each of the panels about 1 1/2" x 6". This an odd size, especially if you want to keep the card size to the traditional A2 size of 5 1/2" x 4 1/4". 

Since I wanted my card to fit inside an A2 size envelope, the 6" length was too much. I (gulp) trimmed off 1/4" at each end, making the panel 1 1/2" x 5 1/2". 

Since the "stained glass" panel was so narrow, I added it to a piece of Highland Heather cardstock that measured 1 3/4" x 5 1/2", just to give it a bit more weight.

Using adhesive on vellum is always tricky, mainly because the adhesive somehow shows through the vellum once it's in place. The trick that I used on my card is a simple, but effective, one. I simply put a few Mini Glue Dots in strategic places, i.e., where there was coloring. I was lucky, because the coloring itself hid the dots enough that they were almost invisible.

I wanted to keep the card fairly simple, with the colored panel as the focal point. To somewhat echo the graceful lines of the iris leaves, I embossed a 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Whisper White cardstock using the lovely Layered Leaves 3D Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, found on page 222 of the Annual Catalog. 

Wanting the leaves to be embossed and simply present, I decided to NOT spritz the paper first with water before embossing, which would give it a deeper, more prominent design.

A close-up of the coloring and the embossing:

To color in the image, I used Stampin' Blends on the front side -- the side of the vellum that appears to be embossed and raised. 

After the image was colored and adhered to its narrow purple mat, I popped it up against the embossed background with Stampin' Dimensionals.

If desired, it would be simple and effective to add a small sentiment anywhere along the right side of the embossed piece. I opted to leave it sentiment-free.

Speaking of the "right side of the embossed piece", my original intent was to center the colored portion against the embossing. When I held that up, it looked much too boring and stagnant. After moving it around a bit, I liked that, by putting it quite a bit off center, it seems to add a little surprising element of freshness.

After adhering the embossed piece to a Whisper White card base, 

the final card measures 3 3/4" x 5 1/2", a very pleasing size.

Have you ever colored on vellum? Did you use Stampin' Blends to do so? If not, what medium did you utilize for the coloring process?

Just a note: It is entirely possible to do the coloring on the reverse, or "wrong", side of the piece. The end result, however, would be much more subtle. So, if that's the look you're going for, by all means, flip it over and do your coloring! Both methods are RIGHT!

Stained

Smiles.