How to Layer Ephemera for Cards Using Rosie’s Studio Breakfast in Bed Collection

Hello! It’s Sarah here from Sarah’s Stampin’ Retreat, and I’m delighted to be on the Spellbinders blog today sharing some ideas for how to layer your ephemera to create beautiful cards. I’m using the Rosie’s Studio Breakfast in Bed collection, which I’ve completely fallen in love with – it combines breakfast elements with florals for a really elegant, fun look! There’s also a beautiful colour palette of bright pastels, which is offset with some beautiful gold foiling.

I adore combining patterned paper and ephemera to make cards because you can layer away to your heart’s content and get a really beautiful card that doesn’t take all day to make. But sometimes the layering can be the difficult part, so I’m hoping to give some hints and tips to make the process a bit less daunting!

You Are My Cup of Tea

For this project, the strips of busier patterned paper draw your eye to the focal elements. Using the same colours in the background and the focal elements really helps to keep the card looking cohesive.

To create this project:

1. Cut a 4 ¼” x 5 ½” piece of blue patterned paper from the 12”x12” pack and add it to the front of your card.
2. Cut a 3” x 4 ¼” strip of stripey paper and a 2 ¼” x 4 ¼” strip of floral paper. Glue them together and add to your card.
3. Glue a 2 ¼” x 3 ½” piece of vellum to the centre of your, then add on the gold leaf ephemera.
4. Pop the tea and pancakes ephemera and your sentiment up on foam pads.
5. Add a heart sticker to the teapot!

TIP: Using a plainer paper in the background helps to balance out the busier papers used as strips.

TIP: If your ephemera aren’t standing out enough against your background papers, a piece of vellum can work wonders to tone the background down!

TIP: Add glue to the areas of the vellum that will be covered by ephemera to avoid a mess!

TIP: Odd numbers of elements on your cards are often pleasing to the eye.

Poppin’ Up to Say Hi!

On this project, I used layers of patterned papers to frame the focal elements. The trick to doing this is to look for papers that echo the colours in your focal elements. I love how well thought-through the ephemera pack is for this collection! The toaster even has a little slot in it that the toast can go through!

To create this project:

1. Layer up the patterned papers on your card front – the white layer measures 4 ¼” x 5 ½”, the green layer measures 3 ¾” x 5”, and the coral layer measures 3 ¼” x 4 ½”
2. Pop your ephemera up on foam pads, then add another foam pad behind the flower before adding it to your toaster.

TIP: Using foam pads behind different layers of ephemera help your card to look more eye-catching. If you’re not feeling confident about layering patterned papers, switch out one or two of the layers for coloured cardstock instead.

Enjoy the Good Life!

Acetate cards add a fun texture and dimension to a project, and they pair beautifully with the Breakfast in Bed Die-Cut Floral Stickers, which have a clear border. I like to add a piece of cardstock to the back of the card for my message instead of writing inside so that it doesn’t show through to the front.

To create this project:

1. Create a 4 ¼” x 5 ½” card blank from acetate and glue a 4 ¾” x 3 ½” piece of Bellini Cardstock inside.
2. Layer some of the floral stickers across the front of your card, then trim off any excess.
3. Layer up your sentiment piece on the front of your card, adding the sub-sentiment on foam pads.

TIP: If you have clear plastic packaging, upcycle this to use as acetate on your cards.

TIP: Adding some of the stickers so that they hang off the card, then trimming off the excess, gives an organic look to the background.

TIP: Layer up your sentiment elements – it adds interest and means they don’t take over the whole card!

Spellbinders Supplies:

Other Supplies

Acetate, Glue, Foam Pads

Thank you so much for joining me on the Spellbinders blog today! I hope you got some ideas for your own cards! I share a lot of my cards online; you can find pictures on Instagram under @sarahsstampinretreat. You can join me on my blog – SarahsStampinRetreat, or you can check out my YouTube videos. I hope to see you soon!