A London Celebration in Paper Craft

Hello.

There’s something magical about strolling through London streets decked out for a celebration, and this card captures that feeling perfectly. Created with Relatively Thoughtful’s London Celebrates Cut Outs Complete printable collection, this design combines soft watercolor imagery with bold, festive colors.

The focal point of the card is a charming city street scene adorned with strings of bunting in shades of red, white, and blue. To enhance the architecture and create depth, I framed the printable paper with a striking navy grid, giving the impression of looking through a window onto the festivities outside. The layered “celebrate” sentiments, cut in coordinating blue and coral cardstock, add dimension and reinforce the joyful theme.

The delicate watercolor details in the downloadable paper collection provide a beautiful contrast to the crisp lines of the grid design, while the bright matting ties all of the elements together. Whether used for a birthday, anniversary, graduation, or any special occasion, this card is a reminder that life’s milestones are always worth celebrating.

Relatively Thoughtful’s printable collections make it easy to create elegant, detailed cards with minimal fuss—simply print, cut, and let your creativity take over. This London-inspired design proves that sometimes all you need is beautiful paper and a simple layout to make a memorable card.

Alisa Howard @BeachComberNoni

Collecting Seashells – A Beachy A2 Card with Relatively Thoughtful’s Dreams at the Beach Collection

Hello.

There’s something so calming about the beach—the soft colors, weathered stones, scattered seashells, and the feeling of collecting little treasures along the shore. That peaceful inspiration is exactly what guided today’s handmade A2 card featuring the beautiful Dreams at the Beach collection from Relatively Thoughtful.

For this card, I wanted to create a design that felt structured yet organic, almost like piecing together memories from a seaside adventure. I used a mosaic-style layout, dividing the card front into several rectangular sections, alternating between two gorgeous patterned papers from the collection—one featuring smooth blue-gray pebbles and the other filled with delicate seashells and starfish.

The contrast between the cool stone pattern and the warm sandy shell print creates such a balanced coastal feel. To bring everything together, I added metallic gold foil strips between each panel. This little detail adds both shine and elegance, almost mimicking sunlight reflecting off the water.

At the center, I placed the sentiment “Collecting Seashells”, which perfectly captures the theme of the card. Layering the sentiment across the grid softens the structured design and creates a focal point that draws the eye across the entire card.

How this card came together:

• Started with a standard A2 card base
• Cut patterned papers from the Dreams at the Beach collection into varying rectangle sizes
• Arranged them in a patchwork/grid layout for visual interest
• Added gold foil strips as dividers for dimension and shine
• Finished with a coordinating sentiment strip across the center

What I love most about this card is how versatile the design is. It could be used for:
 Summer greetings
 Vacation memories
 Thinking of you cards
 Beach-lover birthdays
 Scrapbook inspiration

The Dreams at the Beach collection makes it so easy to create serene, layered projects with minimal embellishment because the papers themselves do so much of the storytelling.

This card reminds me that sometimes the simplest treasures—like seashells collected on a walk—can hold the sweetest memories. And in paper crafting, those little details often become the heart of the project.

Have you ever made a card inspired by the beach?

Alisa.

RT Craft Challenge - The Christmas Tea Party ends 29th July 2026

 

Please join us in creating a card, tag or whatever you desire using our free PDF. The Challenge is open to everyone, seasoned crafters, and beginners. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing and will win a prize or voucher.

To enter the challenge, follow the simple steps on our free gifts and challenges section OR check out our Facebook Pages.

To enter the challenge just follow the simple steps here:
1- Download this free digital PDF from the link provided.
https://relativelythoughtful.co.uk/products/rt-craft-challenge-the-christmas-tea-party-july-2026

2- Create a bookmark, card, tag, ATC or whatever you desire.
3- Once complete, take a high-quality photo or scan
4- Post your creation on our RT, Make, Create and Share group
Use this hashtag on your post: #rtcraftchallenge

HERE is the link to the Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2659865907583506

We are looking forward to seeing your creations!

A Very Merry Unbirthday Card | Relatively Thoughtful Alice Collection

Hello.

For this whimsical card, I pulled inspiration from the playful spirit of the RT Crafty Challenge - April Fools by Relatively Thoughtful. The vibrant patterned paper immediately gave me that “wonderland” feeling, with its colorful overlapping circles creating movement and fun.

I started with a bold green card base to ground the design and bring out the rich colors in the patterned paper. I layered a rectangular panel in the center, then added two die-cut circles to create dimension and visual interest. The deep green circle on top helps frame the sentiment while the lower patterned circle ties everything together.

To finish it off, I added a simple sentiment strip reading “A very merry unbirthday to you!”—a perfect nod to one of the most iconic Alice in Wonderland moments. A few tiny star embellishments added just the right amount of sparkle.

This card was all about layering simple shapes and letting the papers tell the story. It’s proof that with bold colors and a little imagination, you can create something playful and magical.

Alisa Howard @BeachComberNoni

Wish You Were Here – Coastal Card Using Dreams at the Beach

 Hello.

For today's project, I created a relaxing seaside-themed greeting card featuring papers and images from the Thoughtful Collective by Maire and Sally – Dreams at the Beach A4 Printable Download by Relatively Thoughtful.

The design starts with a full-panel background showcasing smooth beach stones in shades of blue, grey, and white. This striking pattern immediately establishes the coastal mood and provides a wonderful foundation for the layered focal elements.

A smaller coordinating beach-themed panel was mounted onto light blue cardstock and positioned in the center of the card. To create depth and visual interest, I added two nested scalloped circles. The back circle features a bold blue abstract pattern that echoes the colors of the pebble background, while the front circle showcases a beautifully detailed seahorse image from the printable collection.

The sentiments were trimmed into rustic plank-style strips and layered across the design. The word "relaxing" crosses the focal image, while "Wish You Were Here" anchors the bottom of the card, reinforcing the peaceful vacation feel.

By combining layered die cuts, coordinating printable papers, and beach-inspired imagery, this card captures the calm and serenity of a day spent by the shore. The soft blue palette and textured elements make it an ideal card for sending encouragement, friendship, or simply a reminder of favorite seaside memories.

Materials Used:

• Thoughtful Collection – Dreams at the Beach Printable Download by Relatively Thoughtful
• Light blue cardstock
• Scalloped circle dies
• Paper trimmer
• Adhesive and foam tape for layering

This project is a wonderful example of how printable collections can be mixed and layered to create dimensional cards full of coastal charm and personality. 

Alisa Howard @BeachComberNoni

Monday Sketch Cards with Alisa Punk Soul // Soft Heart — An Alternative Mixed-Media A2 Card

 Hello. 

 Three times a month, I share a card sketch with our RT community and create a project inspired by it. This week, I have used the sketch to create this stunning mixed-media card, "Punk Soul // Soft Heart".

I love how the grungy layers, bold textures and alternative style come together to create such a striking design. It's the perfect reminder that even the toughest souls can have the softest hearts. 
Be sure to give this sketch a try and share your own interpretation with us!
This A2 card draws inspiration from the emotion and individuality found in music, street art, and alternative fashion.
The goal was to create a design that feels expressive and layered, with both a rebellious edge and a softer, artistic touch.

It started with a textured mixed-media patterned background in muted grey tones for a worn concrete look, then layered with abstract geometric shapes in pink, orange, purple, teal, and black to bring energy while letting the grunge textures show through.

The focal point is a hand-cut image of an alternative-style figure, placed slightly off-center for balance and visual interest, and lifted with foam adhesive for depth.

Handwritten-style quotes—“punk soul // soft heart” and “Music speaks when words can’t.”—tie the emotional theme together without overpowering the design.

Using collage techniques, layered textures, and contrasting soft and edgy elements, the result is a cohesive handmade piece with an artistic journal vibe that still works beautifully as a greeting card.

This card is a great example of combining collage techniques, layered textures, and expressive imagery into a cohesive handmade design.

It has an artistic journal-inspired style while still functioning beautifully as a greeting card.

The Collection is available here. 

Crafty hugs,

Alisa xx

A Beneath the Brambles Acetate page

Good morning and a very happy Sunday! Today I'm sharing an acetate page made with the stunning Beneath the Brambles collection by Arden Creative, and on sale at Relatively Thoughtful.

And this is my acetate page. I started by making some woodgrain papers with the Woodgrain die set . These were then cut out to make a clipboard with the Clipboard Coverings set vol 2 and sewn down onto an acetate page.

Of course, being acetate, this showed through on the other side of the page so I had to make an identical clipboard on the reverse. I had to duplicate the sentiment so that I could cut it in the same places! (it seemed such a good idea at the time lol)

I've used some fabric in the layers, but the little bulldog clip is a die cut from the clipboard set!

The paperclip is from the same set.

Here I've inked some decoupage paper and die-cut it.

This is how the page looks in the binder. It will be nice when bigger pages are in to see them through the clear acetate.

And this is the reverse again. Thank goodness there's duplicates of the sentiments! The flowers are from the Inkable Florals pack.

This was a lot of faffing around, but I really like how it's turned out, and I do love a good faff!

RT blog

All of the products used can be found here in the Relatively Thoughtful store.

Woodgrain die set

Clipboard Coverings set vol 2

Background Elements clear stamps

Rub on transfer set

Laser Cut Inkable Florals set

Laser Cut Sentiments pack

Decoupage paper

Ephemera Pack

Oooh, I used a lot of stuff, didn't I? Thank goodness it all works beautifully together.

Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend xx