Gruppo Cordenon's Stardream Paper & the Pony Express

My brother's birthday was fast approaching and I still hadn't made a card for him. 

I wanted to do something amusing.  I wanted to use the train tracks stamps that 

Viva Las Vegastamps! had made using my artwork (18990 and 18989 and I also 

I also used stamp 18992, which is NOT from my artwork)

I also wanted to use a piece of Gruppo Cordenon's Stardream Paper.  They sent me some sample books a months ago, for a review of their Plike paper and they included a sample book with other lines as well, including Stardream.  

The Stardream blurb at the Gruppo Cordenon's site reads:

Stardream is a distinctive range of metallic, iridescent and pearlescent colors created expressly for the designer and printer to give an "astral effect" to your work, meeting the more sophisticated trends of color and fashion. Available in 32 colors and 5 stellar dual sided color combinations, Stardream will add another dimension to any project.

This paper is gorgeous!  It has a hard, glimmery surface, slick to the touch, and comes in 38 colors, and three weight sizes.  I had been trying out a few pens and markers on my samples and discovered that white gel pen over cool grey Faber-Castell India ink brush pen made me think of old tin-types--and an idea was hatched.  A silver or gray might have been a better color for what I wanted, but I loved the 'flame' color, and decided to use it for my brother's card.

I tore the edges all around, using distress inkpads to darken them for a roughed look.

I stamped the images with the same inkpads, and then set the card aside for the ink to dry.  On another piece, earlier, I tried to speed up the drying time with a heat gun, and managed to scorch the paper.  You can use heat--just with caution and in short bursts.

Strangely, when I colored the images, the ink from both the gel pen and the india ink pen dried almost immediately.  I found this to be the case with Plike paper also.

I glued the Stardream to a brown cardstock, and used a silver metallic gel pen to write my sentiments.

On the inside the card reads,
"Pony Express has quick delivery, but they don't guarantee good condition."
"Happy Birthday! Hope the card arrived in time."

You can purchase Stardream, Plike and other fine papers at the Gruppo Cordenon Store.