Core'dinations

I was lucky enough to be sent not one but four packs of core’dination cardstocks; ‘The Whitewash collection’, ‘core impressions’, ‘Gemstones’ and ‘Black Magic’.  These come in sizes from 6x6” to 12x12” and RRP is between £3.95 and £12.95 depending on the size and the range.  This is comparable with other cardstocks of this high quality.

If you’ve not come across Core’dinations cardstock before, rather than having a white core the cardstock has a core colour which coordinates with the surface color. Each sheet has a cut off tab that tells you what the core colour is.  The colour can be kept hidden or you can bring it through by sanding, tearing or embossing the cardstock. 

‘The Whitewash Collection’ contains 20 sheets of different colours, mainly pastels.  The cardstock has been given a white wash finish.  This can be sanded, torn or embossed to reveal the core colour and the effect is beautiful.  Core’dinations have a design team and you can see some of the lovely creations using this collection there.  This one stands out for me  http://www.coredinations.com/index.php/2010/12/01/whitewash-wednesday/.  Each piece of cardstock has a smooth coloured side and a textured, whitewash side.  The white wash side feels a bit like a canvas and has that lovely texture. 

The ‘core impressions’ I received is the result of a teaming up between Core’dinations and Cosmo Cricket.  They have also teamed up with other companies such as Jenni Bowlin and Jilly Bean Soup. The pack contains the same good quality 80lb cardstock as the other packs and has a canvas texture.  The cardstock is embossed with 4 different patterns (seedlings, sparkle, kitchen dot, crisscross) and comes in 5 colours (amazon, deco coral, French roast, katydid and Red pepper) so the pack contains 20 unique sheets.  I particularly like the ‘sparkle’ design.  These papers can also be sanded, torn or inked to add texture and interest to a LO and bring the core colour through. 

‘Gemstones’ is described as ‘The Crown Jewels of Cardstock’ and contains 20 sheets in 20 colours of premium cardstock.  It has one textured side and one smooth side.  The textured side has a pearlescent finish.  It’s a subtle finish and adds the right amount of sparkle and shine to a LO.  It’s not sandable because of the finish but you can tear and emboss of course.  The 20 colours are beautifully rich and there’s a good mix of brights, pastels and neutral colours included.

I think that my favourite has to be ‘Black Magic’ though.  There’s something about putting a colour next to black that makes it pop, don’t you think?  I used a piece of the Black Magic paper with the red core for a CJ entry and it somehow gave the page a dark and bloody feel to it, which was exactly what I was going for as it happens.  I think that this range would come in to it’s own around Halloween when you could emboss spider’s webs etc on to the black and have some great greens and oranges coming through.  This paper is also good for sanding and tearing to release the hidden colour. 

The great thing about Core’dinations is that whichever collection you buy (and there are various others than those describe above) you can be sure that you will be buying some great quality heavy duty cardstock (80lb) that can be used and abused without tearing where it shouldn’t or ending up looking tatty.  It’s all acid and lignin free too.  The innovative collections contain a good mix of colours and patterns within the theme and, in my opinion, do what they say on the tin in that you can tear, emboss and sand to release the core colour.  Because no two pages in these collection packs are the same, you wouldn’t tire of using them and no two projects would look the same making them good value for money.  The cardstock can be used for background, matting or as patterned paper once it’s altered making it versatile.

The core’dination products are available worldwide.  Prices do seem to vary quite a bit, particularly on older collections so it pays to shop around.  Once you have your collection there is a blog and gallery on the core’dination website where you can get tips and inspiration for using your cardstock. 

For someone like me that likes to add texture and colour to Los they are great and I think that they have great appeal to card makers too. 

Perfect. Couldn’t ask for more. Great item, fair price. Everyone should have one! You’d have no problem selling this to your grandmother.