Two more note card sets

This week has just flown by! I guess that's what happens when you're busy with work, a few family commitments and beautiful weather that makes you want to nap in the lawn chair in the backyard. (Not that I dozed off while I was trying to read or anything. I was just resting my eyes. Ahem.) But I'm back to share more of the cards I made at the craft retreat a couple of weeks ago, specifically the other two sets of note cards.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Plot Twist (Taylored Expressions)
Paper: Thick Whisper White, Whisper White, Basic Black card stock; Pansy card stock and Kaleidoscope paper (Close to My Heart)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, watercolor paints (Close to My Heart)
Accessories: Stitched Shapes Framelits dies, rhinestones, black baker's twine, water brush (Close to My Heart)

Like the previous two card sets, this set uses a set of inspirational/meaningful quotes and sayings as the focal images. (I absolutely love the sentiment in the upper left card in the picture above -- "When something goes wrong in your life, just yell 'Plot twist!' and move on." -- and it's the main reason I bought this set.) But these quotes have a little more oomph in terms of their visual style, so I used a bold black and white color scheme with little hints of color.

I cut thick Whisper White card stock to note card size (3-1/2" x 5") and used a water brush to splatter purple watercolor paint on the card bases. I adhered a strip of Basic Black card stock along the left side of the card base and tied a length of black and white baker's twine over the black strip. For the focal images, I stamped each sentiment on Whisper White card stock and die cut them with either a stitched oval or stitched circle die, depending on the size and shape of the image. I attached four strips of card stock or patterned paper behind the right edge of each circle/oval and then adhered the piece to the card base. I finished off the cards with three rhinestones.

And finally ...

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Labeler Alphabet, Sunday Stroll (Mama Elephant)
Paper: Whisper White note cards and envelopes; Whisper White, Basic Black card stock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, colored pencils and blender pencil (Prismacolor)
Accessories: Brick Wall embossing folder, rhinestones, black fine-line felt tip pen (Staedtler), Dimensionals

This card set was a little more involved than the others. I bought this stamp set, Sunday Stroll, ages ago because, obviously, it's adorable. But I haven't used it a whole lot because I'm not the most skilled at putting together little stamped scenes. Since I had time to play around with it during the craft retreat, I decided to make several simple scenes with sentiments to match and make a card set.

I stamped the images on Whisper White card stock and used a fine-tip pen to draw the wavy line representing the ground (the tufts of grass are a stamp). I colored the stamped images with colored pencils, but I left the background of the scenes white so the figures really stand out. (Let's be honest: I was too lazy to color in all that background.) I layered each scene onto Basic Black card stock and used Dimensionals to adhere the panel onto an embossed white note card. A row of three rhinestones finishes each card.

For the sentiments I settled on six all-occasion greetings and matched them up with the stamped scenes. Then I stamped each sentiment using the Labeler Alphabet set, black ink and white card stock. Here's a tip: When I need to stamp multiple words with this set, I pull out a bunch of scrap strips of card stock and work on all the words simultaneously. For instance, for "thanks" and "hello," I stamp the T on one strip. Then I stamp the H next to the T, and I stamp another H on a different strip of card stock to start the other word. It's much faster than trying to do each word individually. I keep a large clear block near me on the table, so if I know I will need to use a letter again further along in a word, I set the stamp on the extra block rather than putting it back on the index sheet in the stamp case.

In all honesty, I wasn't crazy about this card set when I first made it, but the more I look at it, the more it grows on me. I hope you like it, too. In my next post I'll start sharing the individual cards I made at the retreat. Thanks for stopping by