Simple card with Fresh Prints DSP

When you need to make a card but you're short on time, printed paper can be an fast, easy way to add color, patterns and images to your creation. And with double-sided paper, you can use just one of the prints or mix them together, like I did on this card:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Happiest Birthday Wishes
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Crumb Cake cardstock; Fresh Prints Designer Series paper (DSP) Stack
Ink: Real Red, Crumb Cake, Pool Party markers
Accessories: Scallop circle punch, Pool Party ruffled ribbon, pearls, Dimensionals

The Fresh Prints DSP Stack is 4-1/2" x 6-1/2", so half of one sheet (4-1/2" x 3-1/4") is the perfect size for the background of an A2-sized card. Better yet, while you're at it just make two cards of the same design and use the whole sheet of DSP. Then you'll have an extra card ready to go the next time you need one.

After I cut the sheet of DSP in half for this card, I cut a 1" strip off one side and flipped that piece over before adhering the DSP to a 4-3/4" x 3-1/2" piece of Crumb Cake cardstock. I covered up the seam in the DSP with a piece of Pool Party ruffled ribbon. (I remembered after the fact that the blue color in the DSP is actually Coastal Cabana, but Pool Party also coordinates beautifully.) I adhered the panel to a Real Red card base, added a pearl in each corner and adhered a stamped and punched greeting over the ribbon. To make this card perfect for any occasion, you could replace the birthday greeting with a fabric or punched flower, a large button, or another embellishment.

And that's all there is to it. If you would like to see more cards with this layout, check out my July 22, 2012, post titled "Christmas color flip." Thanks for stopping by!

Watercolor Wetlands

I was so pleased with the way my clean and simple Wetlands note cards turned out that I decided to be brave and try making a more colorful card with the Wetlands stamp set. Here is the result:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Wetlands, Hardwood
Paper: Soft Suede cardstock, watercolor paper
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Soft Suede, Soft Sky, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Aqua Painter, linen thread, Season of Style washi tape, Glue Dots

I started by stamping the goose with StazOn ink on the watercolor paper. I also stamped the goose on a scratch piece of cardstock and cut out that image to use as a mask. I placed the mask over the first image and stamped the reeds several times on the watercolor paper.

To make the colored background, I dipped an Aqua Painter in various ink colors and "washed" them over the paper. I started with the lightest blue, Soft Sky, at the top of the panel and then blended in Pool Party and Island Indigo as I moved down. I used Always Artichoke for the ground along the bottom.

I wanted a casual feel to the card, so for the card base, I stamped the Hardwood background stamp in Soft Suede ink on Soft Suede cardstock. I wrapped a piece of linen thread around the card front three times, tied it in a knot and used washi tape to adhere the focal panel over the linen thread at an angle.

I think my watercolor skills need a bit more work, but all in all I'm happy with this card. Which do you like better: clean and simple or a little more color? Thanks for stopping by!

See Ya Later

One of the cute stamp sets available in the 2014 Sale-A-Bration (SAB) brochure from Stampin' Up! is called See Ya Later. I love the four mixed-font sentiments combined with the little matching images, and last weekend I made my first two cards with this stamp set.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: See Ya Later
Paper: Whisper White, Sahara Sand cardstock; Sweet Sorbet Designer Series Paper (DSP)
Ink: Summer Starfruit, Sahara Sand, Pool Party
Accessories: Decorative Dots embossing folder, Scallop Tag Topper punch, Summer Starfruit stitched satin ribbon, Pool Party ruffled ribbon, gold baker's twine, gold sequin trim, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

For this card I stamped the image once in Sahara Sand (with a Summer Starfruit sun) and once in Pool Party on Whisper White cardstock. I cut out the word "happy" from the Pool Party image and adhered it over the the Sahara Sand image. I used the Scallop Tag Topper punch to shape the top of the tag and added coordinating ribbon and baker's twine. At the bottom of the tag I adhered a piece of Summer Starfruit DSP and a piece of Pool Party ruffled ribbon.

For the background I embossed the card front with the Decorative Dots embossing folder and used Glue Dots to adhere gold sequins to a few of the dots.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: See Ya Later
Cardstock: Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Early Espresso Core'dinations cardstock
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Chevron embossing folder, Ovals Collection Framelits dies, Occasions paper-piercing pack, paper-piercing tool and mat, Brights Candy Dots, Dimensionals, sanding tool

To make the focal panel, I first stamped the image in Early Espresso on Whisper White cardstock. Then I colored just the cake part of the stamp, stamped it on a separate piece of cardstock, cut it out and adhered it over the one in the original image. I used the Ovals Collection Framelits dies to cut out the image and pierced a border. (I pierced the oval from the back to add some texture to the front of the image.) I adhered the oval over a strip of Early Espresso Core-dinations cardstock that was embossed with chevrons and then lightly sanded. Three Bermuda Bay Candy Dots finish off the card.

Here's a quick embossing tip: The chevrons in the embossing folder run along the long side of the folder, so if I had tried to emboss a 5-1/2" strip of cardstock, the chevrons would have been going vertically on this card, which wasn't what I wanted. Instead, I embossed a strip that was just long enough to fit "sideways" in the embossing folder. After the cardstock was embossed, I cut it into two pieces, one smaller than the other, and adhered the smaller one at the top edge of the card and the larger piece at the bottom edge. The gap between the pieces is covered up with the focal image.

Thanks for stopping by!

Beyond the kit

Cardmaking kits are a great way to create quick and easy cards. But for me one of the best parts of a kit is that after I've created all the cards, I still have the stamp set to use over and over again. In fact, one of the reasons I bought both the Everyday Occasions and Hip Hip Hooray cardmaking kits from Stampin' Up! was because I loved the different sentiments in the stamp sets. (I actually haven't assembled the Hip Hip Hooray kit yet, but I posted the cards I made with the Everyday Occasions kit on Nov. 9, 2013.) Yesterday I used the birthday stamp from each set to create a couple of cards beyond the kits.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Occasions, Gorgeous Grunge
Paper: Whisper White, So Saffron, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple cardstock; champagne glimmer paper
Ink: So Saffron, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Soft Suede
Accessories: Deco Labels Framelits dies, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Banner punch, corner rounder, Mono Multi liquid glue, Dimensionals

I had a lot of fun designing this card layout to mimic the focal image: I rounded the top corners of the Primrose Petals card base, trimmed 1/4" off the bottom of the card front to add a scalloped Raspberry Ripple border, and added a So Saffron banner on either side of the focal image.

The mat of champagne glimmer paper behind the focal image adds a great sparkle to this card. After I die cut the label shape from the glimmer paper, I punched a circle out of the middle. Since it's behind the focal image, you can't see the hole, and I saved that circle piece to use on another card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Hip Hip Hooray
Paper: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise cardstock; Designer Series Paper (DSP) Patterns Stack - Brights
Ink: Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive
Accessories: Chalk Talk Framelits dies, Real Red striped grosgrain ribbon, white baker's twine, Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, Dimensionals

As I did with the previous card, I used markers to apply ink directly on the stamp to create the multicolored image. After I stamped the image on Whisper White cardstock, I was excited to realize that it fit perfectly in one of the tag shapes from the set of Chalk Talk Framelits dies. At the top of the tag I added a bit of striped ribbon secured with a piece of white baker's twine.

For the background of this card I used three pieces of DSP that coordinated with the colors of the stamped image. I used the polka dot print in Old Olive and Real Red, and to repeat the stripes in the tag, I used a stripe print in Tempting Turquoise. I adhered the tag to the card with Dimensionals and added a silver brad with a star in the lower right corner.

I think these cards turned out really cute, if I do say so myself. Thanks for stopping by!

Best of Flowers

I had a work-free day on Monday thanks to Presidents Day, and I spent it reading, playing games on my Kindle and, of course, card-making. I actually had one of the best stamping days I've had in quite a while. I had a goal in mind -- I wanted to make a card using each of the images in the Best of Flowers set -- but I didn't worry about using the newest products or the latest trends or techniques. I just plugged along making cards that were "me." And I was really pleased with the results.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Yippee-Skippee!
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Gumball Green Core-dinations cardstock; Designer Series Paper (DSP) Patterns Stack - Brights
Ink: Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Gumball Green
Accessories: Deco Labels Framelits dies, Neutrals Candy Dots, rhinestones, Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon, Dimensionals

For this happy card, I used Daffodil Delight and Gumball Green markers to make the two-color flower image. The narrow stems were a little tricky to work with, but I found that using the thinner tip of the marker worked well. I cut out the image with one of the Deco Labels Framelits dies, stamped the sentiment in Basic Gray and then matted it with another Deco Label shape. I adhered a piece of Daffodil Delight DSP to the bottom two-thirds of the card base, added a strip of ribbon along the top and adhered the focal image over the ribbon with Dimensionals. A few rhinestones and Candy Dots finish off the card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Best of Flowers
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Poppy Parade, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry
Accessories: Decorative Dots embossing folder, 1-1/4" scallop circle punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, Blender Pen, white baker's twine, gold card, Dimensionals

I love these bright colors, which make me momentarily forget all the cold, snow and ice outside. To make the flowers I used a Blender Pen to apply the initial layer of color. For each color, I opened the ink pad, scribbled a bit of color from the coordinating marker on the inside of the lid and picked up the color with a Blender Pen. I then used the marker to color on the flower and add some darker accents.

I punched out the flowers with a scallop circle punch and adhered them to coordinated circles of cardstock with Dimensionals. Then I punched three of the same size circles in the card front and glued the colored circles to the inside of the card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Stipple Hydrangea
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Almost Amethyst, Vintage Violet
Ink: Almost Amethyst, Vintage Violet, Old Olive
Accessories: Chevron embossing folder, stitched Vintage Violet ribbon, pearls, corner rounder, Dimensionals

For this card I combined the hydrangea image from the Best of Flowers set -- the smaller image stamped on the background -- with the original version of the image from several years ago -- the large focal image. I also stamped the smaller image inside the card with the sentiment.

To make the color variation in the flowers, I first inked the stamp with Almost Amethyst ink. Then I lightly touched the Vintage Violet ink pad to the stamp in a few random places.

I cut out the flower by hand and used Dimensionals to adhere it to the Chevron-embossed panel.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Simply Sketched
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Baked Brown Sugar
Ink: Bordering Blue, Baked Brown Sugar (pad and marker)
Accessories: Vintage Trinkets, Victoria crochet trim, Mocha pearls (Close to My Heart), color spritzer tool, Dimensionals

I went for a vintage style with this card by stamping the bouquet image repeatedly on the background panel so it created the look of toile. I also spritzed the background with a touch of Baked Brown Sugar and sponged the edges with Bordering Blue. I embellished the card with a touch of crochet trim, a button-shaped brad and three pearls.

I'm putting together a collection of birthday cards to give to my grandma, and I'm planning to add these to the bunch. I can't wait to give them to her!




Thanks for stopping by!