Month: April 2020

Inspiring Iris In Highland Heather

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

Inspiring Iris card in Highland Heather

Monday’s are hard, but in this card making series, I will show you that stamping shouldn’t be. In fact, it’s quite easy. And with minimal supplies and minimal efforts, you can get fabulous results! To see last week’s Monday Card Tutorial, click here.

Today’s Monday Card features the stamp set, Inspiring Iris. This great stamp set is made up of 16 photopolymer stamps, with 3 different kinds of flowers. That’s right…not just iris.

Inspiring Iris has two-step stamping capability. Two-step stamping involves stamping an outer image, and them stamping the filler, or inner, image(s) separately. It is a fast and easy way to add instant color, but this does not limit us to using it as intended, and soon you will see why!

Inspiring Iris Stamp Set, item #149268
Inspiring Iris Stamp Set, item #149268

So with just one stamp set, Inspiring Iris, two colors of ink, Memento Tuxedo Black and Gorgeous Grape, and two colors of cardstock, Highland Heather and Whisper White, we are creating an easy Monday card. Let’s put this one together!

A Monday Card

The Card Recipe

Highland Heather CS: 5 1/2 x 8 1/2″, score at 4 1/4″ for card base.

Highland Heather CS: 1 1/2 x 5 1/4″, 2 1/4 x 3″

Whisper White CS: 4 x 5 1/4″ (inside)

Whisper White CS: 2 x 5 1/4″, 2 x 2 3/4″, 3/4 x 1 7/8″

Stamp And Assemble

This Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be Card starts out with the typical “fold in half” and score with your bone folder to get a great crisp card base. Let’s not break tradition.

However, my TIP to you is to score once, invert the fold and score again. Your inner crease is now as crisp as the outer one. This makes for a professional looking card base!

Highland Heather cardbase, bone folder scoring

Create Your Own Designer Series Paper

With the minimal supplies used in this card, we are not adding designer series paper to it. We are making our own! This great background pattern can be used with any stamp sets you own, and every Monday I am showing you how to incorporate this technique into your projects.

For our Inspiring Iris card, we are stamping backgrounds, times 3! Once in black ink, and twice in purple, one with lighter images and one with darker images from the same purple ink pad.

Background #1

Starting with the card base you just folded and scored so nicely, stamp the ‘mystery flower’ (rose? begonia? peony?) leaf filler using Gorgeous Grape Ink that is stamped off. By stamping off (releasing ink) and using the second generation ink, you will get a lighter stamped image. I was able to get 5-6 images in the center of my card base from top to bottom, inverting the stamp orientation each time to vary the look.

Second Generation Stamping

Background #2

On the 1 1/2 x 5 1/4″ Highland Heather CS, stamp the carnation leaf filler (this one resembles a tulip silhouette on a stem) using Gorgeous Grape ink. This time, do not stamp off, use the fully inked stamp to create a darker image in a random pattern. I like to have my flowers peeking inward.

Stamp from Inspiring Iris and Gorgeous Grape Ink

Background #3

Our last background technique involves the 2 x 5 1/4″ Whisper White CS and Memento Black Ink. To get my lines as straight as possible, I took advantage of my grid paper (you could use graph paper or make your own grid if need be).

You can use a post-it note to hold the white cardstock in place, or washi tape. If using washi, be sure to remove some of the “stick” first to avoid tears on your paper during its removal. Simply dab the sticky side of the tape on your clothes to lesson the stick factor.

I carefully lined up the background stamp that resembles circles with diamonds in the middle, and starting from the bottom, worked my way up. On my card, I tried to stamp a full circle each time on the same edge of my paper to make a uniform design. Grid lines keep the tendency on the straight and narrow side.

background stamping technique

Floral Details

The theme of our card is Inspiring Iris, so let’s stamp the iris! First, take the iris outline stamp and use Memento Black Ink on the 2 x 2 3/4″ Whisper White Cardstock. Leave a little blank room at the top, and stamp the lower leaves off the bottom of your cardstock. Don’t crowd your iris, give them room to grow!

Inspiring Iris stamps with Memento Black Ink

While my Memento ink was out, I stamped the sentiment for this card on the 3/4 x 1 7/8″ Whisper White Cardstock. It is easier for me to line up my saying on a small paper. Somehow using larger pieces just leaves room for larger errors, plus do-over’s don’t waste valuable cardstock when minimal scraps are used.

Next, we color our flower. Using the iris flower filler stamp and Gorgeous Grape Ink, stamp over the black flower outline. This stamp is designed to give you high and low color saturation, so it appears that you worked ‘extra hard’ to create this look, without the ‘extra hard’ work.

Lastly, it is time to stamp the leaves. Normally one would use green to create realistic leaves, but this card with minimal supplies gives us the option to use purple or black ink. So purple it is. I created the leaves in a lighter purple by stamping off the Gorgeous Grape Ink first. As well, this creates a variation in color from the flower and leaves.

Iris flower stamping from Inspiring Iris Stamp Set

Finishing Touches

I like to assemble my layers before I add them to the card front. For this card, adhere together the white cardstock stamped with black circles and the purple cardstock stamped with purple flowers. Place this assembly to the far left of your card front. You should be able to see the stamping we did on the middle of the card base peeking out.

Next, adhere the stamped iris on white cardstock to the 2 1/4 x 3″ Highland Heather CS. This layer will overlap the first, longer layer on your card front, and become the focal point of the card.

Adhering layers on Inspiring Iris card

For the final step on the card front, add your sentiment. There should be room toward the bottom right for it to fit perfectly. This is helped by the longer layers positioned previously to the far left, and the sentiment piece being as tiny as possible.

Inspiring Card Assembly

The Insider Job

Your card is beautiful on the outside, now lets make it pretty inside too! I like to mimic some of the outer stamping into a corner of the inside card. This way the card has continuity and there is still lots of room to add your own sentiment or written thoughts.

Here, I used the same technique from the stamping of the iris image to add that inside interest. I stamped the iris lower on the inside corner, with the flowers just over the bottom of my cardstock. I also added the fun circle background stamp in black to create edging on two sides.

Inside the Inspiring Iris card

Step It Up!

Any card can have more! If you have ribbon or bling lying around, it would look fantastic with the beautiful Inspiring Iris card. I chose to add some Stampin’ Up Tri-Color Ribbon, item #149708, as it constitutes 2 out of 3 colors used in this card today: Gorgeous Grape and Highland Heather.

Keeping with our purple and white theme, I added a bow using the Whisper White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon, item #151326. And pearls and purple were meant to be together, so onto the card they went!

Inspring Iris Card, stepped up

I hope you enjoyed making this easy card on a hard Monday with me. My video tutorial can be found on my FaceBook page, as well as my YouTube channel. If you need any supplies for this card, please feel free to visit my online store, https://juliemakson.stampinup.net, at any time. See you next Monday for another installment of:

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be!

Rooted In Nature In Early Espresso

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

Rooted In Nature card using Early Espresso

Monday’s are hard, but in this cardmaking series, I will show you that stamping shouldn’t be. In fact, it’s quite easy. And with minimal supplies and minimal efforts, you can get fabulous results! To see last week’s Monday card, click here.

Today’s Monday Card features the stamp set, Rooted In Nature. This expansive tree themed stamp set from Stampin’ Up! replaced the very popular and long lived Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set.

Rooted In Nature Stamp Set, item #148217
Rooted In Nature Stamp Set, item # 148217

You can purchase the coordinating dies, Nature’s Roots, item #146341. This duo is not available as a bundle with the usual 10% savings, as it was released in June of 2018. Bundles are only available during the release catalog period, which is a great reason to pay attention to bundles, purchasing to save while able to do so.

Nature's Roots Dies, item # 146341
Nature’s Roots Dies, item # 146341

However, since we are using minimal supplies, this Monday Card only uses the stamp set. That’s right, one stamp set, Rooted In Nature, two ink pads, Early Espresso and Mossy Meadow, and two colors of cardstock, Early Espresso and Sahara Sand. Please follow along!

A Monday Card

The Card Recipe

Early Espresso CS: 5 1/2 x 8 1/2″, score at 4 1/4″ for card base.

Early Espresso CS: 1 1/2 x 5 1/2″ and 1/2 x 3″

Sahara Sand CS: 4 x 5 1/4″ for inside, scraps for sentiment and leaf

Sahara Sand CS: 2 x 5 1/2″, 1 1/4 x 5 1/2″, and 3 x 4″

Stamp And Assemble

This Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be Card starts out with the typical “fold in half” and score with your bonefolder to get a great crisp card base. Let’s not break tradition.

However, my TIP to you is to score once, invert the fold and score again. Your inner crease is now as crisp as the outer one. This makes for a professional looking card base!

Create Your Own Designer Background

With the minimal supplies used in this card, we are not adding designer series paper to it. We are making our own background pattern! This method can be used with any stamp sets you own and makes your card unique.

I suggest stamping on scrap paper, as this technique has you stamping off the edge of your cardstock. Starting at the top, stamp your large tree stump from the Rooted In Nature Stamp Set in Early Espresso Ink on the outer edges of the card base. Overlap, stamping along the top, open (right facing) edge and bottom. I stamped my image a total of 6 times, 2 each per side.

Tree Stump Stamp from Rooted In Nature Stamp Set

Add A Tree

When I stamped the large, deciduous tree from the Rooted In Nature Stamp Set using Early Espresso Ink on the 3 x 4″ Sahara Sand Cardstock, I kept the image to the left, with the tree falling off the side of the paper, starting at a third of the way down from the top. I wanted to make sure I had enough room above and below my tree to add my sentiment and accent piece.

Large Decidious Tree Stamp from Rooted In Nature Stamp Set

Tear It Up

For the layering images on the side of my card, I did some “torn edging”. Starting from the top of both the 2 x 5 1/2″ Sahara Sand and the 1 1/2 x 5 1/2″ Early Espresso, I tore a small amount away form the right edge of each. Pulling downward in a slow easy manner is best, and there is no right or wrong way to make this creative effect.

I stamped the smallest layering Sahara Sand Cardstock, 1 1/4 x 5 1/2″ with Mossy Meadow Ink and the leafy branch stamp from the Rooted In Nature Stamp Set. Each image was stamped from the edges of the paper inward, in a random pattern. When I was done stamping, I also tore the edge of this piece in the same manner as before. As a last step, I used my ink pad to apply Mossy Meadow to the ripped edges of both Sahara Sand pieces.

Leafy Branch Stamp from Rooted In Nature Stamp Set

Some Assembly Required

With the bones of our card stamped and prepped, we can start adding layers to our card front. First, I placed the tree image onto the base, adding it to the far right. Next, I added the 1/2 x 3″ Early Espresso strip to the Sahara Sand Cardstock, beneath the tree with enough room to place part of the sentiment.

The three torn edge cardstock pieces were adhered together before I placed them on the card front. When I put them in order, with the largest piece on the bottom and working upward in size, I made sure to leave a straight edge showing, stair step style. This assembly goes to the left of the card, and overlays the tree stamped image.

Be Strong, Be Happy, Be You

The sentiment for this card is a single stamp, with three sayings stacked one on top of the other. When it is stamped, the words remain “un-inked”, and are the color of the paper you are stamping on. A rectangular “box” around each saying becomes the color of ink you use when stamping.

I stamped the sentiment in Early Espresso Ink on a scrap of Sahara Sand Cardstock. Because I wanted to use them individually on my card, I used my Paper Snips to fussy cut each one out. This was really easy for two reasons! First, they are rectangular in shape, no odd parts to trim around. Second, the color of the paper this was stamped on is the same color that it is adhered too, allowing perfect blending of un-perfect cutting.

Sentiment from Rooted In Nature Stamp Set

Once the sayings were fussy cut, I added them to my card front, placing two above the tree and one below it. I chose to keep the sentiment words in the same order that it is listed on the stamp, but you could choose to easily change this up if you wanted to!

Leaf Out

On the remainder of the scrap of my Sahara Sand Cardstock, I stamped the grouping-of-three leaves stamp from the Rooted In Nature Stamp Set using Mossy Meadow Ink. If you had the coordinating dies, you could die cut this image. Because we are working with minimal supplies, I fussy cut mine using Paper Snips.

Afterward, I tipped the outer edges of each leaf onto the Mossy Meadow Ink Pad to darken them. If you have a Stampin’ Sponge, you could create the same effect as well. The cut out leaves were then placed on the card front.

Leaf stamp from Rooted In Nature Stamp Set

The Insider Job

Your card is beautiful on the outside, now lets make it pretty inside too! I like to mimic some of the outer stamping into a corner of the inside card. This way the card has continuity and there is still lots of room to add your own sentiment or written thoughts.

Here, I used the same large tree stump stamp from the front and Early Espresso Ink to add that inside interest to my Sahara Sand Cardstock. Don’t forget to jazz up that envelope with some stamping too!

Step It Up!

When you have more, you can add more. Simple elements don’t make this Monday card any harder than it has to be!

Rooted In Nature Card

This card has a little extra detail in the form of Linen Thread, item #104199, tied in a bow and attached to the leaves with a glue dot, as well as Designer Elements, item #149586, that are adhesive backed for instant application.

Rooted In Nature Card II

The next card also is accessorized, this time with Burlap Ribbon, item #141487, tied with a piece on Linen Thread and attached with Tear And Tape Adhesive, item #138995. It also has gold Metallic Pearls, item #146282, also adhesive backed to make life easier.

Notice I added another set of fussy cut leaves for a fuller look. In hindsight, I would have been happier with the burlap ribbon just a bit higher up. There is always next time…

Easy Monday Cards

I hope you enjoyed making this easy card on a hard Monday with me. My video tutorial can be found on my FaceBook page, as well as my YouTube channel. If you need any supplies for this card, please feel free to visit my online store, https://juliemakson.stampinup.net, at any time. See you next Monday for another installment of:

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be!

2018-2020 Retiring In Color, Blueberry Bushel

Cards made with Blueberry Bushel

Retirement Time For Blueberry Bushel

Stampin’ Up! offers trendy In Color collections that are only available for two years. After two short years of use, the In Colors, like Blueberry Bushel, are retired to make way for new colors. This gives us a fresh palette of popular hues to work with.

In April, the retired list comes out. This list includes all the products that will not be available in the new Annual Catalog, which is released in June. “Get them before they’re gone” and “while supplies last” is often heard during April and May.

And every year, we have to say goodbye to five In Colors. Whether we are ready to, or not. Some of the colors are so fabulous, we hope to see them in Stampin’ Up!’s color line-up in the future, if we are so lucky, during an infrequent color refresh.

2018-2020 In Colors
2018-2020 In Color Classic Stampin’ Pads, item #147153

This year, we are bidding a fond farewell to the following 2018-2020 In Colors: Lovely Lipstick, Grapefruit Grove, Pineapple Punch, Call Me Clover and Blueberry Bushel.

Bushels Of Blueberries

Pacific Point (left), Blueberry Bushel (center), Night Of Navy (right)

Blueberry Bushel is another one of those bright, happy colors. Blueberry is a great blue, Americana in nature, or dark blue jeans that have faded just right. I think this color fills the void between too light and too dark. And due to its retirement status, soon Blueberry Bushel will be too missed.

Blue is a popular color for any gender, so it blends beautifully on any card or project. Blueberry Bushel compliments pastels, mimics fellow bright tones, and seamlessly coordinates with neutral colors. Perhaps all of these great features should make Blueberry Bushel #1 in its class!

Fanciful Fragrance

Fanciful Fragrance card made with Blueberry Bushel

Blueberry Bushel abounds in this card, with Very Vanilla as the only other color along with it. Blueberry is perfect for the Delft China look. And the antique or Victorian selection of the stamps in the Fanciful Fragrance Stamp Set were an obvious choice for this card.

I put my Big Shot to use with two different embossing folders, Scripty 3D and Parisian Flourish 3D, both on Blueberry Bushel Cardstock. After stamping my images in Blueberry Bushel Ink onto Very Vanilla Cardstock, I die cut the perfume bottles and sentiment with the Stitched Nested Labels Dies.

You may notice that two of the die cuts on this card are custom made. The perfume bottles needed a wider stitched cut, but not necessarily longer. I lined up the bottom “point” exactly where I wanted it and ran it thru my machine. Next, I did the same, this time working from the top “point” down. Custom size! The sentiment was also worked in a backwards manner, and trimmed to perfection with my Paper Snips.

Pop Of Petals

Pop Of Petals card made with Blueberry Bushel

And pop of color! This cheery card has happiness all over it, from the exuberant flowers to the polka-dot designer series paper. Blueberry Bushel is really great friends with this color selection.

I stamped the flower images with coordinating ink and cardstock in Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green and Melon Mambo. Punching each image out with the Four-Petal Flower Punch can be a little tricky though. It helps to stamp the flower on longer, narrower paper to discover the best orientation to line it up with the punch. Once you know which “way” is up, it becomes a breeze.

This card is all about layers, too. Each one plays a part in the overall appearance of the card. I chose not to add a sentiment to the front, but there is room for a very small one toward the bottom if needed. And because this card is not embellished with bumpy, lumpy things, it is easy to pop in the mail to brighten someone’s day!

Sea Of Textures

Sea Of Textures card made with Blueberry Bushel

Blueberry Bushel is the perfect blue for nautical themed cards too. For this card, I chose the neutral colors of Early Espresso, Sahara Sand and Old Olive to create an organic look.

The High Seas 3D Embossing Folder was a natural choice for my ocean adventure card, and using it with Blueberry Bushel Cardstock followed suit. The jaunty DSP in blue and white stripes is from a retired 2018-2020 In Color paper collection.

I took advantage of the many stamps in this particular set. Besides the octopus and sentiment, I chose 3 different ‘background’ stamps to create unique patterns and designs on my cardstock. My embellishments include the free one, tearing corners and sponging, as well as Burlap Ribbon and Designer Elements.

Bye-Bye Blueberry Bushel

Blueberry Bushel is most certainly going to be missed, and of all the retiring In Colors in this class, it is the one I have the highest-of-hopes will return some day in a color refresh. It would be a perfect add in to the Brights Collection!

Stampin' Up! products in Blueberry Bushel

It is not too late to get some of the wonderful products still available in Blueberry Bushel, but time is running out fast. If you pick up an ink pad, please purchase the ink refill too. You will stamp far into the future without the ink pad going dry.

While you are in my online store, https://www.juliemakson.stampinup.net, make sure you consider the Noble Peacock Specialty Designer Series Paper, as well as cardstock and the 2018-2020 In Color Stampin’ Write Markers. Don’t get the “blues” and be disappointed by missing out on this fabulous color for your craft room cards and projects. Instead, stock up today!