May 2020 - Page 2 of 3 - The Maine Stamper

Scissors In The Craft Room

May 14, 2020 2 Comments

How many pairs of scissors does it take to make your craft room complete? Punchline answer not available, crafty people take this very seriously! After taking on this subject, I did a quick count, myself.

For most of you, the answer will vary. This may depend on how many you actually own and use. Or find. But your answer should be a resounding “more than 1!”. I can check-mark that box for sure.

As cardmakers and papercrafters, we require good scissors. Our scissors have to be a proper fit for our hands. Our scissors have to work well for the intended use.

This tool should be flashy enough to us so it does not get buried in the mountain of paper we work with. Maybe come with a tracking device, for those times they get lost. After all, I can dream, right?

We need them in a variety of ways for so many purposes. And I am not talking about clipping coupons, opening chips or trimming hair. Those ordinary scissors are for less important work.

Good Paper Scissors

Do you have a pair of scissors that you consider your “Sunday Best”, that are tucked away for special use? Is there a work-horse pair that clomp around your crafty area and do any job you ask?

If you have more than 1 pair of scissors, you have probably designated each pair’s use. And, I say, for good reason! My scissors are different sizes and perform different jobs as well.

I can proclaim, hands down, my Paper Snips from Stampin’ Up! are the best pair of scissors I own. (You can buy a pair in my online store!) They are in excellent company; I don’t want to discredit my others scissors.

But my Paper Snips do so much for me, and I use them the most. Here are the top three uses for my Paper Snips:

1. Fussy Cutting

My Paper Snips are super sharp. I find that the little blades make quick work of fussy cutting (to see the card I was fussy cutting this image for, click here). I can get into very detailed areas if needed. My Paper Snips are small enough to swing direction easily, and this makes them priceless to me.

2. Flagging Ends

I get a lot of use from my Paper Snips by simply creating flagged ends of cardstock. The flagging technique is fun and decorative, an easy design enhancement for any card.

I start from one corner and snip to the middle at a straight angle. Next, I repeat on the other side. Others trim straight up the middle first, then cut toward it from each outer corner. You should experiment at home, practice makes perfect.

3. General Trimming

As a papercrafter, I am frugal with my scraps. I keep the left-over papers neat and organized for their next possible use. My Paper Snips come in handy to trim neatly and efficiently around messy edges. This helps me avoid paper mash-up as intricate edges collide. No paper jams for me, thank you very much.

4. And More

Okay, I realize I said I was sharing my top 3 reasons, but there are more things to do with Paper Snips. I have used them as tweezers for embellishment placement. They come in handy to peel backing off sticky tape. And they pick and poke jammed bits of paper out of punches very nicely. I am sure you have even more great uses to share with me!

Paper Scissors & Ribbon Scissors

There is a decree that paper scissors are only to be used on paper, and ribbon scissors are only to be used on ribbon. At least in my craft room.

My ribbon scissors live in a glass jar, far away from the common crafting area, on an elevated perch. They survey the craft kingdom and make special appearances as necessary. I do not allow anyone to use my ribbon scissors for anything but ribbon cutting.

Are you new to types of scissors in the craft room and confused by this? The answer to “why?” is simple. Paper dulls scissors quickly. As a result, dull scissors do a terrible hack job on cutting ribbon. Lastly, ribbon gets wasted, crafters get angry. It is better to have a designated pair of scissors just for ribbon only.

Decorative Scissors

Scissors are also decorative. I own a set (or two) that cut fun edges in designed patterns. These kinds of scissors are great if you don’t have punches, or dies and a die cutting machine.

Not only are my scissors used to make decorative cuts, they are also decorative in nature. I have assembled them in a ceramic mug. This puts the fun in fun-ctional. They are pretty to look at, like a bouquet of flowers, and that makes me happy.

Scissors With A Purpose

Anyone remember the Fringe Scissors? Stampin’ Up! retired theirs in 2017. I have put them to work to make grassy landscapes and fringe (as the name implies). The trick to using them is to know when to stop. If you cut too far into your paper, the result is confetti strands!

Rules And Regulations Of Scissors

Your first thought on scissor rules may be “walk with the pointy side facing down” or “don’t run with scissors”. I am thinking of scissor safety too: keeping my craft room scissors safe from theft and abuse.

The consensus on keeping scissors is: the more the better. Also, I discovered it is common practice (for many) to keep scissors in every room, in order to keep the craft room scissors safe. These decoy scissors are working hard daily, taking on those ordinary tasks like I mentioned above.

And to answer the question at the beginning of this post, my craft room is complete with 12 pairs of scissors, plus an exacto-knife. Do a quick inventory yourself, and let me know what vast number you come up with!

Rare Blessings In Soft Sea Foam

May 11, 2020

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

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!

Today’s Monday Card features the stamp set, Rare Blessings. This one is soon retiring from the 2019-2020 Annual Catalog from Stampin’ Up!. If you would like to see more about the retiring items in 2020, click here.

Our Monday card makes great use of many of the stamps from the very lovely Rare Blessings Stamp Set. We are also using two colors of ink, Soft Seam Foam and Poppy Parade, and two colors of cardstock, Soft Sea Foam and Whisper White.

A Monday Card

The Card Recipe

Soft Sea Foam CS: 5 1/2 x 8 1/2″, score at 4 1/4″ for card base.

Soft Sea Foam CS: 3 x 4″ and 1/2 x 4 1/4″

Whisper White CS: 4 x 5 1/4″ (for inside, optional)

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

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 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. It is especially easy when there are “background” style stamps included in your stamp set.

I suggest stamping on scrap paper, as this technique has you stamping off the edge of your cardstock. First, I used the “splotch” stamp and Soft Sea Foam Ink. I went around the entire outer edge of my card base. It is okay to overlap a bit, and not necessary to rotate the stamp.

Splotch stamp from Rare Blessings used to create background pattern on card base. — This tone on tone technique creates a soft wash of green on the card base.

Floral Details

For the second portion of background stamping, I used the single flower on its stem, with the curled leaf. Again, I stamped along the outer edge of my paper, using the Soft Sea Foam 3 x 4″ piece and Poppy Parade Ink.

When I stamped my flower, I did rotate the image and vary the pattern. Most of this stamping will be covered up as we assemble the card, but the effect is still an important component on our card!

Small flower stamp from Rare Blessings in Poppy Parade Ink.

Flower Focus

Here comes my favorite part! The large floral image. I stamped it in Soft Sea Foam on the 2 /12 x 4″ piece of Whisper White CS. This green is such a light color, the image will be very demure in nature.

Because this image needs a little color, we are adding some. And since this is a minimal supplies kind of card, we are using q-tips to color with. If you have Blender Pens at home, this creates a similar effect.

Large Flower image from Rare Blessings stamped and colored

I dipped the end of the q-tip in my ink pad and immediately touched it off onto my scrap paper. Then, I applied the color in the middle of each flower, gently swirling outward. Practice at home, and keep in mind you can add more color if needed, but won’t be able to take any away.

For further interest, I ripped the end off of my stamped paper. I used the edge of my Soft Sea Foam Ink Pad to brush ink onto the frayed paper. This highlights the rough and jagged design.

If you are not a fan of torn paper, just trim this piece shorter by @ 1/4″, so that it fits on the layered front of your card.

So Sentimental

It’s time to stamp a saying. This stamp set has 4 great sentiments and any of them will work. I designed this card to coordinate best with the stamp “a true friend is the rarest of all blessings”. If you like to have smaller margins of cardstock surrounding your saying, simply trim it to fit.

Sentiment from Rare Blessings Stamp Set — I used Poppy Parade Ink to stamp my sentiment.

Time To Assemble

The stamping is done (for the outside!), so it’s time to put the front of this card together. Ready to layer? Here’s how: start with the 3 1/4 x 4 1/4″ Whisper White CS and add it to the bottom right of the card. Next, adhere the thin strip of Soft Sea Foam.

The layers continue with the Soft Sea Foam piece we stamped with Poppy Parade flowers. This one is directly centered over the white cardstock.

On top of that, I layered my large flower focal point. Lastly, I adhered my sentiment piece. The sentiment is adjustable in location to your preferences.

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 small flower stamp in Poppy Parade Ink, stamping 3 times. Next, I added Soft Sea Foam splotches along the edges and below the tops of the flowers, to add additional inside interest. Note that the splotches, so light in color, extend beyond the flower images on both sides.

More Is More

Typically, this part of the tutorial is where I show you how I added bling and ribbons and all kinds of extras to my card to enhance the fun. However, this time, instead of adding stuff, I simply changed colors.

Yep, this one was so quick and easy to make, I instantly wanted to make more, but this time I wanted to use:

Pink!

Keeping the Soft Sea Foam, I swapped the Poppy Parade for Rococo Rose. The dusty rose color looks fabulous with the soft green. I picked an additional sentiment from the Rare Blessings Stamp Set to focus on. But then I wanted to try making it in:

Purple!

Again, the Soft Sea Foam color is used, this time with Highland Heather. I love purple and green together, so this was a no-brainer. I chose a different sentiment from the last two I previously used. And realized I had one more sentiment in the Rare Blessings Stamp set. So I had to pull out another color:

Blue!

Pretty Peacock is the perfect blue to mix in with Soft Sea Foam. Perhaps of all the q-tip colored flowers, these turned out the best. And I was able to successfully use all the sentiments in the Rare Blessings Stamp Set. This provides great value for the purchase of this set!

Another Monday, Another Easy Card

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://www.juliemakson.stampinup.net, at any time. See you next Monday for another installment of:

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

Grace’s Garden Double Easel Fold Card

May 8, 2020

I created this Grace’s Garden Double Easel Fold Card as part of my April Showers Bring May Flower Cards Exchange. Swapping cards is so much fun, and my recent theme was flower cards!

As promised, I am sharing the card recipe today along with a list of items I used to create my Grace’s Garden Double Easel Fold Card. There are also pictures of assembly and great tips, so read on for more.

Double Easel Fold Card Recipe

Thick Whisper White CS Base: 4 1/4 x 11″, score at 5 1/2″

Sahara Sand Easel CS: 4 x 10 1/4″, score at 2 /1/2″ and 5″

Balmy Blue CS: 3 7/8 x 5 1/8″, 2 3/8 x 3 7/8″

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

Whisper White CS: 2 3/4 x 4 1/4″ for gate die, 1 1/4 x 2″ for sentiment

Smoky Slate Scrap: for cat die

Whisper White Scraps: for flower sprays (2) and punch

Balmy Blue DSP (Subtles): 3 7/8 x 2 3/8″

Additional Supplies Needed

Grace’s Garden Stamp Set (and clear blocks for stamping)

Garden Gateway Dies (and die cutting machine)

Inks: Memento Black, Balmy Blue, Soft Sea Foam, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate

Assorted Stampin’ Blends for coloring

Sponge Roller or sponges

Score Tool

Classic Label Punch

Adhesive

Assembling Grace’s Garden Double Easel Fold Card

The Bases

The card base is important for this card, as it holds a great amount of weight. I used the Thick Whisper White Card Stock, as it has the ability to hold up under pressure. This is a tent fold, so be sure to cut your sheet of cardstock in half portrait style instead of landscape style.

When I use the thick cardstock, I like to fold it in half after I score it using my Paper Trimmer. This helps break up the strong fibers that are holding the paper together. I am always careful to use the scoring blade (lighter gray) rather than the cutting blade (darker gray, blending in at the top). This score is done at 5 1/2″. I follow up with my bone folder to get a crisp crease.

Another great tool to score your cardstock with is the Simply Scored Scoring Tool. I like that the peg markers are movable, and you can easily position them on the exact spacing you need to score. This is the Sahara Sand CS, scored at 2 1/2″ and 5″, landscape mode. My picture also indicates the folds needed here: peaked up first, followed by valley second.

A word of caution when using the score tool, the stylus included has 2 tips, one smaller and one larger. Use the small tip on thicker paper and the large tip on thinner paper (like DSP). Just think in terms of opposites attract to remember this.

It is also best to go slow and steady along the grooves! If your stylus jumps the track and leaves dents in the wrong places, flip your paper over and use the stylus head to smooth out the wrinkle from the back.

Double Easel To Card Base

After the scoring and folding was completed, I put the double easel cardstock onto my card base. This is done easiest by folding the easel up and adhering glue or tape (the strongest you have!) to the 5 1/4″ area. Next, center it on your card base.

Double Easel Fold Card, closed front — When attached to the front of the card base, and in the closed position, your card will look like this (minus the clear acrylic block to hold it in place for a quick photo!).

Double Easel Fold Card, easel open position — When your double easel fold card is adhered together and in the open position, it will look like this.

Flowers From Grace’s Garden

Now that the major assembly is done, it is time to decorate the card. I began with the front tented section, as this is what is noticed first on the card, and requires the most work.

I used Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and stamped flowers from the Grace’s Garden Stamp Set on the 2 1/4 x 3 3/4″ white cs.

Stamping Grace's Garden Flowers in Memento Black Ink

Next, I colored them in using my Stampin’ Blends in a variety of light spring flower colors.

Coloring Grace's Garden Flowers with Stampin' Blends

After that, I used Soft Sea Foam Ink and Balmy Blue Ink with my Sponge Roller to fill in the green grass and blue sky. This was done lightly, right over my stamped and colored flowers, no masking required.

Sponge Roller with Soft Sea Foam and Balmy Blue Ink — When using the Sponge Roller, I start off my cardstock and work my way in. The first bit of ink off the roller may be dark. It is easy to add more color, impossible to take it away.

The Elements of Grace’s Garden

The coordinating dies for Grace’s Garden Stamp Set, Garden Gateway, offer a variety of fences, flowers and critters. This adds up to scenic fun for assembling the Grace’s Garden Double Easel Fold Card.

For the 2 flower sprigs that climb the arched garden gate, I stamped on scrap white cs using Memento Ink. Following a die cut in my Big Shot, I used the Stampin’ Blends to color my flowers, then rolled some Balmy Blue ink over the remaining white outlines.

My garden is home to a small gray cat. I stamped the cat image in Basic Gray Ink on a scrap of Smoky Gray CS.

Next, I die cut my kitty and sponged the edges to soften them, using Smoky Gray Ink. By using the same ink color as the cardstock, I eliminate the harsh transition to the darker gray outline.

Sponging the cat die cut with Smoky Gray Ink

The arched garden gate is easily the sweetest die in the set. It looks divine in white. I wanted my sentiment to imitate a hanging sign from the top of the trellis, so I used the Classic Label Punch and white cs to make a faux “board” topper. After stamping the sentiment on the 1 1/4 x 2″ white cs, I sponged it with Balmy Blue Ink for consistency.

The Many Layers Of Grace’s Garden

I adhered the floral stamped and sponged white cs to the 2 3/8 x 3 7/8″ Balmy Blue CS. When I attached the gate, I added it toward the left side, centering it between my stamped flowers.

Next, I glued on my 2 flower sprays to artfully climb along the sides of the gate. This was followed by the little cat, peering into the garden. Lastly, I placed small amounts of glue to the upper trellis and placed my punched “board” in position. I adhered the sentiment and admired my work.

Lower Layer of Grace's Garden Double Easel Fold Card — This assembly is now ready to go on the card. I centered it on the bottom layer of the double easel fold partition.

The really hard work has been done! When I stamped the 3 3/4 x 5″ white cs with additional flowers, I repeated my steps of coloring and sponging.

Back Layer of Grace's Garden Double Easel Fold Card — This beautifully stamped, colored and sponged piece gets layered with the 3 7/8 x 5 1/8″ Balmy Blue CS, then adhered to the card.

Putting it all together is easy. I adhered each layer in position. For the fold that is barely noticeable, I added a piece of Balmy Blue DSP from the Subtles Collection. I chose the checkered pattern for its sweetness. This paper in coordinating color blends beautifully into the card as a needed continuity.

The adhered layers of Grace's Garden Double Easel Fold Card

Flowers and Friendship Are Sweet

Grace’s Garden Double Easel Fold Card is so wonderful, it doesn’t even need additional embellishments. I left the inside blank, so the recipient of this card in the April Showers Bring May Flower Cards Exchange can do whatever she wants with it. Lucky her for participating!

This card was not difficult to make, but it gives the appearance of great time and effort. If you haven’t tried this fun fold card yet, please do so. You will be amazed with your end results. If you need any stamping supplies, like the Grace’s Garden Stamp Set or coordinating dies, Garden Gateway, stop by my online store, https://juliemakson@stampinup.net.

Be sure to follow me, and be in the know for my next card exchange, Fall For Cards, coming in September. More details will follow.

April Showers Brought…May Flower Cards

May 7, 2020

Flower Cards In Exchange

My latest card exchange just took place! In April, while the showers fell around us and we gathered in our crafty places, flower cards were being made. All this, in an effort to share sunshine and exchange a flower card with a fellow papercrafter.

This exchange was similar to my Val Pal Card Exchange for heart themed cards in January/February. The directions were simple yet again. First, make a card with a flower on it. Next, mail it to me with a self-addressed stamped envelope. Lastly, receive another card-maker’s work in exchange. So fun to swap, even more exciting to see what flower cards everyone came up with!

The Flower Cards

Without further ado, let me introduce the flower cards of May, and delve into the intricate details of each!

Isabella’s Card

Isabella started with a round card base, from a previous Paper Pumpkin kit, that is silver-light blue (blue is her favorite color!). On a punched out pink heart, she drew a lovely flower design, coloring with markers.

The inside of Isabella’s card tells the story. April showers bring May flowers is her theme, with plenty of stormy clouds and rain in April, and beautiful spring flowers, triumphant in May. Besides flowers, Isabella loves to draw dragons. Her card is a masterpiece in art!

Ginny’s Card

The sentiment on Ginny’s card, “you can do it” is so encouraging! As is the bright Daffodil Delight yellow of her fabulous card. The delicate lacy overlay provides an exceptional back-drop for the bright pop of posy.

The leaves on Ginny’s card are stamped and die-cut. The flower is multi-layered, in the die cuts of designer series paper and stamped image, as well as punched cardstock. The center of her flower is a lovely pearl. Altogether, this flower card gives off feel-good positive sunshine-day vibes!

Dolores’ Card

Dolores used the Tulip Builder Punch (one of my favorites!) for her flower garden. The beautiful colors, yellow, red and pink, portray these tulips perfectly. She used a white gel pen to create outlines and dots, creating unique patterns on each one.

The spring green card base and layering piece are corner rounded on all four sides. Dolores’ flower stems and leaves are hand-drawn and colored, a perfect shade, complimentary to the card base. The sentiment, in red, is sweetly placed above the flowers. This card captures the essence of spring in the best possible way!

Jane’s Card

Even though Jane’s card is blue, it certainly doesn’t make us feel that way! Her card base is created with the retiring In Color, Blueberry Bushel. Jane hand-stamped flowers directly, then stamped off for the patterned background.

The leaf sprig on Jane’s card is die cut, with intricate vein detailing. Her gorgeous blue flowers were punched from cardstock and then shaped and curled by hand. The center of each flower is a carefully placed golden seed pearl. This card is such a lovely rendition of the classic blue and white combination!

Linda’s Card

Linda used the popular March Paper Pumpkin kit, No Matter The Weather, to help her create her exchange card. To the adorable girl in the rainboots with the umbrella card front, Linda added some additional, cheerful rainboots, using dimensionals to add depth. She hand-stamped a flower and flourish swirl, popping a perfect pink heart in the center of the latter.

Linda continued her floral theme on the inside, creating two baskets overflowing with stamped and colored flowers. To the top, she added an additional die cut spray of flowers, using dimensionals to give it a lift. Her card has undeniable charm!

Alisa’s Card

Alisa created a card in fun and bright colors on a Crushed Curry card base! Her background lays the foundation, with hand-drawn flowers done in watercolor pencils. A wash of water softened the pencil lines and blended the pinks, yellows, oranges and purples wonderfully.

Alisa hand-stamped and punched the top flower, then watercolored it. The neighboring flowers were punched in pink cardstock. She added additional flowers in tiny stature randomly, and accented her card with yellow, orange and pink embellishments. This card is a real pick-me-up, happy day card!

Holiday’s Card

Holiday created her flower card, starting with a soft gray-blue base. She used excellent layering technique, starting with the yellow and white stripe design paper. Her next layer is done in bright yellow, covered in a variety of hand-stamped flowers that really draw the eye!

For her focal flower, Holiday added a soft orange watercolor washed die cut as a backdrop. On top of that, sits the fun, open-looped 5 petal flower, in a peachy orange color. The center of her flower is an adorable, perfectly sized yellow sticker. The color combinations used here are well chosen, making this card a complete joy to behold!

Steph’s Card

You may be looking at this card and wondering what this one has to do with flowers. Steph took a unique and quirky stab at this, for sure! The April Showers theme plays out well on the front, with a stormy Granite Gray card base and a dozen-and-a-half crystal raindrops. There is even a cloudy sentiment above the pile of (flower embossed, upside down heart) shaped poo that is sitting on die cut grass. But inside…

Steph suggests if life hands you, well, you know…Grow A fresh start. Make the best out of what you are given! The individual letters are hand-stamped in gradient rainbow colors before she die cut them. There are 6 daisy’s, each inked differently, then hand punched. The bees are from a Paper Pumpkin kit, as well as the silver foiled banner. Let’s remember that rain and fertilizer grow the best flowers. This is a laugh out loud, memorable card full of countless details!

Julie’s Card

I chose the stamp set, Grace’s Garden, and the coordinating dies, Garden Gateway, for my flower card. I wanted to create a fun-fold card that would accent the die cut garden gate, and the double easel fold card came to mind.

While it may look technically difficult, it is simple scoring, folding and layering. There was a lot of coloring and die cutting, as well as some sponging, to bring it all together. Tomorrow’s blog post will feature the card recipe and pictoral how-to of the making of this flower card, so come back for more details if you are interested in seeing how this card was created.

Friends Are Flowers In The Garden Of Life

My April Showers Bring May Flower Cards Exchange was so much fun! My request for you to join me in making a flower card for exchange gave me something to look forward to, as cards were received by mail.

Now, as I mail these cards randomly to the participants in return, you have the sweet anticipation of wondering which one of these cards will show up in your mailbox soon!

I truly appreciate all who took the time to participate and share their love of cardmaking with others. There is great joy in the simple sending and receiving of a thoughtful, homemade card! Please continue to craft, create, and send sunshine to others. Be the unexpected flower in someone’s day!

Look forward to the next card exchange, Fall For Cards, with a fall theme, coming this September. I hope to see your participating card, then! More details will follow later…

Country Road In Crumb Cake

May 4, 2020

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

Today’s Monday Card features the stamp set, Country Road. We are using 5 out of the 6 stamps in this set to make our card. This stamp set is soon retiring, so if you want to purchase it, time is of the essence. To view more retiring products, click here.

Country Road Stamp Set, item # 151356 — Country Road Stamp Set, item #151356

As with all our Monday Cards, we are using minimal supplies with minimal efforts to get fabulous results. So with one stamp set, Country Road, two ink pads, Early Espresso and Poppy Parade, and two colors of cardstock, Crumb Cake and Poppy Parade, we will get to work!

A Monday Card

The Card Recipe

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

Crumb Cake CS: 2 x 4″, 2 3/4 x 3 1/2″, 2 1/4 x 3″

Scrap of Crumb Cake CS: for wagon wheel and hole punch

Poppy Parade CS: 2 1/2 x 3 1/4″, 3 1/4 x 4″, scrap for star

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 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 technique can be used with any stamp sets you own.

I suggest stamping on scrap paper, as you will be stamping off the edge of your cardstock. Starting with the Poppy Parade 3 1/4 x 4″ CS and Poppy Parade Ink, I stamped the grass image from the Country Road Stamp Set 3-4 times across. It is okay to overlap slightly for this tone on tone look.

Next, I stamped with the phrase stamp, “nothing’s better than…” from the Country Road Stamp Set. Here I used the Crumb Cake CS 2 x 4″ piece and Early Espresso Ink. I did not overlap this stamp, but created a random pattern. I think it looks like newspaper clippings haphazardly assembled.

Both pieces of the newly created background stamped cardstock are ready to be layered on the card front. There is room to keep a gap between the Crumb Cake on the bottom and the Poppy Parade on the top.

Adding background cardstock to card front

Card Focal Point

The focal point of this card is the horse weathervane from the Country Road Stamp Set. I stamped it on the Crumb Cake 2 1/4 x 3″ piece using Early Espresso Ink. This stamp is a tight fit for this paper, so I focused on centering the horse.

Immediately after stamping my weathervane, I folded my cardstock in a crumpling manner. Since my ink was still slightly “wet”, this smeared in a good way.

Next, I held some of the creased folds upward and used my Early Espresso Ink Pad to apply splotches of additional ink. This creates a great “weathered” weathervane. It will be uniquely different each time!

Horse Weathervane Stamp from Country Road Stamp Set

This weathervane is now ready to be layered on our card front. I used the Crumb Cake 2 1/2 x 3 1/4″ piece as the bottom layer. Next, I added the Poppy Parade 2 3/4 x 3 1/2″ piece in the middle. Lastly, I adhered the weathered weathervane as the top layer.

When I placed this layering piece on my cardfront, I was sure to add it to the left and keep a balance between the top and bottom stamped background images. I needed to have room to add my wagon wheel next.

Let’s Get Fussy

For the next portion of stamping, I used scraps, Early Espresso Ink and my Paper Snips. That’s right, time to fussy cut. In my video, I noted that a 1 3/4″ circle punch would make quick work of the wagon wheel from the Country Road Stamp Set. (That would make your Monday even easier.)

Wagon Wheel and Star Stamp from Country Road Stamp Set

After fussy cutting my wheel and star, I adhered them together. The star fits nicely in the center of the wagon wheel. For additional color and interest, I used my office hole punch and a scrap of Crumb Cake CS. The tiny circle is the perfect accompaniment to the star’s center.

Do It Yourself Lift Kit

My Monday Cards are uniquely simple, using minimal supplies. I did not mention Dimensionals in the ingredient list. You will not need them. You can make your own. Here’s how:

When adding an element to your card front that already has some layering on it, the top piece may need a lift (somewhere) to help it sit nicely. I simply count how many layers “up” I need to go to make my piece flush. Then I trim some like-color cardstock in the required number of layers.

After I adhere my home-made dimensionals to the back of my card element, I use adhesive to add it to the card front. With the extra lift where it is needed, the wagon wheel sits flush and does not wobble. No one wants a wobbly wagon wheel!

The Insider Job

Here, I used the same technique from the stamping of the grass to add that inside interest. I stamped once in the bottom corner, using Poppy Parade Ink, then immediately stamped again, overlapping the first image.

Step It Up

More is more. If you like to add more, there is always the option to do so. For my stepped up version of the Country Road Stamp Set Card, I chose to add a copper element from Designer Elements to my wagon wheel center. These elements come in gold and silver, additionally.

The Kraft Rope Trim melds seamlessly with our horse and Country Road theme, but sadly is not a current Stampin’ Up! Product. When you add elements to your cards, make them unique with whatever product you happen to have on hand.

Country Road Enjoyment

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://www.juliemakson.stampinup.net, at any time. See you next Monday for another installment of:

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