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!
Butterfly Wishes Stamp Set
Today’s Monday Card features the stamp set, Butterfly Wishes. This wonderful stamp set is a carry-over to the new Stampin’ Up! 2020-2021 Annual Catalog. To see last Monday’s card, which also features a butterfly, click here.
There are 2 stamps in this set that coordinate with the Butterfly Duet Punch. However, since we are using minimal supplies, this Monday Card only uses the stamp set.
That’s right, our minimal supplies include one stamp set, Butterfly Wishes, two ink pads, Basic Gray and Mango Melody, and two colors of cardstock, Smoky Slate and Whisper White. Please follow along!
A Monday Card
The Card Recipe
Smoky Slate CS: 5 1/2 x 8 1/2″, score at 4 1/4″ for card base.
Smoky Slate CS: 3 3/4 x 5″
Whisper White CS: 4 x 5 1/4″ x 2 (one for inside, optional)
Whisper White CS: 3 1/4 x 4 1/2″, 1 1/2 x 3 1/4″ and 1 x 3 ¼
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!
Basic Stamping
I started with the branch stamp from the Butterfly Wishes Stamp Set. Using Basic Gray Ink, I placed this stamp at an angle about half-way down the 3 1/4 x 4 1/2″ Whisper White CS.
My focus with the Butterfly Wishes Stamp Set is, of course, a butterfly. I chose the largest butterfly stamp and applied it to my white cs using Mango Melody Ink. I love that this butterfly is so realistic, and is floating with wings back.
Generational Stamping I
This Monday card, as all my Monday cards, uses only 2 ink colors. So, to get the look of more than 2 ink colors, this card has generational stamping. That means we are using 1 ink color and getting lighter shaded images by stamping more than once with ink coverage on our stamp.
I brought in the flower stamp and my 1 1/2 x 3 1/4″ Whisper White CS. Next, I stamped in Mango Melody, using the full strength of ink along the edge of my white cs. This is the first generation stamping process.
Immediately after stamping the flower in full ink, I stamped it again in a random pattern on my larger white cs, as second and third generation stamping. Do not clean your stamp off in between applications. You will get lighter images with each generation of stamping.
Once I had enough light color flowers on the larger piece, I set it aside and continued to stamp fully inked flowers on the edge of my smaller white cs.
Generational Stamping II
With the great results of generational stamping in Mango Melody, I wanted to do the same with Basic Gray Ink. First, I brought in the Smoky Slate CS 3 3/4 x 5″, and began to stamp the sentiment, “A sweet friendship refreshes the soul” along the top outer edge.
I used the first generation of Basic Gray on the Smoky Slate CS, the applied second and third generations of ink on my larger white cs. I repeated the lighter generations 2 times.
After my larger white cs was completed, I set it aside and focused on stamping the sentiment along the edges of the Smoky Slate CS. I find it easier to rotate the cardstock as I stamp the sentiment.
Sentiment Stamping
The last bit of stamping for the outside of the card went on the 1 x 3 1/4″ Whisper White CS for the sentiment. I used the medium butterfly from the Butterfly Wishes Stamp Set with Mango Melody. First I stamped off, then stamped onto my white cs, to get the lighter second generation image.
Next, I used the smallest butterfly from the Butterfly Wishes Stamp Set, and with full strength Mango Melody ink, stamped directly over the medium butterfly. This was a little tricky using the Cling Red Rubber Stamp, as it is not see-through like the photopolymer style.
Lastly, I stamped the Birthday Wishes stamp from the Butterfly Wishes Stamp set in Basic Gray Ink.
Putting It All Together
Now it is time to add all those beautifully stamped layers together on the card front. These pieces lined up very easily! I started with 1 of the 4 x 5 1/4″ Whisper White CS pieces and adhered it to the card base. Next, I layered on the Smoky Slate piece with the sentiment stamped along the outer edges.
Following that assembly, I adhered together the sentiment and Mango Melody flower stamped pieces of Whisper White CS. I placed that on the large piece of white cs, leaving a small portion of plain white showing at the bottom. This card is very busy, and leaving a small section “void” gives the eyes a resting place.
This completed assembly went on the card front next. All of the layers used in this card line up and center nicely.
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 the tree branch image in Basic Gray and the medium butterfly, stamped off in Mango Melody, to add that inside interest.
Step It Up!
I love to show you that stamping and making fabulous cards can be so easy. I also like to show you that if you have more and want to add more to your cards, you can!
For my stepped up version, I used the Butterfly Duet Punch, along with the 1 3/8″ Scallop Circle Punch on my sentiment piece. Additionally, I used some Whisper White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon and Basic Pearls.
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!
