Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be
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!
Forever Fern Stamp Set
Today’s Monday Card features the Forever Fern Stamp Set. This fantastic stamp set is the cornerstone of the Forever Greenery Suite from Stampin’ Up!. If you would like to see another project that features nature and the color green, click here.
You can purchase the Forever Fern Stamp Set as a bundle with the Forever Flourishing Dies and save 10%. However, since we are using minimal supplies, this Monday Card only uses the stamp set.
That’s right, one stamp set, Forever Fern, two ink pads, Bermuda Bay and Mint Macaron, and two colors of cardstock, Just Jade and Whisper White. Please follow along!
A Monday Card
The Card Recipe
Just Jade CS: 5-1/2 x 8-1/2″, score at 4-1/4″ for card base.
Just Jade CS: 2-3/4 x 2-3/4″
Whisper White CS: 4 x 5 1/4″ (for inside, optional)
Whisper White CS: 4 x 4″, 1 x 4″, 2-1/2 x 2-1/2″
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 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!
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 that contain flowers or leaves.
To begin, I used the largest fern stamp from the Forever Fern Stamp Set and Bermuda Bay Ink on the 4 x 4″ piece of Whisper White CS. I stamped the image once, then immediately stamped off next to it, to create the second generation or shadow stamp. I continued this in a circular pattern, turning my cardstock as I stamped.
Once I completed stamping the large fern in a full circle, my cardstock looked like this:
But, don’t worry about the messy middle, we will be covering that part up as we continue.
Next, however, I continued with this piece and stamped the smallest leaves from the Forever Fern Stamp Set in Mint Macaron around the outside edges.
Berry Detailed
I continued the great use of color and background stamping on the 1 x 4″ piece of Whisper White CS. For this, I used the berry sprig stamp from the Forever Fern Stamp Set.
By focusing on the middle of the berry sprig, I was able to get 4-5 images across my cardstock. The stamps in the Forever Fern Stamp Set are Dist-Ink-tive, and have built in high and low imagery in the red rubber for great depth and interest.
Sentimental Friend
I used the sentiment “to a friend that makes me smile” from the Forever Fern Stamp Set, along with Mint Macaron Ink, on the 2-1/2 x 2-1/2″ square of Whisper White CS.
The saying is written in cursive, at a slight slant. Because we are also stamping it at a diagonal orientation, getting it lined up “evenly” can be tricky. I used the lines in my grid paper to help me out.
If this small fern stamp used to add a border around my sentiment in Bermuda Bay looks familiar, you are not seeing double. There are 2 stamps in the Forever Fern Stamp Set that are this same size. Each one curves in a different direction. It will not matter which one you use.
Some Assembly Required
The stamping is complete for the outside of our card, now we are on to assembling it. And, this one couldn’t get much easier!
I started by adhering the 4 x 4″ stamped piece of Whisper White CS to the front of my card base. I left a quarter inch of Just Jade showing behind the top and sides. Next, I adhered the 1 x 4″ stamped piece of Whisper White CS to the bottom of my card base.
After adhering my sentiment piece to the 2-3/4 x 2-3/4″ Just Jade CS, I placed it in the middle of my 4 x 4″ Whisper White CS on the diagonal. This will cover up the messy middle stamping, as mentioned earlier.
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 partially stamped the large fern image in Bermuda Bay Ink in the bottom corner to add that inside interest. I surrounded the large fern with the tops of the smallest fern, done in Mint Macaron.
Color Changing Options
With a card recipe this easy and fun, it only made sense to me to create it in different color combinations.
The purple lovers card on the left is done in warm berry tones, with a Rich Razzleberry card base, and Blackberry Bliss and Soft Suede Ink.
For my fall inspired card on the right, I chose a Cajun Craze card base. The ink colors used in this alternate card are Cherry Cobbler and Cinnamon Cider.
And how about a Christmas Card using the Forever Fern Stamp Set? These stamps are versatile enough to do so, and this card recipe makes creating them in large quantities a breeze.
Here, I used a Cherry Cobbler card base along with Shaded Spruce and Cherry Cobbler Ink. The sentiment “a merry hello” comes from the Host Stamp Set titled A Merry Hello. The stamp “heartfelt Christmas” would have worked beautifully here as well. Ask me today how you can earn this stamp set for free!
Get Stamping!
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 at any time. See you next Monday for another installment of:
Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be!