Brushed Metallic Adhesive-Backed Dots

Beauty of Tomorrow in Soft Succulent

Card using Beauty Of Tomorrow Bundle featuring Soft Succulent.

In Color: Soft Succulent Part II

As I began another color journey with Soft Succulent, I noted the color pairing with Soft Suede and Old Olive. My thoughts turned to fall colors immediately. But it was not an autumn themed stamp set that caught my eye as I started to design!

Instead, I chose the flora and fauna of the Beauty of Tomorrow Stamp Set and Beautiful Leaves Dies. The blue-green of the Soft Succulent blends so nicely with the warm brown of Soft Suede. Old Olive, almost a spring-time green, seemed like the odd man out here. But, once I tucked some Old Olive in, I discovered that I not only like these colors together…I love them together!

Big and Beautiful Leaves Dies

The largest die in the Beautiful Leaves Dies measures a whopping 6-1/4 x 4″. I needed a good sized piece of Old Olive Cardstock to use this background fern with my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine. One pass thru, and you will have a lot of foliage to work into your own project too!

Large fern die from Beautiful Leaves Dies using Old Olive Cardstock.

You may be wondering how one would fit “all” of that green on one card front! I simply chose to chop mine up a bit. I wanted a little Old Olive peeping out from behind my focal point. With my Paper Snips, I trimmed this die cut apart. There was plenty left over for other card use, too.

Using Paper Snips to trim the large die cut from the Beauty of Leaves Dies.

Small Shimmery Leaves Dies

Not everything needs to be oversized! In fact, the Beautiful Leaves Dies feature four smaller dies for foliage too. Because I wanted my leaf color to vary, I chose to create the smaller leaves in Soft Succulent. For immediate and easy glimmer, I pulled out my 2021-2023 In Color Shimmer Vellum. A small piece of this fantastic vellum was all that I needed to die cut these leaves.

Die cutting smaller leaves from the Beauty of Leaves Dies, using 2021-2023 In Color Shimmer Vellum in Soft Succulent.

Beauty of Tomorrow Bouquets

One of the beautiful things about the Beauty of Tomorrow Stamp Set is that the sprig-like flowers are stamp and go. You don’t need to two-step stamp, or color the leaves and flowers in. They are simply gorgeous stamped once. And that is just what I did.

Stamping the sprig stamp from Beauty of Tomorrow Stamp Set in Soft Suede Ink.

I chose to stamp the larger sprig-like stamp from the Beauty of Tomorrow Stamp Set using Soft Suede Ink on Basic White Cardstock. For the smaller floral bouquet, I stamped the image using Soft Succulent Ink. After my stamping was complete, I used the coordinating dies from the Beautiful Leaves Dies and ran them thru my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine.

Stamping the floral bouquet from the Beauty of Tomorrow Stamp Set using Soft Succulent ink.

Tastefully Stamped and Embossed

One of my favorite techniques to do is use a sentiment stamp as a background image. The large sentiment stamp from the Beauty of Tomorrow Stamp Set reads, “the changing of the leaves reminds us that new wonders are just around the corner”.

I chose to stamp this image using VersaMark Ink on a piece of Soft Succulent Cardstock. The effect of the watermark ink is subtle. I varied the placement of the stamped words, and although the image is not “readable”, one only has to look to see that there is a hidden message.

Stamping the sentiment stamp from Beauty of Tomorrow Stamp Set as a background stamp in VersaMark ink.

After my sentiment stamping was complete, I embossed my Soft Succulent Cardstock. The Tasteful Textile Embossing Folder leaves a barely discernible texture. The softness of this embossing adds to the richness of this card without being overpowering. Lastly, I used my Blending Brush and Soft Succulent Ink to deepen the outer edges of my cardstock.

Embossing with the Tasteful Textile Embossing Folder and sponging Soft Succulent Ink with a Blending Brush.

The Beauty of Assembly

Now it’s time to take a look at the layers of this card. I began with a Soft Succulent card base. Next, I added a layer of Soft Suede Cardstock. My third layering piece is Soft Succulent in nature, but comes from the Tidings of Christmas 6 x 6″ Designer Series Paper. This pattern worked wonderfully with my card, and did not lend itself to Christmas tidings at all.

Card layers for the front of the card.

Once I had my layering pieces adhered, I began to place my leafy die cuts. I started with the Old Olive snippings, and dry-fit them beneath my Soft Succulent embossed piece. When I was happy with the placement, I used Tear & Tape Adhesive to attach my greens to my card base. I am always careful to place the tape in a position I know will be covered up as I continue to build my card.

Attaching the Old Olive die cut leaves.

After my Old Olive leaves were in place, it was time for me to add in the shimmery Soft Succulent leaves. Again, I took care to place them in a peeping manner. I used more Tear & Tape Adhesive to secure these small leaves as well.

Attaching the shimmer vellum leaves.

Beautiful Embellishments

Every beautiful card needs some beautiful embellishments! For this card, I chose an elegant ribbon- the Very Vanilla Scalloped Laced Trim Ribbon. First, I placed my stamped and die-cut bouquets on the embossed Soft Succulent cardstock. Next, I wrapped a small piece of lace across the width, securing the lace in the back.

Using Very Vanilla Scalloped Lace Trim Ribbon on the card front.

From there, I created a small lacey bow, and attached that over the front. For an adhesive that really holds ribbons well, I recommend the Tear & Tape Adhesive. Once completed, I placed my entire assembly over the tape that is securing my leaves!

A bow in lace trim is added using Tear & Tape Adhesive.

I am loving the Brushed Metallic Adhesive Backed Dots! I chose 3 in the gold tone, and placed them in a row along the open space at the bottom of my card front. If you struggle to line up embellishments in a straight row, try doing this: use some Grid Paper (or graph paper) and a ruler as your guide. I also find the Take Your Pick Tool so helpful in lifting the adhesive embellishments off their backing paper and onto my project.

Using the Take Your Pick Tool to add Brushed Metallic Adhesive Backed Dots.

Nothing As Beautiful

This card featuring the Beauty of Tomorrow Bundle, along with Soft Succulent, Soft Suede and Old Olive, came together beautifully! As I worked with this color combination, I discovered that I really enjoy this mix. In fact, I could see myself creating some beach themed cards with these three colors.

If I have inspired you and you need some of the supplies I used to create this card, stop by my online store anytime. Need more Soft Succulent inspiration? Check out this card and an unusual color combination that may put you in the holiday spirit, by clicking here. And be sure to come back for the final installment of Soft Succulent and a new color combo that is sure to please!

One last look at the finished card!

Perfectly Plaid In Evening Evergreen

Combination of products used to create a Perfectly Plaid card in Evening Evergreen.

In Color: Evening Evergreen, Part I

First, let me say that green is my favorite color. And I love dark green tones even more. As I continue my 2021-2023 In Color exploration, we are moving on to a beautiful shade. In fact, Evening Evergreen is so dark, I think it could be considered a neutral color.

For this card, I am pairing Shaded Spruce and Crushed Curry with Evening Evergreen. And what a challenge this color combo was for me! I didn’t know if I could pull off two strong green tones on the same card…but in the end it all worked out quite nicely.

Creating Something Perfectly Plaid

When I first thought about what type of card I would make with these colors, plaid instantly came to my mind. I could picture this color combo on a Scottish tartan! And, I also wanted to create something with Christmas trees to represent the great greens. I pulled out some supplies…and instead of a hit, I had a couple of misses.

Paper weaving wasn’t quite what I was looking for. But I did have fun playing with strips of Evening Evergreen, Shaded Spruce and Crushed Curry. Since I didn’t adhere my paper strips, I can save them for another day.

Evening Evergreen, Shaded Spruce and Crushed Curry Cardstock, woven together

I love the Designer Series Assortments that Stampin’ Up! offers in their color families. This paper makes it so simple for me to coordinate to my ink and cardstock. However, after I punched a few trees with the Pine Tree Punch, I knew I wasn’t headed in this direction either.

Family Color Designer Series Paper punched with the Pine Tree Punch.

Perfectly Plaid Stamp Set

The Perfectly Plaid Stamp Set features a variety of pine tree stamps that coordinate with the Pine Tree Punch. In fact, there are 3 different tree stamps. Since I wanted to create a tree for each color of my combo, this was perfect. I just needed to decide which tree and which color belonged together artistically.

Realistic Pine Tree

I wanted to use the stamp that looks most like a real pine with Shaded Spruce. This brighter dark green is even named for a type of pine! But when I went to stamp my image, the color was over-saturated and resulted in a blurry image. This comes from too much ink on the surface of the ink pad (also known as a juicy ink pad).

I have a quick fix for this exact situation! All it takes is a plastic spoon. I use the back of the spoon and “frost” the ink down into the foam pad, away from the surface. When I am done, I simply clean the spoon off with a baby wipe and set the spoon aside until I need it again for another juicy ink pad. After I re-stamped my image, the quality is so much better!

Pushing ink back into the ink pad with a plastic spoon for better stamped images on the tree stamp from the Perfectly Plaid Stamp Set.

Fill In Fir Tree

I just knew a pine tree made up of only Crushed Curry would look odd. But the fill in fir tree was a perfect solution for my green and yellow combination. I stamped the tree image in Evening Evergreen Ink first. Next, I stamped the “fill in” with Crushed Curry Ink. This is also known as Two-Step Stamping. I find the photpolymer stamps so useful when lining up images!

Two-step stamping with the Perfectly Plaid stamp set.

Plaid Pine Tree

And, I saved the best for last. Of course, I thought that the plaid pine tree stamp worked best with our star color, Evening Evergreen. With some simple punching of each image, I was ready to work my trees into my card.

Stamping with the Perfectly Plaid stamp set and punching image with the Pine Tree Punch.

Stitched Triangles Dies

We all know Christmas trees are triangular shapes. So, I pulled out my Stitched Triangles Dies and Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine to capitalize on the trees for my card. I chose the dies I thought would size up nicely and paired them with Evening Evergreen, Shaded Spruce and Crushed Curry Cardstock. In the end, I did not use the Soft Suede die cut.

Stitched Triangle Dies

So Very Merry

While I was arranging my card parts and pieces to determine the final design, I realized I didn’t have a lot of room for a sentiment. The images in the Perfectly Plaid Stamp Set were a little too big. Instead, I settled on a very simple word “merry” chosen from the Time Of Giving Stamp Set.

I stamped my sentiment in Versamark Ink on a strip of Evening Evergreen Cardstock. After adding White Embossing Powder, I heat set the word with my Heat Tool. I think you will agree that the white sentiment really pops, and coordinates with the white outlines of my tree images on this card.

Heat embossing a sentiment.

Putting It All Together

Do you remember earlier when I tried my hand at weaving cardstock strips in Evening Evergreen, Shaded Spruce and Crushed Curry? And how I played with the family assortment of Designer Series Paper? When I combined those concepts with my Christmas tree theme, I had a winner.

I selected different designer styles of paper using my color combo, and adhered them to a piece of Soft Suede Cardstock. Next, I layered on my ink-sponged cardstock strips. By adding like color ink to the edges of my cardstock, I was able to sharpen the contrast of colors.

Sponging the edges of cardstock.

With my focus on Evening Evergreen, Shaded Spruce and Crushed Curry, I was able to keep my card true to the chosen colors. I kept the Crushed Curry designer paper and cardstock together, but swapped the same color placement on the Evening Evergreen and Shaded Spruce designer paper and cardstock.

Triangles, Trees And Trinkets

From here, it was easy to add on the last elements in a layering fashion. First, I added the stitched triangle die cuts, alternating the orientation. After that, I place the stamped and punched trees over the triangles. To finish off my card, I added three gold Brushed Metallic Adhesive-Backed Dots, using my Take Your Pick Tool. These embellishments are comprised of bronze, copper and gold, and the gold best paired with the yellow tone of Crushed Curry.

Brushed Metallic Adhesive-Backed Dots and Take Your Pick Tool

Perfectly Plaid In Evening Evergreen

The color combo of Evening Evergreen, Shaded Spruce and Crushed Curry is not one I would have ever thought of pairing together! In the end, I am so happy with my final result. I must admit, I don’t know that I will ever put these thee colors together on another project…but knowing I accomplished what I set out to do is enough for me.

Perfectly Plaid finished card

If you are enjoying my In Color journey, be sure to see previous posts on Fresh Freesia and Polished Pink. And check back soon, there is still more to come with Evening Evergreen as I cover three different color combinations with each of the five new In Colors.

Stop by my online store at any time to add any of the featured Stampin’ Up! supplies to your cart. There are so many great options available, so explore and remember… all colors are always in style!