Easy Cards

Daisy Lane In Pool Party

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

Daisy Lane Stamp Set

Daisy Lane Card In Pool Party

Monday’s are hard, but with the Daisy Lane Stamp Set and 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!

Today’s Monday Card features the stamp set, Daisy Lane, item #149325. This stamp set is not new to the 2020-2021 Annual Catalog from Stampin’ Up, but it is current. If you would like to see another easy Monday card featuring flowers, click here.

You can purchase 2 separate punches to coordinate with the Daisy Lane Stamp Set. There is a Daisy Punch, item #143713, for the larger daisy stamp and a Medium Daisy Punch, item #149517, for the smaller daisy stamp. However, since we are using minimal supplies, this Monday Card only uses the stamp set.

Daisy Lane Stamp Set

That’s right, one stamp set, Daisy Lane, two ink pads, Bermuda Bay and Shaded Spruce, and two colors of cardstock, Pool Party and Whisper White. Please follow along!

A Monday Card

The Card Recipe

Pool Party CS: 5-1/2 x 8-1/2″, score at 4-1/4″ for card base.

Pool Party CS: 3-1/4 x 4″, 3/4 x 4″″ and 2 x 4-3/4″

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

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

Pool Party Card Base and Bone Folder

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.

I suggest stamping on scrap paper, as this technique has you stamping off the edge of your cardstock. Starting with the 3-1/4 x 4″ Pool Party CS, stamp the fern leaf using Shaded Spruce Ink over the entire surface. Do the same with the 3/4 x 4″ Pool Party CS.

Fern leaf stamp from Daisy Lane Stamp Set
This stamp works well when overlapped, so don’t worry about stamping it as such!

Floral Details

Next, I worked with the focal point flower. I used the 1-3/4 x 4-1/2 piece of Whisper White CS. First, I stamped the stem from the Daisy Lane Stamp Set in Shaded Spruce. Next, I used Bermuda Bay Ink and the daisy flower stamp, stamping off, then on to the top of the stem. This creates a lighter flower image.

Because the flower image was stamped off and is lighter, the sentiment stamp “friend” from the Daisy Lane Stamp Set is well defined when stamped in full strength Bermuda Bay Ink at the top of the stem.

Daisy Flower stamped from Daisy Lane Stamp Set

Sentimental Use

I love to use sentiment stamps in unusual ways, and in this card, they keep coming! To accent my focal flower, I stamped the saying “It’s your time to shine” from the Daisy Lane Stamp Set using Shaded Spruce Ink on the 1/2 x 2-1/2″ white cs.

Cutting apart sentiment from Daisy Lane Stamp Set
Small leftover paper scraps from cutting cardstock to size work perfect for this.

Next, I used my Paper Snips to cut each individual word apart and trimmed them. Lastly, I adhered each word in the proper phrase order to the top of the leaves on my flower stem. I prefer Tombow Liquid Adhesive Glue for small jobs like this.

Adding sentiment to card

For the next bit of stamping, I used the sentiment, “The best moments in my life happen with you”, from the Daisy Lane Stamp Set. I stamped it 3 times in Shaded Spruce Ink on the 1-1/4 x 4″ white cs. I started on the left, stamped in the middle and finished on the right.

Following that, I stamped the medium open petal daisy stamp from the Daisy Lane Stamp Set over each stamped sentiment. For this inking, and to get a very light image, I used the Bermuda Bay Ink and stamped off twice before stamping on my white cs.

Sentiment and daisy stamping using the Daisy Lane Stamp Set

Putting It All Together

With the stamping for the outside completed, it is just a matter of putting the card puzzle pieces together. I began with the leafy background stamped images, choosing the largest one to adhere first. The smallest one fits on the bottom of the card front, with the long sentiment piece tucked in between.

Front of card assembly

The focal flower piece has additional matting to it. You can choose to omit some of the matting if you prefer. After putting my cardstock together, I added it to the front of the card toward the right . One “best moments” sentiment is clearly visible, while the additional two are only peeking out and implied.

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 stem in Shaded Spruce Ink and daisy flower in Bermuda Bay Ink, to add that inside interest. Because I was not stamping the friend sentiment, I did not stamp off when using the flower stamp. This gave me a bolder inside flower.

Inside stamping

Another Easy Monday

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!

Tasteful Touches In Cherry Cobbler

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! To see another Monday style card, click here.

Today’s Monday Card features the stamp set, Tasteful Touches. This is a new stamp set in the 2020-2021 Annual Catalog from Stampin’ Up!. The stamp set is composed of 9 cling (red rubber) stamps.

Tasteful Touches Stamp Set
Tasteful Touches Stamp Set, Item #152562

You can purchase the Tasteful Touches Bundle, which includes the Tasteful Labels Dies, and save 10%. However, since we are using minimal supplies, this Monday Card only uses the stamp set.

Tasteful Labels Dies
The Tasteful Labels Dies, item # 152886, are available separately or bundled with the Tasteful Touches Stamp Set. To order the Tasteful Touches Bundle, use item #154098.

This Monday card is made with one stamp set, Tasteful Touches, two ink pads, Cherry Cobbler and Blushing Bride, and two colors of cardstock, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White. Please follow along!

A Monday Card

The Card Recipe

Whisper White CS: 5-1/2 x 8-1/2″, score at 4-1/4″ for card base.

Whisper White CS: 3-3/4 x 5″, 2-1/2 x 2-1/2″, 1 x 3-1/2″, (3) of 1/2 x 5″

Cherry Cobbler CS: 4 x 5-1/4″, 2-3/4 x 2-3/4″, 1-1/4 x 3-3/4″

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 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!

White Card Base and Bone Folder

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 is a great way to put all the stamps in your stamp set to good use.

I suggest stamping on scrap paper, as this technique has you stamping off the edge of your cardstock. Starting at the bottom left of the 3-1/2 x 5″ Whisper White CS, stamp the leaf sprig from the Tasteful Touches Stamp Set in Cherry Cobbler Ink, up toward the top. I was able to get 3 full images and a partial along the edge.

Tasteful Touches stamp. leaf sprig and Cherry Cobbler Ink

This is the perfect time to stamp the same leaves in Cherry Cobbler along one of the 1/2 x 5″ Whisper White strips of paper. This is also a wonderful use of those tiny strips of paper leftover from larger cuts!

More stamping in Cherry Cobler with leaf sprig from Tasteful Touches Stamp Set

Lastly, I stamped the floral background pattern from the Tasteful Touches Stamp Set in Blushing Bride on the remaining two strips of 1/2 x 5″ white cs. I placed the two strips side by side, to stamp them at the same time. You could stamp them one at a time if you prefer. It helps to hold one end of the paper down as you stamp.

Stamping a background image from Tasteful Touches Stamp Set in Blushing Bride

Floral Details

The focus of this great Monday card is the flower stamp from the Tasteful Touches Stamp Set. It really looks great in any color, but here we continue to use Cherry Cobbler Ink. I stamped it in the center of the 2-1/2 x 2-1/2″ Whisper White CS.

Flower Stamp from Tasteful Touches Stamp Set and Cherry Cobbler Ink

Next, to add additional interest, I stamped the flower background image along the top and bottom of the white cs. To create a lighter image, I stamped off after inking up with Blushing Bride, then used the second and third generation ink. The darker and lighter stamping matches in opposite corners.

Second and third generation stamping using the Tasteful Touches background flower stamp

So Sentimental

The last bit of stamping for the card front is the sentiment. I chose the stamp phrase “the good things in life are better with you” from the Tasteful Touches Stamp Set. I stamped this in the middle of the 1 x 3-1/2″ Whisper White CS, using Cherry Cobbler Ink.

Easy Assembly Required

Now that the stamping is done, it is time to assemble the card. The layers for this card go together very easily. I started by adhering the larger leaf sprig stamped cardstock to the Cherry Cobbler CS, sized 4 x 5-1/4″. Then, I placed this on my card base.

Beginning layers of card on base

Next, I added the 3 strips of 1/2 x 5″ stamped pieces. I began with the Cherry Cobbler leaf sprig stamped piece, and centered that, leaving room to add the Blushing Bride stamped pieces on either side. I also made sure to leave a small edge of white showing on the outer edge.

Phase 2 of layering the card pieces

The last two stamped pieces each have a Cherry Cobbler mat to be adhered to. I attached them together before adding them to the card front.

Adding Cherry Cobbler CS mats to stamped images from the Tasteful Touches Stamp Set

For the final step in creating the card front, I added the sentiment toward the bottom, leaving a half-inch of background stamping showing; after that, I added the flower piece, again leaving a half-inch of background stamping showing, this time from the top.

Finished card front

The Insider Job

This card is absolutely beautiful on the outside, lets make it pretty on the inside as well. 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.

Inside card stamping used Tasteful Touches Stamp Set

Here, I stamped the large flower in Cherry Cobbler Ink in the bottom corner of the inside. Next, I stamped the floral background image in Blushing Bride on either side. I only stamped half of the image (2 rows, instead of 4).

Colorful Combinations

This card went together so fast and easy, it inspired me to create more of the same, using different color combinations. The first example uses the same stamping colors as above, but I used Blushing Bride CS instead of Cherry Cobbler.

Tasteful Touches Card in Blushing Bride

My next example features the blues, Night of Navy and Seaside Spray to be exact. Same card recipe, different ink and cardstock.

Tasteful Touches Card in Night of Navy

For the next example, I turned to purple, Rich Razzleberry and Purple Posy. Because the Tasteful Touches Stamp Set is cling (red rubber), I was able to use my Purple Posy Stampin’ Write Marker to ink the stamp with for the lighter tones here.

Tasteful Touches Card in Rich Razzleberry

My last card example uses greens, Garden Green and Soft Sea Foam. This great card recipe made every card in any color combo quick to create.

Tasteful Touches Card in Garden Green

Get Inspired

I always get inspired by color when I create a new card. Having a stamp set like Tasteful Touches made this creation easy to complete as well.

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!

Butterfly Wishes In Smoky Slate

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

Butterfly Wishes Card in Smoky Slate

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.

Butterfly Wishes Stamp Set, item #149346

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.

Butterfly Duet Punch, item #148523, coordinates with the stamp set Butterfly Wishes, but we are not using the punch for our minimal supplies card.

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!

Smoky Slate Cardstock and Bone Folder

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.

Branch stamp from Butterfly Wishes stsmp set
Notice the lighter areas of the stamped image. I did not miss ink coverage when I tapped my stamp in the ink pad. This is a DistINKtive Stamp, intended to give shading with high and low ink coverage.

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.

Butterfly stamp from Butterfly Wishes Stamp Set in Mango Melody Ink

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.

Generational stamping with the Butterfly Wishes stamp set

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.

Flower stamp from Butterfly Wishes stamp set in Mango Melody

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.

Sentiment from Butterfly Wishes in Basic Gray with generational stamping

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 along outer edges completed

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.

Second generation stamping with medium butterfly from Butterfly Wishes Stamp Set

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.

Smallest butterfly from Butterfly Wishes Stamp Set stamped over medium butterfly
This one is not lined up perfectly, but unless you are really looking hard, not horridly off. Home-made cards should have some flaws, right?

Lastly, I stamped the Birthday Wishes stamp from the Butterfly Wishes Stamp set in Basic Gray Ink.

Birthday Wishes stamp from 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.

Beginning layers to card front

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.

Layers continue to build on the card front

This completed assembly went on the card front next. All of the layers used in this card line up and center nicely.

Card front completely assembled

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.

Inside card stamping using Butterfly Wishes stamp set

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.

Stepped Up version of the Butterfly Wishes 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!

Beautiful Day In Rococo Rose

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

Beautiful Day Card

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, Beautiful Day. This stamp set only contains 5 stamps, but I managed to use all of them in my card (something new for me!). If you would like to see another floral project that features a Monday style card, click here.

Beautiful Day Stamp Set, item # 145915
Beautiful Day Stamp Set, item #145915

As always, I use 1 stamp set for my minimal supplies card. I also use 2 ink pads, and for this card I feature Early Espresso and Rococo Rose. Additionally, this card is completed with 2 colors of cardstock, Rococo Rose and Very Vanilla. Minimal supplies for a Beautiful Day, indeed!

A Monday Card

The Card Recipe

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

Rococo Rose CS: 2 3/4 x 3 1/2″ and 1 x 5″

Very Vanilla CS: 4 x 5 1/4″ x 2 (one for inside, optional)

Very Vanilla CS: 3 x 3 3/4″ and 3/4 x 1 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 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!

Rococo Rose Card Base and Bonefolder

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.

I suggest stamping on scrap paper, as this technique has you stamping off the edge of your cardstock. Starting at the top, I stamped the big flower from the Beautiful Day Stamp Set in Rococo Rose Ink. I applied the image 4 times around one of the 4 x 5 1/4″ Very Vanilla CS pieces.

Large Flower stamp from Beautiful Day Stamp Set

Next, I stamped the Beautiful Day phrase “Always thinking of you” in Early Espresso Ink onto the Very Vanilla CS in the remainder of the space available. I varied the placement of letters from the stamp phrase along the edge of my paper as well. The middle will be covered in layers later on, so don’t focus on that!

Sentiment Stamp from Beautiful Day and Early Espresso Ink

Flag Me

A great way to add paper elements to cards without the use of punches or dies (this is a minimal supplies card, after all) is adding a flagged piece. On my 1 x 5″ Rococo Rose CS, I used my Paper Snips to flag one end. I always start in one corner and cut toward the middle. Next, I cut in from the other corner, continuing each side cut until the flag is complete.

Flagged piece of Rococo Rose CS

It’s time to add some pieces to our card front. I adhered the stamped Very Vanilla piece down first. After that, I attached the flagged piece on the right side of the card front.

Remember that little triangle piece that was cut away when I did my flagging? I added that on top of the flagged cardstock, giving the look of a fancy fold paper. I encourage you to use all your scraps on your projects in unique ways.

Card front assembly part 1

Butterfly Focus

The focus piece of the card is always the most fun part to work on. For this card, I stamped the large butterfly stamp from the Beautiful Day Stamp Set in Early Espresso Ink onto the 2 3/4 x 3 1/2″ Rococo Rose CS. I angled the butterfly, allowing the image to fall off the edges.

Butterfly Stamp from Beautiful Day Stamp Set

After stamping the butterfly, I added the trio of flowers stamp in a random pattern on the same cardstock. This time, I used Rococo Rose Ink. I tried to focus on the outer edges of my paper. This little stamp is adorable, it reminds me of sequins, with the small open center on each flower.

Trio of small flowers stamp from Beautiful Day Stamp Set

Once this stamping was completed, I adhered the Rococo Rose CS to the 3 x 3 3/4″ layer of Very Vanilla. I love to frame my pieces with additional cardstock, giving them an air of importance. This assembly attaches flat to the card front as well.

Card front assembly part 2

Finishing Touches

It’s time to stamp some more words. This is the fifth and final stamp in the Beautiful Day Stamp Set. Because I wanted the sentiment to be a smaller image on my card front, I chose to mask off part of the stamp.

This is optional, of course. For the masked version, I used a piece of Very Vanilla CS measuring 3/4 x 3 1/4″. If you choose not to mask and want to use the entire stamp image, it is easily completed on a 1 x 3 1/4″.

The Art Of Masking

Masking part of a stamp allows us to use part of the image. This can be done using masking tape, painters tape or washi tape. I prefer painters tape, as it is less sticky than masking tape and stickier than washi. Happy medium!

First, place the tape over the part of the stamp that you don’t want to use. In this case, I am keeping Happy Birthday open for inking and closing off the remainder of the sentiment.

Masking a stamp

Second, ink up your stamp, tape and all. Just pretend the tape doesn’t exist. Make sure the rubber image you want to use has enough ink on it before stamping.

Inked masked stamp

Third, and most important step! Remove the tape before you stamp your image. If you forget this step and leave the tape on, you will have a splotchy mess under the image you wanted.

Masked stamp with ink and tape removed

Fourth and final step, apply the stamp to your paper. I focused on centering the Happy Birthday portion on my cardstock, rather than the complete stamp.

Happy Birthday Stamp from Beautiful Day Stamp Set

Masked Sentiment

Masked Sentiment from Beautiful Day Stamp Set

Un-Masked Sentiment

Un-masked sentiment from Beautiful Day Stamp Set

The Insider Job

Now that your card is beautiful on the outside, with the addition of your stamped sentiment piece, let’s add some glamour to the inside. I love to mimic some of the stamped images from the front of the card and carry them to the inner layer.

For this card using the Beautiful Day Stamp Set, I stamped the large flower image in Rococo Rose onto the bottom corner of the remaining 4 x 5 1/4″ Very Vanilla CS. Next, I used the smaller trio of flowers in Rococo Rose Ink, stamping them off first before adding them, for a lighter ink image.

Inside Stamping With Beautiful Day Stamp Set

Step It Up!

I like to feature the same Monday Card Recipe with the addition of a few extra details, in an effort to show you that you can always add more. For my stepped up version, I added some Scalloped Linen Ribbon in Rococo Rose under the sentiment popped up by dimensionals.

Other new features here include 2 butterfly punched images, the larger in Very Vanilla CS and the smaller in 2019-2021 DSP, adhered together and given a lift with a dimensional. On top of my butterflies, I added a 2019-2021 Faceted Dot in Rococo Rose.

Stepped Up Version of Beautiful Day Card

Stampin’ Up makes color coordination easy with so many items to choose from. If you need any of the products I used for this card, head over to my online store, https://juliemakson.stampinup.net/, and get them while you can. Some of these items are retiring very soon, so don’t miss out!

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. See you next Monday for another installment of:

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

Rare Blessings In Soft Sea Foam

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

Rare Blessings Card in Soft Sea Foam

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.

Rare Blessings Stamp Set, item #149241
Rare Blessings Stamp Set, item #149241

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!

Soft Sea Foam Card Base and Bonefolder

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.

Card Assembly Step 1

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

Additional layers to card front

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.

Rare Blessing Card In Soft Sea Foam

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.

Inside Stamping of Rare Blessings Card

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!

Rare Blessings Card In Rococo Rose

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!

Rare Blessings Card in Highland Heather

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!

Rare Blessings Card in Pretty Peacock

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!