Easy Cards - The Maine Stamper

Tasteful Touches In Cherry Cobbler

June 15, 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! 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, 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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

June 1, 2020

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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

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

Beautiful Day In Rococo Rose

May 18, 2020

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Un-Masked Sentiment

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!