Easy Cards

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!

Country Road In Crumb Cake

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

Country Road 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! To see last week’s Monday Card, click here.

Today’s Monday Card features the stamp set, Country Road. We are using 5 out of the 6 stamps in this set to make our card. This stamp set is soon retiring, so if you want to purchase it, time is of the essence. To view more retiring products, click here.

Country Road Stamp Set, item # 151356
Country Road Stamp Set, item #151356

As with all our Monday Cards, we are using minimal supplies with minimal efforts to get fabulous results. So with one stamp set, Country Road, two ink pads, Early Espresso and Poppy Parade, and two colors of cardstock, Crumb Cake and Poppy Parade, we will get to work!

A Monday Card

The Card Recipe

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

Crumb Cake CS: 2 x 4″, 2 3/4 x 3 1/2″, 2 1/4 x 3″

Scrap of Crumb Cake CS: for wagon wheel and hole punch

Poppy Parade CS: 2 1/2 x 3 1/4″, 3 1/4 x 4″, scrap for star

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!

Crumb Cake CS 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 technique can be used with any stamp sets you own.

I suggest stamping on scrap paper, as you will be stamping off the edge of your cardstock. Starting with the Poppy Parade 3 1/4 x 4″ CS and Poppy Parade Ink, I stamped the grass image from the Country Road Stamp Set 3-4 times across. It is okay to overlap slightly for this tone on tone look.

Poppy Parade stamping

Next, I stamped with the phrase stamp, “nothing’s better than…” from the Country Road Stamp Set. Here I used the Crumb Cake CS 2 x 4″ piece and Early Espresso Ink. I did not overlap this stamp, but created a random pattern. I think it looks like newspaper clippings haphazardly assembled.

Phrase stamp from Country Road

Both pieces of the newly created background stamped cardstock are ready to be layered on the card front. There is room to keep a gap between the Crumb Cake on the bottom and the Poppy Parade on the top.

Adding background cardstock to card front

Card Focal Point

The focal point of this card is the horse weathervane from the Country Road Stamp Set. I stamped it on the Crumb Cake 2 1/4 x 3″ piece using Early Espresso Ink. This stamp is a tight fit for this paper, so I focused on centering the horse.

Horse Stamp and Early Espresso Ink

Immediately after stamping my weathervane, I folded my cardstock in a crumpling manner. Since my ink was still slightly “wet”, this smeared in a good way.

Crumbled Paper Technique

Next, I held some of the creased folds upward and used my Early Espresso Ink Pad to apply splotches of additional ink. This creates a great “weathered” weathervane. It will be uniquely different each time!

Horse Weathervane Stamp from Country Road Stamp Set

This weathervane is now ready to be layered on our card front. I used the Crumb Cake 2 1/2 x 3 1/4″ piece as the bottom layer. Next, I added the Poppy Parade 2 3/4 x 3 1/2″ piece in the middle. Lastly, I adhered the weathered weathervane as the top layer.

Weathervane Layering Cardstock

When I placed this layering piece on my cardfront, I was sure to add it to the left and keep a balance between the top and bottom stamped background images. I needed to have room to add my wagon wheel next.

Adding layers to the Country Road Card

Let’s Get Fussy

For the next portion of stamping, I used scraps, Early Espresso Ink and my Paper Snips. That’s right, time to fussy cut. In my video, I noted that a 1 3/4″ circle punch would make quick work of the wagon wheel from the Country Road Stamp Set. (That would make your Monday even easier.)

Wagon Wheel and Star Stamp from Country Road Stamp Set

After fussy cutting my wheel and star, I adhered them together. The star fits nicely in the center of the wagon wheel. For additional color and interest, I used my office hole punch and a scrap of Crumb Cake CS. The tiny circle is the perfect accompaniment to the star’s center.

Office Hole Punch Embellishment

Do It Yourself Lift Kit

My Monday Cards are uniquely simple, using minimal supplies. I did not mention Dimensionals in the ingredient list. You will not need them. You can make your own. Here’s how:

When adding an element to your card front that already has some layering on it, the top piece may need a lift (somewhere) to help it sit nicely. I simply count how many layers “up” I need to go to make my piece flush. Then I trim some like-color cardstock in the required number of layers.

  • Do it yourself dimensionals

After I adhere my home-made dimensionals to the back of my card element, I use adhesive to add it to the card front. With the extra lift where it is needed, the wagon wheel sits flush and does not wobble. No one wants a wobbly wagon wheel!

Home-made dimensionals

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 grass to add that inside interest. I stamped once in the bottom corner, using Poppy Parade Ink, then immediately stamped again, overlapping the first image.

Grass Stamp from Country Road Stamp Set

Step It Up

Stepped up version of Country Road Card

More is more. If you like to add more, there is always the option to do so. For my stepped up version of the Country Road Stamp Set Card, I chose to add a copper element from Designer Elements to my wagon wheel center. These elements come in gold and silver, additionally.

The Kraft Rope Trim melds seamlessly with our horse and Country Road theme, but sadly is not a current Stampin’ Up! Product. When you add elements to your cards, make them unique with whatever product you happen to have on hand.

Country Road Enjoyment

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!

Inspiring Iris In Highland Heather

Monday’s Are Hard, Stamping Shouldn’t Be

Inspiring Iris card in Highland Heather

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! To see last week’s Monday Card Tutorial, click here.

Today’s Monday Card features the stamp set, Inspiring Iris. This great stamp set is made up of 16 photopolymer stamps, with 3 different kinds of flowers. That’s right…not just iris.

Inspiring Iris has two-step stamping capability. Two-step stamping involves stamping an outer image, and them stamping the filler, or inner, image(s) separately. It is a fast and easy way to add instant color, but this does not limit us to using it as intended, and soon you will see why!

Inspiring Iris Stamp Set, item #149268
Inspiring Iris Stamp Set, item #149268

So with just one stamp set, Inspiring Iris, two colors of ink, Memento Tuxedo Black and Gorgeous Grape, and two colors of cardstock, Highland Heather and Whisper White, we are creating an easy Monday card. Let’s put this one together!

A Monday Card

The Card Recipe

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

Highland Heather CS: 1 1/2 x 5 1/4″, 2 1/4 x 3″

Whisper White CS: 4 x 5 1/4″ (inside)

Whisper White CS: 2 x 5 1/4″, 2 x 2 3/4″, 3/4 x 1 7/8″

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!

Highland Heather cardbase, bone folder scoring

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, and every Monday I am showing you how to incorporate this technique into your projects.

For our Inspiring Iris card, we are stamping backgrounds, times 3! Once in black ink, and twice in purple, one with lighter images and one with darker images from the same purple ink pad.

Background #1

Starting with the card base you just folded and scored so nicely, stamp the ‘mystery flower’ (rose? begonia? peony?) leaf filler using Gorgeous Grape Ink that is stamped off. By stamping off (releasing ink) and using the second generation ink, you will get a lighter stamped image. I was able to get 5-6 images in the center of my card base from top to bottom, inverting the stamp orientation each time to vary the look.

Second Generation Stamping

Background #2

On the 1 1/2 x 5 1/4″ Highland Heather CS, stamp the carnation leaf filler (this one resembles a tulip silhouette on a stem) using Gorgeous Grape ink. This time, do not stamp off, use the fully inked stamp to create a darker image in a random pattern. I like to have my flowers peeking inward.

Stamp from Inspiring Iris and Gorgeous Grape Ink

Background #3

Our last background technique involves the 2 x 5 1/4″ Whisper White CS and Memento Black Ink. To get my lines as straight as possible, I took advantage of my grid paper (you could use graph paper or make your own grid if need be).

You can use a post-it note to hold the white cardstock in place, or washi tape. If using washi, be sure to remove some of the “stick” first to avoid tears on your paper during its removal. Simply dab the sticky side of the tape on your clothes to lesson the stick factor.

I carefully lined up the background stamp that resembles circles with diamonds in the middle, and starting from the bottom, worked my way up. On my card, I tried to stamp a full circle each time on the same edge of my paper to make a uniform design. Grid lines keep the tendency on the straight and narrow side.

background stamping technique

Floral Details

The theme of our card is Inspiring Iris, so let’s stamp the iris! First, take the iris outline stamp and use Memento Black Ink on the 2 x 2 3/4″ Whisper White Cardstock. Leave a little blank room at the top, and stamp the lower leaves off the bottom of your cardstock. Don’t crowd your iris, give them room to grow!

Inspiring Iris stamps with Memento Black Ink

While my Memento ink was out, I stamped the sentiment for this card on the 3/4 x 1 7/8″ Whisper White Cardstock. It is easier for me to line up my saying on a small paper. Somehow using larger pieces just leaves room for larger errors, plus do-over’s don’t waste valuable cardstock when minimal scraps are used.

Next, we color our flower. Using the iris flower filler stamp and Gorgeous Grape Ink, stamp over the black flower outline. This stamp is designed to give you high and low color saturation, so it appears that you worked ‘extra hard’ to create this look, without the ‘extra hard’ work.

Lastly, it is time to stamp the leaves. Normally one would use green to create realistic leaves, but this card with minimal supplies gives us the option to use purple or black ink. So purple it is. I created the leaves in a lighter purple by stamping off the Gorgeous Grape Ink first. As well, this creates a variation in color from the flower and leaves.

Iris flower stamping from Inspiring Iris Stamp Set

Finishing Touches

I like to assemble my layers before I add them to the card front. For this card, adhere together the white cardstock stamped with black circles and the purple cardstock stamped with purple flowers. Place this assembly to the far left of your card front. You should be able to see the stamping we did on the middle of the card base peeking out.

Next, adhere the stamped iris on white cardstock to the 2 1/4 x 3″ Highland Heather CS. This layer will overlap the first, longer layer on your card front, and become the focal point of the card.

Adhering layers on Inspiring Iris card

For the final step on the card front, add your sentiment. There should be room toward the bottom right for it to fit perfectly. This is helped by the longer layers positioned previously to the far left, and the sentiment piece being as tiny as possible.

Inspiring Card Assembly

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 iris image to add that inside interest. I stamped the iris lower on the inside corner, with the flowers just over the bottom of my cardstock. I also added the fun circle background stamp in black to create edging on two sides.

Inside the Inspiring Iris card

Step It Up!

Any card can have more! If you have ribbon or bling lying around, it would look fantastic with the beautiful Inspiring Iris card. I chose to add some Stampin’ Up Tri-Color Ribbon, item #149708, as it constitutes 2 out of 3 colors used in this card today: Gorgeous Grape and Highland Heather.

Keeping with our purple and white theme, I added a bow using the Whisper White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon, item #151326. And pearls and purple were meant to be together, so onto the card they went!

Inspring Iris Card, stepped up

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://juliemakson.stampinup.net, at any time. See you next Monday for another installment of:

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