EASY BACKGROUNDS & ON THE OCEAN FOR MASCULINE CARDS

Hi Stampers!

Today we’ll take a look at the ON THE OCEAN stamp set and the coordinating ON THE OCEAN DIES. These items can be found in the STAMPIN’ UP!®️  JANUARY - APRIL 2023 MINI CATALOG. This stamp set is perfect for masculine bithday cards, cards of encouragement, or fun pirate ship cards! 

Today’s cards are birthday cards. They are similar, but each is a bit different in a couple of ways. I used the same greeting for each card, but present the greeting in different ways on the cards. The background panels are similar, but each was created using different methods and different papers. Let’s look at the cards:

ON THE OCEAN STAMP SET

ON THE OCEAN DIES

CREATING EASY BACKGROUNDS FOR MASCULINE CARDS  VIDEO

SUPPLIES USED FOR ALL THREE CARDS 

* On the Ocean stamp set and dies

* Card base - Night of Navy cardstock cut at 11” x 4 1/4” scored and folded at 5 1/2”

* Inside panel - Basic White  cut at 5” x 3 3/4” or a large scrap - die cut with Deckled Rectangles Dies - 2nd largest 

* Basic White for stamping and die cutting

* Night of Navy ink

* Enamel dots - Night of Navy - 3

* Adhesive and dimensionals

NOTE - Once background panels are inked and dried die cut using the same Deckled Rectangles Die used to die cut the inside panel.

BLENDING BRUSH BACKGROUND CARD

ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES FOR THIS CARD

* Basic White cardstock - 5” x 3 3/4”

* Inks - Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Coastal Cabana, Balmy Blue

* Blending Brushes

WATERCOLOR PENCIL BACKGROUND CARD

ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES FOR THIS CARD

* Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper - 5” x 3 3/4”

* Watercolor Pencils - Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Coastal Cabana, and Balmy Blue

* Water Painter - Large flat brush filled with water

* Paper Towel or cloth towel

* Stylish Shapes Dies - banners

* Heat Tool to dry background panel or allow to air dry

WATERCOLOR BACKGROUND

ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES FOR THIS CARD 

* Shimmery White cardstock - 5” x 3 3/4”

* Large acrylic block (I suggest block E or F, or multiple blocks -one per color)

* Inks - Night of Navy! Pacific Point, Coastal Cabana, Balmy Blue

* Water Painter - large flat brush (fill with water)

* Paper Towel or cloth towel

* Heat tool to dry or allow to air dry

* Deckled Rectangles Dies 2nd smallest die.

EASY BACKGROUNDS FOR MASCULINE CARDS

That’s all for today. Thank you so much for stopping by. Until next time…

Stamp Happy!

Kim

All stamps and stamped images ©️1990-2023 Stampin’ Up!®️

BLENDING BRUSH BACKGROUNDS FOR HALLOWEEN - A STAMP HAPPY HOLIDAY POST

Hi Stampers!

Can you believe this is the last week of September? Fall is definitely in the air in my corner of the world. At my house we are pulling on sweatshirts, enjoying apple cider, and harvesting our pumpkins. My grandkids are beginning to talk about their Halloween costumes and looking forward to Trick-or-Treating! As for me, I am busy making Halloween treat holders and Halloween cards. One day I was looking for a different way to make a night sky background. I decided to try adding color with blending brushes to a piece of Smoky Slate cardstock. I was quite surprised with the results - pleasantly and not so pleasantly! Here are the cards I made with the blending brush backgrounds:

One of the cards I shared last week contained elements of my first experiment in applying color with blending brushes to Smoky Slate cardstock. I used the inked cardstock as a background for my focal image and to die cut the banner for the greeting. Here is the card from last week:

In my opinion applying ink with blending brushes works best on Basic White cardstock, but I think the Smoky Slate is a good choice if creating a background piece for a night sky, a stormy sky, or maybe an ocean.  I did find some ink colors work better than others, and purples and blues seemed to work best, and yellows did okay. I was disappointed to find Basic Gray did not work as well as hoped. 

To create my cards I used items from the Stampin’ Up!®️ July-December 2022 Mini Catalog. 

SCARY CUTE BUNDLE

BEWITCHING BUNDLE

BEST WITCHES STAMP SET

All three cards are my version of a Mini Slimline cards. The folded card measures 3 1/2” x 6 3/8”. These cards will fit in a regular letter size envelope (# 6 3/4). 

MINI SLIMLINE CARD MEASUREMENTS

* Card base - 6 3/8” x 7” scored and folded at 3 1/2” along the 7” side

* Focal and inside panel are cut at 6 1/8” x 3 1/4”

+ NOTE: For all three cards the front panel is cut from Smoky Slate cardstock and the inside panel is cut from Basic White.

SCARY CUTE SILHOUETTES CARD

I used Basic Gray along the bottom of the Smoky Slate cardstock for this card. If you look closely you can see the ink coverage is a bit blotchy, but it sort of works for this card.

SUPPLIES FOR THIS CARD

* Scary Cute Bundle

* Card base - Basic Black

* Cardstock for front panel and inside panel

* Cardstock for die cuts - Basic Black and Mango Melody

* Inks - Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Gray, Gorgeous Grape, Daffodil  Delight,  and Starry Sky.

ASSEMBLY

*  Die cut the haunted house and bats from Basic Black. Die cut the moon from Mango Melody. Adhere a piece of Mango Melody cardstock to the back side of the haunted house.

* Apply ink with blending brushes to the Smokey Slate cardstock. I started at the bottom with Basic Gray then added some Daffodil Delight from the Basic Gray clear to the top. Next I put down some Gorgeous Grape, but left an area of the Daffodil Delight untouched in the area where I wanted the moon. Next I added some Starry Sky. Finally, I added more Gorgeous Grape and Starry Sky.

* Stamp the three silhouette shapes on the inked Smoky Slate cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. NOTE - I used my Stamparatus to stamp the images because I could stamp all three images at once and I could “re-stamp” if need be to get a nice crisp black image.

* Adhere the moon and haunted house with dimensionals.

* Use liquid glue to adhere bats. Stamp the “Boo” image three times.

* Adhere inside panel - decorate it with stamped images if you desire.

BEWITCHING WITCH HATS CARD

SUPPLIES FOR THIS CARD

* Bewitching Bundle

* Best Witches stamp set

* Card base - Parakeet Party

* Cardstock for front panel and inside panel

* Inks - Memento Tuxedo Black, Gorgeous Grape, Starry Sky; Stampin’ Blends - Pumpkin Pie (light & dark), Parakeet Party (light & dark), Daffodil Delight (dark), Polished Pink (light)

* Adhesive and dimensionals 

ASSEMBLY

* Stamp , color, and punch out the hats.

* Create the background on the Smoky Slate, I started at the bottom of the cardstock and worked my way a little over half way, the switched to Starry Sky.

* Stamp the spider then position the hats and adhere with dimensionals 

* Stamp the stars beside or around the hats and stamp the greeting.

* Adhere the panel to the card front

* Adhere the inside panel add a greeting and stamped images if you like.

WITCHY SPELL CARD

SUPPLIES FOR THIS CARD

* Best Witches stamp set

* Pumpkin Pie cardstock for card base

* Cardstock for front panel and inside panel

* Inks - Memento Tuxedo Black, Gorgeous Grape, Starry Sky; Stampin’ Blends - Basic Black (dark), Highland Heather (light), Daffodil Delight (light & dark), Cajun Craze (dark), Soft Sea Foam (light), Poppy Parade (light), Gray Granite (light & dark), Parakeet Party (light& dark)

* Black Baker’s Twine - about 36”

* Black and White Gingham Ribbon about 6”

* Adhesive, dimensionals, and glue dots (for ribbon)

* Paper Snips / scissors

ASSEMBLY

* Stamp and color images, then fussy cut them

* Add ink to the Smoky Slate cardstock. I used the same method on this card as I did for the previous card.

* Stamp the greeting on the panel

* Stamp the stars on the top 2/3 of the cardsdtock

* Adhere the images to the panel with dimensionals  

* Wrap the twine around the card base adhere on back side of panel

* Attach the bow on top of the twine.

* Adhere the panel to the cardbase.

* Decorate the inside panel as you wish and adhere to the inside

That is all for today Thanks for stopping by. Until next time…

Stamp Happy!

Kim

All stamps and stamped images ©️1990-2022 Stampin’ Up!®️

This posting is dedicated to the memory of my best stamping buddy.

Meredith Brown 

(August 1972 - September 2021)

BLENDING BRUSH BACKGROUNDS & SOFT SEEDLINGS - A STAMP HAPPY HOLIDAY POST

 Hi Stampers!

Today’ cards feature a background created by layering color on cardstock using blending brushes, then stamping the image over the background. I used the Soft Seedlings stamp set to make the cards. I chose the “so grateful” greeting for the cards making them appropriate for Thanksgiving greetings or thank you cards. The cards would be great for an autumn birthday too - simply change the greeting. Let’s take a look:

SOFT SEEDLINGS STAMP SET

SUPPLIES FOR THE CARDS

* Card base - Merry Merlot - 8 1/2” x 5 1/2” scored and folded at 4 1/4”

* Layer - Brushed Metallic Cardstock - Bronze cut at 5 3/8” x 4 1/8”

* Cardstock for background layer and for inside card - 2 Very Vanilla cut at 3 3/5” x 5”

* Inks - Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Merry Merlot, and Soft Suede

* Blending Brushes for the 4 ink colors

* Beautiful Shapes Dies - Circle that fits around greeting and larger, embossed circle

* Adhesive and dimensionals

* I used different embellishments for the sample cards - Rustic Metallic Dots and the Champagne Rhinestones - 3 per card

MAKING THE CARDS

* Use a blending brush and the Crushed Curry ink to apply a bit of color to one piece of the Very Vanilla cardstock. The color should be light. You can add more later if you like.

* Now, use a blending brush and the Pumpkin Pie ink to add more color to the cardstock. There is no need to cover all the cardstock with the Pumpkin Pie ink.

* Finally add a bit of Merry Merlot the cardstock. Note the weird lines on my sample, believe it or not, that was all due to a tiny piece e of lint! I decided to just go with it and see what happened.

* Once the initial layers of color are blended it is time to decide if more color needs to be added to the panel.

When blending colors with blending brushes I find it works better for me to use a piece of cardstock large enough to accommodate all the pieces for the card that will require the blending brush background. This means there is no issues trying to replicate the blending. These cards are an exception. For this card design I knew about where I wanted my greeting and that I would be matting the greeting. I did not add additional length to the cardstock. I simple stamped my greeting with Soft Suede ink, then die cut the greeting. This hole will be covered up by the matted greeting.

* I die cut the mats for the greeting from the Brushed Metallic cardstock. I die cut two mats from one piece as I had die cut a rectangle for another project from the other piece of Brushed Metallic card stock. This is is a great way to get more from your specialty papers, cardstock, DSP, etc.

SIDE NOTE - During these final weeks of Sale-A-Bration (from now through 31 August) you can get the Metallic Cardstock free with a $50 Stampin’ Up! ®️ product purchase! You must use the item number listed in the Sale-A-Bration flyer. See it HERE

* Once you are satisfied with the amount of color on the panel stamp the leaf pattern on the prepared cardstock. I stamped the entire image in the center, then stamped partial images to fill in blank areas. Make sure to have scrap paper under your panel to keep ink off your work surface.

* Use a blending brush and Soft Suede ink along the edges of the card panel and the greeting piece. This softens the edges a bit.

* Stamp that Inside panel.

Assemble the card. This card layout work well for portrait and landscape orientations. I used dimensionals to put the greetings on the cards. Add any embellishments you like. As you can see from my samples I added less ink to one background than to the other.

That’s all for today. Until next time…

Stamp happy!

Kim