Stamp for Fun

So I’ve been working with my new loot from my demonstrator’s starter kit. I’m learning to use some new stuff, specifically the pastels, the two step stamps, and the Versa-Mark. At first I just played around a little trying to get a look at the stamps and the colors, etc.

Then I started to put together some cards. Each one was playing with something a little bit differently. My first card was with the bird from the Always stamp set, I really like this bird. I wanted to use a single card color and white so I chose something darker, Perfect Plum. Here’s what I made, I like the way it turned out with the white contrast against the dark background color.

Perfect plum cardstock, classic ink, and designer series paper; Whisper white cardstock and craft ink; Always stamp set.

Next I wanted to try out the pastels. This is what I created, simple and elegant.

I wanted to play with my alphabet set and figure out good ways to use it. Here’s what I made.

Whisper White cardstock; Pixie Pink, Tempting Torquoise, and Green Galore classic inks; One of a Kind and Jumble Alphabet stamp sets; pastels.

I also worked on the two step stamping and the Versa-Mark, but I don’t love what I’ve created yet. Not even liked it enough to post it. It is yet to come!

In the 2009/2010 Stampin’ Up Idea Book and Catalog there is a stamp set and punch that coordinate.  This is a great idea and I hope that Stampin’ Up starts doing this more often.

The stamp set is Flight of the Butterfly (item 111564) and the larger butterfly can be punched out with the Butterfly punch (item 116629).  I love using this stamp set and have created tons of little butterflys to use on my cards.

Whisper White and Old Olive cardstock; Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, and Rich Razzleberry classic ink; Whisper White craft ink. Stamped images punched using the Butterfly punch. Overlay stamping accomplished with the Stamp-a-ma-jig.

I made a set of cards using this stamp set, here is one example.

Chocolate Chip cardstock as card base; Old Olive and Whisper White cardstock; Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, and Pumpkin Pie classic ink; Whisper White craft ink.

There are a few other stamp sets that coordinate with punches.  The new I {Heart} Hearts stamp set (in the Occasions mini catalog) coordinates with the Heart to Heart punch and the Full Heart punch.  I just purchased the One of a Kind stamp set and I suspect it coordinates wit the Boho Blossoms punch (there’s nothing that says so in the catalog), I’ll let you know what I find out.  There are also several stamp sets that coordinate with the shaped punches (like ovals, squares, etc).

[Update 25 Jan 09: A friend just pointed out that Heart to Heart punch also coordinates with the Love You Much stamp set.  Thank you, Joan.]

I look forward to Stampin’ Up introducing more and more of these coordinating sets!

Another simple card, this time with 2 tones.  I’ve shown you how using just 1 color you can make great cards.  Now I want to show you what you can do with two complimentary colors.  These are two of my favorite colors right now, Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry.

I used the following for this card; Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, and Whisper White cardstock, Old Olive designer series paper, Old Olive ribbon, Rich Razzleberry classic ink and the Of the Earth stamp set (Level 1 hostess set).

I stamped the butterfly from the Of the Earth stamp set with Rich Razzleberry on Whisper White cardstock.  After punching the image out as a circle I went over the edge of the circle on the Rich Razzleberry ink to try and soften the edges.  I punched the Old Olive cardstock in a scalloped circle and adhered the butterfly.  I then used the paper piercer to create the piercing in the scallops.  Using Rich Razzleberry cardstock as the card base I adhered the Old Olive designer series paper, with a ribbon already attached and knotted- I don’t do bows very well.  The final step is adhering the scallop to the card.

On the inside I used Whisper White craft ink with my verse (this was a birthday card for my aunt).  This would also look good stamped in Rich Razzleberry classic ink, the effect of the ink on paper of the same color is really nice.