Postage Background

I pulled out some oldie but goodie stamps for today's card. I love the look of old postage, and have several stamps that look like postage stamps. I haven't used them in a while, and decided to make a background with them.

I started with a piece of white Bristol, cut to 4.25" x 5.5". I wanted to use muted colors so that none of the individual stamps would stand out, but blend together. I used some dye inks from Stampin' Up! that I've had since I first began stamping - Almost Amethyst, Barely Banana, Close to Cocoa, and Mellow Moss. I also used an ink Stampin' Up! produced together with Ancient Page called Pretty in Pink. The stamps I used are: French Postage by Paper Inspirations, French Post by Hampton Art, and Creative Block #13 by Stamper's Anonymous. I also used a stamp that is part of a set designed by Dawn Houser for Inkadinkado called World Traveler & Postage Mark as well as a stamp from a set by Stampin' Up! (the cancellation mark). 

Each stamp is stamped multiple times, allowing the images to overlap. I decided that the white of the background was a bit too stark, so I used Distress Antique Linen ink and a blending tool to tone everything down a little.

The sentiment is a new-to-me die from Savvy Dies called Hello Script. I cut it four times from some scrap brown cardstock and glued all the layers together to make it stand up a little from the surface of the card. After gluing it down with matte medium, I decided to add a few sequins from Doodlebug Design. They are also glued down with matte medium. I trimmed the panel slightly smaller and mounted it on a dark brown cardstock base.

I'm linking this up to the current challenge from Craft Stamper Magazine.

Till next time - 

Immi

Monochromatic Card

I spent some time this weekend working on a couple of monochromatic cards, inspired by the current Muse  #113 challenge.

I started with a smooth white cardstock panel, and several shades of blue dye ink. I used Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue, and Stampin' Up! Brocade Blue, Not Quite Navy, and Ballet Blue. I inked up some circle stamps from Hero Arts (Box of Dots) and an old Stampin' Up! circle that was part of a set of shapes. After stamping the circles, I used a hero Arts stamp called Silhouette Burst and stamped it three times with Hero Arts Black dye ink. At this point, I didn't really like what I had and I set it aside to work on something else. 

Later, I spotted a piece of vellum and tried layering it over my stamped panel. I thought it really improved the way it looked. I decided to try finishing the card to see if I could make it work out. I stamped the sentiment (Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Simple Sayings) with Hero Arts Unicorn pigment ink and covered it with white embossing powder. I thought this particular sentiment went so well with the image which reminds me of a dandelion. I'm sure we've all had the experience of making a wish and trying to blow all the seeds off a fluffy white dandelion!

After melting the powder with my heat tool, I cut the strip with a notch on the end and stitched it along with the vellum on top of the white stamped panel. I pulled out my scraps and found three butterflies punched from various scraps of blue cardstock (using a Martha Stewart punch). 

I thought it would be good to gussy them up a little, so I chose a 7 Gypsies stamp set called Lillie that had a couple of different script stamps as well as a music stamp. I did all three butterflies with Stampin' Up!'s Not Quite Navy ink, and glued them down on top of the vellum. For a little extra touch, I coated all three with Glossy Accents - I hope you can see the shine. Here's a closeup:

I'm glad I didn't give up on this card (although I'm not opposed to giving up if it's clearly a lost cause!).

Here is the inspiration card that got me started:

Happy crafting!

Immi