Inspired By All The Little Things #31

Hello everyone!  I took a few days off at the end of the week last week and the weekend off because I had lots of company, so I am scrambling to get back into my groove this week.  This is always helped along when I get new products to work with.  I was so excited when I saw the inspiration image for this week as I knew my order had shipped on Friday and was scheduled to be delivered on Monday (yesterday) so I would have a couple of new things that I really wanted to use for the Inspired By All The Little Things Challenge #31.  

I started by using a sheet of the soft, warm yellow paper from the Wild Rose Studio Harvest Meadow Paper Pack (a 6 x 6 paper Pack) and stamping the Holly Leaves from the Papertrey Ink Enclosed: Bell Stamp Set with Ripe Avocado Ink.  I did this by starting in the center of the paper and rotating it vs. rotating the stamps to get the leaves going all different directions and nicely spaced although I didn't do any kind of measuring.  My friend Yana is a whiz at this but this was my first try to do a pattern of this sort.  I actually surprised myself with how well it turned out.

Next I stamped the Holly Berries using Pure Poppy Ink and then stamped the Hero Arts Music Background in Versafine Onyx Black Ink.  Even though the paper is very thin, I still heat set that ink with Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder being careful not to hold it too long in one spot.  This prevents the pigment ink from smearing. Then I cut a panel of Pure Poppy Cardstock with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die, cut the printed paper I had made with the same rectangle, then re-aligned it back into the die to take about 1/8th inch more off two sides which gives me about 1/16th of an inch all the way around for the Poppy Mat. This is a favorite technique to stretch my dies even further.  

Before/After stamping the pattern

This card really mixes a lot of different brands of products for the finished card; Wild Rose Studio, Hero Arts, Papertrey Ink, Simon Says Stamp, Winnie & Walter and there's even a punch from SU!  I love to take the bits and pieces from any brand I have to get the exact look I want on my finished product.

Once I had the patterned paper created I just pulled in all the bits and pieces off my desk to create my card. The Poinsettia is from the Simon Says Stamp Winter Flowers Stamp & Die Combo, the banner and leafy branch are from Papertrey Ink's Songbird Dies, and even though there is a bird in that set that I really like, I felt it was too big for this project so I used my SU! punch for that.  I used Festive Berries Re-inker to paint the Poinsettia but I was going more for the color rather than the technique on that element.  Because I used Black Versafine for the sheet music, I wanted to also use that ink for the bloom.  A little Nuvo Crystal Drops in Ebony Black Gloss for the center and for the bird's eye finished out the details.

For not having any sheet music paper, I am pretty darn happy with how this came out.  The card base is made from Mossy Meadow Cardstock (SU!) and the banner and branch are both cut from some Antique Gold Shimmer Paper scraps. Be sure to stop over at the Inspired By All The Little Things Challenge Blog to see how everyone interpreted this challenge.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.  I appreciate it when you take time to leave encouraging comments.  I hope you'll come back soon.

Stamping Patterned Backgrounds

I have to say, one of the hardest things for me to do is to use patterned papers. Very often, they simply are not the colors I want or I feel that they are "watered down" versions of the colors I'm using. So when I saw the video that my friend Yana posted on her blog yesterday morning, I wanted to give it a try.  What could be better than stamping your own patterned paper in bold and vibrant colors?  I enjoy participating in Challenges and I saw that the CAS on Sunday Challenge Blog the theme is Sequins with a Clean & Simple card.  There is nothing simpler than a single layer card but that doesn't mean it can't also be pretty.  

Having had a portrait studio before, I have used the rule of thirds or what many in this industry call a "visual triangle" since I started making cards last year.  It's just a guideline for what is naturally pleasing to the eye. We're human and while precision and symmetry is admirable, it's often not as pleasing to us as something that has a more asymmetric or random look to it.  Yana mentioned this as one of the guidelines to use when stamping your own backgrounds in addition to using a stamp that has a lot of surface area.  With these two things in mind, I looked through my stamp sets to see what I had that could be used in this way.  It was pretty easy to decide on the Friendly Flowers Stamp Set from Papertrey Ink.

As I continue on this card making journey, I find that the one thing to pay the most attention to is those in this industry whose work you admire.  I love everything Yana creates and I enjoy watching her creative process. I also feel that her style is a pretty good match for what I like and what I want produce in my own studio.  So, imitation being the most sincere form of flattery, that is what I do.

I was so happy with the first two of these backgrounds that I made, that I went ahead and did 4 more.  I make sets of note cards as Christmas gifts and this year I am planning to make a bigger variety rather than just "thank you" or "thinking of you" cards.  I'm planning to include this style in that selection.  Additionally, they are a single layer which makes them easily mailable.  

Since I was experimenting with color combinations I really decided to go for broke this time and get really out of my wheelhouse for these.  For the blue toned colors, I used SU! Pistachio Pudding, Cracked Pistachio, Ocean Tides, Hawaiian Shores and Peacock Feathers.  I wish I would have used Vintage Jadeite instead of Pistachio Pudding, but there's always next time.  

Next I used a combination of pinks & rose with Spun Sugar, Lovely Lady, Hibiscus Burst, Autumn Rose, and Picked Raspberry.

  

And last but not least I used Pale Peony, Melon Berry, Berry Sorbet, Worn Lipstick, and Ripe Persimmon.  This turned out to be my favorite.  As Yana mentioned, the most important thing is stamping in a visual triangle.  It's less important how many colors you use although I think having four to five is awesome.  You don't have to worry about colors overlapping, or masking which I mostly don't like doing.  I love how the colors overlapped and became a new color in those areas. For the sentiment I used a smaller size of flower in the set with the sentiment, stamped them in Versamark and heat set them using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  

I really like the variety of colors I was able to use to achieve these backgrounds. Someone on Instagram commented that Yana's looked like watercolor while mine don't.  I used much more vibrant and varied colors than Yana did because that is what I wanted.  You can change up the look by using more muted colors, more vibrant colors, soft pastels or any combination of colors you like.  The sky is the limit so give it a try.  I'm planning to try this technique using only Distress Inks on a piece of watercolor paper this week.

To finish off the cards I mounted them to a top folding 5.5 x 4 inch top folding note card and placed one 6 mm. gold sequin to the right just below the sentiment. The background stamping only took a few minutes to do.  It actually took me longer to figure out which colors to use.

This concludes the first card of "The 12 Cards of Christmas". These won't be Christmas Cards, but the set will be a Christmas Gift.  I'm planning to showcase each card as I complete it for the set of 12 that I give to each of my sister's in law. July is half over already and I like to get an early start on the cards I make for them. I am not a procrastinator.

I hope you enjoyed today's cards and I'd love to see any cards that you try using this technique. Just be sure to leave me a link in your comment so I can follow you back and see what you've done.  You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram.  I read every comment and it means the world to me when you take time to do it.  I'll be back soon with another project.

I decided to edit this post to show one more card I created with a colored casrd base. I used the Noted: Scalloped A2 Dies to cut a card from Hawaiian Shores Cardstock.  I love this look and will be creating more of these.