Aloha, all!
I’m still working on Robin’s Craft Table rather than in a Craft Room, so the supplies that I can have at hand are really minimal. Even if I did own any ink pads (I have one Memento Black pad), I could only have one or two in my space. As I have no idea which ones I’d like to have, I’ll just wait until I have space to store them before getting any more. And Ribbons? Big Shot? Dies and folders? Nope. Yes, I still have my Big Shot and older dies and folders. But again, no where to put them.
With all that, yesterday I attempted to make a card that looked like something I’d want to share with you.
This card has layers, it has stamped images in color, and there’s some texture in the background. All this with just what I had on hand. Here’s the story of the various pieces:
- Cardstock and Papers. To keep myself somewhat current with Stampin’ Up! products, I bought the Cardstock Assortments for every group of Stampin’ Up! colors. For this card, I used Shaded Spruce from the Regals Assortment and Mango Melody from the Brights Assortment. Both of those colors are in the sheet of paper that I chose from the Garden Impressions Designer Series Paper set, which I bought before the lava event that destroyed our house.
- Texture. I am so over having large expanses of cardstock on a card front without some texture on it. But without a Big Shot and Embossing Folders, what was I to do? Of course, out came my Stampin’ Trimmer. After all, one can use the scoring blade for things other than scoring for folding. So I made “embossed” lines 1/4″ apart on the right side of the Mango Melody Cardstock.
- Stamping. First of all, not only do I not have ink pads, I only have markers in the “new” Stampin’ Up! Colors. I’d ordered the collection of the new colors in markers before the lava, too. So, while I had a Mango Melody Marker, I didn’t have either Calypso Coral or Melon Mambo to replicate the colors in the flowers in the paper. So out came the Mango Melody, which was a nice accompaniment to the Mango Melody Cardstock, to make the flowers. I added a few accents using Lovely Lipstick. While it’s not even close to Melon Mambo, in the small sections where I used it, that doesn’t make a difference. I did have the Shaded Spruce Marker. So off I went to color my stamps with markers!
- Ribbon. Even before I knew we would lose our home, I realized that there were many colors that did not have coordinating ribbons. So I’d ordered the Silver 3/8″ Metallic-Edge Ribbon which has white ribbon between the metallic edges. I’d intended to use my Stampin’ Blends to color that whatever color I needed. But as I only have Stampin’ Write Markers, I colored it with my Mango Melody Stampin’ Write Marker. The markers don’t dry as quickly as do the blends. But they do work!
So I have a card! Oh, and the stamp set is Abstract Impressions. It’s a photopolymer stamp set. As with all new photopolymer stamp sets, I had to ink the stamps up and stamp with them several times before the stamps would accept a full coat of ink. I’d rather do that than use an sort of chemical on them to get them ready. For one thing, I can just stay at my Craft Table while I do that.
Staying at my Craft Table makes me happy!
Robin, I’ve been following your blog for several years, and we vacationed on the Big Island (Kona) the first week in June, and thought of you and many others who had just lost your homes (and we tried hard not to complain about the vog!) So sad, and we met several others who were evacuated and living in nearby hotel rooms. Just wanted you to know how much you, a fellow SU demo, have been in my thoughts. And also, sometimes when you are really limited in supplies, you can do great, creative work! This card is beautiful, and I never would have thought to do the score lines for texture!
Robin,
I love this card! It’s beautiful. I’m amazed that you made this with such minimal supplies.
Robin, I saw your sketch on Kristi Marcotte youtube channel, and thought it was so simple and beautiful. I have just subscribed to your blog as I like your style.
Sorry to read about your lava loss and wish you and your family the best.
Wow! Look what you did with just a few supplies! Very creative and I especially love the Mango Ribbon you colored!