Aloha, all!
I'm sure that you've noticed a brand new promotion from Stampin' Up! that I've put over on the right under my "Specials" tag. It's the opportunity to purchase one of Stampin' Up!'s newest stamp sets, Awash With Flowers. Or get it FOR FREE with a $350 Hostess Workshop! This is a stamp set with a dozen and a half images to help you create some of the most wonderful Two-Step Stampin' images that I've seen in a long time! Click here for a picture of the stamps available with this set. You can purchase the set with both the wood mounts or for use with Stampin' Up!'s clear acrylic blocks. And here are all the details about the promotion.
If you've been around my Craft Room or reading my blog for long, you know that Two-Step Stampin' is one of my favorite – and easiest! – techniques from Stampin' Up! With this technique, you stamp one stamp that has a solid design with a light or medium color; then you stamp with a darker color on top of it a second stamp that has an outline that complements the first stamp. Up until now, the best way to make a fun two-step design was by using the Stamp-a-ma-jig (or any kind of stamp aligner – but the SAMJ is my favorite!). Now, however, with the advent of the Stampin' Up! Clear Mount Rubber Stamps, it's even easier to two-step on paper (we're not talking the dance floor at this moment).
Once this new stamp was released, I could hardly wait to get my hands on it. Then life got in the way and I've not been stamping much in the past few weeks. But today I had a bit of free time and off I went to grab the new stamp set. My time was limited (got to add in the blog time of course) so this was a quick (not dirty) one. What made this particular design easy was the absolutely fabulous paper that my friend and March hostess, Dana, gave me. She had a terrific workshop last month and was able to choose one of the Level 3 Hostess Sets for her efforts. The set she chose was the Lovely Flowers Bundle. I had been drooling over the papers in this bundle for months. Sigh – and she had it for her very own stash. And – wonderful friend that she is – she offered me a sampling of her great prize. Wow! How could I refuse!!!???
The paper in the background motif of this card is the Lovely Flowers designer series paper that is part of the bundle. I carried the Melon Mambo (Hooray! This color will be in the permanent Stampin' Up! Color Collection starting in July!), Old Olive and Crushed Curry colors from the Designer Series Papers into the stamps, and the Rich Razzleberry color (another color that will be in the permanent Stampin' Up! collection starting in July!) into the mats for both the paper and the stamped image rectangles.
The mother's day greeting is from the stamp set, Well Scripted, that is featured in the Stampin' Up! 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog. I punched it with the Scallop Oval Punch and matted that with a piece of Rich Razzleberry Card Stock punched with the Sizzix Movers and Shapers Die from the Stampin' Up! Punch Windows set. The final touch was a bit of glitz from the Circle Fire Rhinestone Brads in the upper left corner of the card.
What a fun card this was to make! Now I just have to figure out which "Wonderful Mother" will get this card for Mother's Day this year! Or I may have to make some duplicates?
Here's a sketch for the card elements. Even if you don't have this stamp set, this is a fun outline for how to use some Designer Series Paper as a small backdrop for a beautiful stamped image!