Cards Aren’t Just for Christmas!

Aloha, all!

This time of the year it’s hard to think of any kind of greeting cards except Christmas (or other holiday) cards. But December is also just another month of the year, and every month has birthdays, illnesses, and just someone that I know who could use a simple “Thinking of You” card.

While I do usually keep a stash of cards around for just such occasions, two things came into play to push me to make this card. First and foremost, I wanted to make a card specifically for a special person, and a sea theme seemed to me to hit that target. Second, I came across an online challenge to make a card using what sister Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, France Martin (aka, Frenchie) calls a “Triple Masking Technique.” So mask I did.

Here are the steps I used to mask this card the way I envisioned it. All stamps are from the Seaside Notions Stamp Set.

1. I die cut a plain piece of 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ copy paper using the oval shape you see. I placed the die up from the middle as I needed space at the bottom to stamp the sentiment.
2. I cut a piece of Whisper White Cardstock the same size, and laid the copy paper over the cardstock so I could determine where I wanted to stamp my first shell.
3. I stamped the sand dollar shell using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink onto the cardstock. At this point I set the die-cut copy paper off to the side.
4. I stamped the sand dollar on the top of a sticky note and hand-cut it very close to the edge of the image and adhered the sticky edge of the cutout over the image I’d stamped on the cardstock.
5. I stamped the rounded shell to the left of and slightly below the sand dollar, overlapping the sand dollar just a bit. Of course, only the sticky note got ink on it, not the “real” stamped sand dollar.
6. I repeated step 4 with the rounded shell and stamped the conch shell over the two masked shells.
7. I repeated step 4 with the conch shell.
8. The final step was to place the copy paper over the cardstock and lightly adhere it to the corners of the cardstock and sponge color (Coastal Cabana) into the oval, with the shells all masked.
9. I removed the copy paper and the sticky notes and the shells were all white and ready to color!

This is what my copy paper masks looked like when I was through. One of the sticky notes was white and two were yellow. No need to say which was which.

I lightly colored the shells using Pool Party and Petal Pink Light Stampin’ Blends. Once this was all done, I trimmed the cardstock, stamped the sentiment, made a mat using Coastal Cabana Cardstock, mounted it all onto a Thick Whisper White card base and finally adhered some Coastal Cabana Glitter Enamel Dots.

This was fun and the card went into the mail earlier this week!

Don’t forget your friends this month – and not just for holiday-related cards! Here are the supplies I used for this card. Click on any of the icons to learn more about them and even order them right there on my own Stampin’ Up! sales site!