Hi, Everyone!
I cannot believe how many of my friends and family members have birthdays in the first quarter of the year! Between now and the end of March there are almost 20 birthdays that I’d like to celebrate with a hand-made card. You might wonder if that isn’t a bit much given all the moving-in work that I’ve been doing. Not a bit when I get to use the gorgeous Artfully Composed Designer Series Paper set.
Only the Sentiment is Stamped!
While I love to stamp, color and layer images on a card front, right now that is entirely too much work for me. For one thing, the moving van with all of our Hawaii household “stuff” arrived just two days ago. On top of that, I have not been keeping up with the mess I’ve been making as I try to make some cards in between unpacking stints. But I figure that many of you have the dubious pleasure of going through the same thing from time to time. And I’m here to tell you that you can still make nice cards in a matter of minutes.
So how did I make this card? I slapped a piece of the Artfully Composed paper onto a piece of cardstock (in this case Evening Evergreen Cardstock) and a card base (Basic White Thick Cardstock) and I was almost finished. I only needed to stamp the sentiment (Evening Evergreen again), add that to a strip of cardstock and glue that to the card and I was done! All of those different colored leaves, as well as the background “stamping.” are printed on the Designer Series Paper.
You Wouldn’t Believe How Quickly You Can Make This!
I was just going to start out with that one statement. But then I thought, “Why not see exactly how much time it takes to make this card?” I got up from my computer and went to try it. I made these four cards in exactly 22 minutes. That includes cutting paper and cardstock (yes, even the card bases), stamping the sentiment (fast thanks to my Stamparatus), and gluing it all together (I used Stampin’ Seal + for this project. If I could have found my Faux Sea Glass Shapes in the mess that is currently my work space, I would have added them, too. That would have added a minute or two as they are self-adhesive and my Take Your Pick tool was out there in plain sight.
And I’ve Taken Care of the Next Four Birthdays!
Whew! Not only did I get to chat with you today about my card, I got four more made in the middle of it all. I have to tell you again how wonderful the Artfully Composed Papers are. I’m glad they’ll be around for another few months as I’m going to use them a lot as I get myself moved into my craft space.
Here’s the sketch. Just about as simple as a sketch can be (well, I do have a few 1/8″ measurements).
Meanwhile, I’d better get back to unpacking some boxes. The good news is that I have the boxes organized well. The bad news is that there A LOT of them! But I’ll be back soon to share some more of what I’m doing during my Stampin’ Up! breaks from my chores.
Until then, Happy Stamping!
What a great idea. I have these papers from a “share” and had no idea of what to do with them as well as some from previous catalogs. A simple but very effective way of making some cards. The sketch is a favorite one. I think the little butterfly shapes would look cute too on the strip. Thanks for a great idea.