Aloha, all!
At this moment I sit in between the time of “Christmas in July” and the Stampin’ Up! August – December Mini Catalog (aka Holiday Catalog) launch tomorrow. So I decided to do something totally non-holiday – a Birthday Card. And I’m still on my mission to explore the ins and outs of slimline-style cards. Thus today’s card brings together Slimline Style and the Ornate Style Stamp Set.
Choosing Stampin’ Up! Products!
While I have been collecting dies to use with slimline cards (Stampin’ Up! is not yet carrying them), I am still committed to doing most of my card-making using Stampin’ Up! stamps, inks, and papers. Sometimes a product works just as Stampin’ Up! originally designed it. But there are lots of opportunities for stretching these products out to fit a slimline card just a little better.
This card shows how I used two such products to make what I think is a perfect overall design for a slimline card.
Stretching Stampin’ Up! Products Out
The first part of this is the large floral stamp from the Ornate Style Stamp Set. While it is a fairly large stamp in itself, I wanted it to be longer so that it filled out the card. So what I did was to stamp the image once. Then I created a mask for the end of the bouquet without the daisies (I like the daisies!). Finally, I turned the stamp 180 degrees and stamped it again, with the non-daisy end again in the middle. I cut this out using a standard cutting machine (lots of them on the market).
I colored the non-flower/leaf sections of the bouquet with a Mint Macaron Dark Stampin’ Blends marker. Then I made the layer behind the flowers Mint Macaron Cardstock. I die-cut the layer using a die from another company, but I wanted some texture to it. So I found the Ornate Floral 3-D Embossing Folder. Of course it was too small for the 8″ long layer. So I ran it through partially from one end and then again from the other end. There’s a bit of a funny overlap in the middle, but the floral arrangement covers that up nicely.
Mixing Up the Markers!
The colors that I used to color the flowers were Terracotta Tile and Bumblebee and for the leaves Old Olive. Neither Terracotta Tile nor Bumblebnee has a coordinating Stampin’ Blends Combo. So for those, I used the Stampin’ Write Marker in that color. But the old olive (as well as the Mint Macaron background) DO have Stampin’ Blends. When I mix the alcohol markers with the water-based markers, I lay down the alcohol inks first. The reason is that I’ve seen an alcohol color smear a water-based color, ruining a coloring job. But I’ve never seen a standard marker ruin an alcohol marker’s color. Of course, I wait until the alcohol marker is completely dry.
Because I had the Old Olive Stampin’ Blends markers, and since nothing else in the coloring was blended, I simply colored some of the leaves with the Dark marker and some with the Light. I liked that effect!
The Last Pieces
I only had a couple of colors to consider for my back layer, and Terracotta Tile Cardstock was it. I think it’s a really nice complementary color for the Mint Macaron. After all, it is almost red and green. Or am I stretching that just like I did the flowers and textured background layer! I also used Terracotta Tile as the mat for my sentiment
Have a great week – and enjoy ordering from the new Mini Catalog!
