Hi, There, Stampers!
No, I didn’t misspell “distinctive.” Because that’s not the word for this Stampin’ Up! design technique that we can find in many of their stamp sets. The word is DistINKtive. That word, “ink,” in the middle tells us that, just by stamping an image, it will end up with the color of the image having more than one shade. And then there’s the “Two-Step Stamping” that’s another feature of many Stampin’ Up! stamp sets. Today’s stamp set has both!
But First – Sale-a-bration!
Remember that for every increment of $50 or $100 that you spend buying Stampin’ Up! products this month and next, you can get a FREE STAMPIN’ UP! PRODUCT from their Sale-a-bration Brochure. Today’s card features TWO of these potential freebies: the Beautifully Happy Stamp Set and the Dandy Designs Designer Series Paper set. Both are absolutely gorgeous and each can be had FOR FREE with a $100 Stampin’ Up! purchase.
Now About That Stamp Set
I’m not sure which feature of this stamp set I like best. I do like two-step stamping because that means I don’t have to hand-color in an outline stamp. I just stamp the outline stamp and then ink up whatever color I want the image to be and stamp with the filler stamp. Presto! A beautifully colored stamp!
But then there are the times when I might like to shade a stamp a bit, as I might do, for example, with Stampin’ Blends. That’s where DistINKtive stamps come in. Look at the flowers and leaves in this image. Not only is the color stamped in, but it’s shaded, too. And I didn’t have to do anything but ink the stamp up with a stamp pad.
So how many stamps does it take to make this image? The answer is FOUR. First there’s the outline stamp, which I stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. Then there are the flowers. All three of the larger flowers and the two smaller flowers up on the right are on one stamp. I inked that up using Fresh Freesia Ink and stamped. The four leaves at the bottom of the image have their own stamp, and I used Granny Apple Green with that stamp. Finally, I used Coastal Cabana to stamp the buds at the top of the image.
Those Colors Came From the Designer Paper
Before I decided on the colors to use for the flowers, I looked through all the papers in the Dandy Designs Designer Series Paper set to see which ones had a combination of colors that I thought might look good for a floral print. I chose the polka-dotted print that had, you guessed it, Fresh Freesia, Granny Apple Green, and Coastal Cabana as the colors of the dots. There are two greens in the dots, but both look to me like different shades of the same green.
The Rest of the Card
Once I got the stamped image filled with color and placed it next to the paper, I felt like using Granny Apple Green Cardstock as my accent color. In choosing the width of the center strip, I didn’t like the small amount of the print that showed on either side. That’s when I decided to make the stamped image thinner than the stamped image. I could have just trimmed that leaf on the left off. But it was much more fun to trim down as far as the leaf, then trim just past the leaf down to the bottom of the white cardstock. Then I fussy cut the tip of the leaf. I like how it overlaps the green cardstock and even a bit of the print!
Something Special About this Stamp Set
As a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, one of my perks is being able to go to events that Stampin’ Up! holds most years. Last fall Stampin’ Up! held an event called “OnStage,” which, for most demonstrators is a one-day program featuring demonstrations and business news as well as the opportunity to do make-and-take projects. As always, Stampin’ Up! gives all attendees some goodies. This Sale-a-bration Stamp Set was one of those goodies. Sure I paid for it because I paid a fee for going to the event. But even better was that we got our hands on this stamp set long before most demonstrators did. Love getting things free and early!
Why do I bring this up? Because during Sale-a-bration the Stampin’ Up! Starter Kit always has something extra in it. So it’s a great time to sign up to be a demonstrator! Check out page 18 in the Sale-a-bration Brochure. You can click here to see a digital copy. Once you’ve checked out the special for this year, let me know if you have any questions. I’d love to have you as a downline and I guarantee you’ll like having me as an upline! If you’re interested, starting signing up here!
Happy Stamping – and Sale-a-brating!
