Watercolor Trio

This card uses my favorite stamp set from the 2010 Summer Mini Catalog. It's called Watercolor Trio and can be found on page 16. When you use a stamp set like this one, you can look like an artist and create beautiful cards. Believe me, when I started stamping, my cards did NOT look like this! Much of what I create now has been learned over the years - but that's the beauty of stamping! The "art" is already done for me - I just have to add ink!

The layout and idea for this card came from Deanne Oliver. She's a fellow RemARKable demonstrator who I met years ago on one of the Stampin' Up! cruises. That's one of the great things about being a demonstrator - all of the friends that you make. We may not see each other more than once a year at Convention, but that doesn't diminish our friendship at all! I love the people I've met and the friends I've made through Stampin' Up!

Anyway, onto the card. The main images were inked up using Regal Rose and Certainly Celery markers. Using markers is a great way to get more than one color on your stamp and make the image look more realistic. The leaf parts were stamped at least twice on the white cardstock - by "stamping off" like this, it gives your image more depth and interest. I layered the white cardstock onto a piece of Regal Rose that had been stamped with one image using Regal Rose ink. Some Basic Gray taffeta ribbon (pg. 183 IB&C) was added across the top and then the bow was tied (using the "bunny ears" method - remind me to show you that sometime) and glued on with a Mini Glue Dot. The saying is from the same stamp set - isn't this writing elegant? - stamped in Basic Gray on white and punched out with the Large Oval punch, then layered onto a piece of Basic Gray cardstock that had been punched with the Scallop Oval punch (pgs. 186-187 IB&C). The background Basic Gray cardstock was run through my Big Shot using the Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (Summer Mini Catalog pg. 24) and the whole thing was layered onto Whisper White cardstock.

The result is a beautiful card that you could use for any occasion. In fact, many times I leave the "saying" off of my cards until I know what I'll need a card for. That way it's pretty easy to stamp my saying and add it to my already finished card. (Shhh... don't tell my family! They think that I stamp my cards exclusively for them! Now the secret's out!) :)

I hope you have a stamping happy day!