Hello Stamping Friends,
February hostess code: FPRJEPZJ
The card I am demonstrating today is not hard- just a bit hard to explain. I will use many pictures to help you see the process since I have yet to take on the challenge of Youtube videos.
You just can’t find a way to animate me!
And a way to stabilize the camera and the time to learn to edit! Ah well….. It is good to have a goal.
This card will show you how you can think ‘outside the box’ to create stamped images of just pieces of a stamp. We are familiar with coloring on the back of our stamps to use only what we want but this card has the greeting stamped and then cut. Side-note: when you do color the back of your stamps, be sure and use the regular markers to color the stamps not the Stampin’ Blends as Stampin Blends will stain your stamps.
On page 49 of the 2019-20 annual catalog are the two stamp sets I used for this card, Rustic Retreat and Peaceful Place:
Patience, there is a way!
I used the Garden Lane Designer Series Paper (DSP) and Garden Green card stock layer on a Thick Whisper White Base. I have pictures of two different colors from the DSP. I made two cards and didn’t realize I hadn’t taken the main pictures of the one I mailed, but “serendipity” – you get to see two versions!
So let’s look at the waterfall:
Base: Thick Whisper White, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 scored at 4 1/4
First Layer: Garden Green, 5 3/8 X 4 1/8
Designer Series Paper (DSP) Layer: Garden Lane, 5 1/8 X 3 7/8
Waterfall Strip: Regular Whisper White, 2* X 9 1/4 scored at 2″, 2 3/4″, 3 1/2″, 4 1/4″ (Basically, 3/4″ intervals); *I cut the 2″ width just a hair less so no white showed from the edge of the squares if they weren’t cut perfect. You could also sponge the edge garden green so the white isn’t obvious.
Belt: Garden Green, 4 1/8″ X 1″, punch two small holes 1/2″ from the bottom and 1/2″ from the left and right sides,
Background Squares for waterfall: Garden Green, make 4, 2″ X 2″
Background Bottom Layer for the “Loved”: Garden Green, 2″ X 3/4″
Top Squares for waterfall: Whisper White, make 4, 1 3/4″ X 1 3/4″
For the Braver, Stronger, Smarter, Loved banners: Whisper White, 1 3/4 X 4
Inside Strip Layer: Garden Green, 5/8 X 4 1/8
Inside Strip Top: DSP to match front, 3/8 X 3 7/8
Two brads and a 1/8″ hole punch
4″ of twine
Ink:
- Thinking Of You – Soft Suede, Garden Green pine boughs
- Deer-Chocolate Chip (retired) Garden Green trees at each side
- Bear- Early Espresso, Garden Green pine boughs
- Squirrel- Basic Gray, Garden Green leaves from the Peaceful Place Stamp Set
- River Scene – Memento Black so it can be colored if you like; I added one of the birds from the High Tide set and did color the back of the bird stamp with the Basic Black marker
- Happy Birthday – Soft Suede
- Cabin – Memento Black
- Banners – Soft Suede; stamped, cut apart, then mask just the words and stamp in Soft Suede with the Thinking of You stamp, pictures following
I used the Stamparatus for the Thinking of You and the A.A. Milne quote but mounted the other stamps on acrylic blocks.
We do a lot of cutting and assembling with dies and sometimes stamping is hardly used on our cards. Not this time!
Yes, Sal, that was exactly how my club ladies reacted when I showed them all the stamps they would use. But they seemed to have a really fun time stamping!
You will know for sure they didn’t when they drop out of club!
It is always a possibility but so far club is just growing so I think it is acceptable to do challenging cards. But as I said it really isn’t that hard. Let’s start by taking our waterfall strip and burnishing those score lines nicely. The folds all go one way so it looks like a candy cane:
Next, adhere all the green 2 x 2 layers to the strip like shingles. Put your adhesive on the white strip NOT the back of the green since only part of the green is adhered in all but the 2×2 section.
Now turn the strip over and stamp the river scene on the long part. Remember the candy cane shape? It seems like you are stamping on the wrong side but you aren’t. Take the ink to the stamp and don’t try and figure out what part is off the edge and not ink that part. Just ink the whole stamp completely and use grid paper to protect your work space. (We sell that!)
Use a sticky note to mask the bottom 3/4″ of the strip so that you have a nice white border between each of the pictures.
Also mask the bottom 5/8″ of the 1 3/4″ squares used for the bear and the squirrel to give that nice white border between pictures. The deer can be stamped without masking since you have three lines of words making the banner bigger to begin with. (Say that three times fast!)
Stamp each of your 1 3/4 X 1 3/4 white squares per the above details under inks used. I wanted a little more of the rock and flowers with the squirrel so I stamped the squirrel with his tail practically off the top, then masked him and stamped the rock only on the left side of the squirrel. Clean your stamp before inking the rock so you don’t get the squirrel’s paws on the left side.
Would you mind showing us the other squares so we don’t have to keep scrolling up and down?
I can do that!
Next, stamp the A. A. Milne quote on the Whisper White 1 3/4 X 4 strip in Soft Suede ink. I used the Stamparatus for this stamp and the Thinking of You stamp so I could restamp each to get a good image. With two Stamparatus plates I put a stamp on each plate.
Now cut each section of the saying. You will love the Stampin’ Up! cutter for this step, you can tell right where you are cutting.
Head back to the Stamparatus and put each of these sayings right where we stamped the ‘Thinking of You’. Mask the words, remembering the Thinking of You is a bit longer than some of the sayings so your sticky note will be as wide as the word ‘Thinking’ and then ink up the Thinking of You stamp in Soft Suede and stamp your banners.
Use a second sticky note to hold the mask in place since we can’t use a magnet.
Voila! You have banners with wood grain edges! Glue those at the bottom of your little white squares.
Take the little 2″ X 3/4″ Garden Green piece and mount the ‘Loved’ banner. Punch two little holes on each side of A. A. Milne and run a piece of twine up from the back and tie a double knot at the front leaving extra length down from the banner.
Glue this piece on the bottom of the river scene.
No, Sal, but this is a good place to stop and get some coffee and chocolate!!
The belt on the front is next and it is the critical piece to making the waterfall card work correctly and fit in our standard envelope.
Belt: Garden Green, 4 1/8″ X 1″, punch two small holes 1/2″ from the bottom and 1/2″ from the left and right sides. Each square on our grid paper is 1/4″ so that is helpful.
Is this a sign of your age that you are repeating yourself?!
Sal, be nice, you’re the one who didn’t want to keep scrolling up and down.
Once you’ve punched the little holes in the belt, adhere the DSP to the Garden Green layer and then position the belt 1″ from the bottom of the belt to the bottom of the Garden Green layer. Mark through your holes in the belt with a pencil to show where to punch the other layers.
Punch holes through the Garden Green and DSP layers. Be careful here: add tear and tape to the back of the belt on the 1/2″ width between the hole and the side of the belt for extra stability making sure no adhesive gets between the two holes. Attach the belt with the brads.
You are ready to attach your waterfall strip! Place two pieces of tear and tape at the very center of the belt and no longer than the 2″ width of the waterfall strip.
Slide the waterfall strip behind the belt, peel off the backing of the tear and tape, and glue the end of the waterfall strip – the squirrel in our case- on the center of the belt exactly lining up the bottom of the belt with the end of the waterfall strip.
Stamp Happy Birthday on the inside in Soft Suede and the cabin in Memento Black, if you want to color with the blends. Add the strips at the bottom, stamp your name on the back and you really do have a masterpiece!
So now you know another way to use stamps! I hope you enjoyed the detail and are ready to make your own Rustic Retreat Waterfall Card.
Would you like to join a stamp club to make cards like this? I will be starting new club rotations in May and would love to have you join us!
February hostess code: FPRJEPZJ
SAL, Snowing A Little, Sharing A Love
Karen (text 303-815-0838)
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