For You, From Stampin' Up!

Thank you Stampin' Up! Thank you for being so generous! Yesterday I showed you the eight cards I made with the Good as Gold Card Kit, and although I used 11  printed die cut banners on those, there was still a mountain of inspiration left over!

So I began to play, this was my first 'free' leftovers card, 

You won't see it in the photos (sorry my skills are lacking there!) but each banner not only has the sentiment in basic black, printed on whisper white, there are also a double coloured border around each one. This 'For You' one has a thin tangerine tango border followed with a thick pistachio pudding border. So, being one of the things I love most about Stampin' Up! - the colour matching - that's where I started. I picked up my Pistachio pudding stampin marker, and the star stamp from the new Perfect Pennants Stamp Set (133230) and stamped onto whisper white cardstock. I then double matted onto pistachio pudding and whisper white card stock and attached my banner using stampin dimensionals. I then had a topper...and needed a base. I looked at my pistachio pudding file..and there was some lovely nice, untouched coordinations card stock! I'm slightly in love with the two new embossing folders that I've acquired, but since this began as a 'free' card I had to use the FREE Decorative Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (Item 133520) from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue. Coordinations is an amazing product, on the outside it colour matches our range, in this instance pistachio pudding, but the core is a coordinating shade, so gives a great two toned effect when displayed! I sanded the tops off the dots and voila an amazingly simple but effective background. All that needed to then be done was mount on whisper white and photograph!

Then I though, I should really have used the 'thin' border colour...so here was my next 'free' left over card.

This time, the sentiment and thick border are both basic black, with a thin pistachio pudding border on the whisper white background. So again, I got the pistachio pudding ink and looked at my stamps... This time it was the banners of the Perfect Pennants Stamp Set that were drawing my attention. In my pile of left over inspiration there was still one of the long thin coloured banners in, yup, you guessed it, pistachio pudding! So after debating spotty or stripes, I decided stripes worked best; so i stamped three stripes* on whisper white card, added the thin pistachio pudding banner, added the printed banner using a stampin dimensional and mounted the whole lot on pistachio pudding card. Onto the base I went, i wanted it to be another green on white affair so that it didn't draw attention away from the sentiment. Another thing I love about Stampin' Up! - the packaging of the stamps! I can see every single stamp i own just by glancing across from my kitchen table! It makes it so much easier to mix and match stamps from different sets. I immediately noticed the stripes on the six sided sampler stamp set (130956). Yes, they coordinate perfectly, no it's not a fluke - it's designed this way!! With two small children, I get very little sleep - there is no way i'm risking stamping a tessellating hexagon pattern on a white card base! But then again, I don't need to, a handy coordinating punch means I can stamp away carefree and worry about them all facing the right direction when it comes to sticking! I decided on my pattern, and using anywhere glue stick (it allows you time to wiggle them to make the pattern perfect!!) the card was done. I trimmed the over-hang and admired another 'free' leftover card!

*Now why am I drawing your attention to my three stripes. Because I was lazy and if I were to make this card again, I would not be as lazy and it would be much improved. As I didn't know at the point of stamping, what my card would end up looking like, I didn't really think about getting the banners straight or inline. I didn't bother getting my Stamp-a-ma-jig from the side next to me, and now it annoys me. Yes i've recovered it well, using the thin coloured banner to draw attention away but still I am embarrassed that I didn't use a tool that could have given me three perfectly beautifully placed banners! So why couldn't I just start again? It was at this point I realised i'd run out of whisper white card...so until Mr UPS comes knocking the stripes will have to stay!