Today I have a simple Fun Fold card for you. Since I am featuring the Amazing Silhouettes Stamp Set this week, today I'm using the Branch Silhouette stamp.
This Fun Fold folds vertically with an upper and a lower flap. I used the By the Bay Designer Series Paper (DSP) collection to decorate the two flaps.
As I mentioned in Monday's post, the Amazing Silhouette stamp set is an excellent set to use with Techniques. The stamps themselves create "simple" images and so techniques can be used to jazz them up a bit.
For today's card, I used the Baby Wipe Technique for stamping my image. For this technique, a baby wipe is used to create a multi-color "stamp pad". If you are not familiar with this technique the following short Connect to Create video by my friend and collaborator, Kathi Ondus, shows you how to do the technique.
All you need are a Baby Wipe, some re-inkers, and a stamp. The colors I used to stamp my Branch Silhouette were pulled from the colors in the designer series paper, Night of Navy, Mint Macaron, Balmy Blue and Blushing Bride.
After stamping the image, I used the Layering Diorama Dies to die cut and mat the stamped image. I thought the curvy shape coordinated well with the flowy feeling of the DSP on the top flap.
The image is attached to only the top flap which is held closed by the sentiment. I placed the sentiment so I could tuck the edge of the Diorama Die cut under the edge of the sentiment.
A Night of Navy bow and some retired Iridescent Pearls finished the card front.
For the inside of the card, I again stamped the Branch Silhouette using the Baby Wipe Technique.
If you are planning to use your Baby Wipe "ink pad" multiple times, for example for the card front, the inside and perhaps the envelope, my recommendation is that once you ink your Baby Wipe, you stamp all the images.
Maybe it is my particular Baby Wipe brand, but it does seem to dry out fairly quickly. You can easily reink it, but to save ink -- and time -- I have found it easiest to just stamp all the images at once. As a bonus, the more times you use the Baby Wipe "ink pad", the color will tend to blend together more, and it makes for interesting variation in the stamped images.
If you would like more information on how to create today's card, you can download a FREE TUTORIAL at this link. With Fun Fold cards, the scoring step is often the most critical, so the tutorial does include a scoring diagram.
If you would like more information on any of the products I used, you can click on the images in the Product List below. The link will take you to my Stampin' Up! store where all the product details are available, and you can also purchase products.
It's Monday, so it is time for another featured stamp set of the week.
This week I am going to be using the Amazing Silhouettes stamp set. This is an excellent stamp set to use with many different techniques.
Today's card uses the Watercolor Emboss Resist Technique with the Butterfly Silhouette stamp from the set.
Native American's have considered butterflies as symbols of transformation, hope, and rebirth. In Chinese culture, the symbolism of butterflies evokes the qualities of freedom, earthly beauty, love, and the human soul.
Since Easter is the time when we celebrate Jesus' resurrection, I thought a symbol of hope, rebirth, love, and freedom seemed like a very appropriate symbol for an Easter card. It sort of makes me wonder why Butterflies have not been traditional symbols for Easter, so today, I'm making it one.
Last week on Connect to Create, I demonstrated how to do the Watercolor Emboss Resist Technique that I used to create the butterflies on my slimline card. These butterflies were made using Method 1.
If you missed it on Connect to Create, you can see how to do the Watercolor Emboss Resist technique on the video below.
The Watercolor Emboss Resist is as versatile as your imagination, and I will be sharing additional cards made with this technique in the future.
Once I created my Silhouette Butterflies on watercolor paper, I die cut each of them with a die from my go-to die set, Stylish Shapes, and then adhered them to the Basic White cardstock with dimensionals.
The scalloped edge on the Basic White cardstock was made with a border die from Penned Flowers Dies.
Since these butterflies were my first attempt with the Watercolor Resist Technique, I actually made a few of them to practice.
I used one of the "leftovers" for the inside of my card.
The inside sentiment is from a VERY old, wood-mount, retired stamp set that I will probably always keep. This was one of the first stamp sets I purchased after I became a demonstrator over 16 years ago. It is called Glorious Gift and I keep it for this particular sentiment. I love the large, elegant script, but the message is really the main reason I keep it.
I do not often make slimline cards, but it seemed like a good layout to use all my practice watercolor resist technique butterflies. What do you think?
Today I combined the Nuts about Squirrels stamp set with the Aspen Trees Dies.
This was definitely the quickest and easiest card of the week! But isn't it pretty? It's so nice when you have pretty designer series paper and the right tools to make a quick card.
The designer paper behind the trees is from the Rain or Shine Designer Series Paper (DSP) Collection. All I had to do was cut the Basic White cardstock with the die from Aspen Trees Dies to create my woods.
The coordinating stamp set, Perched in a Tree, and these dies were first introduced in the July - December Mini catalog. But I was so excited to see that they are carrying over, so they are still available if you missed out on them last fall.
Once the trees were die-cut, I layered them over the DSP and mounted it to my Balmy Blue card base.
All that was left was to stamp my little squirrel on a Basic White scrap and fussy cut him. That was the longest part of making this card.
The cute little tag for the sentiment is from Designer Tag Dies. A double bow of linen thread completed the card front.
In keep with my mantra of "no naked insides", I added a leftover strip of the Rain or Shine DSP to the right side of the Basic White cardstock.
When I was making the card front, I wasn't sure if I wanted two squirrels or one. I had thought about having one behind the trees, but I couldn't make it work. Since I had stamped one of each squirrel, I had a spare, so I just tucked him on the inside of my card.
