Amazing March Magic

After we finished our planning we realized there wasn't much in the way of St. Patty's green, but what there is plenty of are some beautiful cards and inky-cutty techniques!

Spring has sprung in Wisconsin, so it seems fitting that we remind our stamping friends that flowers and butterflies are on their way, and our cold and snowy winter is becoming a fond memory.

Most papers, inks, and accessories used in our projects are from ©Stampin’ Up!

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Negative is a Positive Thing!

An impressive use of the Negative Spotlight Technique let us use the tried and true Lovely As a Tree Stamp Set.  We are pretty sure every one of our Second Tuesday Stampers has this old standby set and if not we are pretty sure it will be 100% after this month. Many thanks to Julie Davis at Julie's Stamping Spot for a very nice tutorial and lots of ideas to make this technique work for our stampers.


The example we followed uses a sympathy sentiment, but we chose to make it a birthday greeting.  There's a reason we think that our stamp set is so versatile!

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A Spotlight on Lovely as a Tree Card

We cut some strips of Smoky Slate and  So Saffron Card Stock, saved a little So Saffron CS Scrap and commenced to creating. Stamping twice, once on the top piece of Grey card stock and again on our So Saffron spotlighted section on scrap gave us the basis for our card.  Both layers of our image feature are stamped in Basic Grey Ink and after using the 1 1/4" Circle Punch to create our spotlight, we lined things up and adhered the pieces together. Our use of some Dimensionals to pop up the top layer is the pièce de résistance.

All papers, inks, and accessories used in this card are from ©Stampin’ Up!

Punches and Fussy Cut, Flowers and Butterflies

Punches and Fussy Cut

Flowers and Butterflies

Pear Pizzaz Inkpads and

Lost Lagoon Ribbon

Modern Mosaic and the trusty Cuttlebug

These are a few of our favorite things.

OK.  We admit it!  The hints of Spring get us a little giddy, but why not?  Our beautiful flowers stamped with the new Butterfly Basics Stamp Set makes the season feel like a real possibility!  Whisper White on Whisper White Card Stock makes this card stunning!  

Butterfly Basics Circle Cutout Card

We layered the slightly smaller embossed piece over the card front of the same shade of card stock, but not before we fancied it up a bit.  A little round "bite" out of the top layer of our monochromatic background was made with a 2 1/2" Circle Punch.  Any old shape and your choice of embossing folder will do though!  After we marked the cutout area lightly with pencil, ee colored our floral image from the Butterfly Basics Stamp Set with Lost Lagoon and Pear Pizzazz Watercolor Markers.  We "huffed" then stamped.  A second stamping of the big flower on Whisper White Scrap, a little fussy cut, and a Dimensional made our pretty Spring bouquet.  Next we tied a neat little knot in a piece of Lost Lagoon 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon (this has to be one of our favorites) and wrapped it from the circle edge around the embossed piece.  Very nice touch, don't you think?  The butterfly accent stamped with Papillon Potpourri is also colored with Lost Lagoon Marker, punched out with the Bitty Butterfly Punch, and decorated with Pearl Basics Jewels.  So nice, and so very easy.  This elegant card will be appropriate for almost any occassion and can be put together in a jiffy!

All papers, inks, and accessories used in this card are from ©Stampin’ Up!

Bling and Bokeh

The Bokeh Technique, a photographic method, has become is a favorite background technique among stampers.  The possibilities are endless and the results stunning! The Stamp With Sandy Bokeh Backgrounds Board on Pinterest is packed with ideas for easy and impressive Bokeh projects.  Here is our pick for Second Tuesday Stampers this month, borrowed from Porch Swing Creations. There you can find a nice video using sponging to create the background.

Bokeh Beauty Card

We were quite taken with the combination of Bermuda Bay, Perfect Plum, and Elegant Eggplant Inks--so why not go with them.  We sponged the background and then cut a template on Window Sheet with our Circle Framelits.  Our hazy circles were sponged on only about 2/3 of our card with Whisper White Craft Ink but we encourage our stampers to sponge to their heart's content!  The accent in Elegant Eggplant was made with Sponge Daubers. Perfect is easy with this technique.  Our blingy Rhinestones and hearts created with Silver Glimmer Paper and the heart shape from our Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack make this simple card just gorgeous!  The Chalk Talk message is stamped directly on the Bokeh but a little bit of drying with our Heat Tool helped make it stick.  Layer on Elegant Eggplant and Wisteria Wonder Card Stock and we have a card to take your breath away.

All papers, inks, and accessories used in this card are from ©Stampin’ Up!