This weekend, despite rampant illness in my family, I rose to the challenge created by your recent purchases and put the Elementary Elegance Sale-A-Bration stamp set to work on this handmade birthday card:
I thought it would be fun to share a little of my thought process in creating this card, and my sources for creative inspiration.
- My initial thought in looking at this stamp set was 'teen'. So I went searching online for images of teen bedrooms to see what color schemes popped up. The color scheme that caught my eye was teal and white. So Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White became my primary color palette.
- In looking more closely at these teal and white rooms, I saw that there were bolder and softer versions. In the bolder rooms, the color scheme would include a strong black contrast, while the softer rooms would use gray. Since the focal image stamp cried out for metallic embossing, I decided to use silver as my gray. And once I started embossing, I guess I went a little crazy. You'll find all of my stamping was done with Versamark Ink and Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder!
- Speaking of that focal image, I wanted it to pop forward as the key feature of the card. So I hand cut my outer edge of the focal 'frame' and punched out the center with the Curly Label punch - demonstrating the perfect coordination of Stampin' Up! products - and popped it off the page with Stampin' Dimensionals adhesive. Then I chose to place all of my other images, including my greeting, directly on the base card stock.
- Now it was time to embellish the card. If you look closely at the focal image, you will see that the details tie in to many of the recent Stampin' Up! stamp sets. Another example of how well Stampin' Up! products coordinate. In this case I chose the leaf stamp from the Just Believe stamp set as the shape of the leaves is reminiscent of the leaves in the focal image.
- The white of the focal frame was indeed popping off the card, but maybe a bit too much. I decided the card needed a bit more white to help the eye move across the card, and chose to add Basic Pearl Jewel Accents.
I love to hear about the creative process of other crafters. It is probably why I so enjoy shows like Top Chef and Design Star, I just love to watch the creative process at work in all art forms.
Remember, the Elementary Elegance stamp set can be earned FREE with any $50 merchandise order. Shop now! Once your order totals $50 in merchandise, simply add item #125122 for clear mount and #125120 for wood mount to your shopping cart. If you would like to see more Sale-a-bration merchandise, download a copy of the Sale-a-bration catalog here.
Happy Crafting,
Noel
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