Today I’m going to share with you some of my creative process. I documented how I made some design choices as I created this card, as well as a tip or two. I hope they help you create your own designs…which I would love to see!
I am really enjoying the So Hoppy Together stamp set that is available for FREE with an eligible purchase during Sale-A-Bration. These little frogs have so much personality, and are fun to colour with Stampin’ Blends.
I’ve also just purchased the Darling Label Punch Box. The coordinating stamp set that is included in the box has some great sentiments, including this “hello”, but I knew it would work well with a lot of other sets in my collection. When I first started stamping we did a lot of this kind of card, and I thought it would be fun to make one with current products.
Once I had my Gingham Gala layer in Lemon Lime Twist and my punched images, I had some decisions to make. First, what should I use as a mat for the images? Lemon Lime twist (left pic) is the obvious choice, but since I used the Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends on the frogs I thought that the deeper tone (right pic) might provide better contrast while keeping it all in the green-and-white colour scheme. Sometimes I go with my gut, and sometimes I actually cut the cardstock (3.25″ or 8.3 cm square) and take a look.
I’ve talked a lot over the years about Stampin’ Up!’s awesome colour coordination across products (ink, cardstock, Designer Series Papers, embellishments) but I also love that they work hard to have shades of colours in their palette that coordinate so well. Here are some of my favourites:
Fun little detail – I coloured the eyeglasses of the frog with Clear Wink of Stella…it’s really subtle but makes me happy! So hard to capture with a camera…hopefully you can see a few sparkles.
I get asked by my customers about my adhesive of choice: Multipurpose Liquid Glue. Yes, it has the potential to be messy in the way Snail/tape runner doesn’t, but I’ve discovered a couple of things that make it less likely to ooze out the edges:
1) it doesn’t take very much… a thin bead will hold quite well. 2) keep it away from the edges when applying. The bead comes a bit too close at the lower, left corner in the above picture. This application of glue allowed me just enough “play” in the layer to ensure it was straight on the Gingham Gala piece, while holding securely once dry.
After attaching my ribbon (another FREE item from Sale-A-Bration) I needed to choose a base for the card. I’d been thinking Whisper White was the way to go, but once I tried it I decided to also try a Lemon Lime Twist base.
Lemon Lime Twist for the win. I also thought briefly about Granny Apple Green, but decided I wanted the visual weight the Lemon Lime Twist added without pulling from the “pop” of the layer under the punched pieces.
Do you have questions about how I’ve made or used something?
Send them along and I’ll address them in a blog or maybe even a video!
Here are the products I used to make this card. Click on any image below to go to my Online Store and order.
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