I consider myself to be a life-long learner and love exploring You Tube and Pinterest for new ideas I can use in my papercrafting.  Something I’ve long admired am still working on is collage-style backgrounds and when I saw the Beautiful Promenade Stamp Set from Stampin’ Up! I knew it would be perfect for this technique.

It all began with a piece from the Tea Room 12″ x 12″ Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP) Pack.  This DSP pack contains 24 sheets (4 each of 6 different double sided designs) but the paper is much thinner than Stampin’ Up!s usual DSP.  The design I chose was Calypso Coral with a very subtle design, exactly what I needed.

Having cut a piece of the paper I first stamped two large flowers from the Beautiful Promenade Stamp Set using Merry Merlot ink, then I added some leaves with Shaded Spruce ink.  Finally I took the triple diamond image and stamped that a cpouple of time using Gray Granite ink, but before reinking the stamp each time I stamped it again so I had light and dark versions.

Next came the Burlap background stamp.  I laid the stamp on my desk, rubber side up, and covered the surface with VersaMark Ink.  Then I took the stamped DSP and wiped it with an Embossing Buddy before pressing sections of it onto the Burlap Stamp so that the sticky ink was patchy.  I sprinkled the VersaMark with Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder, tapped off the excess and then melted the rest with my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

To make the embossing stand out I then took a piece of Stampin’ Sponge and sponged a little Gray Granite ink over the embossed areas.  More Stampin’ Sponge was used to add some Merry Merlot ink around the edge of the DSP and roughly over the two large flowers.

With the collage-style background complete I then turned to the coordinating Beautiful Layers Thinlits Dies and cut the large doily from some Copper Foil Sheet using my Big Shot and Magnetic Platform.  This is a delicate die and so having run it through the Big Shot I flipped the die over onto its back to check for any areas that hadn’t fully cut and then placing that part towards the handle side of the Big Shot I ran it through again.  I could then see that everything was properly cut and removed the die cut piece from the die.

Using my Stampin’ Trimmer I cut and scored a piece of Thick Very Vanilla Card, folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create my card base.  The collage DSP was fixed to the front with Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) and the die-cut doily added on top.

Next I found a couple of scrap strips of card, in Calypso Coral and Shaded Spruce and shaped the ends into a V with my Paper Snips then sponged around the edges of the Shaded Spruce banner with Shaded Spruce ink, while the Calypso Coral Banner was sponged using Merry Merlot ink.  Liquid glue was used to layer the two banners before being added to the front of the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Now I was ready for the sentiment, stamped onto a piece of Very Vanilla Card with Merry Merlot ink.  I then stamped the border image with Gray Granite ink and trimmed the card to fit.  Once it was attached over the banners with Stampin’ Dimensionals the front of the card was complete.

I always decorate the inside of my cards and the envelopes and this time decided to keep it really simple, in contrast to the front of the card.  I took a layer of Very Vanilla Card and stamped the large flower image in the bottom right-hand corner using Merry Merlot ink, then fixed it inside the card base with Multipurpose Liquid Glue.

The same large flower was stamped in the bottom right-hand corner on the front of a very Vanilla Medium Envelope and I was done.

There’s a lot going on with the front of the card but I’m really pleased with how it turned out.  I think I’ll also experiment with using the collage technique on the inside of cards and envelopes too.  I just need to ensure that it will still allow the writing to be clearly seen.

BUNDLE BONUS

I purchased the Beautiful Promenade Stamp Set and coordinating Beautiful Layers Thinlits Dies as a bundle using a single item number, and in doing so saved 10% off the cost of buying the stamp set and dies separately.  I’ve included links to the bundle and the individual items below so you can look at both options if you wish.

Product List