Yesterday’s pretty photo album project involved quite a lot of colouring so today I wanted to scale it right back. Not everyone understands or wants to stress over shading, and that includes me from time to time. That’s when Stampin’ Up!’s Distinktive® stamp images are useful. You see, Distinktive stamps are made with the shading built into the stamp image. All I had to do was colour over the top to get a great image for my card.

SIMPLE START

I really wanted to keep this project simple so I began by cutting and scoring a piece of Thick Whisper White Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create a card base.

Next I cut a piece from the Peony Garden 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP). For contrast I chose a pattern with a grey background and white line images. Using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I mounted the DSP onto some Mint Macaron Card. Then I fixed the layers into my card base.

To add some coordination to my project I then chose the smallest peony image from the Prized Peony Stamp Set. Using Smoky Slate ink I first stamped it in the centre at the top of a layer of Whisper White Card. I decided not to colour this image but simply used liquid glue to fixed the layer inside the card base.

Then I stamped the same flower in the centre of the flap of a Whisper White Medium Envelope. I left that uncoloured too.

For my sentiment I chose “love & thanks to a dear friend”. After stamping it onto a strip of Whisper White Card I mounted it onto a Mint Macaron Card strip. Then I set this piece aside while I got to work on the big flower focal point.

DISTINKTIVE COLOURING

I started by stamping the large flower onto Whisper White Card using Smoky Slate ink. Then I chose two colours of Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers; Mint Macaron and Petal Pink.

Using the dark Petal Pink marker I coloured over the shaded parts of the petals and a little bit onto the white parts. Then I went over the whole thing using the light Petal Pink marker. For the leaves I used exactly the same process. And that was it.

To complete my project I used liquid glue to mount the flower onto some Mint Macaron Card. Then I fixed the layers onto my card background.

Now I have a little confession… while doing my colouring I managed to drop a Petal Pink maker onto the white card, leaving a mark. So that really forced my hand regarding the placement of the sentiment. Once I fixed it to over the mark with more Stampin’ Dimensionals my project was complete.

There are quite a few Distinktive stamp sets in the Stampin’ Up! catalogue, look out for the logo as you browse.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Prized Peony Stamp Set in a bundle with the coordinating Peony Dies (not used today). This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included a link to the bundle below in case you want to explore this option.