OK I admit it. I may be slightly addicted to the Courage & Faith Stamp Set. And possibly the Natural Tones Stampin’ Blends too. Today’s project was definitely inspired by a bookmark and thank you card I’ve made over the past month. In my defence, the leafy images are really simple to colour and I had spare pieces left over from the earlier card that I didn’t want to waste. But the real highlight of this project is something you might not have considered… creating your own custom coloured cardstock.

SIMPLE STAMPING

So I began this quick card with rwo pieces of Very Vanilla Card, one 3-3/4″ x and the other 4″ x 5-1/4″. Then using Early Espresso ink I stamped the right-curving leafy image from the Courage & Faith Stamp Set, around the bottom left corner on each piece. I also stamped it in the bottom left corner on the front of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope.

Next I coloured each of the images using the Medium Light Natural Tones Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. For the ‘flowers’ I used the marker labelled SU700, and for the ‘leaves’, SU800.

Once the colouring was complete all I needed was a sentiment and for that I went back to the Courage & Faith Stamp Set. There’s three biblical quotaions in the set but in the end I chose “Be of good courage” from Psalm 27:14, and the Early Espresso ink pad. After stamping it towards the bottom of the image on the smaller Very Vanilla layer I just needed to assemble my card.

I started simply enough, using my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Thick Very Vanilla Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.

Next I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to attach the larger of the two Very Vanilla layers to the inside of the card base. And that’s when I ran into trouble…

UNIQUE CARDSTOCK

I decided I wanted a contrasting mat to go under the sentiment layer on the front of the card. Early Espresso Card seemed too dark and the colours I’d used on the images didn’t have coordinating cardstock. Then I had an idea. I cut a 3-3/4″ x 5″ piece of Very Vanilla Card. To make this coordinate with the images I simply had to colour a 1/2″ border around the edge of the card using the same marker I’d used on the ‘flowers’!

Once the border was complete I mounted the sentiment layer on top using liquid glue. Then with Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back I attached the layers to the card base and my project was complete.

With 50 colours of ink and cardstock in the Stampin’ Up! range I’ve never had an issue coordinating my stamping with card layers before. But it’s good to remember that Stampin’ Blends can customise virtually anything you may need for a project.

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