Do you find yourself caught in a creative trap when working with stamp sets that have coordinating Designer Series Paper (DSP)? I know I do. It’s like once I’ve seen the images in one colour palette I’m unable to un-see it. Then every time I use the stamps I gravitate to those same colours even if I’m not using the DSP. Today however I decided to be strong and try something completely different with the He’s All That Stamp Set. After a little play I ended up with this card.

BASICALLY BLUE

If you’ve seen the He’s The Man Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP) you’ll know that it’s mostly a combination of brown tones. So today I decided to try creating something using blues. I was actually inspired by a photo taken during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in the UK. The photo was a close up of someone but her costume just reminded me of peacock feathers. So I used that nugget of an idea and set to work.

For the background layer on my card I began by cutting a 3-3/4″ x 5″ piece of Very Vanilla Card. Then I took some Blending Brushes and began adding layers of ink. First I went over the whole piece with Bermuda Bay ink. I worked really quickly and even though the ink was a bit patchy I didn’t worry. Then I added a layer of Starry Sky ink. Once again I didn’t try to get an even coating as I wanted lighter and darker areas. Finally I went around the edges with Night of Navy ink to create a darker border.

I have to say that I immediately loved the effect created my the three colours and had to make that my coordinating feature. So I cut a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Very Vanilla Card and covered all but a 3/4″ strip on the right-hand side. Then I repeated the inking process over the visible strip. With that done I also used the same process to colour a strip along the bottom of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope.

Now because I’d used so much ink I knew it would take time to dry. Rather than wait, I speeded up the process using my Heat Tool set on 1 (low). This way I wouldn’t get inky fingers as I assembled the project.

HE’S ALL THAT

Before getting to the sentiment I decided to prepare everything else I needed. So next I used my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Night of Navy Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create a card base. Finally I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to fix the larger of my two inked layers to the inside.

For the front of the card I wanted the inked background layer to stand out so I glued that to a 3-7/8″ x 5-1/8″ piece of Very Vanilla Card. Then for some extra interest and shine I cut three 5″ pieces of Starry Sky 1/8″ Metallic Woven Ribbon. After putting some Tear & Tape Adhesive on the back of the layered background I wrapped the ribbon around the centre to create three horizontal lines.

Only the sentiment remained, and for that I chose “To the man who does everything” from the He’s All That Stamp Set. First, using Starry Sky ink, I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap of Thick Very Vanilla Card. Then I cut it out using my Mini Cut & Emboss Machine and the rectangular die from the All That Dies set.

With that done I fixed Stampin’ Dimensionals to the back and mounted the sentiment to the background layer. Then with more Stampin’ Dimensionals I added the assembled piece to the card base and my project was complete.

Note: the He’s All That Stamp Set also includes a “Wishing you a happy Father’s Day” sentiment which would be perfect on the inside of this card.

Oh my goodness, what a transformation! This hardly seems like the same stamp set, and I love it. I’ll definitely make more of an effort to use other stamp sets in colour schemes that differ from the coordinating DSP. What do you think?

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the He’s All That Stamp Set and coordinating All That Dies using a single ‘bundle’ item number. Buying the bundle saved me 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included links to both options below in case you want to explore these further.