My daughter has just accepted a new job, and for my What Will You Stamp? challenge Design Team project I couldn’t help making a card to congratulate her.

This week’s challenge is WWYS191 Making Every Day Bright and it’s one of those stamp sets with lots of small images but no sentiments.  I love these kinds of stamp sets as they provide lots of different design options.  I decided to use the cute penguin image and it all evolved from there.

THE BACKGROUND

Before I could get to the Making Every Day Bright Stamp Set I needed to create the abstract background.

I was inspired by my friend and fellow WWYS Design Team member, Jenny Hall to try ink pad smooshing.  I’ve never done this before and for some bizarre reason decided that my first ever attempt would be on Glossy White Paper.

To get this really cool effect I began with Coastal Cabana, Balmy Blue and Bermuda Bay ink pads.  I pressed the corner of each one onto a Silicone Craft Sheet several times while trying not to overlap the ink and contaminate the ink pads.  This was also helped by starting with the lightest colour and working up to the darkest.

Once I had the inks on the silicone sheet I spritzed the ink a few times with clean water.  Then I placed the Glossy White Card face down onto the watery ink, lifting and replacing it couple of times to make sure it was fully covered.  Obviously I then had to set the wet card aside to dry.  I could have used a Heat Tool on 1 (low) to help speed to the drying process but I wasn’t sure how the glossy finish would be affected by the heat.  Instead I just left it for 24 hours while I worked on other projects.

CELEBRATE YOU

Instead of looking for a stamp set for my sentiment I turned to the Celebrate You Thinlits Dies.  I used my Big Shot and multipurpose platform to cut ‘celebrate’ from a piece of Silver Glimmer Paper, and ‘you’ from Bermuda Bay Card.

I liked the contrast between the Glimmer Paper and the card but wanted the card to stand out a little more.  So I wandered over to my embossing station for the next part of the process.

I pressed the die-cut ‘you’ onto a VersaMark ink Pad and then covered the sticky ink with Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder.  I tapped off the excess and melted the rest with my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).  Then I let the embossing cool before repeating the process.  I let it cool once more and added a third layer of clear embossing.  Once I’d finished my plain card had a glossy domed top, much more suited to a celebration card.

CUTE PENGUINS

It was time for those cute penguins from the Making Every Day Bright Stamp Set.  The image was stamped onto Whisper White Card using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  Then it was punched out using the coordinating Christmas Bulb Builder Punch.

Another penguin was stamped across the bottom right corner of a layer of Whisper White Card.  Then one final penguin was stamped across the bottom right corner on the front of a Whisper White Medium Envelope.

With all the penguins stamped I coloured in their hats using a Coastal Cabana Stampin’ Write Marker from the Subtles collection.

ASSEMBLING THE CARD

I chose Bermuda Bay for my card base, cutting and scoring it using my Stampin’ Trimmer.  I folded the card along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.  Then using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I fixed the Whisper White layer inside the card base.

Now the glossy card was completely dry I needed to straighten and strengthen it a little.  So using liquid glue I attached it to a layer of Whisper White card.  Then came the penguin.

I held the punched penguin so he looked like he was photo-bombing from the bottom right corner of the glossy layer.   Then I used Paper Snips to trim the penguin using the edges of the glossy layer as a guide.  Finally I attached the penguin to the glossy layer with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Next came the two parts of the sentiment, fixed directly onto the background with liquid glue.

All that was left was to add the assembled background to the card base with Stampin’ Dimensionals and I was done.

This isn’t the first time I’ve created a project featuring a photo-bombing person or animal, but it never gets old.

Now to get this in the mail to my daughter.

** It looks like I won’t need to mail this card after all as my daughter and granddaughter have just walked through the door!  They flew across the Atlantic to visit us for 5 days, what a lovely surprise.  **

WWYS191 – MAKING EVERY DAY BRIGHT

I mentioned that I created this project for the What Will You Stamp? Design Team for WWYS191 Making Every Day Bright.

There are 27 images in this photopolymer stamp set and I used just one of them.

If you want to see more inspiring projects using this stamp set, do head over to our blog.  There’ll be unique projects from other members of the Design Team, and I can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with.

If you have this stamp set we’d love you to join the challenge this week and create a new project for us to see.  Simply upload it to our challenge gallery.  At the end of the challenge one person will be randomly chosen to be our winner.  They’ll get bragging rights and a winner’s badge for their social media.  They’ll also receive an invitation to be our Guest Designer for the challenge two weeks later.

CELEBRATE 30 YEARS OF STAMPIN’ UP!

Stampin’ Up! is celebrating its 30th birthday with a special one day sale tomorrow (October 23rd) with selected stamp sets on sale at 15% discount.

See the Birthday Sale Flyer for the list of stamp sets that will be included in this very special promotion.  Please note that bundles are not included in this offer.

CHRISTMAS BULB BUILDER PUNCH

Obviously the Christmas Bulb Builder Punch coordinates with the Making Every Day Bright Stamp Set.  This punch also coordinates with the Making Christmas Bright Stamp Set, and is available with this set as a bundle.  Using the bundle code to order the Making Christmas Bright Stamp Set and Christmas Bulb Builder Punch will save you 10% off the cost of buying these two items separately.  I’ve included links to the punch and the Making Christmas Bright Bundle (although I didn’t use the stamp set today) so you can look at these options in more detail.

PRODUCT LIST