Our granddaughter has been visiting with us from the UK for the past three weeks and the time has simply flown by. We’ve been so busy visiting places that there’s been hardly any time to craft. So our plan for today is to spend some quality time exploring my latest box of goodies from Stampin’ Up! But first we need to write some thank you cards. This one was made using the Charming Sentiments and Petal Park Stamp Sets. Of the 17 Charming Sentiments, “beyond grateful” seemed particularly appropriate.

SUBTLE LEAVES

But before getting to the sentiment I first wanted to create a simple design for the card front, inside and envelope. So I chose just the large leafy outline image from the Petal Park Stamp Set and a Basic Gray ink pad.

First I stamped the whole image onto a 2-3/4″ x 4″ piece of Basic White Card. Next I stamped one end of the image coming in from the top left corner on the front of a Basic White Medium Envelope. Then I turned the image around and stamped the other end coming in from the bottom right corner on the envelope front. Finally I cut a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Basic White Card and stamped that twice to match the envelope.

With the stamping complete I decided to keep the colouring simple and subtle. On all the veined leaves I coloured one half with a light Smoky Slate Stampin’ Blends alcohol marker. Then on the other half of the leaf I used dark Soft Sea Foam. I also used dark Soft Sea Foam on the teeny tiny leaves. For the other leaves I used dark Smoky Slate on the inside section and light Soft Sea Foam around the outside. I’m not sure if my Soft Sea Foam Stampin’ Blends need replacing, but I thought those areas were a bit light. So I simply went over those areas with the same Soft Sea Foam markers to darken them up a little.

CHARMING SENTIMENTS

Now I needed the “beyond gratelful” sentiment from the Charming Sentiments Stamp Set. Using Basic Gray ink I stamped it onto a scrap of Basic White Card. Then from the Something Fancy Dies I chose the two smallest of the ‘rectangle’ dies. I cut out the stamped sentiment using the smallest die, and used the other one to cut a mat layer from Soft Sea Foam Card. Finally I fixed the two pieces together using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

For my card base I cut and scored some Smoky Slate Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder. On the inside I used liquid glue to add the stamped and coloured 4″ x 5-1/4″ layer.

To complete the front of the card I cut a 3″ x 4-1/4″ piece of Soft Sea Foam Card. Next, using liquid glue, I mounted the remaining stamped and coloured Basic White layer on top, before adding it to the front of the card. Then I added the layered sentiment over the gap in the main image using Stampin’ Dimensionals. Finally I added a few Basic Gray embellishments from the Classic Matte Dots pack and I was done.

I love combining pale grey with other light colours. I may have to make a few more of these but change out the pale green for something else. Do you have any suggestions for colours that would work well with Smoky Slate? Please leave a comment below and I’ll give it a try.

PRODUCT LIST