As we’re only days away from seeing the full Retiring List I’ve been sorting through some of the products that I know will definitely go. Designer Series Paper (DSP) is one of these. In amongst the Nature’s Poem DSP I found some wood effect paper I’d completely forgotten about. So that lead me to the Rooted in Nature Stamp Set and this simple pine tree thank you card.

SIMPLE BASE

I began with a simple base of Thick Very Vanilla Card cut and scored using my retiring Stampin’ Trimmer. I folded the card along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder. Then I covered the front with a piece of the wood effect DSP I’d found, attached using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

In the DSP pack I also found a strip of striped paper that was perfect for a banner layer. So I trimmed it to fit across my card. DSP is thick, but not really thick enough for popping up on Stampin’ Dimensionals without warping. so I decided to strengthen it. I did this very easily with a narrow strip of scrap Very Vanilla Card attached along the back of the DSP with liquid glue.

While I had the strips out I used Mossy Meadow ink to stamp the sentiment from the Rooted In Nature Stamp Set. Then I added that to the front of the DSP strip with more liquid glue. Finally I fixed the assembled sentiment to the front of the card base.

That just left my lone pine tree to stamp.

TWO COLOUR PINE TREE

To create my pine tree I used my Stamparatus stamp positioning tool and Simply Shammy.

I began by inking up the top part of the tree using the Mossy Meadow ink pad. Next, I used the corner of my Simply Shammy to remove the ink from the tree trunk. Then I used the brush tip of an Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker to add ink back onto the tree trunk. Finally I stamped the pine tree image onto some Thick Very Vanilla Card.

Before cleaning the stamp I then stamped it again, this time onto the right-hand side of a layer of Very Vanilla Card. This gave me a lighter version of the tree and I added this layer to the inside of my card base with liquid glue.

Next I inked up the pine tree stamp in the same way as before, but this time stamped off onto scrap paper. Then I stamped the lighter pine tree to the right-hand side on the front of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope.

With all the stamping complete, I just needed to cut out my original pine tree image. This was a simple task using my retiring Big Shot and Magnetic Platform with the coordinating die from the Nature’s Roots set.

Did you know? – Foam Adhesive Strips are thicker than Stampin’ Dimensionals. Well they are, and that makes them very useful, and not just for shaker cards. Stampin’ Up!s Foam Adhesive Strips are about as thick as a single Stampin’ Dimensional plus four layers of card, but not as thick as two Stampin’ Dimensionals stacked on top of each other. This allows for a multi-layered design without adding huge amounts of bulk.

This extra height on the Foam Adhesive Strip meant I could use pieces of them to attach my pine tree over the sentiment layers and still keep the tree level. Once that was done my card was complete.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Rooted In Nature Stamp Set and coordinating Nature’s Roots dies together using a single bundle item number. This saved me 10% off the cost of buying the same items separately. I’ve included both options in the supply list so you can look at this in more detail if you wish. Please note that even if these two items are carried over into the new 2019/2020 Annual Catalogue, the discounted bundle offer will end on June 3rd.