With the new 2018/2019 Annual Catalogue from Stampin’ Up! comes a colour revamp.  Lots of colours have retired and been replaced with fresh new ones and I have to say so far I haven’t met one I didn’t like.

Over the next couple of months I plan to create projects that focus on just one of the new colours and I thought I’d start this little series with Shaded Spruce.  This deep green is simply stunning.  It’s dark without being dreary and I’m sure it will be a huge hit.

Today’s project is a miss you card with a few simple design tricks to make it interesting.

I began with piece of Very Vanilla Card stamped with the large ‘foliage’ image from the new Enjoy Life Stamp Set using just Shaded Spruce ink.  The image was actually stamped three times, each time moving the image over to the right a little and stamping again without reinking.  This is known as ‘generational stamping’, and in this case I used 2nd and 3rd generation stamping to get the two lighter shades from my one ink pad.

Next came the card base, a piece of Shaded Spruce Card cut and scored with my Stampin’ Trimmer, folded along the scored line and the crease sharpened with a Bone Folder.

Rather than mounting the Very Vanilla layer onto the card base with an even border around it, I decided I wanted it at an angle and with a little ‘extra’ detail.  So I held the Very Vanilla piece against the card base at the angle I wanted, then flipped everything over so I could draw a little pencil line on the back to indicate where to cut.

Once the top of the Very Vanilla layer was trimmed I held it in place on the card base so that I could use my scoring stylus to mark lines on the card base alongside the outside edges of the layer.  I then turned the card base over and went back over the scored lines with the stylus so that they would now appear raised on the front.

It was time to work on the sentiment, which is actually two stamps from the Enjoy Life Stamp Set.  I started with the ‘I don’t think I could   more than I already do’, inked it up with Shaded Spruce ink and stamped it onto a piece of scrap paper (known as ‘stamping off’).  Then I stamped it onto the Very Vanilla piece.  The ‘miss you’ was inked up with Shaded Spruce ink and then stamped in the space between the two parts of the first sentiment.

To complete the Very Vanilla layer I wrapped a length of Very Vanilla Solid Baker’s Twine around the bottom, securing the ends on the back with Tear & Tape Adhesive.  Then with another piece of the twine I tied the three wrapped strands together in a square knot, trimmed the ends, and then unravelled them down to the knot.

Finally I was ready to mount the Very Vanilla layer to the front of the card base using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

With a dark card base I needed to add a lighter layer on the inside so I took a piece of Very Vanilla Card and stamped the ‘foliage’ image three times coming in from the left-hand edge to mimic the triple-coloured image on the front of the card.  Then this layer was fixed to the inside of the card base with liquid glue.

All that was left was the Very Vanilla Medium Envelope, and with the same triple-coloured stamping coming in from the left-hand edge on the front, my project was complete.

So what do you think of this new green?  Me, I love it!