I love the concept of #simplestamping introduced to Demonstrators by Stampin’ Up! last year. The premise is quite straightforward; projects for beginner/occasional papercrafters that need no fancy techniques or expensive tools. It wasn’t a new concept for me as I’d been doing my “simple Sunday” projects for several years prior. Even now I enjoy designing simple projects that anyone can do. It often gives me an excuse to show off and use gorgeous patterned paper.

Today’s project uses just one 6″ x 6″ piece from the new Ornate Garden 12″ x 12″ Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP). This paper is part of the new Ornate Garden Suite that will be available for customers to order starting on Wednesday.

6″ x 6″ PAPER

The toughest part of this project was deciding which pattern to choose from the Ornate Garden Specialty DSP pack. In the end I went with this very pretty white daisy design.

First I cut a 6″ x 6″ piece of the paper and then cut 2-1/4″ off the bottom. Using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I attached the 2-1/4″ piece DSP to the flap of a Whisper White Medium Envelope. Then using Paper Snips I trimmed the DSP using the edge of the flap as my guide.

With that done I cut and scored a piece of Thick Whisper White Card. I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create a card base.

Next, from my original 6″ x 6″ DSP I cut a 3/4″ strip off the top. I trimmed the strip to 5-1/4″ then glued it along the bottom of a 4″ x 5-14″ layer of Whisper White Card. With more liquid glue I fixed the assembled piece inside the card base.

Now all I had left to do was the card front.

Going back to what was left of the DSP I trimmed it down to 5-1/2″ wide. Then I cut 1/4″ off the bottom. Then with liquid glue I fixed the larger of the two pieces to the front of the card base. To add some contrast I flipped the 1/4″ strip over before gluing that tight up against the bottom edge of the first piece.

#SIMPLESTAMPING

All I had left to do was the stamping part of my #simplestamping project.

For this I turned to one of my favourite sentiment only stamp sets from the Annual Catalogue; Here’s A Card. Then I pulled out an Old Olive ink pad to coordinate with the leaves on the paper.

I stamped the “Happy birthday” sentiment in the white space on the front of the card and I was done.

#SIMPLESTAMPING TIP – Stamping the sentiment last can be risky, I could have smudged it, stamped it crooked, or with an inky ‘halo’. This time I was OK, but if I messed it up, this was my ‘fix’… I would simply cut a 1-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ piece of Whisper White Card and stamp the sentiment onto it. Then I’d use liquid glue to fix the replacement strip over the white area on the front of the card. It’s a good solution, and I’ve had to do more than once over the years.

If you’d like another idea for creating a card using a 6″ x 6″ piece of paper, see this earlier blog posts:

• The power of 6×6 paper
• One month to Christmas Eve

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