Every week for several years now I’ve brought you a Simple Sunday project.  Sometimes it’s involved a simple layout, sometimes it’s a simple technique or idea.  My idea was that it’s easy to get so caught up in all the extras, that sometimes we  forget that papercrafting doesn’t have to be complicated, or need lots of expensive tools.  Well it seems that Stampin’ Up! agrees with me and you’ll start to see projects using the #simplestamping hashtag.

#SIMPLESTAMPING

So to kick off this year long focus on back to basics papercrafting Stampin’ Up! has revealed their first challenge:

In December, create a thank you card using one stamp set, ink, and note card from the Annual Catalogue.

Once Christmas is over, thank you cards will need to be sent, and gratefully received, so it’s the perfect inspiration for today’s project.

SIMPLE START

I started with a Very Vanilla Note Card, folded it along the pre-scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.

Then I chose the Painted Glass Stamp Set for my thank you sentiment as it’s bold but but not boring.

Finally I decided to create an ombre look with the sentiment so my ink colour would need to be quite dark.  After a little thought I chose Shaded Spruce.

GENERATIONAL STAMPING

I inked up the sentiment and stamped it towards the bottom right corner on the front of the note card.  Then without re-inking the image, I stamped it again just above the first sentiment.  Still without re-inking I continued to stamp above the previous image until I had a stack of 5 sentiments, each one lighter than the one below.

To complete the project I re-inked the sentiment and stamped it once inside the note card.  Then after re-inking it one last time I stamped the sentiment at an angle on the flap of the envelope.

Well you really couldn’t get much simpler than that.  It just goes to show that even if you only have one ink pad, you can have variation in your stamping.  Simply ink up your stamp and stamp it off onto some scrap paper one or more times to create lighter tones.

So that’s it from me for today.  Keep an eye out for more simple stamping projects here and from other Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators over the coming year.  You can search for them using the hashtag #simplestamping .

BUNDLE BONUS – Although I only used the Painted Glass Stamp Set on today’s project, I wanted to let you know that there is a set of coordinating dies available.  You can buy the two items individually but if you want both make sure you order them using the single bundle item number.  This will save you 10% off the cost of getting them separately.  I’ve included links to the bundles below in case you want to look at this in more detail.

PRODUCT LIST