As you might expect the Snailed It Stamp Set contains a number of snail images and the Snail Dies coordinate with them. But there’s also some other dies in the set that I love by themselves. One of them is the large postage stamp die and that features prominently on today’s project. Avoiding the snail images entirely, I also chose the toadstools to brighten up this very simple birthday card layout.

PAPER TOLE TOADSTOOLS

I began this project with the toadstool image and a Tuxedo Black ink pad. First I stamped the image in the bottom right-hand corner on the front of a Whisper White Medium Envelope. Next I stamped the toadstools in the bottom right corner of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Whisper White Card. Then I took a piece of Thick Whisper White Card and stamped the toadstool image five more times.

Now I was ready to begin colouring the images using Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. I wanted them to be really bright so chose: Poppy Parade, Highland Heather, Granny Apple Green and Ivory. I also used the Mango Melody Stampin’ Blends which is retiring and now only available while stocks last.

TIP – alcohol ink is designed to soak into the card or paper so before starting I placed some scrap paper inside the envelope. This way the ink won’t bleed through to the back. I just have to remember to remove the scrap paper when I’m finished.

TIP – I used the Ivory Stampin’ Blends to colour the stalks and underneath the caps. There’s no light and dark version of Ivory so to add shadows I simply darkened it by colouring over a second time with the same marker.

With all the images coloured I was ready to cut some of them up using Paper Snips. Of course it was only afterwards that I thought you might like to see the various layers. So here’s a second set (not coloured). In addition I had one image that was cut out exactly as stamped so it could form the base of the layers.

After colouring and cutting the pieces I stacked them on top of each other using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow). The tall toadstool (at the bottom) was a bit of an afterthought and simply fixed to the back of the main image.

SNAIL POSTAGE STAMP

With the bulk of the work done I was ready for my sentiment. For this I chose “Happy birthday” from the Happy Thoughts Stamp Set.

Using VersaMark ink I stamped the sentiment onto some Basic Black Card. Then I sprinkled it with White Stampin’ Emboss Powder and tapped off the excess. After removing some stray specks I melted the rest using my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

Next I pulled out my Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine and the postage stamp die from the Snail Dies set. This was a perfect fit for the sentiment and I left plenty of room towards the bottom of the die-cut shape.

To complete my project I used my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Thick Whisper White Card. I folded it along the scored line and then sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create the card base.

On the front of the card I used liquid glue to attach the die-cut sentiment. Then I glued the layered toadstools on top. Finally I glued the remaining Whisper White layer on the inside and my project was complete.

I love the subtle 3D effect I can achieve simply by stacking layers of card. It’s a technique that works well when parts of the image are too narrow to pop up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Snailed It Stamp Set and coordinating Snail Dies using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included both options below in case you want to compare them.

UPDATED – Sadly the Mango Melody Stampin’ Blends alcohol marker has been retired and is no longer available. The White Stampin’ Emboss Powder is available as part of the Basics Embossing Powder pack (together with black and clear).