Summer Scene In The Middle Of Winter

The snow flurries continued to fly yesterday and I decided to spend the day indoors. I still have a number of new stamp sets to try out so it wasn’t as if I needed any persuading. For today’s Simple Sunday project I wanted to get away, to a warmer, sunnier place. So I pulled out the Beautiful Moments Stamp Set and set to work creating a quick summer scene.

Summer scene bookmark with "You're somebody's blessing" sentiment created using the Beautiful Moments Stamp Set and Stampin' Blends markers from Stampin' Up! #papercraftwithme

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Before I could begin stamping I first needed to prepare my bookmark base from Thick Very Vanilla Card. So I cut a 2″ x 5-1/2″ strip and shaped the top using the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch.

Then with Tuxedo Black ink I stamped the solo lady image at the bottom of the strip, before stamping her again on a Full-Adhesive Post-It note®.

I pulled the stamped Post-It Note off the pad along with the one underneath and then used Paper Snips to cut just around the lady, cutting off the flowers she was holding. This would be my mask for today’s project (and also leave me a spare for another day).

I placed the stamped mask in the stamp case and placed the second one over the image I’d stamped on the bookmark base. Then I set to work sponging the background for my scene.

Using pieces of Stampin’ Sponge I first added some Granny Apple Green ink along the bottom of the bookmark. Then I covered the rest of the bookmark with a lightly sponged layer of Seaside Spray ink. With that done I removed the mask to reveal the lady underneath.

SUMMER SCENE

I love using a combination of sponging and colouring when building a scene so I pulled out my Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. In fact I didn’t need that many. In the end I chose light and dark combos in So Saffron, Highland Heather and Cajun Craze, plus Ivory for her arms.

Why these colours? First, the combination of the yellow dress against the green and blue sponging really gave the scene some warmth. The tiny purple flowers also compliment the yellow, and of course purple’s my favourite colour anyway.

To complete the scene I used Tuxedo Black ink to stamp the birds image from the Beautiful Moments Stamp Set. Then I added the “You’re somebody’s blessing” sentiment.

Finally I threaded some 5/16″ Braided Burlap Trim through the slot at the top and held it in place with Mini Glue Dots. In no time at all my summer scene bookmark was done.

I love how the bookmark turned out. Bookmarks and gift tags are a great way to test out ideas and can be used as is, or turned into layers for card fronts. I’ll certainly be bringing you more ideas using the Beautiful Moments Stamp Set in the future.

UPDATED 2021 – Sadly the following products have retired and are no longer available from Stampin’ Up!: