Jazz It Up Again

Here is another attempt at 'jazzing up' a card.



This is a very plain and simple card - not too thrilling.
Card Stock - Whisper White and Regal Rose
Ink - Soft Suede
Stamp Sets - Happiest Birthday Wishes and Simply Said

Here I mounted the sentiment on a rectangle of Regal Rose. I also added the Regal Rose to the flowers. This is a two step stamp set. I have found that I need to use the Stamp-a-ma-jig with this set to get my stamps lined up closely.

A notch more - I used Soft Suede for the card base instead of the Whisper White. I also trimmed around the sentiment. I mounted it on Regal Rose and trimmed that to the same shape. I added a Boho Blossom flower of Regal Rose on Soft Suede with a Whisper White brad.

Since the card base was Soft Suede and that is too dark to be able to write a note, I added some Very Vanilla stamped with a single flower to the inside of the card.


And here I have taken it another step. The DSP is some retired I had on hand. The torn corner with the DSP behind it is an idea I got from the Idea Book and Catalog. It just adds a little interest.

I put some Crystal Effects on the flowers.



The ribbon is 3/8 inch taffeta in Soft Suede. I put down a strip of Sticky Strip and then folded the ribbon back and forth to make the pleats. The rhinestone is colored with the Regal Rose marker but it does not show up very well.


I added the shadow flowers by stamping off on scrap paper a couple times to get most of the ink off the stamp. I like the look it gives around the border. Sponging the paper edges also gives the card a little more interest and dimension.


I moved the sentiment inside and sponged around that as well. So with just a few tools and a little time you can take your simple card idea and 'jazz it up'.

Jazz it up

I have been wanting to do something to show how you can take a simple, basic design and jazz it up with just a few little touches. So here goes my first attempt.

This is a basic card. The image is stamped in a single color and mounted on a card with some colorful DSP. The sentiment is simply stamped and mounted. A nice looking card and would definitely brighten someone's day.
All of these cards use these products:
Card Stock - Very Vanilla, So Saffron, Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Autumn Spice DSP (retired)
Stamp Set - Lovely as a Tree
Ink - Chocolate Chip
Tools - Word Window and Modern Label punches

So this is jazzing it up a little. I used two colors for the stamping by rubbing the stamp pad against the stamp in the specific areas. I added a ribbon (Old Olive 3/8 inch taffeta) and I used dimensionals to pop-up the sentiment. I did turn the card sideways just to make it a little different.

Here I have jazzed it up another step. I colored the image using chalk pastels. To do this I stamped the image in a lighter color (Crumb Cake) and then using cotton swabs (had to steal those from DH's vanity in the bathroom) sponged on some autumn colors among the leaves and added some brown to the trunk and green to the grass. Then using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, I lined up and stamped the tree in Chocolate Chip over the chalked image.
The Very Vanilla 3/8 inch taffeta ribbon has a little strip of 1/8 inch Old Olive taffeta ribbon tied into the bow.
I added a Cajun Craze brad to the sentiment.

These next two cards are not necessarily 'jazzed up' versions of the previous (more like the same level) but show other ways to make your card special. For this one I used So Saffron card stock for the image background instead of the Very Vanilla and since I did not have any So Saffron ribbons that would work I dyed a piece of Whisper White 3/8 inch taffeta ribbon using the So Saffron stamp pad and a sponge.


This was my attempt for a truly masculine version. I used the pastels to color the image as before. To distress the edges of the Very Vanilla card stock, I took the scissor blade and ran it along the edges. This breaks down the fibers and gives it a ragged texture. Then I rubbed the edges along the Chocolate Chip ink pad. I added some Hemp Twine instead of a ribbon.

Hope you like all of my versions of this card. Each one uses the same design, dimensions and supplies - but all have some unique features.