Shaded Summer Cards with In Good Taste DSP

 Hello Craftin' Friends!

It's Sunday night, and I just realized that this blog didn't get posted. I wrote it earlier in the week, but was waiting for my Thursday video so that I could link it to this post. The truth is, I'm having trouble keeping up with my work these days. My visits with my Mom at the nursing home are exhausting, because I'm watching her fade away a little at a time. After the last few visits I've found myself weeping on the way home. I know I'm grieving her loss, even though she's still here, and grieving is hard work. Please forgive the lateness of this post.

After my technical difficulties during my Facebook LIVE video last week, I was concerned that you would not be able to follow the directions to make a stair step card. So I decided I needed to demonstrate the stair step fun fold again using some different materials. My Shaded Summer Stamp Set arrived this week, and I couldn't wait to get started with it. I chose this stamp set from the catalogue because it had both sentiments I loved, and some sweet floral images. For my cards today, I've chosen to add some colour to the flowers and sometimes the leaves, but the image is lovely just as it is. You could stamp it on white with the colour of your choice, stamp it on coloured cardstock, or even get fancy and use your Stampin' Write markers to colour the parts of the image in different colours and create a stamped image that was already coloured. There's no end to the possibilities!

My first stair step card uses the same dimensions for the card base as last week's card, to help those of you who may want to replicate the Batter Up Alternate Card I made last week. Just check out this weeks video tutorial for the measurements. For this card, I added some Balmy Blue cardstock 1/16" larger then the dsp pieces to make the whole card pop. The sentiment and images were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black (although Night of Navy would have worked also), and coloured with my Balmy Blue Stampin' Blends. I did die cut the sentiment with a stitched rectangle die, but a cut out rectangle would work just as well.

Now, since I was playing with stair step cards, I decided to do a side stair step card. This was absolutely my favourite of the cards this week! See the video tutorial for the measurements, or you can find them in the files section in my Craftin' Granny's Stamping Friends Group on Facebook. Although I did use a die from the Color and Contour Bundle to pop up my sentiment, this card has a clean and simple look due to the simple colour scheme. The adorable little birdie is from the Quite Curvy Stamp Set. I'm so sad this bundle is retiring at the end of June, so if it's on your wish list, get it while it lasts!

For my sentiment, I masked part of the stamp so that I could add it inside the card.

Now, I know some of you don't love the neutral colours as much as I do, so for the next two cards I added a pop of Melon Mambo for you! On the first card, I stamped my image in Crumb Cake ink on a piece of dsp from the In Good Taste pack. The dsp adds texture, and looks so sweet cut out with a scalloped die from the Color and Contour Bundle. Don't you love the stitching around the edge? For this card, I coloured the images using my Blender Pens and my Crumb Cake and Melon Mambo ink pads. To give added dimension I fussy cut one flower and after shaping it with my bone folder, I adhered it with glue dots. The sentimetn is in Night of Navy, so I added some rhinestones of the same colour from the Holiday Rhinestones pack, and of course, some Linen Thread finished it off.

My final card today is also a favourite of mine. I used the largest scalloped die from the Color and Contour Bundle to mat a piece of basic white cardstock that is 3 1/4" by 4 1/2". The sentiment and stamped image were done in Night of Navy. The butterfly die cuts are from the Brillliant Wings dies. These floral images were also coloured with my Blender Pens and Melon Mambo ink. 

I hope you enjoyed these Shaded Summer Cards. I can picture this stamp set being used with so many colour combinations and as I mentioned above, you can add colour to the images in so many ways. If you are placing an order on-line this week, please use Host Code 2EMUPHF9. 

Hope to see you again soon. 

Happy Crafting!

Craftin' Granny