How To Simplify Your Stamping

Want to make your life easier?  To simplify things?  One way is to look for challenges.  Two great ones are ColourQ and Freshly Made Sketches.

Here's a card I did for these:

Using the Birthday Basics Suite from Stampin' Up! Annual catalog, the Cycle Celebration ( #130273 - clear; #130270 - wood) stamp set and the Remembering Your Birthday (#131350 - clear; #131347 - wood) fit into the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches perfectly! 

     The color scheme of Island Indigo, pacific Point, Early Espresso, Whisper White, and Pear Pizzazz (because I don't have any Lucky Limeade) was very different and a fabulous challenge for me!  

     It's fun to work on things that made you stretch and grow as a papercrafter.

• First, cutting the Island Indigo card stock (#122923) 5-1/4" x 4", and then the Designer Series Paper Stacks - Neutrals (#130132) - using the Early Espresso polka dots, cut into a square and layered it with Early Espresso (#119686) card stock and adhered using SNAIL adhesive (#104332) to the Island Indigo layer.  
• Then a square of Whisper White (#100730) card stock was stamped with Pear Pizzazz (#131180) ink using the Cycle Celebration candles.  The edges were inked up with a Stampin' Sponge (#101610) and the Pear Pizzazz and Pacific Point (#126951) inks.  A layer of Early Espresso was adhered to the back of the candle square.
• 1" x 4" strip of Pacific Point was run through the Big Shot (#113439) using the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder (#117335); using another Stampin' Sponge, the dots were inked up with a bit of Pacific Point ink so they would show up a bit better, and then the strip was set off with a bit of Whisper White card stock.  The strip was adhere to the Island Indigo layer, slight over top of the Early Espresso polka dot square.  The candle square was layered next using Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430).

• Grabbing the Early Espresso (#126974) ink, the "Celebrate a Sweet Birthday" image was stamped onto Whisper White card stock, followed by stamping the same image in Pacific Point.  The Early Espresso image was punched out with the Decorative Label (#120907) punch and the Pacific Point image was punched out with the Large Oval (#119855) punch.  They were matched together with a bit of SNAIL and then adhered to the card with Dimensionals.
• The sentiment was taken from the Remembering Your Birthday stamp set, stamping with Early Espresso, put into the perfect place with the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig (#101049) - love that thing!
• Using the Paper Piercing Tool (#126189) and Stampin' Pierce Mat (126199), gave perfect placement for the holes that house the 1/8" Mini Brads (#122941).  The Island Indigo layer was then attached to the Whisper White card stock base with Dimensionals.

• For a finishing touch, the candle flames were colored with Daffodil Delight (#126944) ink, using the Blender Pens (#102845) and then a bit of sparkle was put in with the Dazzling Details (#124117).

Here are the challenges - 

Hope you find a challenge you can meet today and that you are able to simplify your stamping.  

Please be sure to check out the other great cards from people who participated.  It's a lot of fun!!

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Thanks so much for stopping by ~~ Happy Stampin' and Scrappin'