Warning - Sunglass Alert!

So this came out a little, um, brighter than I had anticipated (and in real life, it's even more startling). You can't say you weren't warned. And it could have been a lot worse - imagine if I had slipped some Summer Sun in there as well!

Having said that, I really love these colours together. Just have a look at this, the card on the left here and this (well, there's no red in that last one, but just imagine if there was!). You wouldn't think that a pale orange, a bright pink and a lush red would work so well, but *shrug* who am I to argue?

This card was made using something called a "serigraph" technique (you can view a tutorial here). I chose not to use embossing in this piece, as you can see. Ran out of space, really. And I like it without.

Images © 1990-2010 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: Heartfelt Thanks
Ink: Apricot Appeal, Pixie Pink, Real Red
Cardstock: Pixie Pink, Apricot Appeal, Real Red, Whisper White
Other: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon

An oldie, but a goodie

I dragged out Heartfelt Thanks the other night, to challenge myself to use one of the few stamp sets I own that aren't retiring at the end of this month. When so many favourites are being gently put to one side (to make room for new stuff *g*) it's nice to revisit familiar favourites.

The first card was totally inspired by this one over at Splitcoast Stampers ... it had never occurred to me to create a beautiful background with the single flower stamp from this set.

I've used the Rock & Roll technique to give the petals of the flowers a darker pink hue.

I overstamped the main flower using my Going Gray marker (must buy the inkpad one day) rather than using black ink, as I didn't want the outline to detract from the soft colours used on the flowers.

Supplies used:

Stamp sets: Heartfelt Thanks
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Mellow Moss, Summer Sun
Cardstock: Basic Black, Rose Red, Whisper White
Other: Going Gray Stampin' Write Marker, Pretty in Pink 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Cutter Kit, Stampin' Sponges, Stamp-a-ma-jig

The other card turned out to be a lot bolder colour-wise than I'd thought ... but using Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy and More Mustard will do that *g*. The flower head and the word "thanks" are popped up on dimensionals.

I pinched another idea from the card referred to above, and used my Ruby Red marker to outline the letters in the word - it gives it a little more dimension without being too "in your face". Worked quite well, I thought.

Supplies used:

Stamp sets: Heartfelt Thanks
Ink: Ruby Red, Old Olive, More Mustard
Cardstock: Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard
Other: More Mustard and Basic Gray Stampin' Write Markers, Stampin' Dimensionals, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Heartfelt Thanks

This is a stamp set I don't use nearly as much as I should. It was one of the sets from my Starter Kit, and it really is nice, and quite versatile as well.

I used a chalking technique I discovered somewhere on the web (probably Splitcoaststampers *g*, everything is there!) where you ink the stamp with Versamark, then apply chalk directly to the stamp to colour the image. I could have stamped with Versamark then dusted the chalk over the top of the image, but in this case I wanted the edges of the image to be well defined, something that you just can't do the "usual" way.

The colours are pretty subtle - can you see that the petals are Cameo Coral near the centre and Ruby Red around the edges? And right in the middle is the little "dot" stamp (the flower centre) in Barely Banana.

The cardstock colours were a bit of an experiment as well ... I had the Very Vanilla cardstock out for something else and decided to use that instead of my usual Whisper White, then the remaining colours just seemed like a good idea. I like the "vintage" look of the Vanilla, Ruby Red and Close to Cocoa.

Images © 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used: Heartfelt Thanks stamp set, Very Vanilla, Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa and Certainly Celery cardstock, Versamark and Close to Cocoa ink, Stampin' Pastels, Certainly Celery Ribbon.