Sponged Postage

A while back, in my pre-Stampin' Up! days, I used to do a lot of sponging onto gloss white cardstock, but somehow that technique seems to have been put aside in the past few years.

I was browsing Pinterest (yes, I know, it's the thing I do when I have a bunch of other stuff to do that I don't feel like doing) and came across a card which reminded me how much fun it is to take a piece of plain white cardstock and turn it into something colourful.

The colours used are Pool Party, Island Indigo and Perfect Plum (a sadly neglected colour in my stash - sometimes I need reminding to revisit old favourites), because I love the blue/green/purple combination, and because I was celebrating the fact that Pool Party and Island Indigo, two of my favourite In Colors, are going to stay around as part of the core colour family in the next catalogue :-)

The "postage stamps" were stamped onto gloss cardstock, sponged and then cut out - using the 1" Square Punch for the 2c and Travel Post stamps and by hand for the Paris one (because it has that little oval that goes outside the square just a little), and then glued onto pieces of gloss cardstock punched out with the Postage Stamp punch.

I need to go back to basics sometimes, to remember why I love this craft so much, and revisit some older techniques/colours/stamps to reinvigorate my "creative juices" (sounds so squishy!).

Images © 1990-2013 Stampin' Up!® Supplies used: Stamps:  Postage Due, Everything Eleanor
Cardstock:  Pool Party, Perfect Plum, Island Indigo, Glossy White
Ink: Black Stazon, Pool Party, Perfect Plum, Island Indigo
Accessories:  1" Square Punch, Postage Stamp Punch, Stampin' Sponges

Faux Postage

I haven't had nearly as much time as I would have liked over summer to play with the new punches from the Summer Mini, the 1" Square and the Postage Stamp.  So I was pretty happy with myself when I came up with this the other week:

The 1" punch makes the whole "faux postage" thing a breeze ... stamp an image (or even use patterned paper!), punch out the bits you like and there you have it!  Here I have stamped the gorgeous En Francais, punched out little squares, then overstamped with images from Creative Elements.  I sponged the edges of each square before putting them together with the postage stamp shapes.

And how about that border?  Recognise it?  It's the Lace Ribbon Border punch, well, half of it at any rate - doesn't it make a great edge?

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:
Stamps: En Francais, Creative Elements
 Ink: Basic Gray, Pool Party, Crumb Cake
Cardstock: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Other: Lace Ribbon Border punch, 1" Square Punch, Postage Stamp punch, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals