Playing With Color Will Make All the Difference

Barbara came to me wanting to create her own stationery. She wanted the recipients to know right away they were getting a message of love from her before they looked for a return address or a signature. Just like sheets of paper with your monogram, your cards can say right away that it is from you, and that’s exactly what she wanted. One stamp set, one color of cardstock, and a layout that she would make over and over again to keep in touch with family and friends.

Once Barbara and I started working together I realized that she sparked something in me. That spark got lost in the hustle of making sure my stamping classes featured new products at the same time as I was teaching techniques. The influence of being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator soon took over the simple art of rubber stamping. With the retirement of all things Stampin’ Up!, and my celebrating a 40 Year Anniversary of making cards, I gave myself permission to go back to using just a couple dozen products and changing color combinations. Remember the stamp set that I chose to create Autumn cards from? Take a LOOK. It was meant for Christmas but I changed the color combination and made Autumn-occasion cards.

Last week, I decided to make a boat load of cards to have ready in my refurbished break-front desk. Did you see the work that Furniture Care of Texas did on my inherited piece from Grandma Celia? It’s such a beautiful piece that I had to fill all those cubby holes with cards for all occasions. I posted photos of the before and after on my Instagram account.

While all the images on these cards come from the same, single stamp set, I played with stamping the main flower with a range of yellow, pink, and orange. Using a color wheel, I learned I most appreciated the shade that sit to the left and right of the main color. What I came up with are these six color combinations.

Crushed Curry was the first card I made. The leaves are stamped in Old Olive with splatters in Wild Wheat. I used an old wood mount stamp from French Foliage for the splatters. Every stamp was in that texture called “distINKtive” that Stampin’ Up! created many years ago. I absolutely love working with this kind of carving in red rubber. After 40 years of Rubber Stamp Art, I know what energizes me, and I don’t need layers of papers. Just SIP (stamps, ink, paper).

Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lime Twist, and Gray Granite for the splatters. I left a sentiment off in order to explore four images all on a Note Card (or, in your case) a smaller stamped panel for the cards you make in the A2 size). I have the long-retired Washi Tape Punch that Stampin’ Up! foolishly chose to retire, and am making rubber stamped sentiments to fit. Once again, I am working with Joscie.com to make my own stamp sets. That way I can stamp and punch a sentiment when needed to add, and popped up on Mini Dimensionals. As an alternative, I found something else for sentiments, too. Have you seen the wimple strips and mini strips offered by Taylored Expressions? They’re fabulous!

Pretty in Pink is a wonderful true pink (whereas Blushing Bride comes off a bit blue to me). I paired it with Petal Pink and Poppy Parade, then reached across the color wheel and grabbed Coastal Cabana. Working with Color Theory is really fun this time! Again, waiting to add a sentiment when I need it.

Orange is my favorite shade so I tried out the new Peach Pie. Thinking I could use nothing but “pie” colors, I used Pecan Pie for the splatters, and then stayed moody with Mossy Meadow for the leaves. STAMPING HINT: by lining your acrylic block up with the grids on the Taylored Expressions glass mat, and then lining up the sentiment the same way, you can stamp sentiments free-hand with very good results. I think I stamped this one in Wild Wheat just because the stamp was already inked up in that color.

I had some fun with this, keeping it all really bright and then used the new Basic Beige for the splatters. The main floral is Daffodil Delight, then Pumpkin Pie for the small clump of flowers. Retired Parakeet Party for the leaves. I love it!

My most favorite ink pad seems to running out of ink, after three or four years: Mango Melody. DistINKtive stamps stamp much better with an ink pad that isn’t freshly inked or flooded, but I may have to re-ink it, finally. Granny Apple Green for the leaves, and Blushing Bride for the cluster of flowers. The splatters on this one were stamped in Crumb Cake.

Call me crazy but I am just thrilled with these cards and will make 20 of each color combination. As for sentiments, I’m headed over to Taylored Expressions for some of their Mini Strips. If you haven’t seen them, take a look HERE and see how to stamp 10 sentiments at once and die cut all at once, too. There are birthday and sympathy themes, and one that I particularly like, SNARKY. Taylored Expressions is so fun they have an entire line of products that you can search for called Snarky! ha ha ha!

Tell me what your favorite stamp set is. Are you making your own stationery, making cards? Let’s build our own Card Ministry at home and on your own time. Take a look at Kitchen Table Ministry, and let’s get stamping!