Simple stamping and lots of sparkle!

Simple stamping and lots of sparkle!

Gold_reindeer1

The great thing about stamps is how versatile they are – if you want to break out and do something different, you can!

Creating a bold stamped card doesn’t need to be complicated and in fact, sometimes simple is better.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve had some bad stamping experiences over the years and most of the issues came from using cheap acrylic stamps and the wrong kind of inks.

There are still times when I accidentally drop an inked stamp and it tumbles over my piece of card, or I get inky fingerprints on a design but that’s all part of the creative fun!

Issues from using the wrong materials can knock your confidence. However, Photopolymer stamps really are a game changer when it comes to clear stamps and Archival inks work fantastically well with them!

Using the right stamps and inks makes all the difference and even if you’re new to stamping, a striking card design like this is easy to do.

I designed this card because I wanted to show the beauty of the Christmas Wonderland stamp set without colouring it. I’ve used the snow layer stamps to heat emboss gold accents too. I absolutely LOVE this snowflake border! I remember the moment when I realised how difficult it was to draw snowflakes by hand as I was designing it, and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. To add to the vintage look of the snowflakes, I’ve stamped them first with black Archival ink and then again with an embossing stamp pad, this time deliberately not stamping directly over the top to create dimension when the gold embossing powder is added.

When it came to mounting the stamped design onto glitter card, I couldn’t bring myself to cut into the expensive glitter card and waste such a large piece. Yes, I’m a thrifty crafter at heart! Instead I applied double-side tape around the edges and covered them with lashings of gold glitter! I know I’ll find gold glitter around the house for weeks but it was totally worth it!

Gold_skating

So not to show favouritism, I’ve made almost exactly the same card but this time using the Winter Days stamp set. There are lots of snow layers and other stamps to customise your scene in this set too. When it came to stamping the border, I first stamped it with black ink but I rotated the border when it came to stamping with the embossing pad as I wanted the snowballs to be in different places. You’ll notice that the snowballs aren’t solid circles as I wanted them to have a vintage look as well.

Two gold:black cards

The last thing to mention and a top tip from me is check out the heat-embossed greetings on these cards! They’re awesome! To make them, I simply die-cut a black card circle using the circle topper die from the Magic Windows Slide & Reveal Die Set – Circle. Once the circle is cut, lightly rub an anti-static pad over the circle as this will help to make sure the embossing powder only sticks where you want it to! I then applied the embossing stamp pad to the greetings stamp, with the stamp facing upwards. Placing the black circle over the top of the stamp like this makes it much easier to position centrally. By applying an even pressure with your fingertips and then lifting the black circle carefully, you’ll find that the narrow border remains in tact. Once it’s heat embossed with gold embossing powder, it looks like a metal embellishment! I’m definitely trying this technique again with our greetings stamps.

I hope you like the cards and are enjoying using our products.

Please stop by again for more crafting inspiration!

Angela

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