Yippee! I finally found some time to play with new Stampin’ Up! goodies! I say new, but they’ve been sitting on my craft desk, taunting and tempting me, for about six weeks now. Hmmm, coincidentally since school ended for the summer and my hooligans began spending their days with me. Anyway, I finally just decided to take a few minutes when I could, and I managed to create 3 cards using the new Ombre Stamp Pads.
I was super excited to see these pads in the 2016-17 Annual Catalog. Years ago, the Kaleidoscope pads, which were multi-colored, were among my first purchases from Stampin’ Up!, and I loved them dearly. These Ombre Pads are just decreasing (or increasing, if you’re a glass half full person) shades of Rich Razzleberry, Calypso Coral, and Bermuda Bay. The stamp set I used, Summer Sorbet, is especially designed to work well with the pads, so Princess Thundercloud and I couldn’t wait to try them out together. Our first experience was less than optimal, so I had to do a little research online at Stampin’ Up!
It turns out (this is a cautionary tale, so learn from my pain) that you tap the pad, then slightly move the stamp several times to fully cover it. When we oh-so-carefully (we didn’t want to blur the ink together, thinking of the multicolored Kaleidoscope pads) tapped straight up and down, it left lines uncovered by ink on our stamps. Once we relaxed a little (because the little pads inside the Ombre Pads are all the same shade, just varying intensity, so blurring the lines doesn’t matter), the stamps and pads worked beautifully together. IMHO, of course!
With this card, I also used the new Copper Embossing Powder…love the look! The background is from the Serene Scenery paperstack, and the sentiment can be found in the Watercolor Words stamp set, which has become a favorite of mine.The tiny heart kind of shows the design on the other side of the woodgrain paper. The twine came from a dollar bin at some store where I spend way too much time.
This Hooray card uses the same two stamp sets, Summer Sorbet and Watercolor Words, along with a card base from June’s Paper Pumpkin and that same twine. The doily and washi tape are craft store finds that have also been lurking around my craft desk, wanting to be used.
This Happy Birthday card is just so summery! Too bad the temperature has been above 80 about 3 days here this summer. Along with Summer Sorbet and Watercolor Words, I used the Timeless Textures stamp set, which has fabulously versatile stamps to create fun backgrounds, like the watercolor wash and drink rings. The sequins were also surplus from June’s Paper Pumpkin. The base is just a Whisper White notecard, which is a very affordable, convenient thing to have on hand! I think a pack of 20 cards and envelopes is only $6.00.
So there you have it…the sum total of my card-creating for this entire summer! These really took less than fifteen minutes each (and that includes the thinking time to decide on layouts and such). I love the new Ombre Pads, now that I’m schooled on how to use them…check them out if you’re on my Stampin’ Up! site!
