Stamping Out of My Comfort Zone & a Secret

Anyone who knows me knows that this dog doesn’t like to get dirty – except for rolling around in the dry dirt and grass to scratch my back.

I do NOT like to get wet! I won’t even go in a pool that doesn’t have any water in it!

So last night, Ann and I made a card that was totally out of my comfort zone. And we’ll tell you how we did it in a minute.

It all happened while we were watching Brother to Brother where the Property Brothers on HGTV have a contest where they each renovate a home – this time in Galveston, Texas. Whomever makes the most money at the end, wins, but each week they have little side challenges.

It’s quite interesting. And this is the card we made.

Since Galveston is on the water, we have some water/beachy colors, but there’s no beachy type of stuff on the card – and that’s okay.

The first attempt totally bombed, but I like this one. That original one wasn’t anything like this.

You know, we used a bold greeting stamp and Watercolor Paper on our project that we featured yesterday.

I’ll tell you how we made this one and then I’ll share the secret.

Quick Card Tutorial

We got out the Watercolor Paper and cut it down to 5″ x 3-3/4″.
Then we sponged Pear Pizzazz from the outside towards the center from either end of the Watercolor Paper.
Then we sponged Pool Party in the middle, blending it with the Pear Pizzazz.
We got out a little bottle of alcohol (70%) and spritzed a little onto the cardstock. We let it air dry for a while. We even put a big block on to help keep it flat. Later, we used the Heat Tool on low speed to speed up the drying process.
Out comes the ink and stamps!
1. Basic Gray Archival Ink Pad
2. Pear Pizzazz Classic Ink Pad
3. Daisy Delight stamp set
4. You’re Delightful Hostess set
We stamped the 3 daisies in Basic Gray and then came back and stamped the centers in Pear Pizzazz.
Just like yesterday, that greeting didn’t stamp as strongly as we would have liked so I had Ann take out a Basic Gray Marker and color it in. There are a few reasons that could make a stamp make a bad impression:
1. Not enough ink on the pad/stamp
2. New stamp – especially with solid ones
3. Watercolor paper is a bit bumpy and sometimes can resist a bold stamp.
4. Not holding the stamp down long enough.
  1. This normally doesn’t mean anything, but when the stamp is bold and you’re stamping on a bumpy paper, a little extra connection time doesn’t hurt.
So we got out a Basic Gray marker and went over the letters. (Yesterday, we went over yesterday’s words in Basic Black.
There’s a stamp in the Daisy Delight set that’s supposed to be the flowers for a stem, but I told Ann they looked like little bugs. She inked them up in Pear Pizzazz and stamped on a scratch piece of paper before stamping onto the Watercolor Paper.
1. She actually did this after the whole card was put together, but I suggest you do it before.
Mount the stamped Watercolor Paper onto a 5-3/16″ x 43-15/16″ piece of Basic Gray using Tear & Tape or Fast Fuse because they’re stronger. Then mount this onto a 5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″ folded card base of Pool Party.

So there! My secret’s out! Stampin’ Up! Markers have two ends which were very helpful correcting this project. One end is a brush. The other is a fine point.

I thought about adding some extra daisy petals, but they’ve run out of the Daisy Punch. I believe that you can still order it, but you’ll have to wait a little bit until supplies are replenished. Then you’ll be one of the first ones to get it!

I do love this card and hope you do too. Remember that you can get an extra $35 in free hostess benefits when you have a party or make an order that is $350 ore more. That’s a minimum of $77 free!

Card Making Supplies

Remember to use our current shopping code EYNMNJNV when you’re visiting our online store so that we can include a surprise sampling of one of the current Stampin’ Up! accessories in the reusable card that we send all our online shoppers. Don’t use the code if your order is $150+ so you can enjoy Stampin’ Rewards. (and at $350, get that extra $35 of free stuff!) We’ll still send you the gift and reusable card.