Stamping outside my comfort zone! Sneak Peek!

When I first started using Stampin Up products, long before I was a demonstrator, there were certain colors that I thought that I disliked. Now, years later, my thoughts are that there are some that I just don't seem comfortable using. I love them all, I just get creative blocks when I put a few of them in front of myself. So, to inspire those of you who feel the same way, and in attempt to shatter these creative blocks, I worked with a color last night that I have never worked with before. I am pleased to say that it worked, and I plan to work with this color again, and again, etc. This color is Stampin Up's Taken with Teal. I started by laying out a piece of Taken with Teal, Going Gray, and Basic Gray. Then, I threw in a piece of Whisper White, and set out a stamp set from the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog that starts April 1st! Then.....................I just stared at them for what seemed like forever. Then, got frustrated and asked my 9 year old daughter if the colors looked good together. She is my biggest supporter and simply said "Sure mom". Boy did that help! haha. Anyways, here is the card that I finally came up with:


This is one of the new stamp sets that will be in the next Mini Catalog starting April 1st. It is called "Great Friend" I love that Butterfly! Here is a photo of all of the stamps in the set:

























There is also a gorgeous set of Designer paper and rub-ons that coordinate with this set!






First thing I must apologize for the photo quality. I am in a bit of a hurry today, so please forgive me. The card looks so much better in person. Anyhoo, the butterflies were stamped on Vellum card stock with craft ink, then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I then cut them out and bent them a bit to give them some dimension. Then I set them aside for a bit. Next I stamped the background of the card base with some tone-on-tone going gray classic ink. Then, I stamped the fancy label with versamark and classic Basic Gray ink, and heat embossed with clear EP. I did the same with the sentiment except that ink is Taken with Teal. I cut this out as well. Then, I decided to do something with the negative piece left over after cutting out the big scallop circle die-cut. I held it down with one hand and sponged some ink inside of it with the other hand onto some Whisper White card stock. I love the sponge effect, so I will keep this negative scallop circle and use it over and over. This technique also works really well with the Top Note die-cut as well. Next, I punched a scallop double border for the base of my card. Then, mounted my sponged 1/2 scallop onto some Taken with Teal card stock and used my scallop border on that as well. I mounted that piece onto the base, mounted the sentiment with foam dimensionals, mounted the butterflies with Crystal Effects, and last; I added some sticky silver fake pearls to each of the scallops. Oh, the Teal gem at the top of the sentiment box, is a gem that I took out of one of Stampin Up's Gemstone Brads. I mounted it with a dab of Crystal Effects. Here is a close up of the vellum butterflies:




I hope you enjoyed it!

Blessings,

Lisa