I love making cards. And I especially love showing my cards to people who haven’t seen rubber stamping before. There’s always that pause then “did you really make that?” or “so is that printed?”. Sometimes people think that cards that are hand-crafted look a bit “home made’ (apparently there’s a difference) that is, that they’re not going to look as good as a Hallmark or store bought card. For me one of the most exciting things about rubber stamping is that not only you can make so many different things such as cards, scrapbooking layouts, boxes, gifts, etc., but that you can make the stamped items look so different each time depending on colours, techniques and other products used.  And yes, I do believe they can look professional.  So, just a little discussion topic there – please feel free to add your 2 cents worth in the comments section.
Here’s a card I made recently which can be used as a birthday card, anniversary card or even just an ‘I Love You’ card.

To make this card I stamped the swirl stamp from the Stampin’ Up! Scribble This stamp set (aka Doodle This) and stamped it randomly with white ink on a piece of folded Chocolate Chip cardstock. Then I cut some Mellow Moss cardstock into two strips – for the strip on the left I stamped the “Daily Notes” stamp four times in Mellow Moss across it and then edged it by dragging the Creamy Caramel inkpad around the sides to give it some definition. The thin strip on the right has been given some texture by piercing holes all the way down – to do this evenly I used the paper piercer from the Stampin’ Up! Toolkit along with the template that comes with the toolkit. Again, the strip has been edged with Creamy Caramel. These two strips of card were adhered to the stamped Chocolate Chip card using SNAIL adhesive.

The flower on the card is also stamped – this is the flower from the Office Accoutrement stamp set and was stamped with Cameo Coral ink onto Confetti White cardstock. The edges of the flower were then traced with some Crystal Effects which gives that raised shiny look. The inside of the flower is the same flower stamped again onto cardstock using Cameo Coral ink, then stamped over the top with Versamark (a clear inkpad) – I then poured Heat & Stick powder over the Versamarked flower, heated it up with the heat gun and poured Dazzling Diamonds Glitter over it while the Heat & Stick was still hot. One more blast with the heat gun sets the glitter nicely. The flower was then adhered to the first flower and then a clear button layered over the top. I used a Glue Dot to adhere the clear button which has stuck it down both securely and invisibly.

The memo section is the Memo stamp also from the Office Accoutrement stamp set only I trimmed it down so it’s a small (almost) square. This was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink onto Confetti White cardstock and then the edges were sponged with Creamy Caramel ink and a sponge dauber (my favourite tool for sponging). ‘Important Message’ was stamped in the middle with Ruby Red ink and then layered onto some Ruby Red cardstock then the whole thing mounted with some Stampin’ Dimensionals onto the card so that it stands up a bit. The brackets on the memo are actually punched out using the Round Tab Punch and then adhered to the card. Finally to finish the card I added a piece of Antique Brass Hodgepodge on which I tied two pieces of gingham ribbon.

Okay, my camera just ran out of batteries so I can’t upload photos of how I did the brackets, but I’ll recharge and take a photo tomorrow and post again.
In the meantime, here’s the comprehensive list of products used.

All images copyright Stampin’ Up! 1990-2007

Card designed by Angela Sargeant and all products available for purchase by e-mailing angelasargeant@gmail.com

Office Accoutrement Stamp Set
Scribble This Stamp Set
Chocolate Chip cardstock
Chocolate Chip inkpad
Mellow Moss cardstock
Mellow Moss inkpad
Confetti White cardstock
Ruby Red cardstock
Ruby Red inkpad
Whisper White Craft inkpad
Creamy Caramel inkpad
Cameo Coral inkpad
Versamark inkpad
Heat & Stick Powder
Heat Gun
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
Clear Button
Glue Dots
SNAIL Adhesive
Crystal Effects
Tool Kit (paper piercer and template)
Antique Brass Hodgepodge
Green Gingham Ribbon
Caramel Gingham Ribbon
Sponge Dauber
Round Tab Punch
Of course if you have any questions on this card or any other questions on cardmaking, scrapbooking, or other papercrafts such as collage and altered arts then please feel free to e-mail me on angelasargeant@gmail.com