I have to admit, although I like the look of it – I’m really not good at that clean and minimalist look that is so fashionable in cardmaking. I suppose it’s all practice and what you get used to but I find I’m much more comfortable in doing vintage style.

All images copyright Stampin’ Up! 1990-2008 – Card by Angela Sargeant

I found as I was making this card I kept wanting to keep adding stuff and I kept holding myself back thinking “keep it simple, keep it simple”… in the end I compromised with myself and added the clear rhinestone brad at the bottom – I figure it’s clear so it doesn’t count. LOL.

Now, you see that embossed border? No it wasn’t done with a Nestabilities embossing die, but very simply just my Fiskars Paper Trimmer with the scoring blade inserted. I simply started with a piece of folded So Saffron cardstock which I opened up and, working from the inside, I used the scoring blade to score a rectangle about one centimetre in from the edges of the card – closing the card up, this gave me the embossed panel you can see. I have tried using a ruler and a bone folder to do the same thing but I like the look of the scoring using the scoring blade much better.

The sweet little snail in the middle is from Stampin’ Up!’s Garden Whimsey stamp set (which I got free from Stampin’ Up! I just LOVE this company!!!) and was stamped onto Whisper White cardstock using Wild Wasabi ink. The snail image was then punched out using the 1 3/8″ Circle Punch and glitter was applied simply by tracing the snail shell with a 2-Way Glue Pen and then pressing the image into a pot of Dazzling Diamonds glitter. Excess glitter was brushed off using a cheap blush brush from the supermarket – I love this brush and use it everytime I use ultra-fine glitter to dust off the excess glitter. The glittery snail was then adhered to a scallop shape punched out with the Circle Scallop punch by Stampin’ Up! (using Wild Wasabi cardstock). Underneath that is the Double-Stitched Wild Wasabi ribbon. The word ‘sparkle’ was stamped in black ink (Warm Words stamp set) and a clear Rhinestone Brad was added to the end of the word ‘sparkle’. That’s it… very very easy and minimalist card. I don’t know why this clean look makes me nervous but it does, LOL. The beauty of them is though that you can make lots of them quickly, you can also make a pretty set as a gift for someone by simply changing the colours on each card, the sentiment at the bottom and the image in the middle but keeping the rest of the card the same.

Here’s the list of products to make it easy to see what I’ve used.  If there’s anything that you’d like to purchase then give me a yell on angelasargeant@gmail.com
Garden Whimsey stamp set
Warm Words stamp set
So Saffron cardstock
Wild Wasabi cardstock
Wild Wasabi inkpad
Wild Wasabi double-stitched ribbon
Whisper White cardstock
1 3/8 Circle punch
Scallop punch
2-way Glue Pen
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
Pretties Kit (clear rhinestone brad)
Fiskars Paper Trimmer with Scoring Blade
SNAIL adhesive