This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!
Hi friends! I feel like I have been a little quiet lately, as I’m prepping for all of the upcoming STAMPtember fun at Simon Says Stamp as well as packing/preparing to move into my new studio space! (EEK!) My husband has been working so hard to give me a beautiful new space, and I can’t wait to share it with you. In the meantime, I have a few projects to share with you. Today’s project features a gorgeous background stamp from Simon Says Stamp that I’ve had for quite awhile and for some reason have never used: Cosmos Background. I fell in love with the beautiful details in the background, which could easily be used on it’s own to create a gorgeous pattern, but I wanted to do some coloring! (Shocker, right?) Let’s get started with the details!
I began by stamping the Cosmos Background on Hammermill cardstock using Intens-ified Black ink. I then used OLO markers to color the cosmos flowers in brilliant shades of blue. We do not have enough blue flowers, in my opinion, especially this vivid, almost fluorescent shade of blue! To create maximum contrast between the bright blue flowers, I used a black OLO marker to fill in the background of the stamped image. I particularly like to use OLO markers for super color saturated areas like this; they’re very juicy and provide great, even coverage.
After I had finished coloring the blue flowers, I used some shimmering handmade watercolors to add some extra special sparkling highlights to the flowers. I also added some of the shimmering silver watercolors to the center of the flowers. The shine is nigh impossible to catch in a photograph, but it adds such a special detail to the card!! I trimmed down the final product to a thick strip for the center of my card front, placed it on my black card front with double sided adhesive, then added a couple of coordinating blue foil strips. The blue foil helps to add a bit of textural interest as well as create a visual barrier between the colorful patterned section and the crisp black background!
For the greeting, I heat embossed a sentiment from Spring in my Step onto some heavyweight vellum using sparkling embossing powder, then die cut it with the coordinating die. I also heat embossed a greeting strip from the same stamp set onto a strip of black cardstock using silver embossing powder. I popped both of the sentiment pieces up on the colorful floral background, then searched my stash for some coordinating gems. The black base with shimmering blue coating over the top of the Midnight Blue crystals from Studio Katia worked exceptionally well with this moody blue card!
Well, that’s all for my project today! Do you have any stamps that you just had to have but haven’t used yet? I encourage you to take a look at your stash and see which sets need a little love! It’s so satisfying to finally put your crafty purchases to use! Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!
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