keep palm

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon! *I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links at no extra cost to you. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

Hi friends! The kids and I had our first afternoon at the pool this summer, and coupled with the sultry, humid temperatures we’ve recently developed, I am definitely in a summertime mood! When I was designing the new Keep Palm stamp set for the Always There release, (click HERE to see the entire collection) I wanted to create a floral border that would fill up most of a card front and had enough detail that you could spend lots of time coloring the images or do some simple stamping and ink blending to create vibrant tropical backgrounds. I used tropical inks from the super juicy Pawsitively Saturated Ink lineup with some crisp black embossed images to create this vibrant project. Let’s get started with the details on my card!

To begin, I stamped the floral frame image from Keep Palm onto some plain white cardstock using Simon Says Stamp’s Nocturne Black Pigment Ink. I added some clear embossing powder over the top of the sticky black ink and heated it up, creating the perfect canvas for the emboss/resist technique!

After I had completed the heat embossing, I selected some vibrant, almost neon, shades of ink from the Pawsitively Saturated Ink lineup, selecting Apple, Coral, Peachy, Lemonade, and Limelicious inks, then blending them in ROY G BIV order to create this vivid sunset background. I love how smoothly the colors blend into one another, creating a seamless transition from one to the next! Once I had finished blending, I used a sparkle pen to add some pretty shimmer to the flowers. It’s so hard to capture that shimmer in photographs, but in real life the sparkle is gorgeous!

After I had finished the main card front, I trimmed it down so that I could place it in the center of a full sized A2 card base created using So Very Black cardstock. This crisp black frame works nicely to emphasize the crisp black embossed lines of the stamped image. For the greeting, I selected a sentiment from the Keep Palm set, embossing it on more So Very Black cardstock using white pigment ink and white embossing powder for a crisp sentiment on the black backdrop. I die cut the sentiment with it’s coordinating die, then placed it in the center of my floral frame with some thin foam adhesive. Finally, I added a black twine bow and some Black Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for a few more black accents and sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! Every time I design a stamp set, I do my best to create images that are both fun to color and easy to use for those not inclined to color. You can do so many different techniques with a detailed floral image like this, and I think blending those tropical colors over the black embossed lines sets them off beautifully! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Hi friends! I am back with another project using goodies from the latest Simon Says Stamp release, called Always There. (Click HERE to see the entire collection!) I had the distinct privilege of designing two different sets from this release: Blooms of Encouragement (click HERE to see it) and the set that I used for today’s project, called Keep Palm (click HERE to see it). Keep Palm features gorgeous tropical flowers and foliage, both in individual stamp form as well as a large border stamp with the flowers arranged for you. I also included some sweet and some punny sentiment stamps, as well, which I used to create today’s project. When I visited Mexico with my husband a few years ago, I was enraptured by the vibrancy of the flowers and foliage, and so I tried to recreate those vivid red hibiscus flowers and verdant greenery on today’s project with black cardstock and colored pencils. Let’s get started on the details for my project!

To begin, I stamped the two individual hibiscus flowers and monstrera frond on an A2 panel of So Very Black cardstock using Simon Says Stamp’s white pigment ink. The white pigment ink blends beautifully into colored pencil coloring on colored cardstock! I also stamped an individual plumeria bloom and palm frond on a separate piece of black cardstock in order to create a lush bouquet with lots of dimension. Once I had stamped all of the elements, I used colored pencils to color the images; I am obsessed with how the colors pop so beautifully on the deep black cardstock!

After I had finished coloring all of the images on both pieces of black cardstock, I used the coordinating dies to die cut the individual images. I also heat embossed the “punny” greeting from Keep Palm on more black cardstock using white pigment ink and white embossing powder, then used the coordinating sentiment die to cut it out. I popped up each individual die cut with foam adhesive, placing the sentiment directly over the “seam” of the images on the card front, sneakily hiding the somewhat messy spot where they overlapped. I then tucked the individual elements behind the greeting using thin foam adhesive squares.

After I had added all of the colorful elements to the card, I added a simple smattering of Black Pawsitively Dazzling Gems. I wanted to keep the vibrant blooms the focal point on the card, so I kept the entire layout very simple, and I love the vivid pop of color on that stark black backdrop!

Well, that’s all for my project today. The new Always There release (Click HERE to see the entire collection!) is absolutely smashing, and many of Simon Says Stamp’s talented designers are hopping along today and tomorrow as part of a two-day blog hop in order to inspire you! You can check out Day 1’s hoppers HERE and be sure to come back for Day 2’s hop tomorrow. Tons of prizes and even more inspiration! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Tropical Sunset Blend with New Keep Palm from Simon Says Stamp!

Simon Says Stamp Always There Release: Keep Palm!