Hi again! I'm on the blog today talking about how you can use the exact same layout to get five different looks. These cards feature products by The Stamp Market, although you could use other stamps you already have to get a similar look. If you aren't a fan of stitching, you can change that up for a die cut or stamped or embossed sentiment as well!
I wanted to challenge myself to make a monochromatic card using the same layout five different ways. I enjoy stitching on cards, so to keep this detail the focal point, I wanted the layout and backgrounds simple. Stitching adds great texture and interest to a simple design, however, if this isn't your thing, a diecut sentiment or embossed sentiment will also work.
I picked a grey and red color pallet, and chose the Cherry Kisses cardstock and coordinating DMC thread (Pearl Cotton size 5, #891). The Stamp Market has a blog post listing the DMC thread colors that coordinate with their original Color Crush group of colors (link to blog post here). I used the floral image from the Some Kind of Wonderful stamp set, also by the Stamp Market, and stamped it in Gina K amalgam black ink on five A2 sized Neenah solar white card panels. A Misti is handy for this to get them all in the same spot, as well as lets you easily double stamp to get a crisp black image. For one card, I cut a 1-3/4" x 5-1/2" stripe of red cardstock, put some adhesive on the back and set it on top of one of the panels. I then put the panel back in my Misti and stamped the flower in black on top of the red stripe for a continuous image. Once I was finished stamping, I die cut the Dotted Hello die from each panel in roughly the same spot.
To keep things simple I added interest by doing the following on each card:
1. No coloring - instead I added pops of additional color using coordinating enamel dots (also from The Stamp Market)
2. Add grey ink splatters and simple watercolored highlights along the already drawn shadows in the floral image
3. Add a stripe of red cardstock and stamp the image on top to keep it continuous
4. Copic color the flower and leaves in grey (I used C1, C3, and C5 copic markers). I only used two colors per area - so C1 and C3 on the flower and C3 and C5 on the leaves to give some variation.
5. Copic color the flower petals in grey and the leaves and flower center in red tones. I used the same grey tones as previous (C1 and C3) on the flower, C5 and R24 on the flower center, and used R22, R24, and small pops of R27 on the leaves.
For almost all of the cards (except for the one with a large red cardstock stripe), I trimmed 1/8" off the bottom of my card panel and tucked a small piece of Cherry Kisses cardstock beneath. I felt that this tied the red to the design better.
Once all of the panels were colored, I stitched the sentiments. I used a simple backstitch on all of the cards, except for the card with the red copic flower leaves as I felt it wasn't bold enough against the background color. For this one, I used a chain stitch. Jennifer McGuire has an excellent blog post and video tutorial for stitching if you want more information ( link here).
I mounted each panel to an A2 card base made from Neenah solar white 110lb cardstock with foam tape. I feel the foam tape is necessary to keep the card front flat as the stitching does add some bulk. And that finishes the card set! You could add sub sentiments as well, but I like to keep a bunch of hello cards without so I can turn them into a card for any occasion later. I hope you enjoyed this post and give it a try. Happy crafting!
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