Today I want to walk you through how to find color inspiration for card making. Matching colors doesn’t come naturally to many, so I have a super easy way to take all the guess work out of it for you!

How to find inspiration for card making

I created a Board on Pinterest for Color Inspiration. I normally go there when I need some fresh color ideas. Once I have my layout and stamp sets ready to go, I scroll through the color inspiration pictures until I find one that I like. Then I pull out the ink pads to match the colors in the picture. You can swap a color out for one that you think is more inspiring as I did for this card. I swapped out the pink for yellow. That gave me a great color palette for this Stampin’ Up! Birthday Card. Using stamps in non-traditional ways to get more from your stamp sets is fun and easy. Using one stamp set multiple ways really helps you get more from your stamps!! Today, instead of making an autumn card I will show you how to create an Elegant Stampin Up Birthday Card.

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How to find inspiration for card making
Beautiful Autumn Stampin Up Birthday Card
Instructions

Cutting your paper:

• Cut a side folding A2 size card from Thick Whisper White Cardstock.
• You will need 2 pieces of Whisper White Cardstock (5-3/8 X 4-1/8) one piece is for the card front and another for the card insert. And an extra piece to die cut a circle and sentiment from.
• a 2-3″ inch by 4-5″ inch piece of Gold Foil Cardstock.

Stamping & Heat Embossing:

• Start by tracing the 3″ inch circle die from the Stitched Shapes Dies in the center of your card front with a pencil.
• Select the images from the Beautiful Autumn Stamp Set you want to stamp around the circle you just drew. I chose to blend 2 different colors of ink on each stamp to create an ombre or 2-tone effect. It really makes your images pop. Ink your stamp with the lightest color, then using a Sponge Dauber to apply a darker ink on the bottom half of the image. Then stamp it onto your paper. You can see how I did this in the video above. If you click here you will also see many cards I have tagged with “Blending On Stamps“
• Stamp the blended image half inside and half outside the circle you drew with the pencil
• Repeat the stamping process for all the images you want on the card front. I chose the leaves and the pinecone.
• Stamp one of the images (another leaf works well here) on a separate piece of Whisper White Cardstock enough times (I did 9) to fill in some of the blank spots of the wreath. Then use the punch included in the Beautiful Autumn Bundle to punch out the blended leaves.
• Using the (Retired) Stone Embossing Folder, emboss the Gold Foil Cardstock. Then using another leaf die from the Autumn Punch Pack cut out about 7 leaves. 4 will be placed on the card front and 3 in the bottom corner of your card insert.
• With Versamark & Gold Stampin’ Emboss heat emboss the stamp that creates the overlay for the pinecones. I snipped a tiny leaf (from the Beautiful Autumn Stamp Set) from the leaves cluster with my snips and used this to randomly emboss one small leaf around the wreath. Lastly, heat emboss your sentiment on Whisper White Cardstock

Embossing with Dies

• Die-cut out the 3″ Circle from the Stitched Shapes Dies from Whisper White Cardstock. Then using the 2-3/4″ die from the same set, center it in the middle of the circle.
• Use this sandwich (Base Plate, #3 Plate, Silicone Mat, Cardstock, Die, #4 Plate) and run this through your Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine (or any other machine) to emboss the smaller circle into the center of the larger circle. See all the plate combinations for the new Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine here. Disclaimer: These combinations work with the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine. I do not know what exact combination you will need with other machines.
• Once you have embossed a ‘ring’ inside your circle use a #0 Paint Brush and a Gold Splatter Mixture to paint the circle. I’ve included a link to my recipes HERE. You can substitute the Shinhanart Gold Powder with Perfect Pearls Gold Powder.
• Using the Ornate Frames Dies cut out your sentiment.

More Stamping

• Using some of the same elements from the Beautiful Autumn Stamp Set stamp and adhere some of your leftover punched leaves on the lower right side of the circle. Place them where the sentiment will go, but be sure to eyeball so they are not hidden by the sentiment strip.

Assembly & Final Touches

• Adhere the card front to the card base and the card insert to the inside of your card
• Use Stampin’ Dimensionals behind the circle and the right side of the sentiment. Do not place dimensional on the part of the sentiment that overlaps the circle. Use glue there. Be sure to trim the right side of your sentiment to match the card front before you glue it down.

All supplies I link to can now be found here:

Disclaimer:
Non-Stampin’ Up! links included in this description may be affiliate links. I try to post universal links when possible. However, at times I can only find some items in Canada. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I might receive a small commission. There is no additional charge for you! Thank you for supporting My Inkie Fingers so I can continue to provide you with new blog posts & videos.

Until I see you again,

Take Care & Happy Stamping! <3

Until I see you again,

Take Care & Happy Stamping! <3

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