Beauty and Joy Fall Cards

Hi Stampers! I know it's been a while since I've posted on my blog. I'm sorry. I've been crazy busy and something had to give. I'm planning to have more posts at least through October and hopefully beyond. My upline, Frances Wagner, has started a Stamper of the Month program and I was selected to be a Stamper of the Month for the inaugural month of October. She gave us a stamp set and each week we are to post a project using the set on our team Facebook page. I've decided to post the same projects here on my blog so you all can enjoy them, too. Here's my first Stamper of the Month post. I was given the Beauty and Joy set to work with. Thank you Frances! For my first post, I wanted to make a #simplestamping card using only stamps, cardstock, and ink.

As you can see, I made 2 similar cards. The first card uses the leaf stamp as it is. However, I was curious what the tree would look like filled in with more leaves, so for the 2nd card after stamping the leaves, I inked it up and stamped again. I also inked and stamped a couple individual leaves because it still wasn't as full as I wanted. I applied Fall colors to the leaf stamp using sponge daubers to get a variegated look. Leaf colors: Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, and Cherry Cobbler. Stem color: Soft Suede. Basket Color: Cajun Craze. Cardstock colors: Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, and Whisper White. I made the background on the Cajun Craze cardstock by stamping the basket over and over. Since the leaves on the first card are more open, for the background I used Versamark ink which gives a lighter image, sometimes referred to as a watermark look. For the 2nd card I used Cajun Craze and as you can see, it turned out a little darker. I hope this post has sparked some interest in this set. Come back next week to see another project using Beauty and Joy. Also, for those of you who are unfamiliar with #simplestamping, this is a way to indicate cards that use basic supplies and are easily copied. Generally they use only stamps, ink, and paper, though sometimes there will be another element, such as ribbon or an embellishment. Stampin' Up! has been issuing monthly challenges for demonstrators and sometimes they suggest an added element. If you post your creations online, feel free to use this hashtag if your card uses only the basics. You can also search online with this hashtag to find cards that fit the criteria.