Layers of Beauty – Song Sparrow Papercrafts

We’re tiptoeing through the craft garden this week as we focus on our stash of floral Stampin’ Up! goodies. Today, we’re combining the Layers of Beauty bundle with Beautiful Butterflies to create this beautiful all-occasion card. I stepped out of my comfort zone a little bit as I played around with applying a light ink wash to my stamped panel using blending brushes and I even threw ink a little ink resist for grins.

We start today’s design with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. Using the Beautiful Butterflies embossing folder, I machine embossed just the front panel of the card base. The focal panel is a white panel stamped with a combination of the Layers of Beauty stamps to create a patterned paper. I used the coordinating decorative masks to lightly fill in the center rose image with a combination of Fresh Freesia, Blackberry Bliss, and Shy Shamrock inks. I added some smaller butterflies in three corners with white embossing powder. And then I set about applying a light application of Blackberry Bliss and Pretty Peacock wash to the edges of the panel, leaving the center image mostly uncovered. The focal panel is adhered to the card base with dimensionals. A paper butterfly approaching the roses completes the garden scene. I added a twist of metallic ribbons to the top — a combination of Pretty Peacock, Blackberry Bliss, and Gold striped mesh ribbon (set to release in May). Two tone sparkle gems and rhinestones add some sparkle and draw the eye across the card design.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to go through with this card design because I didn’t feel very confident with the color wash panel. But sometimes you just have to keep going until you get all of the right elements in place to make it all come together.

Tomorrow we’re going to be hopping with the Luv 2 Stamp Group. I hope you’ll drop in and see what garden goodness awaits!

Product List

Blackberry Bliss 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133675]

$11.50

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Beautiful Butterflies Bundle (English)

[164615]

$59.25

Layers Of Beauty Bundle (English)

[163519]

$56.50

Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad

[101406]

$10.50

Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin' Pad

[155611]

$9.00

Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad

[147092]

$9.00

Shy Shamrock Classic Stampin Pad

[163808]

$9.00

Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad

[150083]

$9.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$9.50

Basics Wow! Embossing Powder

[165679]

$21.00

Small Blending Brushes

[160518]

$14.00

Paper Butterfly Accents

[162612]

$8.00

Two Tone Sparkle Gems

[164633]

$9.50

Rhinestone Basic Jewels

[144220]

$6.00

Pretty Peacock & Gold 3/8" (1 Cm) Metallic Ribbon

[162588]

$8.50

Blackberry Bliss & Gold 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Textured Ribbon

[164039]

$10.00

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Welcome to a bright & shiny new week, everybody! I don’t know about you, but my weekend was BUSY! I spent a lot of time catching up on the homefront after being gone for training in the middle of the week. And my best laid plans for having time in the craft room totally went awry.

This week, I’ve decided to pick back up with last week’s design theme — nature. We’ll be looking at all of the current sets on the shelf this week to work in our theme. And today we’re getting started with the lovely floral bundle called Layers of Beauty, which includes stamps, dies, and coordinating decorative masks. I’ve borrowed the layout from fellow demo Stamping Beauty (@stampingbeautynz).

We get started with a base of Melon Mambo cardstock. The focal panel background is a sheet of the pinkish Beautiful Bokeh pattern and matted in Berry Burst glimmer paper. The focal panel itself is a sheet of the Lovely Garden paper that is cut with the Textured Notes dies and affixed slightly askew. I stamped the full Layers of Beauty image in Early Espresso ink and then colored using the masks and an assortment of pinks and greens. The image is cut out using the coordinating die and then affixed to the focal panel with dimensionals over a twist of Summer Splash ribbon and silver trim. I cut a few sprigs of leaves from Summer Splash cardstock with the Layers of Beauty dies and then tucked them behind the raised focal image. The sentiment is cut from silver foil and Berry Burst cardstock using the Wanted to Say dies and then mounted with dimensionals over the focal image. A few iridescent faceted gems finish things off with some subtle sparkle.

I must say that I wasn’t a huge fan of the decorative masks when they first came out, but they’ve really grown on me. Using them to color images makes quick work of beautiful shading — something that I’m not always the best at! Have you tried a bundle that includes masks? What are your thoughts on them? I’d love to know!

I hope you’ll pop in tomorrow as we revisit an older stamp set for a more masculine design that’s most certainly all about nature!

Product List