Fresh and Clean

Hello stampers and thank you for stopping by The Classic Card today, the first day of February!

I'm not sad to see January gone!  For me it's a month of "too's..."  too cold, too dark, too dreary, too gray... well, I guess you get the idea.  I'm just not a fan!    But in February, things start to look up... primroses appear at the stores, Valentine's Day (think chocolate and flowers) looms on the horizon and the days get longer. Daffodils show their sunny faces at Trader Joe's and I start thinking of what new plants I'll get for the garden. While it's not spring, in February you can sense the stirrings of spring.

The card I want to show you today is as fresh and clean as a breath of spring.  There's nothing overdone about it... just a simple card with clear colors and crisp images.  Here, take a look for yourself...

I've long been a fan of the shadow-stamped card and although these were really "hot" when I first started stamping, I haven't seen a lot of this technique in recent years.  Then I picked up a stamping magazine and there was an article on shadow stamping.  While not at all "new," shadow stamping seems to be enjoying a comeback, so I thought I'd give it a try with some of our new stamps.   Back in the day, Stampin'Up! had a set of stamps that were just smooth rubber in different shapes... square, rectangle, triangle, and circle.  Now that they don't carry shadow stamps anymore, there are a couple of easy ways to do shadow stamping.

If you own some clear acrylic blocks, just press the flat side against a stamp pad and stamp.  The acrylic block will give you a somewhat mottled block of color, which you can then overstamp with your chosen image.  To achieve the smooth look of a rubber stamp, I simply cut up some of the excess rubber that is left over after assembling stamps.  I used my Craft and Rubber Scissors (p. 180 of the Annual catalog) to take little "nips" of  rubber off the edge of each shape, giving an irregularity that is much more interesting.
The colors I used are Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, and Bashful Blue.  The flower images are from the new set Secret Garden (page 17 of the Spring catalog) and the sentiment is from the Bloomin' Marvelous set (free with a $50 purchase... check it out in the Sale-a-bration brochure).  I stamped the flower images and the sentiment in Early Espresso.  Some Early Espresso and Bashful Blue card stock help the white panel "pop" and the thin taffeta ribbon adds another touch of Early Espresso.

OK, my friends,  I must mosey along now.  I'm going downstairs to make a luscious ganache to pour over Leslie's birthday cake for tonight.  I wish you could join us!

Have a fab Friday and a wonderful weekend!
Susan