Sweet Ice Cream – Wednesday – Let It Snow Stamping

Happy Hump Day!!

Truly I have always hated that phrase, LOL. Even when the camel commercials came out I couldn’t stand it. In any case, today is Wednesday and I have been quite busy! I have gone to pick up groceries at Sam’s Club with my oldest, taken my 18 year old to work, made 2 cards, taken all 3 dogs to the groomers to make them smell nice again, ran some other errands, and none of this is in the correct order because my brain is disorganized today! Tomorrow should be quieter….I hope!

Wednesday’s project

Sweet Ice Cream is a two step stamping set. What is two step stamping? Two step stamping is when a stamp set has two stamp images that are meant to overlap each other. Look closely at the pop-sickles on this card. Notice the top color is different from the bottom color to give it a shaded effect. For the back image I used Flirty Flamingo (bottom) and Petal Pink (top). For the front image I only used Balmy Blue. For the top part, I simply stamped the image on a scrap piece of paper a couple of times to lighten it up, then stamped it onto the the bottom image. This technique is called “Stamping Off”. These pop-sickles have been “fussy cut” (cut out by hand).

Just in case you cannot picture it in your head, below is a better example. The image to the far left is one stamp. The second image is another stamp. The third image is the two images stamped one on top of the other. It’s like water-coloring without the hard work! Hmmmm, I think I like this color combo and may have to try it for the next card! I used Highland Heather for the bottom and Balmy Blue for the top. No stamping off needed.

For the cute polka dot background I used one of the “unusual” tools in my tool caddy. When I was working, my company handed out these pens with the screen stylus on one end for us to use with our iPads and the log book. Since I only use it as a pen, I decided the stylus looked like a cool polka dot maker! I simply pressed the stylus end on the ink pad, like I would a stamp, and pressed it to the paper in the same manner. Wa-La! Cute Polka Dots! By the way, if anyone is looking to donate handmade cards to a cool assisted living community, contact me! My former residents love cards. They are young, 22-64+ years old, and several have families of their own that need birthday cards for children and grandchildren.

To accent the sentiment, I highlighted the edges using a blending brush and So Saffron ink, used Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop it up, and I added a bit of my favorite Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon. I also added a few of the Woven Tread Sequins around it.

At first I didn’t really like this card, but it has grown on me. If it hadn’t, I had planned a second card to showcase and highlight. Sometimes you have to make the ugly cards to get the pretty ones to come out! If you ever find yourself in a creative slump, check out THIS POST from October 2020 for tips on how to get out of it. I kept looking at it and realized that one pop-sickle didn’t work as well as two, and there was a blank spot on my polka dot background, so I added one more. Wa-La I now love it! Funny how easy the fix was.