PTI Make It Monday #221

This week's Make It Monday challenge involved masking the sentiment. Masking is one of the few occasions in which I don't mind "fussy cutting." With my limited crafting time, I have to make the most efficient use of my time, so dies are such a quick alternative. (Apparently, dies that coordinate are a relatively new trend in the papercrafting world, but I can't remember a world where we didn't have dies to match practically every stamp set, and I love it!!) Sometimes, if I'm going for a cleaner look than the die gives (sometimes you just don't want that white edge around your die cut) I will fussy cut, and if I want to create a layered look I will fussy cut to create a mask. This technique was the focus of the Make It Monday for this week.

I have found that, with my floral obsession, I have so many flower stamps from which to choose that I sometimes get in a rut with my favorites. I've also been known to forget about stamps that were purchased 6+ months ago (whoops!). So, for this week's card, I dug out PTI's Brushed Blooms and Big Hugs stamp sets, both of which were just released this year, but haven't seen as much love from me as I would like. (That's what happens when you have a sweet hubby who doesn't mind his wife buying a bunch of stamps!)

I created the mask for the sentiment (love that font used for the "hugs") by stamping my greeting on a piece of post-it paper, just like Ashley does in the video. One thing that I did find out was that post-it paper is veeeerrryy thin, so if you are using a Misti and double stamping to get that screen-printed look, you might have some issues with the color bleeding through onto your sentiment. Luckily, this first card that I made didn't have too terribly much bleeding, but a subsequent card that I made did have some serious issues with it. I probably could try only doing one impression, but the ink colors get so much more vibrant and rich when you stamp them twice that I can't bring myself to only stamp anything once anymore!!

I stamped my greeting in True Black on the cardstock, then placed my mask over top with some removable adhesive. I stamped the beautiful Brushed Blooms florals in Summer Sunrise and Orange Zest for the main florals, Limeade Ice and Simply Chartreuse for the leaves, and Raspberry Fizz for the tiny accent flowers. I colored the centers of the flowers with a gold Wink of Stella to add a little shimmer, then placed some gold foil tape about 1/4" from the bottom of the pink panel to tie the gold back in. Some sequins from The Ton and Pretty Pink Posh added some dimension, and the whole thing was adhered onto a white card base.

And there it is: a completely flat, easily mailed card! So nice when I don't have to actually run in the post office to ask them to hand-sort my mail. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for visiting, friends!