by Elina Stromberg

It will soon be the season for beautiful summer weddings! I found a beautiful lovebirds stamp in my stash and used it for a set of simple and easy-to-make wedding cards. My paper crafting hobby was kick-started by my own wedding 15 years ago. I made birthday cards in the past, but other than that I had very little experience with the tools and the basic techniques of paper crafting. Therefore, creating all wedding invitations, menu cards, place cards, wedding candies and other decorations for our special day was quite an effort, and had I known more paper crafting basics, the task would have been much simpler! In this quick tutorial, I show how the same stamp can be used in different uses and colors so you can see how the same stamp might be used to create many different looks.

Skill: Beginner
Time: 15 minutes per card

Directions

Step 1

For this card set, I first stamped the lovebirds image a few times on semi-glossy office paper. I wanted to color the images using Promarker alcohol markers, so I chose a water-based black Memento ink for stamping. If I had used watercolors, I would have stamped the images with VersaFine oil-based pigment ink. Remembering that basic rule of thumb (alcohol markers work with water-based inks (some, not all); watercolors or other wet coloring techniques use with non-water-based inks) will make the coloring steps a lot much easier!

Step 2

Whenever I’m coloring stamped images, I usually use black stamping ink. However, the new VersaFine Clair inks work perfectly for stamped coloring projects. I love how this monotonous purple image turned out!

Step 3

I also created matching napkin rings using the very same love birds stamp. I think they turned out quite nice! I made one colored version and another even more simplified one for which I stamped the lovebirds on white paper with Delicata ink in Shimmering Silver. Elegant and easy!

Supplies

Imagine

• Memento – Tuxedo Black
• VersaFine – Onyx Black
• VersaFine Clair – Purple Delight, Charming Pink
• Delicata – Silvery Shimmer

Other

• Lovebirds stamp
• Acrylic block
• Winsor & Newton – Promarkers
• Card bases
• Glossy Cardstock
• Cardstock
• Double-sided tape
• Scissors