Great Friend Flying By

With Easter right around the corner I've been in the mood to use my Soft Subtles card stock. I decided to combine these pastel shades with a stamp set slated to debut April 1st: Great Friend. The Occasions Mini is full of must-have sets, but for me, Great Friend was at the top of my wish list. I started today with a sketch from Card Positioning Systems (CPS). I love using sketches to help organize my thoughts and allow me to 'hit the ground running'. Click here to see the sketch.

My Certainly Celery card base is 5.5" square. I used the stem and leaf silhouette and created my own 'designer' paper by stamping with Mellow Moss onto matching card stock. If you're confident enough you can stamp freehand, but I prefer to use my Stamp-a-ma-Jig. Too many failed attempts at willy-nilly stamping have taught me just use my trusty tool from the start. A strip of Perfect Plum was zipped through my CuttleBug and embossed with the Swiss Dots folder. TIP: I love to use ribbon to hide seams where different papers meet.

Next, the butterfly image was stamped onto Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, and Pale Plum. I used matching ink colors, but to create more definition my main butterfly was stamped in Perfect Plum onto Pale Plum cardstock. I thought she would stand out even more when accented by a Gallery frame in Pale Plum. The small blooms were given brad middles. It's so fun (and easy) that Stampin' Up! knows coordination is key and offers a multitude of products in their exclusive color schemes. Happy spring stamping!

Stamps: Great Friend (available April 1st), Gallery (113776)
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Pale Plum, Certainly Celery, Mellow Moss, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Perfect Plum -- All Soft Subtles -- 8.5' x 11" asstd. (105568)
Ink: Pretty in Pink (101301), Bashful Blue (105209), Mellow Moss (102774), Pale Plum (102732), Perfect Plum (101437), Barely Banana (101170)
Sassy Somethings: Soft Subtles Brads (106954), Whisper White 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon (109025), Pearl Stickers not SU