STAMPtember is HERE! One Design 2 Ways. Video

Hello crafters, happy STAMPtember! STAMPtember is the biggest, the bestest, the most anticipated month in the stamping community organized by Simon Says Stamp. It is a month-long celebration filled with loads of stamping inspiration, fabulous collaborations with various stamping brands, awesome surprises, and most importantly – crafting fun!

Today I have a video showing how the same card design can change dramatically depending on what color background you put it on. I have the same design done on black and white background. I am a huge fan of using dark, rich colors of cardstock for my cards. In fact, I am a fan o of the same colors in real life and we have several walls in our apartment painted navy blue, dark olive green, and even black. Dark colors create a certain mood, they add a lot of drama and wow to a card. At the same time, dark colors can feel very heavy, so it isn’t always easy to incorporate a dark background into a project in a tasteful way.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

Watch the video below or on my Youtube channel.

CARDS DETAILS

I picked the new Printmaking Birds stamp set for my cards, I love the printmaking concept in stamping, I think it is a very cool way to add color to solid images and I have shared cards using this type of stamp before, but they are still among my favorites, check them out HERE.

The Printmaking Birds set is evergreen, but I wanted to adapt it to Christmas cardmaking so I stamped my birds in various shades of red and gray. I used Watermelon and Lipstick Red ink for the bodies, and the wings were stamped in dark gray – Charcoal and Earl, and also in black using Versafine Onyx Black ink.

This stamp set has coordinating dies and it was my plan to use the dies to cut the birds out as I wanted to position them differently on my card. Having just birds on the card would have felt boring, so I looked through my stash to find any other stamps with small solid greenery that would fit the Christmas or winter theme. I used images from the Happy Poinsettia and Gift Wrap sets, and stamped in Pearfection and Field inks. This gave me pretty greenery for the birds to hold or sit on or just something to add a bit of additional color to the card.

I foiled the word Joy in the center of my panels. The Joy comes from the Spellbinders Christmas Magic glimmer plates set and it was foiled in Matte Gold foil. I picked this particular sentiment because of its size – it is compact, creating a beautifully clean, and simple sentiment for this card.

Next, I arranged the birds one by one creating a pattern on my card. I did use the bird layout on the stamp set but changed it slightly. That made it a lot easier to place all the different birds onto the background and helped avoid having repletion.

I made sure I alternated the wing color on the bird die cuts and used gray and black wing birds. I used Simon’s new foam adhesive squares to pop the little greenery next to the birds. These squares come in a pack of white and black, which is super convenient. I especially love the black as they work perfectly on these dark background cards. You don’t have to use the just on black backgrounds, but on any dark backgrounds too.

I finished my card by adhering all of the birds to the background around the word Joy. I also used some Fashion Gold Dots and scattered them around the background filling it in – I added them anywhere where I had big gaps in my design. When placing the birds onto the card I made sure to step away at least 1/4 inch from the edge to create a visual border for the design. It is a simple trick that helps frame everything and pulls your card together. The white background card was embellished with red gems.

So black or white? Black looks amazing with tons of contrast and lots of drama. White looks very elegant, very soft, and sophisticated. Both designs are stunning and I think the choice of the background color should depend on the recipient. Not everyone is a fan of dark colors and make people prefer the clean white look.

SUPPLIES

I’m listing the products I used below. Click on the link to go directly to the product. Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much for your support!

Simon Says Stamps and Dies Printmaking Birds Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Clear Stamps Printmaking Birds Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Printmaking Birds Wafer Dies Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamps and Dies Happy Poinsettia Shop at: SSS
Simon Says Clear Stamps Happy Poinsettia Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Happy Poinsettia Wafer Dies Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamps and Dies Gift Wrap Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Clear Stamps Gift Wrap Shop at: SSS
Simon Says Stamp Gift Wrap Wafer Dies Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp 3d Foam Squares Black and White Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp White A2 Top Fold Scored Cards Shop at: SSS	Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil System Shop at: SSS
Glimmer Hot Foil – Matte Gold Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Mega Thick White Cardstock 130LB Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Lipstick Red Cardstock Shop at: SSS	Mini MISTI Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS
Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad Pearfection Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad Charcoal Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad Earl Shop at: SSS
Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Ink Pad Field Shop at: SSS	Spellbinders Christmas Magic Hot Foil Plates Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Dot Runner and 2 Refills Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Watermelon Dye Ink Pad Shop at: SSS
Spellbinders Red Mix Color Essentials Gems Shop at: SSS