Swan Lake for the InKing Royalty Blog Hop

Many of my Stampin’ Up! team members (not just those with blogs) share their gorgeous projects in our team’s Facebook community – there’s such amazing and inspiring creativity in this group!  I’m always excited when my team’s blog hop rolls around, though, because I get to share some of their amazing work with you.  I’m just as excited to see their projects as you are, and I am proud to share them with you.I’m also excited to welcome my friend, Amy Koenders, to our team’s hop.  Amy is a super-talented, very successful, Atlanta-based designer who is a regular at our annual Work Card Making Day.  What fun!  I’m so glad she is joining us today.

Welcome to InKing Royalty’s March Blog Hop!  Today’s Blog Hop is filled with projects inspired by a Spring Celebrations theme.  What fun!  Stampin’ Up! catalogs are filled with so many great ideas for Spring-themed projects – Easter, birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Spring weddings…  We are excited to share our creations with you today.  After you read my post, I hope you’ll hop over to the next person on the list at the base of this post.

Swan Lake and One Big Meaning

The card I’m sharing today is a Spring-y thank you card that features beautiful flowers, bright-and-cherry colors and a panel of paper with a pop of pink.  Perfect!  Here’s my card for today’s super-fun hop:

Tips, Tricks and Reminders

• Swan Lake.  I won the Swan Lake stamp set at Stampin’ Up!’s OnStage event last Fall.  While I adore all the sentiments and many of the adorable images (how adorable are those little cygnets?), I haven’t used the set as much as I thought I would.  Maybe I was distracted by all the other new products when I got my hands on them, but this is a pretty great set.  After I made this card with the bough of flowers, I have to wonder why I haven’t used the set more.
  

  Swan Lake, Stampin’ Up!

  
  

• Pairing the Bough.  When pairing a sentiment from one stamp set with the artwork of another, it’s important to make sure the two are an artistic fit for each other.  I searched long and hard for a sentiment that would fit the style of the bough before I realized how perfectly this sentiment would pair with the sentiment from One Big Meaning.  Here’s why they work – the bough is designed with “chunky” lines (these aren’t thin, sketchy edges).  Same with the sentiment I used – it’s created with think, chunky lines that make it a perfect pair for the bough of flowers.  The thin, black border around my card front mimics these thick lines.  TIP:  To stamp ONLY “you are kind,” I masked the “THANK YOU” behind a piece of tape, inked the sentiment, removed the tape and stamped on the card front.
  
  

  One Big Meaning, Stampin’ Up!

• Four Bright-and-Cheery Colors.  I don’t often do this, but I covered the entire 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ front of my card base with a Melon Mambo piece of Pop of Pink Specialty Designer Series Paper.  It gave my project the backdrop I wanted to make this card front pop.  I colored the flowers and leaves with Stampin’ Write Markers in four amazingly bright and oh-so-cheery colors that worked wonderfully together.  My pink, yellow, green and orange are Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush and Pumpkin Pie.  If you like this combination of colors, too, please save this:

Stamp Sets:  Swan Lake, One Big Meaning  Papers:  Pop of Pink, Basic Black, Whisper White  Inks:  Archival Basic Black, Stampin’ Write Markers (Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Pumpkin Pie)  Accessories:  Stampin’ Dimensionals

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope you’ll hop along to the next stop on the blog hop, Lory Robinson at The Robin’s Nest Designs.  There’s lots of inspiration to be found in this group – and you don’t want to miss it!

Brian

Thank you for hopping along with us.  If you get stuck during the Blog Hop, please use this line-up as a guide:

1. Brian King at Stamp with Brian
2. Lory Robinson at The Robin’s Nest Designs
3. Robin Myren at Songbird Designs by Robin
4. Karen Browning at StampWithMeKZB
5. Julie DiMatteo at The Paper Pixie
6. Jackie Beers at Blue Line Stamping
7. Amy Koenders at Stamp with Amy K
8. Shawn de Oliveira at ShawnStamps
9. Lynn Kolcun at Avery’s Owlery
10. Candy Ford at Stamp Candy
11. Jennifer Spiller at Westside Paper Creations
12. Denise Hoepfner at The Mountain Magpie

Swan Lake Clear-Mount Stamp Set – 142977

Price: $20.00

One Big Meaning Clear-Mount Stamp Set – 139420

Price: $19.00

Pop Of Pink Specialty Designer Series Paper – 141648

Price: $13.00

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad – 140931

Price: $7.00

Brights Stampin’ Write Markers – 131259

Price: $29.00

2015-2017 In Color Stampin’ Write Markers – 138333

Price: $15.00

Supply List