Hello and welcome to today’s blog post, which is a super cute encouragement card featuring the Hippest Hippos stamp set and the Silver & Gold 6” x 6” Specialty Paper! When I first started with this card, I wanted to use three fun colors to color the specialty paper with blending brushes and the ballerina hippo from the Hippest Hippos stamp set but waited until the card front was done to then decide which sentiments I wanted to use! Birthday, thank you, congratulations, and a few other sentiments are the most common cards that are typically made, but occasionally, it’s nice just to make a card that you don’t need anytime soon, but nice to have on hand because there may come a time that you will need it.
For the card front base layer, I used the gold dot design from the Silver & Gold 6” x 6” DSP, used Blending Brushes to color the top in Sweet Sorbet ink, the middle in Polished Pink ink, and the bottom in Petal Pink ink. I then cut the paper into three pieces measuring 4” x 5 ¼” for the base layer, ¾” x 4” for the inside of the card, and 2” x 6” for the envelope flap:
For the rest of the card front, you will need:
1. Use the second largest scalloped Layering Circle Die to die-cut from Gold Foil sheet.
2. Use the third largest Layering Circle Die to die-cut from Thick Very Vanilla cardstock, stamp the ballerina hippo in Memento ink (or stamp first and then die-cut out), use the Light Gray Granite Stampin’ Blends to color the top of her head, sides of arms and legs and then use the Color Lifter to lighten the lines, Dark Gray Granite Stampin’ Blends to color the hooves, Light Melon Mambo Stampin’ Blends for the shoes and tutu bottom, Dark Melon Mambo Stampin’ Blends to color the tutu and I used a gold metallic Sharpie marker to make the polka dots on the tutu, and then use the SU1000 Natural Tones Stampin’ Blends to color the top of the snout, chest, and around the stamped outline of the hippo.
3. You will need 15” of the Polished Pink Open Weave Ribbon.
4. On a ½” x 2” piece of Crumb Cake cardstock, heat emboss the sentiment with gold embossing powder (more towards the right side) and then use the tail side of the Banners Pick a Punch to punch the end.
I used a short line of adhesive on the base layer to adhere the ribbon as shown, adhered the die-cut circle and scalloped circle layers and used dimensionals to adhere over the ribbon, adhered the sentiment piece towards the bottom right side of the layered circles so the end of the left side is tucked under, and then adhered this completed piece to a Crumb Cake cardstock card base, cut at 5 ½” x 8 ½” and scored at 4 ¼”:
For the inside of the card, cut a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock at 4” x 5 ¼”, stamp the sentiment in Polished Pink ink, and adhere the ¾” x 4” strip of specialty paper along the bottom:
For the coordinating Very Vanilla Medium Envelope, stamp the hippo in the bottom left corner, use the Light and Dark Melon Mambo Stampin’ Blends to color in the tutu and the gold sharpie to make the polka dots. I used the remaining 2” X 6” strip of specialty paper for the envelope flap, if you have a die you can die-cut it or adhere it to the flap and then trim along the edge of the flap to cut the excess off:
Isn’t this a super cute card?? Even though I used it for an encouragement card, this would also be perfect for a little girl! I thought that using a gold sharpie to make the polka dots was a cute way to tie the design of the specialty paper with the tutu! A little tip to share with you about the Stampin’ Blends, is that I pick and choose which In Colors I buy because sometimes they are a little close to the core colors, as you can see that using Melon Mambo worked perfectly in place of Polished Pink!
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I hope today’s project inspires you to get creative! Please contact me if you have any questions about the products used on this or any other project. I hope you enjoyed today’s blog and thanks for stopping by!
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