Making Your Sentiments Fit!

Hi there! Emily Midgett here with you today, and I have some inspiration to share using the new Fresh Blooms stamp set and a tip on how to make your sentiments fit just right! Sometimes, the sentiments that we want to use don't quite fit with the layout of the card, so all it takes is a bit of finagling to make that sentiment fit perfectly and stand out on the background. Let's get started with the details!

I started out by taping a 3.25″x5.75″ panel of Altenew's Watercolor Paper to my watercoloring board (just a plain cutting board will work, too!), because I wanted to create a watercolored background. Tip: taping the panel to the board first helps to reduce warping when you're using a lot of water! I first wet the background with clean water, then dropped in color from the Artists' 24 Pan Watercolor Palette, swirling the colors around to get some smooth blends and creating that pretty “watercolor” look on the background. Once it had dried completely, and while still taped down, I also splattered it with some metallic orange paint from the Metallic 12 Pan Watercolor set.

Next, I gold embossed some blooms and foliage from the new Fresh Bloom stamp set onto some of Altenew's watercolor paper using Embossing Ink and Antique Gold Embossing Powder. I then used the beautifully vivid Artists' Watercolor 24 Pan palette to watercolor the images in a summery, vibrant combination of clementine orange, fuchsia pink, and lime green. (I like to call this combo my “fiesta” color scheme. So fun and vibrant!) I die cut the watercolored flowers with the coordinating dies.

For the greeting, I die cut the “hope your day is filled with joy and love” from Slim Sentiments using some dark charcoal cardstock. The contrast on this dark gray cardstock makes it pop on the watercolor washed background! I knew that the long sentiment from the Slim Sentiments set would be too long for my mini-slimline card, so I cut it into three, more manageably-sized sections. Don't be afraid to chop up your sentiment dies or separate your stamped sentiments into multiple rows! There are no rules that say you have to use them as they're designed! I oriented the watercolor washed background portrait-style, then arranged my floral spray and added foam adhesive to the back of it. The sentiment didn't lay quite right in the little nook that had been left open by my floral spray, so I flipped the card base 90* to the left and oriented my floral arrangement so that it was almost pointing towards the left. This helps draw the eye towards the sentiment, which I adhered to the watercolored background using liquid adhesive. I popped up the watercolored panel using some Instant Dimension Foam Tape, then added a few gems for a touch more sparkle!

Well, that's all for my project today! I encourage you to look at your sentiments and make them work for your card, even if that means using them in a different way than they've been designed! It's your card… you can make your own rules! ;) Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!