Shopping My Stash

While I was sorting through some stamps recently I decided which ones--the image for the front of the card and the sentiment for the inside of the card--I'd like to use for my holiday cards, so I set those aside while making Hallowe'en cards. And, of course, promptly forgot where I'd put them.

While looking for something else entirely, I found the two stamps.

Then I took a good, hard look at the ready-made cards (and envelopes) I'd purchased some while back when I first got back into stamping (after one of those creative breaks we all seem to take). While the card stock is cut squarely (rectangularly, but all the corners square and equal and cleanly cut), the scoring is off center, and so the cards aren't neat and even. The good thing is, it's a nice layering weight. Unfortunately, however, the cards (and the envelopes, of course), are slightly smaller than the standard A2 size of 4.25x5.5.


So the next step was to decide what the finished card size would be based on the envelope size, which worked out to 4.125x5.25 (that's four and an eighth). After deciding which ink to use on the cream-colored stock, I shopped the stash for similarly colored card stock for the card base and additional layering.

I stamped the image on the cream-colored stock, trimmed closely, then layered onto the colored card stock, trimmed closely again, and layered again onto more of the cream-colored stock.

Then I cut up another piece of the cream-colored stock to layer onto the card base, stamped a background image onto it, and put the card base and the cream layer together. I then held the main image layers against the layered-up card base, and decided I needed another layer between the cream layer and the background-stamp cream layer. So I shopped the stash again for another color of card stock. More close trimming. Then I decided to make the card base match that second colored layer, and then I adhered all the layers together.

The card base is dark, so I trimmed another piece of the cream stock to go on the inside of the card for the stamped sentiment and whatever else I write inside for each recipient. And then I decided that the sentiment stamp alone wasn't enough, so I dug around and chose an image stamp to use inside, too.

Then I decided to make another test card with the same stocks, but in reverse: a different color of ink for the image, matching card stock to layer behind the image layer, then the cream again, then the different colored layer, onto the cream, onto the base.

For those of you keeping score, that's Color A ink on cream layered onto Color A card stock layered onto cream layered onto Color B card stock layered onto background-stamped cream layered onto Color B base. And Color B ink on cream layered onto Color B card stock layered onto cream layered onto Color A card stock layered onto background-stamped cream layered onto Color A base. The ink on the innards matches the ink on the front.

So now I have 40-some cards made in the two colorways, but you won't get to see them until they've been mailed out.

And the saddest part: I still haven't used up all those ready-made cards.