Back to School Encouragement Card

I had some time to play with my September 2014 card kit from Simon Says Stamp today and decided to make an encouragement card for my niece who will be returning to school soon.  The stamp set is a super fun one this month…at least for the kind of girl who grew up dreaming of having a library/study instead of a swimming pool and got voted “Most Studious” in high school…

Instead of building cute bookshelves, I used the solid line stamps from the “To Thine Own Self” stamp set to stamp a ladder leading up to the stars.  To create the woodgrain effect, I inked my solid line stamp up with Crumb Cake ink (SU), stamped it off once on scrap paper, and then “kissed” it onto the “Hardwood” background stamp from Stampin’ Up that was inked up with Baked Brown Sugar ink (SU).  To make the ladder look a little more finished, I traced around the edges with the fine tip of a Baked Brown Sugar marker.
The sentiment and stars are from the “Shoot for the Stars” stamp set from an older SSS card kit.  I stamped the sentiment with Coastal Cabana ink (SU), again with Versamark ink, and then covered it with pearl embossing powder and heat set it.  The stars were only stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed in translucent pearl.  Lastly, the books and apple were stamped in Coastal Cabana, Soft Suede, Real Red, Crumb Cake, and Garden Green inks (SU).
After inking all of the edges of my cardstock with the Gathered Twigs mini distress ink pad included in the kit, I began to assemble my card front on top of some Real Red cardstock.  The Neenah Cream panel was adhered directly to a piece of patterned paper from the “Public Library” 8×8 pad from October Afternoon and both of these were popped up on top of the Real Red panel.  Before adhering these, though, I tied a knot of May Arts twine around the panel.  After popping the triple-layered panel on top of my cream cardbase, I finished the card off by adding four wood dots from the kit stained with the Gathered Twigs distress ink to look like bronze tacks you might see on a plaque.
Thanks so much for stopping by and I’d love to hear your comments!

5 Comment

  1. I love the way you created the woodgrain on the ladder. I also love the books with the apple! Fantastic card!

    1. Thanks Sharon!

  2. 3kidmama says:

    WOW! That has to be one of the best example of stamping “Kissing” that I’ve ever seen! Such a great card – and fantastic use of this kit. I love it! 🙂

    1. I experimented with a lot of different ink colors before getting that woodgrain right…I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Thanks so much for your comment!

  3. Beautiful card! I love the quote with the ladder!!!

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