From my first time reading thru the new Stampin Up! catalog, the Textured Florals stamp set caught my eye. Firstly because it was my favorite stamp style, photopolymer with the DisInkTive shading. And second for the variety of the flowers. Now I’m preparing a whole class built around this stamp set. I’ve started with a simple birthday card that can be put together quickly.

To begin, we crease the card base in half and smooth with a bone folder. Then, attach a matching piece of cardstock, just smaller than the card base, embossed with the Fern Embossing Folder for texture.

Next we will decorate the inside of the card. I’ve attached a strip of Designer Series Paper 3/4″ wide on the right hand side of a white piece of cardstock. This strip is entirely in Berry Burst, from a page of the Masterfully Made paper pack.

I chose to use the Biggest Wish stamp set to create the inside greeting, a simple happy birthday. I used Berry Burst for the large Block letter Birthday stamp, and Pretty Peacock for the Script letter Happy. I love the contrast of the block and script letters, and the two different colors really make the greeting pop. I like to align these stamps with the bottom line of the top word and the top line of the bottom word on the same line, so they overlap where the letters hang below.

Add the white card inside the card base. That small pop of Pretty Peacock brings so much emphasis to the greeting.

For the main focus of the card front, I started with a piece of Thick White Cardstock, cut with the deckled rectangle die. The Thick White Cardstock is used here to provide extra stiffness, because we will be popping that rectangle up with Dimensionals after it is stamped.

I’m using a technique called “second generation” stamping. This gives us different shades of the same color by removing some of the ink by “stamping off” once on some scrap paper before stamping the flowers on the deckled rectangle. In the photo above, the stamps on the grid paper are the “first generation” and those on the deckled rectangle are the second generation. This technique is particularly effective with DisInktive stamps.

For the flower centers, I use the first generation stamping to keep a solid and bright color, as shown above.

Next, I added the large and small leaf stamps in Pretty Peacock ink, stamped off again, for a lighter color. Then, add some dots scattered on the leaves in the first generation stamp, for contrast again.

Add the front greeting “Birthday Blooms for you” in Pretty Peacock on a circle cut with the 1-3/4″ circle punch. I attached this circle to a 3/4″ strip of Pretty Peacock cardstock, and trimmed the edges of the strip with a parallel cut. And attached both together onto the deckled rectangle.

Because of the large size of the deckled rectangle, I used quite a few dimensionals (marked above in purple) to support the focal point. Once these were in place, I centered the deckled rectangle on the card base.

To finish the card, I added a few sequins from the Adhesive-backed sequin trio, and a few touches of Wink of Stella for that lovely sparkle.