Easy Enough For a Beginner - December SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to our monthly blog hop!  We have about 60 consultants participating again this month, so you're sure to find plenty of great ideas.  If you've arrived here from Kristie Herdener's Goofy Scrapper blog (or if you're just starting out), you're in the right place.  When you're done here, you'll hop along over to the talented Michelle Nist's blog.

You may still be thinking Christmas, but the craft world moves ahead, so this month's stamp set is all about love.  Of course, there are many opportunities besides Valentine's Day for love, so be sure to think of the possibilities for these 13 elegant stamps!  This month, I chose to create an elegant card that is simple enough for a beginner (and uses minimal supplies).  What a great way to get started with card making!

I apologize in advance for the photos - black cardstock may look beautiful in person, but is very difficult to photograph!

This is a simple gate-fold card.  Cut your black CS to 7" x 10", and score at 2.5" and 7.5" for your base.  I used only black stamping ink, and the clear stamps make it super easy to fit that "Love" sentiment right inside the heart shape.  I cut out my elements with a thin border around my stamped images.  This is actually much faster than you might think!  The green heart is attached to the berry heart, then the left side only of the berry heart is attached to the left front of the card.  Finally, I added the simple embellishments of the self adhesive pearls.

Inside the card, I added a simple 4" x 6" panel which I had stamped with some of the smaller stamps in the set.

Note: I used Vineyard Berry and New England Ivy for my colors, but if you need to save a little more money and buy only one combo pack, you can substitute Olive for the New England Ivy, or choose two colors for yourself from any one combo pack.

Supplies Used:

• Black Cardstock                      $9.50
• Autumn Garden CS Combo     $9.95
• Autumn Harvest CS Combo     $9.95
• Archival Black Stamp Pad        $5.95
• Opaques Pearl Adhesive Gems $2.95
• Micro Tip Scissors                    $9.95
• Tombow Mono Adhesive          $8.95

The subtotal for the above items is  $57.20, which saves you 50% off the stamp of the month!  And you'll have a great selection of versatile paper colors to use on other projects. If you're totally new to clear stamping, you'll also want at least a 4x4 block ($10.50).  Visit the Stamp of the Month page to see all of the stamp images, recommended stamping block sizes, and how to get your stamp at a great discount or even free.  Also, don't forget, any $20 purchase on my website this month gets you a free D-size stamp set of our choice (see my previous post for details).

Now, hop on over to Michelle Nist's blog!