Handmade by Fiona

Today's card is the third using the From All of Us stamp set.  (Click here for week one's card, and week two's.)  I'm going to help you with two things:  1) seeing a small potential in a larger image, 2) how to "step up" a card from basic to more advanced.

Let's start with the first of these two things, using a section of a large stamps.  In today's card I only wanted one animal for my card and I wanted to be able to raise it up off the card.  So even though the set didn't come with an individual animal (and a tree just wasn't right for my design) I could see that if I fussy cut the ostrich right at the outline then I'd have what I needed.  Boom, how easy a fix was that?!

It's easier to colour in an image before it's cut out so go ahead and stamp first, colour second, fussy cut third.  Then create your background sentiment in the circle by creating a mask (I used a circle die and positioned it over my card in the spot I wanted) and stamping on an angle for effect.

Now for the second thing I wanted to help you with - "stepping up" a card.  This means learning how to elevate a simple, but attractive design, that would work just fine on its own, and "stepping it up" to the next level with a few additional features on the card.

Above is the simple stamping card.  It's a design that is complete in itself, and perfect for beginners or people with minimal supplies to hand.

Below is a stepped up version.  It elevates the card by making a panel of the front piece of cardtock, sticking it onto a Basic Grey layer and then onto a Basic Black base card.  It also uses a couple of Playing with Patterns resin dots to pick up on the colours in the ostrich.

You might think of ways to step this up another notch again using even more products but maintaining the clean lines! 

So have you ordered your From All of Us stamp set yet? It's only $37 in store and if you buy it before the end of July and make your order up to $90 you'll earn yourself a $9 voucher to spend during August!  Click here to buy it now.