August Winners

It's time to announce last month's winners. Whether you placed an order, left a comment on Instagram and here on the blog, or simply cheered STAMPlorations on, we greatly appreciate you!

And now...let’s see who won!

Winner of $25 SHOP & WIN Prize Code

Drawn from all paid orders placed in August:

Heather F. (order #10015)

Winner of $10 Instagram Prize Code

Drawn from comments left on our Instagram August posts:

anniec09

Winner of $10 Blog Prize Code

Drawn from comments left on STAMPlorations blog posts throughout August:

Lucy E.

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you again to everyone who continue to support STAMPlorations.

💌 How to Claim Your Prize

Winners, just sit tight -- you'll receive an email (or Instagram DM) regarding your prize by September 11. Please make sure to whitelist stamplorations@gmail.com. 

And the fun continues in September!

Didn't win this time? There are still plenty of ways to save -- and win -- at STAMPlorations this month!

• The Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge: Have projects featuring STAMPlorations products? Enter them in our challenge. There's no limit -- enter as many projects as you want as long as a STAMPlorations product is the star.
  
  
• September Shop-to-Win: Every paid order placed in this month is automatically entered into the drawing for a $25 prize code. One paid order = one entry.
  
  
• September Comment-to-Win: Share your thoughts on the STAMPlorations blog and Instagram throughout the month for a chance to win a $10 prize code. Every comment you leave on any blog post or Instagram post this month counts as an entry.

Paper Goods Showcase | Hello Fall Journaling Cards with Stephanie

I love seeing how our paper goods can take a card in different directions depending on what you pair them with. Today's projects from STAMPgirl Stephanie are a perfect example. She used the same Hello Fall Journaling Cards collection on both cards, but brought in different STAMPlorations products to create two very different autumn designs.

And I especially love that she paired both projects with words from our Simple Expressions collection. The HAPPINESS and COLLECT sentiments add just the right touch of meaning to these colorful fall scenes.

Happiness Is an Inside Job

For her first card, Stephanie used a Hello Fall Journaling Card featuring a colorful fall girl surrounded by flowers and foliage. She framed the journaling card with green cardstock and placed it on a white card base textured with the Circles All Over cover plate die.

The large HAPPINESS sentiment takes center stage beneath the focal image, with the smaller "is an inside job" sentiment completing the thought. I love how the colorful artwork and bold typography work together, while the subtle die-cut texture in the background adds interest without taking attention away from the focal pieces.

Collect Beautiful Moments

Stephanie took a completely different approach with her second card, a mini slimline featuring another Hello Fall Journaling Card. This time, she paired it with the COLLECT sentiment from Simple Expressions and the Henna Pattern slimline stencil.

The journaling card fills the upper portion of the design, while the softly patterned stenciled area below gives the sentiment its own space. The warm autumn colors carry through the entire card, creating a cohesive look while still allowing the COLLECT sentiment to stand out.

One Collection, Two Different Looks

What I love about these two cards is that they show just how versatile a single paper goods collection can be. The Hello Fall Journaling Cards provide beautiful focal imagery, but Stephanie didn't stop there. She combined them with bold typography, subtle die-cut texture, and stenciled pattern to create two cards with very different compositions.

It's also a great example of how words can help shape the feeling of a card. HAPPINESS gives the first card an upbeat, encouraging message, while COLLECT turns the second card into a reminder to gather and appreciate beautiful moments.

Creative Takeaway

When you're working with a beautiful paper goods piece, you don't have to build the entire card around it. Think about what the image needs. A subtle background texture can add interest without competing with the focal point, while a stencil can create a larger visual framework for a sentiment and focal image. And don't overlook the power of a well-chosen sentiment. Sometimes the right words are what turn a pretty collection of images into a card with a story.

Keep Creating with Paper Goods

Stephanie's projects are a wonderful reminder of how easy it is to mix and match STAMPlorations products. Start with a paper goods piece you love, add a sentiment that fits the mood, and then bring in a die, stencil, or other favorite from your stash to make the design your own.

Want a steady supply of paper goods to create with? Check out our Paper Goods VIP Subscription. You choose the paper goods you want every four weeks, so you can pick the designs that actually inspire you. The subscription makes it easy to keep fresh designs coming and gives you plenty of possibilities for mixing and matching your STAMPlorations favorites.

Until next time, keep creating with paper goods!

Perfect Pairs: Serene Winter with Monika

A beautiful winter card doesn't have to be complicated. When your stamps and ephemera already coordinate, a few simple design choices can be all it takes to create something special.

That's exactly what STAMPgirl Monika shows with these two cards featuring Perfect Pairs: Serene Winter. 

She used the coordinating stamps and ephemera cuts as her starting point, then added a little ink blending, repeat stamping, and a few carefully chosen finishing touches to create two cozy winter designs.

Create a Vintage Winter Feel

For her first card, Monika wanted to bring out the natural, vintage feel of the Serene Winter ephemera, so she started with a cream card base and lightly blended Old Paper Distress Ink over it. She then masked a narrow strip along the bottom of the card and repeat stamped the Winter definition stamp in Glamour Versafine Clair ink down the left side. 

Two coordinating ephemera pieces were layered together to create the focal point, and she stamped the Winter Wishes sentiment in Roasted Coffee Prism ink. A few Card Candi dots add to the vintage feel, while a sprinkle of glitter on the roof and twig gives the card just a touch of sparkle.

The result is warm, natural, and wonderfully wintry without needing a lot of layers.

Add Warmth to a Winter Palette

For her second card, Monika created another simple background by repeat stamping the Winter stamp, rotating it as she went. Instead of creating a straight border, she used unevenly masked, sloping lines to give the background a little more movement.

She then clustered coordinating ephemera pieces to complement the Winter Wishes sentiment. A single cup would have looked a little forlorn, so grouping the pieces together helps reinforce the cozy, social feeling of the sentiment.

She picked up the red beads in the ephemera to bring some warmth into the design, using red cardstock for the embossed sentiment and red Card Candi as a finishing touch.

I love how that small pop of red changes the feel of the card. Against all those warm neutral tones, it gives the design just enough color to keep it from feeling flat.

One Collection, Lots of Possibilities

Monika's two cards are a great example of how much variety you can get from a single Perfect Pairs collection. For the first card, she leaned into the natural, vintage feel of the ephemera with soft neutrals, red stamping, and a little sparkle. For the second, she created a more graphic background and used the red details in the ephemera to bring warmth into the design.

The coordinating stamps and ephemera cuts make it easy to get started, but small choices like your ink colors, how you repeat the background stamp, and which ephemera pieces you group together can completely change the finished card.

And you don't need a lot of extras to make those choices count. Sometimes a little color, a different stamping arrangement, or even an embellishment from your stash is all it takes.

Discover What's Possible

Perfect Pairs: Serene Winter combines coordinating stamps and ephemera cuts inspired by the quiet, cozy feel of winter. The collection gives you a ready-made starting point for creating cohesive cards, whether you're making a quick card or spending a little more time adding your own touches.

Choose an ephemera piece, add the coordinating background and sentiment, then play with the details. Try a different ink color, rotate the background stamp, cluster several pieces together, or add a little sparkle.

Serene Winter is one of four Perfect Pairs collections available in the STAMPlorations store, along with Blooms & Sunshine, Party & Wishes, and Classic Christmas.

Explore Serene Winter and the other Perfect Pairs collections and see where your creativity takes you.

Until next time, keep creating with confidence -- and let Perfect Pairs do the coordinating.

Perfect Pairs: Classic Christmas with Chris

If you love creating beautiful handmade cards but don't want to spend a lot of time figuring out which stamps, images, and embellishments work together, Perfect Pairs was designed with you in mind.

Each Perfect Pairs collection combines a coordinating two-stamp set with a pack of coordinating ephemera cuts. The stamps and ephemera were designed together, so the colors, images, sentiments, and overall style work seamlessly together.

In today's post, STAMPgirl Chris shows us just how easy it can be to create with Perfect Pairs: Classic Christmas. Her two cards use the coordinating stamps and ephemera cuts with just a few simple additions, but the results have two very different looks.

Keep It Simple With a Touch of Gold

For her first card, Chris stamped the Classic Christmas definition stamp over her card base using gold ink, then added the sentiment in black. That's it for the stamped background. To finish the card, she added one of the gorgeous lantern ephemera cuts from the coordinating pack.

The subtle gold definition background gives the card a vintage feel, while the lantern creates an instant focal point. It's a beautiful example of how little you need when the elements are already designed to work together.

Mix Your Own Embossing Powder

For her second card, Chris wanted to add embossing around the edges of her panel, but she didn't have an embossing powder in the right color to coordinate with the mercury ornaments. Her solution? She mixed silver and gold embossing powders to create her own custom metallic blend.

After heat embossing the sentiment, Chris decided the card needed even more sparkle, so she sprinkled some of the mixed powder randomly over the panel and heated it from underneath. She then added the coordinating ornament ephemera cuts. The result is full of gorgeous metallic shine, with the mixed silver and gold giving the card exactly the look she was after.

And sometimes the best creative solutions come from simply working with what you already have.

One Collection, Lots of Possibilities

What I love about Chris's two cards is how different they look even though they're both made with Perfect Pairs: Classic Christmas. The first is simple and elegant, with a subtle gold background and one beautiful lantern doing most of the work. The second is all about metallic shine, with mixed embossing powder and a cluster of ornaments creating a completely different feel.

That's the beauty of Perfect Pairs. The coordinating stamps and ephemera cuts give you a natural starting point, so you can keep things simple or add a little of your own creativity along the way. Try changing the ink color, adding a little embossing, or combining different ephemera pieces. And if you don't have exactly the color or finish you're looking for, don't be afraid to experiment with what you already have.

Whether you're making a stack of Christmas cards or creating one special card at a time, Perfect Pairs: Classic Christmas makes it easy to get started.

Explore Classic Christmas and the other Perfect Pairs collections in the STAMPlorations store.

Until next time, keep creating with confidence -- and let Perfect Pairs do the coordinating.

Six New Products to Kick Off September

We’re kicking off September with six new additions to the STAMPlorations shop! 

This latest release brings together retro-inspired typography, creative marks, and versatile collage elements that can be mixed and matched across all kinds of cardmaking and paper crafting projects.

First up are Retro Gratitude and Retro Christmas, two new typography designs with a vintage-inspired look that makes a fun statement on cards, tags, journals, and other creative projects.

We’re also adding Maker’s Mark #1, the first design in a new collection of marks and motifs designed to add an extra layer of interest to your projects.

And then there are three new Found Fragments stamps: Found Fragments 1, Found Fragments 2, and Found Fragments 3. 

These collections are perfect for adding texture, visual interest, and those little unexpected details that can take a project from simple to uniquely yours.

All six new products are now available in the STAMPlorations shop, and we’ll be sharing projects from our STAMPgirls featuring these new releases in the coming weeks. So if you’re looking for some fresh creative supplies to play with this month, be sure to check them out!

[Shop the new releases →]

words that matter | CHOOSE + Pop Art Faces with Sue

The choices we make can change the way we see things. Sometimes, choosing to look for the good is a small decision that can make a big difference.

Today, STAMPgirl Sue is featuring Simple Expressions: CHOOSE, pairing its encouraging message with bold paper goods to create two different cards. Both put the words front and center, but each shows a different way to make the sentiment work with the artwork around it.

Layer Different Paper Goods

For her first card, Sue combined two different Paper Goods designs. She started with Botanical Beats Collage Paper, trimming it to fit a cream A2 card base. She stamped CHOOSE to see the good directly onto the collage background in green ink.

Then she brought in a Pop Art Faces A2 Card Front, cutting out the eyes and matting the piece with black cardstock. She ink blended around its edges with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink before placing it at an angle over the collage background.

I love the combination of the eyes with the sentiment here. The imagery reinforces the idea of choosing what we see, while layering two different paper goods designs creates a card with plenty of visual interest.

Let the Artwork Make the Statement

For her second card, Sue chose another Pop Art Faces A2 Card Front and let that striking artwork do most of the talking. She trimmed the card front, matted it with gold cardstock, and adhered it to a cream A2 card base. For the sentiment, she heat embossed CHOOSE to see the good in gold on cream cardstock, fussy cut it, layered it onto gold cardstock, and fussy cut it again before placing it in the center of the card.

The gold matting and embossing connect the sentiment to the artwork without competing with that dramatic face. The result is bold but wonderfully simple.

Creative Takeaway

Sue’s cards show two useful ways to work with paper goods when you want your sentiment to remain an important part of the design.

First, don't be afraid to combine paper goods from different collections. On her first card, Sue layered a portion of a Pop Art Faces card front over Botanical Beats collage paper. Rather than competing with each other, the different designs create depth and help reinforce the meaning of the sentiment.

Second, when your paper goods already have a strong focal image, you don't need to add much more. Sue's second card lets the artwork take center stage and gives the sentiment just enough emphasis through heat embossing, fussy cutting, and coordinating gold layers.

Look at the artwork you already have and ask what the words suggest. Sometimes the best pairing isn't just about matching colors or styles. It's about finding an image that helps the sentiment say a little more.

Discover What's Possible

That's the fun of Simple Expressions. Each set gives you a meaningful word and coordinating phrase that can become the starting point for your card.

Pair CHOOSE with bold artwork like Pop Art Faces, mix different paper goods together as Sue did, or find another combination that gives the words your own interpretation.

And when you purchase a Simple Expressions stamp set with a qualifying Paper Goods Pack, the Paper Goods Pack is automatically 40% off.

Explore Simple Expressions and our Paper Goods in the STAMPlorations store and find your own way to create with words that matter.

Until next time, keep creating with words that matter.

Paper Goods Showcase | Newsprint Blooms with Stephanie

The many collections in our paper goods line easily work together. Give two crafters the same paper goods pack, and there's a good chance they'll come up with two completely different cards.

That's exactly what STAMPgirl Stephanie shows with these two projects featuring Newsprint Blooms Ephemera Tiles. She paired the floral tiles with different card fronts, clear stickers, and dies, creating two colorful designs that have completely different personalities.

Make the Ephemera the Star

For her first card, Stephanie combined the Newsprint Blooms Ephemera Tiles with an Artsy Abstract #2 card front. The colorful abstract background provides plenty of energy, while the flower tiles create a strong focal point across the center of the card. She added Bits of Washi #1 clear stickers for even more graphic detail and used Skinny Sentiments Dies to bring in the sentiment.

I love how all those different elements work together without making the card feel overly busy. The ephemera tiles are clearly the stars, while the abstract background, washi details, and sentiment support the overall design. It's a great example of how a few carefully chosen supporting elements can turn a simple collection of ephemera into a finished card with lots of personality.

Repeat a Shape, Build a Design

Stephanie took a completely different approach with her second card. This time, she paired the Newsprint Blooms Ephemera Tiles with a Color Me Blooms Spring Florals Colorables card front. The large floral line art creates an interesting contrast with the colorful flower tiles, which she arranged vertically along one side of the card. She finished the card with a sentiment from the Inspirational #1 clear stickers.

The repeated flower shape gives the design a strong visual rhythm, while the black-and-white newsprint of the tiles provides contrast against the colorful card base. The result is bold and graphic, even though the individual elements are quite simple.

One Collection, Two Very Different Looks

What I love about Stephanie's cards is that they show just how much you can change the look of a paper goods collection by changing what you pair with it. The Newsprint Blooms Ephemera Tiles bring the same floral imagery and vintage newsprint character to both cards, but the Artsy Abstract #2 card front creates a bright, energetic first design, while the Color Me Blooms Spring Florals Colorables card front gives the second a more graphic, floral feel.

You don't have to use a paper goods collection exactly as it comes. Try pairing it with a completely different collection, repeat one element several times, or add a few stickers or die cuts from your stash. Sometimes the most interesting combinations happen when you mix products that weren't originally designed to be used together.

Keep Creating with Paper Goods

If Stephanie's projects have you thinking about what you could mix and match, our Paper Goods VIP Subscription makes it easy to build a stash that fits your creative style.

The subscription is not a mystery box. You get to choose any four Paper Goods products from the available selection every four weeks, so you can pick the Card Fronts, ATCs, Collage Paper, Ephemera, or other Paper Goods you're actually excited to use. The current subscription price is just $21 for four $7 Paper Goods products, with free U.S. shipping.

And that's exactly what makes it so much fun. You can choose products that coordinate beautifully, or deliberately pick different styles and see what happens when you start mixing and matching.

Take a look at the Newsprint Blooms Ephemera Tiles and the rest of our paper goods collection, then choose your favorites for your next creative session.

Keep creating, keep experimenting, and keep discovering what's possible with STAMPlorations Paper Goods.

Perfect Pairs, Expanded | Party & Wishes with Chris

Perfect Pairs is designed to make cardmaking easier. The coordinating stamps and ephemera cuts give you a ready-made combination, so you can create a cohesive card without spending a lot of time figuring out what goes with what.

But once you've played with the collection on its own, there's no reason you can't take it further.

That's exactly what STAMPgirl Chris did with Perfect Pairs: Party & Wishes. She brought in other stamps, stencils, dies, and coloring supplies to create three cards that take the collection well beyond its quick-and-easy core style.

I like to call this Extended Style -- starting with a Perfect Pairs collection and then building on it with other products to create a more layered, personalized design.

Put Your Own Spin on the Pair

For her first card, Chris added stamps from the Art Marks stamp set and took a little inspiration from one of my cards. She masked the Party & Wishes sentiment stamp so she could use just the word Celebrate in the bottom corner, then stamped it again using second- and third-generation stamping.

I love what that does to the card. The repeated, faded impressions add a grungy feel to the design, while the Party & Wishes ephemera gives it a colorful focal point. And yes, Chris really did put her own spin on it. That's exactly what Extended Style is about.

Build Your Own Background

For her second card, Chris started by stenciling a rainbow of colors through the Confetti #1 slimline stencil. She then die cut the stenciled piece using a Curly Labels/Tags Nesting Die and used it as part of her card design. She white heat embossed sentiments from the Sweet Cravings stamp set and used foam squares to pop up both the sentiments and the delicious-looking cake ephemera. She even carried the celebration to the inside of the card with the Celebrate Big stamp.

It's a great example of how a Perfect Pair can provide the focal image while you create a completely different supporting background around it.

Turn the Ephemera Into a Scene

For her third card, Chris took the party theme in another direction. She started by stenciling clouds onto her card base, then heat embossed a bird from the Birds of Paradise stamp set onto mixed media paper and colored it with a water brush and Derwent Inktense Blocks. She stamped a sentiment from the same set and then added the Party & Wishes balloon ephemera and the bird with foam squares. To finish the scene, she hand drew the lines connecting the balloons to the bird.

I love the personality this adds to the card. The balloons aren't just decorative elements anymore. They become part of the little scene Chris created around the bird.

Creative Takeaway

Perfect Pairs gives you a coordinated starting point, but it doesn't have to determine where you finish. Once you know the colors, images, and sentiments work together, start looking around your stash for things that can add to the same idea.

A texture stamp can change the mood. A stencil can give you a completely different background. Another stamp set can add a character or image that turns your ephemera into a scene.

And don't be afraid to borrow an idea and put your own spin on it. Chris did exactly that with her first card, taking inspiration from one of my designs (the birthday candles card in this post) and making it her own.

Think of Perfect Pairs as your foundation. Then add whatever helps tell the story you want your card to tell.

Discover What's Possible

Every Perfect Pairs collection is designed to work beautifully on its own, but there's plenty of room to take it further. Use the coordinating stamp and ephemera cuts for quick and easy cards, or bring in your favorite STAMPlorations stamps, stencils, dies, and other supplies for an Extended Style design like Chris's.

Perfect Pairs: Party & Wishes is available as the coordinating stamp set, the coordinating ephemera cuts, or the complete Perfect Pairs collection.

Explore Party & Wishes and the other Perfect Pairs collections in the STAMPlorations store.

Until next time, keep creating with confidence -- and let Perfect Pairs do the coordinating.

words that matter | HOPE + Ethereal Faces with Walter

Sometimes a sentiment doesn't just give you the words for a card. It gives you the idea for the entire card.

That's exactly what happened when Walter worked with Simple Expressions: HOPE and Ethereal Faces card fronts. 

One card turns the meaning of the sentiment into a powerful visual metaphor, while the other takes a simpler approach to emphasize the message.

Beautifully Put Back Together

Walter says this first card is his absolute favorite, and I can see why. When he read the Don't Give Up Hope sentiment, his mind immediately turned to kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. He tore an Ethereal Faces card front into a few pieces and then glued it all back together onto a thin piece of paper. 

He used an embossing ink pen to add ink to the cracks, then dusted the panel with gold embossing powder and heat set it. The result is a kintsugi-inspired card where the gold cracks become part of the design. And the message takes on an even deeper meaning: don't give up hope because life may be beautifully put back together.

Keep Hope at the Center

For his second card, Walter used fussy cutting, layered colors, and stamping to create a simple but beautiful design that emphasizes the need to maintain hope. The expressive face and floral elements create a strong focal point, while the bold HOPE sentiment reinforces the message. There's no need to overcomplicate the design when the word itself carries so much meaning.

Creative Takeaway

Walter's two cards are a great reminder to let the meaning of your sentiment influence your design. Instead of choosing a sentiment after you've already figured out the rest of the card, try starting with the words. What does the sentiment make you think of? Is there a visual idea, a memory, a feeling, or even a story that you can turn into the card?

For Walter, Don't Give Up Hope immediately brought kintsugi to mind, and that connection completely changed how he used the Ethereal Faces card front. The result isn't just a card with a hopeful message. The design itself helps tell the story.

And sometimes the idea doesn't have to be quite that elaborate. His second card shows that you can also keep things simple and let the imagery and sentiment work together to reinforce the same message.

Discover What's Possible

Simple Expressions was designed to make meaningful words a focal point on your cards. Each set combines a bold word with a coordinating phrase, giving you different ways to build your design around the message you want to share.

Pair Simple Expressions: HOPE with Ethereal Faces card fronts, as Walter did, or mix and match your favorite Simple Expressions sets with Card Fronts, ATCs, Collage Paper, Pocket Backdrops, or Ephemera Cut-Out Sheets.

And when you buy a Simple Expressions stamp set with a qualifying Paper Goods pack, the Paper Goods Pack is automatically 40% off.

Find the words that matter to you and see where they take your creativity.

Until next time, keep creating with words that matter.

Perfect Pairs: Classic Christmas with Jane

If you love creating beautiful handmade cards but sometimes find yourself searching through your stash for the right sentiment, background, and embellishments to pull everything together, Perfect Pairs was designed with you in mind.

Each Perfect Pairs collection combines a coordinating two-stamp set with a pack of coordinating ephemera cuts. The stamps and ephemera were designed together from the beginning, so the colors, images, sentiments, and designs work seamlessly together. Perfect Pairs: Classic Christmas includes a sentiment stamp, a coordinating background stamp, and 11 full-color ephemera pieces.

STAMPgirl Jane has been having fun with Classic Christmas, and she has created two very different cards that show just how easy it is to take the same collection in completely different directions.

Add a Little More Texture

For her first Classic Christmas card, Jane took a more inky and textured approach. She repeat-stamped the background sentiment onto a distress stain spray background, creating a colorful base for her design. She found some hessian in her stash, frayed the edges, and used a piece to create a bow for the cinnamon stick ephemera. She also created a small sentiment tag and added another hessian thread bow before adhering everything in place. A few sequins add the finishing touch.

The result is a wonderfully festive card with lots of texture and layers, while the coordinated stamps and ephemera do most of the work.

A Quick and Elegant Christmas Card

For her second Classic Christmas card, Jane kept things wonderfully simple. She selected the Nutcracker and bells from the ephemera pack and gold embossed the sentiment onto black cardstock. She added some sparkly twine to the bells for extra texture and sparkle, then gave the white edges of the ephemera a little distress ink for a more grungy look. A sheet of gold paper and a square of gold mirror card create the background, while foam pads add dimension to the layered elements.

And that's it. No inky background this time, just gold, black, and beautifully coordinated Christmas elements coming together to create a card with plenty of impact.

One Collection, Lots of Possibilities

What I love about Jane's two cards is how different they look even though they use the same Perfect Pairs collection. One is quick, clean, and elegant, while the other is more textured and inky.

That's the beauty of Perfect Pairs. You can use the coordinating elements together for an easy, cohesive design, or bring in your favorite inks, textures, dies, and embellishments to make the cards completely your own. And because the stamps and ephemera were designed to work together from the start, there's no guesswork about whether the colors and elements will coordinate.

Whether you're making Christmas cards by the stack or creating one special card at a time, Perfect Pairs: Classic Christmas gives you a beautiful place to start.

Explore Classic Christmas and the other Perfect Pairs collections in the STAMPlorations store.

Creative Tip of the Day: Make Your Words Part of the Design

A word or phrase die can do more than add a greeting to your card. Try treating it as an important part of the design itself. Give it dimension, coordinate it with your background, or build your card around the message.

All three of today's projects were created by STAMPgirl Maria several years ago. Maria has been part of the STAMPlorations design team since 2014, and I've always loved her style and the creative ways she uses STAMPlorations products. Her word and phrase die projects are a perfect example of how a simple sentiment can become an integral part of the card design.

Here are three of Maria's projects from the STAMPlorations archives that show how a die-cut phrase can become much more than an afterthought.

Let Your Sentiment Take Center Stage

Maria created three cards featuring the Make a Wish phrase die, pairing the sentiment with the Doodled Birthday Cake Cover Plate in three different ways. 

On the first card, she dry embossed the cover plate onto white cardstock and added a stacked, rainbow-inked Make a Wish sentiment. 

On her second card, she created a soft pastel rainbow background over a heat-embossed cover plate design and placed the phrase prominently over it. 

For the third card, she used a craft-foam version of the cover plate as a stamp and created a colorful stamped background with Distress Oxides.

The backgrounds change, but the Make a Wish phrase remains an important focal point in each design. It's a good reminder that a strong sentiment can be the star of the card, rather than something you squeeze in at the end.

Coordinate Your Die Cut With Your Colors

For this card, Maria used the Grateful Heart phrase die with the Art Flowers 1 stencil. She chose warm, autumnal tones for the ink-blended background and carried that same palette into the stacked Grateful Heart die cut.

The result is a sentiment that feels like it belongs with the rest of the card instead of looking like a separate element added afterward. When you repeat colors between your background and your die-cut phrase, you can make the whole design feel more cohesive.

Build a Design Around the Words

For this card, Maria started by playing with phrase dies and a palette of colors created with alcohol markers. She colored strips of paper and arranged them into a bold striped design, then combined the stripes with a stenciled background and the Thankful Every Day phrase die. Here, the phrase isn't simply sitting at the bottom of the card as a greeting. It becomes part of the graphic composition and works together with the colorful strips to create the focal point.

Make Your Words Work Harder

Maria's projects are a great reminder that word and phrase dies don't have to be an afterthought. They can be the focal point, help establish the color palette, or become part of the overall graphic design.

The next time you reach for a word or phrase die, think about how you can make the sentiment influence your card from the very beginning. Make it the focal point. Pull colors from your background into the die cut. Build a pattern or composition that helps emphasize the words.

Your sentiment can say something meaningful and look good doing it.

And if you're ready to add some new words and phrases to your die collection, now is a great time to shop. All CUTplorations dies are currently 15% off, including our word and phrase dies.

Check out the CUTplorations dies in the STAMPlorations store and save 15% while the promotion lasts.