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.

words that matter | CREATE + Comic Pop with Shirley

Sometimes one sheet of paper goods is all you need to make more than one card.

That's exactly what STAMPgirl Shirley shows us with these two vibrant cards featuring Simple Expressions: CREATE paired with Comic Pop Pocket Backgrounds. She used the same sheet of background paper for both cards, but approached the design differently each time.

And both cards put CREATE front and center.

Let the Background Do the Work

For her first card, Shirley cut along the zigzag lines in the Comic Pop background so the yellow section could streak across the card. She then stamped and colored the CREATE sentiment to coordinate with the colors in the background and added a few red pearl gems to finish the design. 

It's bold, colorful, and surprisingly quick to put together. The dramatic zigzag background does most of the work, while the coordinated sentiment ties everything together.

Use Every Bit of the Paper

For her second card, Shirley used the remainder of the background paper and took a completely different approach. Instead of adding another focal element, she stamped CREATE right into the open gap in the design and added a few arrow stickies.

Same sheet. Same stamp. Completely different card.

And that's one of the things that makes the Simple Expressions stamps so fun to work with. You can pair them with different Paper Goods options, or simply change how you use the background and get an entirely different look.

Two Cards, One Sheet

Shirley's projects are a great reminder to look at your Paper Goods with a little more creativity. A bold background doesn't have to be used exactly as it comes. Cut it, rearrange it, find the open spaces, and see what happens when you make the sentiment part of the design.

Simple Expressions gives you a solid word, an outline version, and a coordinating script phrase in each mini set, making it easy to create a focal sentiment that works with your favorite Paper Goods.

There are 18 words and quotes in the collection, so you can mix and match your favorite messages with Card Fronts, ATCs, Collage Sheets, Pocket Backdrops, and Ephemera Cut-Outs. And when you purchase a Simple Expressions stamp set with a qualifying Paper Goods Pack, the Paper Goods Pack is automatically 40% off.

Words That Matter

Whether you want to make a quick card or spend more time building a layered design, Simple Expressions gives you a meaningful word to build around.

Pick a word. Pick some Paper Goods. Then see where your creativity takes you.

Until next time, keep creating with words that matter.

Perfect Pairs, Expanded | Blooms & Sunshine with Vicki

A coordinated collection can make cardmaking easier, but that doesn't mean you have to stop with the products in the pair.

STAMPgirl Vicki is taking Perfect Pairs: Blooms & Sunshine into extended style, combining the coordinating stamps and ephemera cuts with other supplies from her stash. The result is two very different cards that show how easily a Perfect Pairs collection can become the starting point for a more layered, personalized design.

Build a Background Around Your Ephemera

For her first card, Vicki started with a panel from the Junk Journal Collage card fronts and added texture with the Delicate Links stencil. She then layered one of the floral ephemera pieces from Blooms & Sunshine over the background and finished the card with a sentiment from the Floral Magic clear stickers collection.

The combination of the vintage-inspired collage background, stenciled texture, and floral focal point creates a beautifully layered look without overwhelming the design. The ephemera gives the card its focal image, while the additional paper goods and stencil bring in more texture and visual interest.

Let One Element Inspire the Design

For her second card, Vicki took a completely different approach. She used the digital Sketched Blooms for the background and added the splatter from Perfect Pairs: Blooms & Sunshine to the centers of the flowers. She liked the way this simple addition gave the coloring an artsy look.

Vicki then added texture with the Circles All Over Texture Cover Plate and created a dimensional focal point using several pieces of ephemera from the kit. She adhered the small tags together before adding them to the background with dimension tape. A sentiment stamped onto vellum completes the design.

The result is a wonderfully eclectic floral card that combines stamped imagery, texture, ephemera, and dimension while still keeping the coordinating Blooms & Sunshine elements at the heart of the design.

One Perfect Pair, More Possibilities

Vicki's two cards are a great example of what happens when you take a Perfect Pairs collection beyond its basic formula. The coordinating stamps and ephemera cuts give you a natural place to begin, but adding other products from your stash can completely change the direction of the finished card.

Start with a beautiful piece of ephemera. Build a background around it. Add texture with a stencil or cover plate. Or take one of the stamps and use it in a way that brings your own style into the design.

That's the beauty of the extended style: the pair gives you the foundation, and your stash gives you room to make it your own.

Discover What's Possible

Perfect Pairs: Blooms & Sunshine combines coordinating stamps and ephemera cuts designed to work together, giving you an easy starting point for creating cohesive cards. But as Vicki's projects show, you don't have to stop there. Add a stencil. Bring in a card front. Layer in a cover plate. Mix in clear stickers or digital stamps. Take the coordinating pieces and see where your own supplies lead you.

Explore Blooms & Sunshine and the other Perfect Pairs collections in the STAMPlorations store.

Until next time, keep creating, experimenting, and finding new ways to make your supplies work together.

Perfect Pairs: Blooms & Sunshine with Walter

Today we're showcasing Perfect Pairs: Blooms & Sunshine with two beautiful cards by STAMPfella Walter.

The coordinating ephemera cuts in this bundle do a lot of the work for you. With their vibrant florals and variety of styles, you can keep things simple or add a few extra details to create something more layered and dimensional.

Check out what Walter did!

For his first card, Walter used the tag ephemera cuts to create a fun dimensional border along the bottom of the card panel. He stamped the coordinating paint/ink splatter background stamp with gold metallic pigment ink and added the "Sending You Sunshine" sentiment in brown. A generous amount of grunge gives the card a vintage feel and ties all the elements together. The result is a warm, layered design that lets the colorful floral ephemera take center stage.

For his second card, Walter kept things simple with a pretty focal arrangement. He used one of the floral ephemera cuts with the Curly Labels/Tags die and added a paper doily from his stash for a little extra detail. The soft pink background and gold accents complement the florals beautifully, while the "Sending You Sunshine" sentiment finishes the card without competing with the focal image.

Rounding up today's projects

The Blooms & Sunshine Ephemera Cut-Outs are beautiful enough to stand on their own, but they also give you plenty of room to make them your own. Frame one on a card, layer several together, or add a few extra elements such as a doily or die-cut frame. And because the ephemera cuts coordinate with the Blooms & Sunshine stamps, you can mix and match the pieces to create cards that are as simple or as detailed as you like.

If you're looking for an easy way to build a beautiful card, Perfect Pairs does the coordinating for you.

Perfect Pairs: Party & Wishes | Two Quick and Easy Birthday Cards with Chris

One of the things I love about Perfect Pairs is that the coordinating stamps and ephemera cuts make it really easy to put a card together without having to spend hours figuring out what goes with what.

STAMPgirl Chris put that to the test with two birthday cards using Perfect Pairs: Party & Wishes and the coordinating ephemera cuts. And when I say quick, I mean quick. Her first card took about 10 to 12 minutes, while the second one came together in about 5 to 6 minutes, not counting the time it took for the Stickles to dry.

That's a record for Chris, who says her cards usually take her two to three hours to make. I had to chuckle when I read that :-o)

Keep It Simple With a Pop of Color

For her first card, Chris stamped the Party & Wishes background stamp in a zigzag pattern using three ink colors that coordinate with the party hat ephemera cut. She then tore a strip of white cardstock, stamped the sentiment at the bottom, and added the strip and party hat to the card base.

I really like how the colorful stamped background frames the party hat without competing with it. The torn strip of cardstock gives the eye a place to rest, while the coordinating colors tie everything together. Simple. Colorful. And done in about 10 minutes.

A Little Masking Goes a Long Way

For her second card, Chris kept things just as simple but changed up the design. She masked off an area of the card base and stamped the Party & Wishes background stamp diagonally inside the masked area. For the sentiment, she masked off part of the stamp so she could use just the word "Celebrate" in the bottom right corner. She then added gold Stickles to all the sprinkles on the cupcake ephemera cut. Once the Stickles dried, she popped the cupcake up with foam squares for a little dimension.

I love that she didn't feel the need to use the entire sentiment stamp. Sometimes one word is all you need. And the little bit of sparkle on the cupcake? Just enough.

Let the Pair Do the Work

Chris' two cards are a great example of how much you can do with the Perfect Pairs: Party & Wishes set and its coordinating ephemera cuts without bringing in a whole pile of other supplies. The background stamp gives you an easy way to add color and pattern, while the ephemera cuts give you ready-to-use focal images that already coordinate with the stamps. Then it's just a matter of changing up the arrangement. A little masking here. A torn strip there. Maybe some Stickles if you're in the mood for a little sparkle. That's it.

And if you're looking for cards you can put together without spending hours on each one, Chris's 5-to-12-minute cards are pretty good proof that Perfect Pairs really can make cardmaking easier.

Check out Perfect Pairs: Party & Wishes and the other Perfect Pairs collections in the STAMPlorations store.

paper goods inspiration | Two Ways to Dress Up Vintage Roses Card Fronts with Stephanie

Sometimes you start with a beautiful card front and don't need to do much to it. Other times, you look at it and think, okay, what else can I do with this?

That's what I like about card fronts. They can be the whole starting point for a card,  but you don't have to leave them intact. Cut them up, add some ink, stencil over them, layer them with other products, and see where they take you.

STAMPgirl Stephanie did exactly that with two Vintage Roses card fronts. She cut both card fronts into panels and then used stencils, glitter paste, and a few other SAMPlorations products.

Add Some Sparkle

For her first card, Stephanie cut a Vintage Roses card front into panels and used them to create the floral background. She then used the Beautiful Mandala Accent #1 slimline stencil to apply glitter paste over the card front. The glitter paste is a little tricky to capture in a photo, but it adds another layer of texture and sparkle to the already detailed floral design. She finished the card with the "Celebrate Big" sentiment from the Perfect Pairs: Party & Wishes set along with a sentiment from the Hey Sunshine clear sticker pack.

I really like how the panels break up the large floral image while still keeping the roses as the star of the card. The stenciling adds something extra without take over. Sometimes that's all you need.

Change the Color and Add More Texture

For her second card, Stephanie again cut a Vintage Roses card front into panels, but this time she used the Bloomdala Bliss #16 mask to add another layer of design. She sponged purple ink over the card front and, once it was dry, added glitter paste through the mask. The result is a softer, more muted version of the floral artwork, with the glitter paste adding just the right amount of sparkle. She finished the card with a sentiment from the Inspirational #1 clear sticker pack.

I like that she didn't try to force her original idea when the purple ink didn't behave the way she wanted it to. She changed things up and ended up with a look that works beautifully with the vintage feel of the card front. That's part of the fun of playing with paper.

One Card Front, Lots of Possibilities

These two cards are a great example of why I love having card fronts in my stash. Stephanie started with two pieces from the same Vintage Roses collection and cut both of them into panels. From there, she took them in two completely different directions. One got a mandala stencil and glitter paste. The other got purple ink, a large mask, and more glitter paste.

Same card front collection. Different ideas. And that's really the point. You don't have to use a card front exactly as it comes. Cut it up. Rearrange the pieces. Add some ink or texture. Use a stencil over it. See what happens.

If you like having a variety of card fronts ready to play with, our Card Fronts VIP Subscription makes it easy to build your stash. You choose the card fronts you want each month, so you can pick the styles and themes you actually like to use.

You can also choose from our other Paper Goods VIP Subscription options, including ATCs, Collage Paper, Pocket Backdrops, and Ephemera Cut-Out Sheets.

Because sometimes you don't need more supplies. You just need a few good pieces of paper to start playing with.

words that matter | GRACE + Floral Parade with Craftyfield

Sometimes the sentiment really is the star of the card.

That's what Craftyfield shows us with these two cards featuring Simple Expressions: GRACE paired with the Floral Parade Ephemera Cut-Outs. She used the same pairing for both cards, but the finished designs feel quite different. One is clean and simple. The other has a little more going on.

And both keep GRACE front and center.

Let GRACE Take Center Stage

For her first card, Craftyfield kept things very simple. She stamped the GRACE outline in black Versafine and the solid word in a pinkish color, then embossed it with red UTEE with gold lustre. She placed a floral bouquet from the Floral Parade ephemera cut-outs underneath the sentiment and matted the panel onto a blue card base.

And then she stopped.

I know that sounds simple, but sometimes that's the hardest part. When you have a whole stash of things you could add, it's pretty easy to keep going. Craftyfield resisted that temptation, and I think the card is better for it. The sentiment already has plenty of impact, and the floral image gives it just enough support without taking over.

Frame the Sentiment

For her second card, Craftyfield used the same GRACE stamp and Floral Parade ephemera cut-outs, but this time she built a little more around the sentiment. She framed the design with torn pieces of an Old Letters Pocket Backdrop, then added two pieces from the Floral Parade ephemera cut-outs. She fussy cut the flowers to remove the white border, which helps them blend right into the vintage-style background. Once again, she stamped the GRACE outline in black and the solid word in pink to coordinate with the flowers.

It's a little more layered than her first card, but GRACE is still the first thing you notice.

Creative Takeaway

These two cards are a good reminder that you don't need to build a complicated design around a strong sentiment. Sometimes the best thing you can do is give the word some breathing room. Other times, you can frame it with patterned paper, add a couple of coordinating images, and create a little more visual interest. The trick is deciding what you want to be the star.

And look at how different the second card feels. Same sentiment. Ephemera from Floral Parade. But add the Old Letters backdrop and fussy-cut the flowers, and you've got a completely different card.

That's one of the things I like about the Simple Expressions stamps. You can keep the design simple, or you can build around the sentiment and make it part of a bigger composition.

Words That Matter

That's really what Simple Expressions is about. A meaningful word can say a lot. Give it some room, pair it with an image that supports the message, and let it become part of the artwork instead of something you simply tuck into a corner.

There are 18 words and quotes in the collection, so there's plenty to choose from depending on what you want your card to say. And because the Simple Expressions stamps work so well with our paper goods, you can mix and match them with Card Fronts, ATCs, Collage Sheets, Pocket Backdrops, and Ephemera Cut-Outs to create your own combinations.

When you purchase a Simple Expressions stamp and a qualifying Paper Goods Pack, the Paper Goods Pack is automatically 40% off.

Until next time, keep creating with words that matter.