Hi Creative Friends,
I am sharing a few brand new stamp and die sets from Concord & 9th and I am just loving them! The first is the Downtown Stacks. I have a special fondness for buildings and houses so this caught my eye immediately. The second set was a bit of a surprise to me. I usually don’t choose hot air balloons but these Up & Away sets really changed my mind. I adore both of these new sets! You can create so much awesome things with them!
Today I am just sharing one way to make a fun and cheerful card design. I started by creating a white slimline card base measuring 4.5″ x 8.5″. Next, I added a Robin’s Egg blue panel that was just a little narrower at 4.25″ x 8.5″. With the base card done, I set it aside while I worked on all the other pieces.
The Downtown Stacks die set is a very detailed set. It has all sorts of buildings that you can customize to your liking. It even has cars, trees, umbrella table, and when combined with its coordinating stamp set, it has all the appropriate signage and sentiments. Using some heavy white card stock (Neenah 110 lb.), I die cut them all. At the same time, I cut out both of the balloons, clouds, and flag banners from the Up and Away set, using the same white card stock.
My vision for this card was a fresh and more modern scene so I left all the buildings white and only colored the balloons. I blended on Worn Lipstick distress ink onto the largest balloon, then shaded it with Abandoned Coral. The smaller balloon was colored with Salvaged Patina and shaded with Evergreen Bough. As you can see in the pics, I only colored the separate accents stripes of the balloon, then glued them in place.
With all the pieces cut out, it was only a matter of stacking and gluing the solid building backgrounds to the coordinating detailed window piece, then arranging them at the bottom of the card base. I added a few trees and the included banners that I had stamped with the Happy Birthday sentiment using Versafine Black Onyx ink.
Next, I added the balloons that I had popped up with foam squares (see supply list below). Once they were in place, I added some clouds and banners. I stamped a few hearts using Abandoned Coral and the included stamp.
And there you have it, a delightful card. I hope you give it a try. I think you will be as surprised as I was how much fun it was to create and how easy it came together. There are loads more ways you can use these stamp and die sets so I will be reaching for them time and again! ♥
Goodies Used:
