Learning To Think Out of The Box

I love looking at cards that other people have made and one of the things I have observed is that that most creative card makers think out of the box. They look at a product and think of as many different ways to use it as possible. Lately I have seen multiple people turn the oval punches into vases. Stampin Addicts showed a technique of inking acrylic blocks and stamping directly onto card stock to add texture or color. So I tried both of these techniques on this card:

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First, I formed a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card base out of Very Vanilla card stock.

The second layer is Baja Breeze and measures 5 1/4"x 4". I embossed it with the Elegant Lines folder and attached it to the center of the card base.

The third layer is a piece of Very Vanilla, 4 3/4" x 2 1/2". I placed an acrylic block on a Baja Breeze ink pad and then stamped the block directly onto the Very Vanilla panel. Then I sponged the ink around the edges.
Next I colored the flowers from the Nature Walk stamp set with the Riding Hood Red and Garden Green Stampin' Write markers and stamped them in the top middle of the panel. I repeated this 2 more times. Then I used the Regal Rose anad Garden Green markers to color the berry stem from the Autumn Days stamp set and stamped it among the flowers.

I used the 2" x 1 3/8" oval punch to form a Baja Breeze oval and snipped off the ends to form the vase. I painted it with Frost Whie Shimmer Paint to give the vase a look of frosted glass. I used dimensionals to attach the vase over my flowers.

Finally, I added Basic Pearls to the vase and the embossed Baja Breeze.

Try to think of multiple ways to use your Stampin'Up products. You can come up with some cool looks and make your investment really pay off.