Happy Sunday to you, and “thank you” for checking out my CAS (clean & simple) card. I chose this topiary from a stamp set called Vertical Greetings, because this week’s Paper Players challenge is to use plants, as well as being clean & simple. My husband said he loves it, so I think it also qualifies as a masculine, thank you card. 

Topiary

I used a fun technique, “ink to stamp transfer, ” or, that’s what I’ll call it.

Using the Stamparatus makes it very easy. Hold your Whisper White cardstock in place with the magnet. Position the stamp on top of the cardstock, pick up the stamp with the Stamparatus hinged plate, color the stamp with ink, press the stamp (attached to the plate) onto the cardstock. Repeat with different colors until your object is complete.

I used Garden Green and Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Write Markers for the bush, Bronze Stampin’ Blend for the trunk, and Dark Cajun Craze Stampin’ Blend for the pot.

TIP: Apply the ink with the brush end, held sideways, to reduce wear to the tip. The Stampin’ Blends dry quickly, so you may have to stamp several times to get the desired color. This is why the Stamparatus Tool is very helpful. 

Once my topiary was complete, I bordered it with Soft Suede cardstock. For the background, I used the Subtle Textured embossing folder, leaving it white for a clean look. Prior to embossing, I stamped “thank you” from the Vertical Greetings stamp set in Soft Suede.

If you aren’t familiar with the Stamparatus positioning tool, click on its picture in my Product List to read more about it. I don’t know what I did without it!

For more clean & simple ideas using “plants,” visit the other Paper Players Design Team member’s blogs.

Product List