Stamping In Black

I had been stamping cards for several years before I ever thought about using black cardstock.   As soon as I tried it, I liked how classic and clean it looked.  When I was recently stamping cards for Halloween, I decided to make some non-Halloween cards, using black cardstock as the base.  These cards I'm sharing today are the results!

SIMPLE STAMPING TIP #16 - - - Use black cardstock, paired with a black inkpad for a simple, classic look on your cards.

For many of these cards, I used papers from the Whole Lot of Lovely collection. 

On the card below & the one above, I stamped my greeting directly onto the paper.  Also, on this "Happy Birthday" card, I used my Wink of Stella glitter brush over the words, to match the black shimmer ribbon.  (The camera doesn't capture the subtle bit of glitter.)

This paper is my favorite one from this collection.

I like how the black cat (punched from the new Cat Punch in the Holiday Catalog) stands out against this background paper.

I love this paper from the Spooky Night paper collection!  

I have lots of black going on in this birthday card that I stamped for my friend Lisa.  I like the contrast of the pink against the black & white.

Another common "thread" in all of these cards, is that I used some sort of black trim in all of them.  The Black Vintage Crochet Trim is in the Holiday Catalog.  The Black Shimmer Ribbon and the Black Solid Baker's Twine can be found in the Annual Catalog.  

As you can see, black isn't just for Halloween!  If you haven't used much black in your stamping, give it a try.

Cat Lover's Card

I made this card for my granddaughter, DeDe.  She and I share a love for cats.  She finally got a kitten on her birthday a few months ago, after wanting one for a very long time. 

I have been without a cat for about a year (long & sad story), but I know that eventually we will welcome a new kitty into our home, whenever the time feels right.

I stamped the card above using one of my favorite new items in the new Holiday Catalog from Stampin' Up, which is this fabulous cat punch!

It is part of a suite of Halloween products, but certainly is not limited to Halloween stamping!  If you love cats like DeDe & me, or if you know people who do, you NEED this punch!  

I chose the words on my card from the Thoughtful Banners stamp set.  All of these words make it easy to create a customized sentiment.

Here is a similar card I made with this punch.

The bow on the cat's neck is tied from a piece of Crushed Curry Solid Baker's twine.  Lately I've been obsessed with gluing tiny bows on my cards!  (See last week's post.)

Both of these cards use the following tip:

SIMPLE STAMPING TIP #13:  Adhere a punched image to a large piece of patterned paper.  Add greeting.

This tip would work with any punch and any paper.  This is a fast way to make a cute card.  There is a large variety of both punches and paper in our catalogs, which you can browse by clicking on the catalog images in the right sidebar.  If you have any questions, email me at godismydelight@yahoo.com.  I will see you here again next week!