April Card Kit - You Brighten My Day

Simon Says Stamp's April card kit is themed around a light-bulb this month. The stamp set's got a ton of punny and cute little sayings, and it looks versatile enough to be used year-round. I will definitely be pulling it out next Valentine's for a cute "love you watts and watts" card.


Although I got this kit a few days ago, I didn't get a chance to play around with it until today. I think I had a bout of flu, as I was completely out of commission for a few days. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better now and I'm ready to create fun things once again. :)

I started by picking out the paper. A lot of the papers that come in the card kit have a really interesting look, with bright colors on one side and a black/white pattern on the other. I decided to make use of the contrast of black and white and pair it with yellow for a punch of color.

I started by creating the center panel by layering the polka-dot paper on each side of the gray wood-grain. After that, I stamped the solid light-bulb on a piece of plain white cardstock. I used two colors. First, I stamped with the yellow pigment ink. While the ink was still wet, I inked up the stamp with orange pigment ink and stamped it lightly on a piece of scrap paper to take off some of the color. Then, I stamped it onto the yellow image. It created a really great texture.

After heat-setting the solid bulb, I stamped the outline stamp in Versamark embossing ink. I used platinum embossing powder and zapped it with the heat gun. After it cooled, I cut it using my Sizzix round dies. I also cut out a larger circle from a piece of black cardstock and used it as a frame. Using a black pen, I drew a dotted border around the white circle.

I added the sentiment at the bottom of the card and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I used a highlighter to highlight the word "brighten" and to tie in the sentiment with the card.

Lastly, I added a few embelishments: a piece of hemp cord twine and a button at the top, as well as a few enamel dots from the kit at the bottom.

Supplies:
Simon Says Stamp April Card Kit
Cardstock: Bazzill Marshmallow, Simon Says Stamp 100# black cardstock
Ink: Memento Luxe in Dandelion (yellow), Mama Elephant in Orangeade (orange), Mama Elephant in Ocean (blue), Versamark embossing ink
Embossing Powder: Ranger super fine Clear Embossing Powder, Ranger Platinum embossing powder
Hemptique Natural Hemp Cord
Button
Highlighter