Dec 5, 20203 min read

Staycation-the 2020 way to travel!

This background stamp by Hero Arts sums up the only type of travelling/vacationing I did this year! I love all the components that they've included. My favourite is probably the one in the top right corner that says "ticket to self preservation".

I have been on a real colouring binge lately and have been colouring everything in sight! That includes this background. I created two similar versions of this card, one A2 sized and the other is a big 6x6".

I think this time of year many of us forget to relax and take time for ourselves. There are a few friends that I have in mind for this type of card.

The first step in creating my "Don't Forget to Relax" card was to stamp the background image onto beige coloured cardstock using vintage photo distress oxide ink. I wanted this card an aged vintage look so I used browns and deep reds to give that effect. I then coloured it up using Prismacolor pencils. The colours I used were: scarlet red, crimson red, crimson lake, mahogany red, terra cotta, tuscan red, seashell pink, jasmine, beige, golden rod, eggshell,

sienna brown, ginger root.

I then trimmed it down to just under 4.25x5.5 and adhered it to an A2 sized brown cardstock panel. Using the same brown cardstock, I die cut the shadow of the word Relax from Gemini 2 times and glued them together. Next I die cut the Relax 4 times in red and glued them together. I then used my tuscan red Prismacolor pencil to darken the edges of the top layer of relax. I glued it onto the shadow then onto the card.

Last step was to stamp the "Don't Forget To" onto beige cardstock in red ink. The sentiment comes from Honey Bee Stamps. I then trimmed the sentiment, trimmed it down, darkened the edges using vintage photo d.o. ink and glued a brown cardstock border to it. Finally I glued the sentiment above the work relax completing this card.

For this next card of mine, I really wanted to show the whole stamp. It is a 6x6 stamp so the card is big! I think I will probably keep it and display it as my Ode to 2020!

I used the exact same process for this card as my previous one, only different cheerier colour scheme. The colours for this card were: blush pink, pink, process red, light aqua, light green, parrot green.

The sentiment Adventure, also by Gemini, was done the same way as well. I didn't have the "At Home" to I printed one out from my computer. I trimmed it down, added picked raspberry d.o. around the edges and backed it with pink and black cardstock. I adhered my components on then glued the panel onto a 6x6 card base. I cut the card base from 12x12 cardstock.

I felt that while I love the stamp set, the card was lacking some oomph and/or dimension. So I stamped up another background coloured some of the elements, fussy cut them out, and then popped them up with double sided foam tape over their flat counterpart. The two big ones under "Adventure" I hole punched both, overlapped them and ran a piece of black ribbon through the holes. I back them with double sided foam tape also.