Takin' It To the Top Thursday

Hello everyone and welcome to the March edition of Takin' It To the Top on Stamping 411! In this feature, we take a simple, basic (but still beautiful) card and we transform it to a special and spectacular card by adding layers, texture, color and embellishments.

It's our hope that this feature will help you look at your cards in a new way and discover how easy it is to dress them up ... either a little or a lot!

Today's Takin' It To the Top cards use the fabulous, new Paisley Petals Designer Series Paper that will be available to customers beginning tomorrow, April 1st! Contact your Stampin' Up! Demonstrator for more information!

Now, here is our first card -- it's simple, yes, but it's beautiful and it's a great choice when you need to make a quick card or need to make multiples in a hurry.

The Card Base is Not Quite Navy Cardstock -- begin with a 5.5 x 8.5" piece of cardstock, score and fold in the middle. Next is a layer of Designer Series Paper cut at 4 x 5.25". I've added a length of Baja Breeze 1/2" Seam Tape Ribbon across the bottom (roughly 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the card). Fasten the ends of the ribbon to the back of the DSP and add a simple, faux bow (slip 6" of ribbon under the attached strip of ribbon, tie a simple overhand knot and pull tight and then trim the ends diagonally to the length that you desire). The sentiment, from the stamp set Word Play, is stamped on Whisper White Cardstock using Not Quite Navy Ink. The White layer is 2 x 2.75" and it's then attached to a Not Quite Navy layer that is 2.25 x 3". Attach to the card with SNAIL adhesive and the card is finished. This card is simple, easy, fast and a delight to anyone who might receive it in the mail. Another advantage for this simple, minimal layer cards ... no extra postage is required for mailing!

But we all have those occasions when we want to step our card up a bit -- to make it a little special for a special person or occasion! So, now let's take a look at Card #2. Using the same basic layout and materials, here's what I did to step this one up.

First of all, you can see that I added another layer and another color -- the DSP is cut at 3.75 x 5", Pear Pizzazz Cardstock is cut at 4 x 5.25" and those layers are added to the same Not Quite Navy Card Base.

I also changed out the ribbon for a little more contrast -- adding Pear Pizzazz Poly Twill Ribbon and again, a tied faux bow.

To the stamped image layer, I added three Green Rhinestone Brads for a little sparkle and bling.

And finally, I pop-up the stamped focal layers with Stampin' Dimensionals which adds a little more interest and depth to the finished card. These changes were all fairly simple ... nothing drastic was done and you can clearly see that the same layout was used for both cards.

Now, when you want a card that has even more thought and time put into it, something that is even more special, then you can add a few more elements to really Take it to the Top. Realize, of course, that adding extra layers and embellishments may make this card more expensive to send in the mail. This may be a card that you want to hand-deliver, or include in a package or gift.

Adding to the additional layers of Card #2, I've now added a 1" strip of Pear Pizzazz cardstock at the bottom that has been punched with the Scallop Trim Border Punch. I've gone back to the Baja Breeze Seam Tape Ribbon, this time adding an actual bow, actually a double bow.

I've set the stamped focal image a bit lower and more to the left side on this final card, to allow room for the Daisy Die Cuts at the top. These were cut with the Big Shot and the Flower Daisies #2 Die, using Baja Breeze and Whisper White cardstock -- I cut two each of the small and medium sizes, sponged the edges with Not Quite Navy Ink and alternated them, gently curling the edges up using a Bone Folder. The center is adorned with an Antique Brad and the entire flower is popped-up with Stampin' Dimensionals. I've replaced the Rhinestone Brads with Self-Adhesive Basic Pearls at the bottom of the focal point.

So there you have it ... three cards all similar in design and materials but one simple and basic, one stepped up just a bit, and one that will really say "WOW"!

And now, it's YOUR turn! Let's see what you can do to dress-up your cards this week. Even if you don't want to Take it to the Top, what can you do to make your cards even more special? We challenge you to make a card this week and then add at least two additional elements to dress that card up a bit -- it could be layers or colors or texture or embellishments or additional images -- whatever you like.

Take some photos, post them on your blog or another Public Forum and tell us how you dressed your card up a bit and then come back to this post and leave us a link to your creation! We would love to see what you've done! You have until midnight next Wednesday night to leave your link and play along with the challenge.

Thanks so much, everyone, for sharing some time with me today on Takin' It To the Top. I hope you visit the Operators at Stamping 411 again soon!

Blessings, Gretchen