Hi everyone! What’s new?

I have been busy making sooooo many craft projects that it is hard to know where to start with sharing them all. I’m starting with this pretty black, white and red floral greeting card making idea because it this project is one of the few things I’ve made that has a deadline attached. It was inspired by the Monthly Mix Challenge over at the Gina K Designs website, and that challenge ends today ended a couple of days ago. I am updating this post today because I decided to also enter this project in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge.

At the Gina K Designs website, participants were challenged to

” make a Black and White card with a POP of color! The majority of your card must be black and white and you can choose any color you want for your POP, but it must be one color. For those of you who prefer numbers, keep the color at no more than 25% of your total card. I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!”

People, this was a TOUGH challenge!

When I used to work in the textile industry, I did frequently have to design fabrics featuring a limited color palette. So this idea of using a limited color palette is not totally foreign to me. However, using a limited color palette isn’t normally something I do when I’m making handmade cards. So I definitely found this to be a challenging challenge! Which, I guess, is the whole point. I participate in challenges because I enjoy being forced out of my comfort zone creatively.

I actually made a bunch of different projects for this challenge using different colors as the “pop” color. Out of all of them, the one you see pictured above is my favorite. I used red as the “pop” color, and I LOVE how it turned out!

It’s a slimline card featuring floral images that I made using the Fancy Florals Mini Stamp Set by Gina K Designs. I layered the stamped images with some other elements including a three-dimensional fabric flower by Petaloo, a scalloped heart design, and a paper lace border design. I fussy-cut those scalloped elements using scalloped scissors by E.K. Success.

While I was struggling with what to make my “pop” color, I looked back in my folder of older card designs and I came across a card I made that was published in the Stamper’s Sampler magazine many years ago. I still love it all these years later.

And when I saw it, I remembered how much I LOVE black, white and red color combinations. So I knew red had to be the first “pop” color I tried using for this new challenge.

The stamps I used to make that old card are by a long-defunct stamp manufacturer called Inque Boutique. That floral stamp used to be my most-frequently used stamp EVER, until I wore it out and couldn’t replace it. I was so bummed about that.

But now I am so, so, so SO HAPPY, because Gina K’s Fancy Floral stamps are even better than the Inque Boutique florals that I used to own and use so often. I TOTALLY LOVE THEM! And they are now becoming some of my most-frequently-used stamps for card making and other paper crafts, because, as you can see, they are extremely versatile.

Gina K Designs actually makes some gorgeous black and white patterned paper that I would love to have used in this project, except for 2 problems: 1 — I don’t happen to have any of that particular patterned paper in my stash at the moment, and 2 — Even if I did, the 6″x6″ papers aren’t quite long enough for making this particular slimline card. To make this particular card design, I had to cut a piece of paper measuring 8 1/4″ x 3 1/4″; the solid black-colored cardstock layered underneath measures 8 1/2″ x 3 1/2″. But I would really love to try making a similar, smaller card using Gina K’s elegant black and white papers and these same stamps.

As it turns out, the only black and white papers I have stashed at the moment are ancient ones dating back to 2006ish through 2009ish. The one I used in this project was made by a now-defunct company called Cherry Arte. The brads I used as flower centers are also from that same time period; they were made by Queen & Company. I just checked to see if they still make these, and I couldn’t find them, which I suppose isn’t exactly shocking.

So one of the next projects I’m planning is to try remaking this general card design using papers and other supplies that are actually still available — and probably also using green for the leaves and a riot of colors for the rest of the project. In the meanwhile, the Fancy Floral stamps I used for this are in stock and available at the Gina K Designs website. I highly recommend these if you are in need of a versatile set of floral stamps that could be used for creating cards, scrapbooking layouts, planner layouts, collages, art journals and basically any other type of art or paper crafts project you could imagine.

Want to check out my other entries in this challenge? They’re linked below; If you’re in need of more DIY card making ideas, I invite you to take a look.

• Bold Black and White Greeting Card With “Warm Glow” Accents Featuring Supplies by Gina K Designs
• Warmest Wishes Floral Card Featuring Stamps by Gina K Designs

Thanks so much for dropping by my blog today; I really appreciate your presence here. Please stay tuned for more posts featuring my other entries from this fun and challenging challenge. My heartfelt thanks to the team at Gina K Designs for hosting this fun and thought-provoking challenge, and also for making such fantastic stamps and paper crafting supplies available.

Posted By: Amy Solovay

This page was last updated on 8-2-2022.