Bamboo Beauty and the beauty of a pastel rainbow

I am always drawn to Asian inspired art and poetry – as our Americanized version of it is always so beautifully peaceful and calming.  That was the original reason that I could not wait to order the Bamboo Beauty stamp set when it first came out.  I have used it frequently for cards that I send – but I have never included any of these in my blog…until now.

There is a lovely application for this stamp set on page 86 of the 2022-2023 Annual Catalog – and that was the design that I CAS’d for today’s card.

In addition to the beautiful sentiments, the sample in the catalog also had an interpretation in something close to a pastel rainbow.  Well…Asian theme…beautiful sentiments…pastel rainbow…I am so in!!

There is more stamping to this card than anything else.  The paper cutting is minimal:

Once the cardstock was cut and ready to go, I stamped the bamboo stalks and leaf images using the Bamboo Beauty stamp set.  I started in the middle and moved to the right.  Then repeated the process again in the middle and working toward the left margin.  This is the best way for me to get my images balanced as best I can.

The colors that I used included Stampin’ Up! Polished Pink, Pale Papaya, Crushed Curry, Mint Macaron, Balmy Blue, and Fresh Freesia.  I would warn you to be careful of the Polished Pink.  It is a beautiful, rich color.  But in this card, it is not as pastel as the rest of the colors that I have used.  I did a stamping-off technique for those images – which means that I inked the stamped, made one image on a piece of scrap paper and then stamped the card face panel.  It creates a softer version of the color – and can be used to create a look of two different colors.

Once the panel was done, I adhered it to the Mint Macaron card face, along with the sentiment tag that I punched out using the Everyday Label punch.  (Although this punch is retired, the Rectangular Postage Stamp Punch as well as the Label Me Fancy Punch could work as well.) I added Gold Glitter Enamel Dots around the card face.  (Confession:  I am awful at this embellishment stuff.  I do know that there should be an odd number of jewels used…but where?  In this case, I placed the gems to hide those awful edge shadowy things that freehand stamping often causes.  I’m awful at freehand stamping too!)

The inside panel also uses a sentiment from Bamboo Beauty.  I am frequently in awe of Mary Deatherage’s eye for stamping a sentiment with a light, shadowy image over it – so I will often try to mimic that technique.  I tried to do that again here, using one of the leaf stalks from the Bamboo Beauty set.

And that is it!  This is a 5” x 7” card, and it offers a lot of space for a handwritten message if you wish.  Or the sentiment and the relative simplicity of the design carries it off well as its own message of friendship and caring.

As I like to do, this card is included in submissions to the Global Design Project #364.  I loved this challenge because it was looking for one of my favorite things – rainbow coloring.  It is the inspiration that I needed to get off the mark and get this card created and published!  (So many ideas, so little time…)

I will be making a number of these cards as they are so elegant for many occasions, in addition to the “thinking of you” sentiment that I have used for today’s version.  I can easily see this as a wedding or shower card – but its softness and tranquility might also lend itself to a sympathy card as needed.  But mostly, I like to find cards that say that I am thinking of someone when there are life changes or life events that require some strength to them.  I think it would be great for that as well.

Thank you so much for dropping in to see my card today!  If you are looking for any info on this card – or any of the others that you may want to consider CASing – please do not hesitate to contact me!  I am always happy to share.

Here is a list of the items that I have used for this card: