Living My Dream: "One Stamp, Five Ways" - Mama Elephant Sunday Stroll

Another Mama Elephant stamp set today as promised, but I am a day late! I've been so good sticking to my Tuesday and Friday schedule since I started this "one stamp, five ways" series, but the posts don't usually make it up until the end of the day! But this week, I fell off the wagon and got way behind with company in town. So here we are on Saturday - shame shame on me. Some of you have asked how to subscribe to my blog. The answer is I DON'T REALLY KNOW! Does anyone know how to make that work on a typepad blog? I'll research it and get back to those that have emailed. In the mean time, I do update Instagram each time I post with a picture of one of the cards announcing I have a new post up and my user name is "suzyplant".

Ok, business over... let's get started. Here is the adorable stamp set I will be using by Mama Elephant called Sunday Stroll which also has dies to go with it. You can purchase them together HERE. I didn't realize until I started playing with this set that it has no sentiments. Then I realized it has a sentiment set that goes with it that I didn't have! But I found other sentiments that worked perfectly with it as I'm sure you all have in your stash as well!

One of the things I love about Mama Elephant stamp sets is all the tiny little images they have in them that allow you to create a cute scene. And this one has more than any other sets I have. So many, that I never got to use some in my creations! Before I start making things, I stamp and die-cut quite a few of each image so I have choices and then I put the extras in the back of the stamp envelope so I can pull them out when I want to create another card with that set. It's all about the preparation peeps!

Here is my first card. I made this one along time ago and I think I posted it on my blog already. It uses the adorable Pretty Pink Posh Storybook 1 die set that I use all the time to create windows on cards.

On the inside of the window I put a transparency so it really does look like a window. For the outside, I cut around the die and watercolored it. I attached that piece to a flat card base that I had also die-cut the window in. Then I put the transparency between the two so it doesn't show on the inside of the card either. I used a small banner stamp from the Lawn Fawn Birthday Tags stamp set and colored it red and attached it to the outside of the card. I stamped the sentiment on the top using SSS Black Intense Ink (the only black ink I use anymore - have I mentioned that it cleans off the stamps and works with BOTH Copic markers AND watercolors!???!) and the Lawn Fawn Let's Play stamp set (love that font!).

This is the inside of the card. I used the Mama Elephant Landscape Trio dies to create grass and die-cut the bottom with a stitched rectangle. I watercolored these pieces and layered them over a watercolored sky. The reason I use watercolors all the time is they are way less expensive to use than Copic markers. I was running out of ink in all my markers and realized I needed to find a different option for backgrounds. So watercolor has become my coloring method of choice! I usually color my small images with Copics though as it is easier than with watercolors to shade. But for these, I watercolored them and used watercolor pencils for shading - they work best to add after the image is already watercolored to add shading to small areas and I don't wet them again. These little images are SO adorable aren't they?

For this card, I watercolored stripes on a piece of watercolor paper - my go to background method! I used turquoise and greens and just mixed them to create different hues for each stripe. I used a 1/4" flat brush for this one. When it was dry, I die-cut it into a stitched rectangle. You can see that I really get my money's worth out of my Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle dies!

I also die-cut a stitched oval out of Neenah white cardstock. I stamped the images on the same paper and die-cut them, then colored them with Copic markers. I like how the shading for these small images looks so good with Copic markers - I usually only use two colors for shading small areas. I kept this one simple and didn't paint a background behind them. I just added a banner to the top using the MFT Blueprints Tag Builder, painted it with the same colors as the background stripes and stamped it with the salutation - best buds from Newton's Nook Versatile Vases stamp set. I added some white sequins to the sides and layered all on a white cardstock base.

For this card, I started with some Ranger white watercolor paper and painted the background blue for a sky. I love how the Ranger paper has so much texture as you can see in this image. I die-cut the grass pieces using the same Mama Elephant Landscape Trio die set. I painted them green and added a second layer with strokes going vertical with a drier brush so they looked like grass. I attached them to the bottom of the sky piece and die-cut all with my trusty well used stitched rectangle dies.

I stamped hello friend from the SSS Birthday Flowers stamp set in their April card kit, but you can also purchase it separately. I stamped it with Versamark ink and poured Ranger white embossing powder on it - it really stands out nice against the background. I usually forget to try white embossing for sentiments! I stamped and die-cut all the images on Neenah white cardstock and colored them with Copics. I attached all to the background and added some Pretty Pink Posh clear white sequins in the sky.

This card was my attempt to show a different way to use the stamp set without using the little people. I started by die-cutting a scallop edged rectangle using watercolor paper and the MFT Blueprints 1 set (I also really get a lot of use out of my Blueprints for banners and backgrounds). I painted it with watercolors that have a nice sheen to them (like a wink of stella pen but less money using watercolors!). I die-cut a circle using the SSS circle dies that leave stitching on both sides of the circle. I attached this to a white cardstock stitched rectangle and attached those two pieces to a green card base.

Inside the circle, I used the line of small dots stamp that is in the set and Lawn Fawn Sunflower ink to create sun rays. I the stamped and die-cut several clouds and a sun, colored all with Copic markers and attached them to the background. I used pop dots behind the sun. I added some sparkly sequins to finish the scene. Last, I did-cut a stitched banner from my MFT Blueprints 9 set and stamped a sentiment from my brand spankin' new Mama Elephant Carried Away stamp set (that I will be featuring soon). I attached that to the bottom of the card. Last I added some Pretty Pink Posh clear sparkly sequins that I use on everything I make!

I made several tags using the Mama Elephant xxx die-set. It is a small tag perfect for the small images in this set. It comes with two tag dies, one as a background and one with a stitched circle in the middle. For this one, I painted the background blue and then attached the images colored with Copic markers. I attached all to the tag and added a simple small sentiment.

I used the same tag dies for this one, but painted the front with green watercolor and the back tag with blue watercolor. I added some of the cute little images and stamped the word friends using the Lawn Fawn Let's Play stamp set. I added some small pink sequins from the Pretty Pink Posh summer mix.

I couldn't resist making a bunch of tags with this set as they work so perfect with the small images. This one again uses the same ME dies. This time I left the background palin and watercolored the front with pinks and reds. I stamped the small images on watercolor paper and watercolored them as well. I attached them to the background and also stamped the small little stitched heart on the background. The Miss You is from the MFT Things With Wings stamp set I recently highlighted a few posts back. It has really small sentiments perfect for tags.

For this last tag, I started with the Lawn Fawn Tag You're It die set and stamped it with the Lawn Fawn Birthday Tags stamp set. I used Lawn Fawn Cranberry ink. I stamped the little hello speech bubble using the Lawn Fawn Into the Woods stamp set and Lawn Fawn Mermaid ink. I watercolored the images and attached all of them.

And that is it for this adorable stamp set - I hope you enjoyed these creations. I'll be back next week with some newer orders as I broke down and placed an order at Simon Says Stamps last week - so many fun new sets to highlight - can't wait! Have a wonderful Easter friends! xoxo Suzy

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Comments

You continue to amaze me how talented you are!

Posted by: G Evert | March 26, 2016 at 07:13 PM

Fantastic array of projects you've created with this stamp set. What a great idea to make several without the cute kiddos. It really shows the versatility of the set. I also like that you show that you can indeed use other stamps/sentiments and they will still look awesome. Your tags are fantastic, too! Thank you again for sharing your talents in this way! :)

Posted by: Jeanne | March 27, 2016 at 07:00 AM