Sensational Sentiments...

 

Do you ever have it that you create a card and you get so caught up in the images, techniques, or embellishments that you get almost completely finished before you realize you forgot the sentiment?  Happens to me all the time.  :-) So today I'm focusing on the sentiments.  They make great focal points...after all, the sentiment is usually the reason you send the card in the first place, right?  

Papertrey Ink has so many great sentiments.  With the Think Big Favorites, Tag-its, and Fillable Frames collections (just to name a few!) there's a great variety of large and small images.  There are also lots of great fonts...from fun and funky to classy and elegant...and everything in between.  

And while all of these sentiments are great on their own, mixing and matching them with other sets opens a whole new world!  I decided it would be fun to mix and match sentiments from different sets to create some eye-catching focal points.  These are super fun to make...something fun to play around with when you have some free stamping time.  You could create a stash of them to keep on hand for when you need to create a quick card.  

I thought I'd share a few tips to keep in mind if you'd like to give this a whirl.  I'm going to show you step-by-step how I stamped one of the sentiments, then I'll give you a some pointers as I show you the others.  Let's get started!

I started off stamping a bunch of different things onto scrap paper.  Here's a shot of my experimenting.  I didn't worry about colors, I was thinking only about the composition and placement of images.

Now for some step-by-step.  I'm going to show you this Congrats word collage and how it all came together...

 

I started off with a bunch of Vintage Cream cardstock pieces.  I trimmed them to 4 1/4 x 3 1/2.  This is a great size...enough room for lots of stamping, and the perfect size to tack on a card later.  

Using one of the cardstock pieces, I first stamped the little line/star border from Ad Sense.  It's little details and accents like this that make the sentiment visually interesting.

Now I added a sentiment above and below.  "Well done!" is from Fly Away and "Fabulous" is from Say it With Style.  Using a clear block marked with a grid is essential for this type of stamping...it makes it so easy to get everything straight and lined up!  They have been out of stock at Papertrey for a long time, but you can find them HERE, HERE or HERE.  My favorite to use is the long 6" block...it stretches all the way across  my card front.

For the next step, I'm using the "sensational years" stamp from Big Birthday Wishes.  Always keep in mind that you can ink up just portions of your sentiments to customize them.  It really stretches the uses for your stamps!  Here I'm just inking up the "sensational" portion.  This stamp is large enough that I could just avoid inking the "years" portion if I was careful...if you're working with a smaller sentiment a piece of scotch tape over the portion you don't want to ink does the trick.  Just put it on before inking, then pull it off before stamping it onto your project.  One other thing to note is the placement...notice how I nestled it nice and close to "fabulous", allowing the "l" at the end to tuck around the "s".  I'll balance it out in a bit with my next word.

Now I'm going to balance it out by stamping "congrats" from Think Big Favorites #5.  The big "C" nicely fills in the area.  This is why you want to play around on scrap paper first...just to get a feel for the best placement of things before stamping on your good cardstock.  :-)

I'm happy with the way the sentiment looks, so now it's time to add some little embellishments to really make it special.  I'm using some stars from Banner Builder.

I'm going to finish it off with a couple more of those little star borders from Ad Sense, just to add some grounding.  This is the perfect example of how a grid block is a necessity...I can get them perfectly aligned.  

It was easy to then take my sentiment block and create a card.  I just added some patterned paper strips from my scrap box, a little twine and a diecut star and button.  

I created cards with all of the sentiment blocks I showed in the first photo of this post... just by adding few strips of paper, diecut borders, a little embellishment and voila!  A group of fun cards.  

 

Let me show you each one, along with a tip or two.  The sets used in each card are linked at the bottom of this post.

A mix of fonts keeps it interesting...mix up the size and the type of font.  The decorative elements from the Mat Stack Collections make great embellishments and act as a frame the sentiment.

Keep an eye out for places to tuck images.  The flourishes on this "It's Your Day" sentiment are a great place to perch a bird or nestle some flowers.  The "celebrate..." sentiment finishes it off.

Just another mix here using Mr. and Mrs from Big and Bold Wishes.  The banner images from Banner Builder make great accents as well.

And lastly, a thank you card.  I combined the small "just a Note"  with the large "thank you".  The combination of script and print fonts really work nicely together.  Also keep in mind that you can layer images like I did here with the ledger circle by using different colors of ink.  The circle and flowers create a nice balance. The "to" is part of a "to:, from:" stamp, I just masked off the portion I didn't want to use with a piece of scotch tape.

Whew...did you make it all the way to the end of this post?  Congrats to you if you did.  :-)  I hope you enjoyed today's focus on sentiments!  I really enjoyed creating these cards for today's post...it was fun to come up with different sentiment combinations.  If you are inspired to create a card based on this post, I'd love if you'd share it with me!  Just leave a link in the comments and I'll be sure to check it out!  

All supplies are linked in the thumbnails below.  If you mouse over each one, it will show you the name of the stamp set/supply used.  Thanks for stopping by!  

 

 

 

Basic Supplies for all cards

Comments

[Joyce M.]

Wow! I'm speechless. Never in a million years would I have thought to do this, but these cards are incredible. I can't wait to try this for myself.

[Jeannie L]

Wow I love the cards! Guess I need to build up my stamp collection :P

[Maria Ldoricheva]

Dear Betsy, this is so clever, creative and flawlessly done. That I can not pass by without complementing you! Very useful tips too! Thank you!!!

[pink latte]

Just amazing! You're so creative Betsy! :)

[Melanie Bray]

Betsy...you are one AMAZING woman! These cards are sensational...your sense of style, colour and balance are truly a gift...and it shines though in these cards! You've done a fantastic job!

[Ingrid Danvers]

Betsy, you're such a creative genius. You always come up with the greatest ideas. Love, love, love all the cards in this post. What a great way to use various sentiment stamps together. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Pandora Bracelets]

Wow I love the cards!

[Elisa]

wowww amanzing cards!!!! love all of them!!!
they look like digital because of the colours and the quality of the stamps.
thanks for sharing your tip :)
xoxo
elisa

[Sandy B.]

Awesome - What a great way to work ahead on a stash of cards for yourself or to give as a gift - such a wonderful and smart idea

[Holly Saveur]

LOVE it!!
This is so much fun..the cards are stunning!

[Sue Ann]

This post made me a little light headed with all of creativity going on here ........ good lord girl YOU ROCK!!!

[marlene]

Talented!! Gorgeous!

Sparkling ideas!!

Thank you!!

[Christine Blain]

Almost too much beauty for me to take in!! These cards are sensational, Betsy ... your creativity, and thought processes, always impress me. Great, great cards, and step-by-step instructions.

[Carla G.]

Betsy your projects are just as amazing as always!!! You are such a pro in the stamping world!! Question: How do you get your PTI inks to stamp so vibrant? I have a hard time getting the colors to pop. Do I need to reink the pads quite often? Mine seem to keep a faded look to them...if that makes sense.

[Kelly Schirmer]

You are just so clever, Betsy! I love the little images that you included with all of the sentiments, like the flower and the mini stars. Your use of patterned paper always is so perfect. Love these!

[June K.]

Beautiful sentiment cards. You make it look so easy.

[Melissa (mollymoo951)]

WOW! Great cards. Thanks for sharing. I've got to try this! PTI does have great sentiment set!

[Nikki Spencer]

Amazing-Stunning and inspiring, a fabulous technique Betsy, Always a pleasure to stop by here....TFS!

[Carole]

What a great project and so easy to do !!! Thanks for sharing !

[Pam Roundy]

love, love, love them all!!! Fantastic job!!!

[Kelly]

those are beautiful! Love the mix of fonts and color!

[Karen]

Betsy, these are all just amazing! Thanks for walking us through the process. I can't wait to give it a try.

[Maureen D.]

I am totally inspired by your post. I am definitely struck today, by the 'I can do that'. I love simple ideas that I can master. Thank you for sharing this idea and giving me some much needed inspiration!!

[Kathy H]

Great ideas for using the sentiments! I love sentiments and don't have enough of them (can you ever have too many?)so the PTI wish list grows and grows:) Beautiful cards, Betsy!

[Jennifer Scull]

each one of these is amazing! and I have never seen the grid block before, but you can be sure it is on my 'to buy' list now! thanks for the tip!

enjoy your weekend!