#TGIFC506 — Color Challenge | Swimming In Stamps

Happy New Year! It’s time for a new TGIF color challenge. This time we have a very elegant color combination of Night of Navy, Silver, and Balmy Blue. It’s very Wintery and perfect for January birthday cards.

I decided to create a shaker card using the Encircled In Nature Bundle. This bundle is an Online Exclusive and one of my favorites! I love both the stamps and dies, and depending on the colors and papers I select, I can easily make either feminine or masculine cards.

Since I was going for Wintery elegance, I chose Regal Winter Designer Series Paper for the background. It’s subtle, but enhances the look I was going for. I added a little shading on the edges with Night of Navy ink and a Blending Brush before cutting out the circle.

Under the main layer, I watercolored a layer of Basic White with Balmy Blue ink and then stamped the single pine tree multiple times, sometimes stamping off on scratch paper for a lighter color. Then, I created the shaker portion by adhering a Window Sheet to the back of the top layer and capturing the White Loose Snowflakes inside with Foam Adhesive Strips.

For the embellishments on top of the card, I die-cut the leaves from Night of Navy Cardstock, the sprigs from Basic White Cardstock, and the pine trees from Balmy Blue Cardstock. Then, I used a Sponge Dauber to add a little White Craft ink to the tips of the die-cuts and heat embossed them with both white and silver embossing powder. If too much powder stuck to the die-cuts, I simply brushed it off with my fingers or a dry brush before heat setting. I LOVE this frosty look!

The sentiments are from the Country Birdhouse Stamp Set. I die-cut the one on the card front using the Something Fancy Dies. That particular die is a little short for the sentiment, so I used a partial die-cutting technique to lengthen it. I aligned the right side of the die and then only placed the cutting plate over the portion I wanted to cut. Then, I re-aligned the die on the left side and repeated the process. Tip: Use repositionable Scotch Tape (available from Amazon) to hold the die in place for precision cutting.

On the inside of the card, I first watercolored the Basic White layer with Balmy Blue ink, and then I stamped the trees and sentiment.

Click over to the TGIF Challenges Blog to see the other designers’ projects using this color combination. Then, create one of your own and join our challenge by adding your project at the bottom of that post.

Best wishes for the New Year and happy crafting!

Purchase products from my online store to qualify to receive free exclusive project tutorials. This month’s PDF includes 12 creative tutorials designed by my demonstrator friends and I to inspire your paper crafting! The projects feature products from the 2025 Annual Catalog, Online Exclusives, and Sept-Dec Mini Catalog. Enjoy!