Trio of cards using From the Herd

Stampin' Royalty are having a Guest DT call and I thought that would be a great way to challenge my creative muscles. I have always loved the challenges over at Stampin' Royalty and it was one of the first challenges I started linking up to regularly back in the day when I was new to crafting. The guest DT call asks for three projects created using Stampin' Up products.

I am a big fan of Stampin' Up, I love their high quality stamps and co-ordinating colours. And although many of us are hoarders of all crafting stuff, and fighting to fit it all into our crafting rooms, I think it's sometimes good to think back and remember what it was like to craft when we had just started out and were only starting to build up our stash. So I wanted to challenge myself to use mainly one stamp set and create three different cards. I chose my favourite stamp set from the new Stampin' Up catalogue - From the Herd. The cheery chums make me smile every time. So I thought I should challenge myself to work with mainly this one stamp set, one co-ordinating DSP and a set of dies (the ever so useful Hello You word dies) along with the brights colour set to make my cards. So you don't need a huge stash of crafting supplies to get started if you choose your crafting supplies wisely and use a lot of imagination.

My first card is a box card with all the critters from the herd. I coloured the outlines one at a time using a Stampin' Write black marker and coloured them with Stampin' Write markers. I fussy cut each critter. I used another of my favourite Stampin' Up stamps called Hardwood to make the panels for the box and a fence for the bull. I assembled the box from Early Espresso card and panels of Hardwood stamped in Early Espresso onto Crumb Cake card, and inked around the edges using Early Espresso. I cut strips of green card for the grass. I used Stampin' Write markers in brights to colour the sentiment stamps, the balloon stamp and party hat stamp from the set and cut them and added candy dots. I covered the back panel using a DSP with a blue sky and clouds, and die cut the happy from another sheet of the same DSP. I absolutely adore how this bright and happy box turned out. 

I'm linking up the card with the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Birthday (this is my third contribution to the challenge, but hey, they have six prizes this week!!)
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - A is for (alpaca, animals)
Amusing Challenges - Birthday
Just us Girls - Spring

Card: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Old Olive and Whisper White 
Stamps: From the Herd, Hardwood
Ink: Early Espresso, Stampin' Write markers Neutrals and Brights
DSP: Sunshine and Sprinkles
Other: Hello You dies, Banner punch, Candy dots brights

My second card is inspired by my favourite critter from the herd. There are way too few alpaca stamps out there, that's all I'm saying. So I thought a card with the happy alpaca as the star of the show is a requirement. I used the sketch over at CAS(E) this sketch as inspiration. Again, I coloured the alpaca in the stamp using a black Stampin' Up marker and cut them out using a scalloped square punch. I coloured the alpaca using Crumb Cake and Soft Suede markers and the backgrounds using brights Stampin' Write markers. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in white powder and die cut the hello to complete the sentiment. 

I'm linking up the card with the following challenges:
CAS(E) This Sketch - sketch
Pile it On - Die cuts/punches

Card: Stampin' Up Basic Black, Whisper White 
Stamps: From the Herd
Ink: Stampin' Write markers Neutrals and Brights, Versamark
DSP: Sunshine and Sprinkles
Other: Hello You dies, scalloped square punch (retired), white embossing powder

For the third card I wanted to go with a different technique so I used the emboss resist technique by stamping the balloons in Versamark and embossing with clear powder before sponging the bright inks on to reveal the embossed images. I also added some glossy accents to the balloons to add extra shine, although it doesn't show very well in the photo. I coloured the sentiment using markers and die cut the "You" from the same DSP I used for the other cards. Again, a completely different feel using the same stamp set. I used the sketch over at The Challenge for the layout of the card.

I'm linking up the card with the following challenges:
The Challenge - sketch

Card: Stampin' Up Whisper White 
Stamps: From the Herd
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Versamark
DSP: Sunshine and Sprinkles
Other: Hello You dies, Banner punch, clear embossing powder, Crystal Effects