Let’s start off by taking a look at Stampin’ Up!’s Band Together Stamp Set.
Stampin’ Up! | Band Together
As you can see, this stamp set is a beautiful combination of both images and greetings.
The greetings are perfect for a multitude of occasions. And I really love that they come in my personal favorite style – a combination of regular and script fonts.
The stamp images in this set are outline images. So when you stamp, you are only getting the outline of the image. It’s then up to you to color the image in. And there are a LOT of different ways that you can add color.
For this particular set of cards, I decided to use my Stampin’ Blends. These are Stampin’ Up! branded alcohol markers. Similar to Copic markers. I must confess, I am a bit of an alcohol marker addict. I just love the incredible depth and dimension you can get. Which is why you’ll see me use my Stampin’ Blends a lot in my projects.
Do you notice how the main floral image is actually a stem with the two flowers? For this set of cards I didn’t want to use the stem. So I only used the flowers and cut the stem away!
It’s a great way to stretch your stamps and create totally different looks with one stamp set.
The Band Together stamp set also comes with a coordinating set of dies.
Stampin’ Up! | Detailed Bands Dies
There are 9 dies in the Detailed Bands set. Two of the dies can be used to cut out your stamped mages (the main flower and the leaves). There are several dies that can be used to create a variety of decorative labels (I used one on the “thanks” card). And then the remaining dies can be used to create additional design elements for your cards. Which gives you even more design options.
Now one of the things you’ll notice when you look at my cards is that all the images are cut out. I actually didn’t use the coordinating floral die to cut them out.
Yes, I fussy cut them.
Believe it or not, I really like fussy cutting! And sometimes I just find it faster and easier to hand cut my images rather than hauling out my die cutting machine. Not to mention the fact that I tend to like to cut a little closer to the images than dies generally allow.
Okay, so now that I showed you the stamps and the dies, let me show you my cards.
Stampin’ Up! Band Together Card Ideas
As I mentioned earlier, I created four cards in all. And I only used the two flowers and the individual leaf stamp.
The cards I created are at different difficulty levels. The first two cards I would consider to be stepped up beginner cards. The last two cards would be intermediate level cards.
Card 1 | You’ve Been On My Mind
This first card is the perfect design for clean and simple stampers.
A single flower and leaf, cut out and centered over a strip of embossed cardstock. And a few gold rhinestones for a lovely finishing touch.
One detail I want to point out is the greeting. Notice how it’s curved? The greeting stamp itself is a straight line. In order to give it that curve, I used a die from my Layering Circles die set and shaped my stamp around it. The die size I chose was based on which circle size best curved around my flower.
I did all of this on my Stamparatus (stamp positioning tool) so that I could stamp the greeting exactly where I wanted it on my card (see picture below).
Here’s a list of the supplies I used for this card (all Stampin’ Up!):
- Stamps: Band Together (focal image), Butterfly Gala (greeting);
- Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black ink;
- Alcohol Markers: Light and Dark Flirty Flamingo, Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends
- Paper: Whisper White Thick CS, Whisper White CS;
- Accessories: Gilded Gems, Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder, Layering Circles, Stamparatus,
Card 2 | A Little Note
This next card also qualifies as a clean and simple card design.
For this card, I positioned my image at the bottom right of the card. Directly over top of an embossed cardstock circle.
Do you see the way I allowed my circle to extend past the edge of my card? Yes, it’s a bit challenging when it comes to mailing your card. However, extending elements past your card edges is a great way to add visual interest to your cards.
With cards like this, I generally give them in person. Or, if I really want to mail it, I’ll choose a larger envelope and place a thin piece of cardboard inside for added protection.
For the greeting on this card, I decided to I wanted a little contrast – hence the white on black. To create my greeting I first stamped it in white craft ink onto a strip of black cardstock. My next step was to heat emboss it with white embossing powder. When you heat emboss, don’t forget to use your Embossing Buddy!
Here’s a list of the supplies I used for this card (all Stampin’ Up!):
- Stamps: Band Together (focal image), Butterfly Gala (greeting);
- Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Whisper White Craft Ink;
- Alcohol Markers: Light and Dark Flirty Flamingo, Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends
- Paper: Whisper White Thick CS, Whisper White CS, Basic Black CS, Granny Apple Green CS;
- Accessories: White Stampin’ Emboss powder, heat tool, Embossing Powder Tool, Sprig punch, Layering Circles dies, Gilded Gems, Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder
Card 3 | Thanks
Okay, moving on to my third card.
This is what I would call a “stepped” up card. It incorporates more elements, and there are a lot more steps. Which is why I would probably categorize this as an intermediate card.
Here’s what I did:
- I added in more flowers and introduced another, smaller flower.
- I brought in my Sprig punch and punched some extra greenery out of my Granny Apple Green cardstock.
- I dry embossed both the lower panel of the card and the die-cut label (the label embossing is a little hard to see from the picture).
- I die cut my greeting.
Here’s a list of the supplies I used for this card (all Stampin’ Up!):
- Stamps: Band Together (focal image), Ornate Style (small flowers);
- Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Whisper White Craft Ink;
- Alcohol Markers: Light and Dark Flirty Flamingo, Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends
- Paper: Whisper White Thick CS, Whisper White CS, Basic Black CS, Granny Apple Green CS;
- Accessories: Sprig punch, Gilded Gems, Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder, Detailed Bands Die set;
Card 4 | Grateful
And here we are, with my final (and favorite) card.
Although I love the way all the cards turned out, this one is definitely my favorite. I think it’s all the flowers and the way that small black greeting strip pops out at you, yet doesn’t overwhelm the card.
This card follows along the same lines as the previous card, except I added some more flowers and more punched sprigs. I stamped and heat embossed my sentiment (as with my second card). However, I cut little notches into each end of the cardstock strip to create more of a banner effect.
Here are the supplies I used (all Stampin’ Up!):
- Stamps: Band Together (focal image), Ornate Style (small flowers), To A Wild Rose (greeting);
- Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Whisper White Craft Ink;
- Alcohol Markers: Light and Dark Flirty Flamingo, Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends;
- Paper: Whisper White Thick CS, Whisper White CS, Basic Black CS, Granny Apple Green CS;
- Accessories: Sprig punch, Gilded Gems, Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder, white embossing powder, heat tool, Embossing Powder Tool;
There you have it, friends. Four different Stampin’ Up! Band Together card ideas!
I’d love to know which is your favorite.
1 thought on “Stampin’ Up! | Band Together Card Ideas”
Thank you for sharing