Stampin’ Up! Ornate Style Card Ideas

Have you ever fallen in love with a stamp set, but didn’t buy it because it felt “beyond you”?

I sure did in my early days of card making.

In fact, when I first started card making I would go out of my way to avoid stamp sets like Stampin’ Up!’s Ornate Style, shown below.

Stampin’ Up! | Ornate Style Stamp Set

As you can see the Ornate Style stamp set has some pretty intricate floral images.

Now I didn’t avoid stamp sets like this because I didn’t like them.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

I love these types of stamp sets.

The problem was that I felt as though I’d never be able to do the stamp set justice.

Why?

Because I didn’t see myself as “artistic.” And in my books, anything that required coloring meant you had to be artistic.

In those early days, no matter how hard I tried, my coloring would always end up looking like something a little kid did.

Once I realized that I could use these types of stamp sets without having to color, I couldn’t buy enough of them (literally LOL).

So what’s the alternative to coloring?

That’s exactly what I want to show you with the card set I created using Stampin’ Up!’s Ornate Style stamp set shown above.

For all four cards, I used the exact same technique.

Essentially – stamping without coloring.

Yep! It’s true! You really don’t have to color!

It’s that easy!

Here’s what I did…

I stamped my image onto my paper in VersaMark ink (a clear watermark ink that is sticky). Then I sprinkled gold embossing powder onto my stamped image and heat embossed it.

Using this technique I was able to create two different looks. I did this by changing up the paper I stamped and embossed on, and by adding some layering.

Stamping and Embossing on Vellum Cardstock

For my first two cards, I stamped and embossed on a type of paper called vellum cardstock. In a nutshell, vellum cardstock is a translucent paper that is a slightly heavier weight than regular vellum. It gives your projects a very elegant look.

You have to be careful when heat embossing on vellum. You don’t want to hold your heat tool too close or leave it in one spot for too long. I also like to switch between hold my heat tool above the paper and below the paper. This will keep your paper from curling.

Card 1 | Ornate Style Thanks

For my first card, I stamped and embossed my image onto a 3 3/4″ x 5″ piece of vellum cardstock. To mount it to my card front I made sure to apply my adhesive along the edges. That way the adhesive would be hidden by the frame that I placed over top.

There were several steps involved in creating my frame. First, I centered and die cut my frame out of a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Crumb Cake cardstock.

Next, I stamped my greeting onto my panel using a double stamping and embossing technique. Using my Stamparatus (stamp positioning tool), I double stamped my greeting in Early Espresso Classic ink along the bottom right of my “window.” The reason I double stamped it was to make sure the greeting was nice and dark. I then stamped over it once more in VersaMark ink and sprinkled on clear embossing powder. This gives the greeting a nice shiny, dimensional look.

Next, I dry embossed my panel using the Pinewood Planks embossing folder. To give a little more visual “oomph,” I sponged the edges of my panel with Crumb Cake Classic ink.

So why did I stamp my sentiment first and THEN emboss the panel? So that you get a nice clear, crisp stamped greeting. Had I done it the other way, the texture from the embossing folder would have interfered when I stamped my greeting. And I would have ended up with a partially stamped greeting.

Here are the supplies I used to create this card (all Stampin’ Up!):

• Stamps: Ornate Style (focal image), Well Written (greeting);
• Ink: Early Espresso Classic Ink, Crumb Cake Classic Ink, Versamark ink;
• Paper: Crumb Cake CS, Whisper White Thick CS, Vellum CS;
• Accessories: Heat Tool, Embossing Buddy, Gold Embossing Powder, Clear Embossing Powder, Stamparatus (stamp positioning tool), die cutting machine, Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Pinewood Planks 3D embossing folder

Card 2 | Beautiful Inside and Out

For my second card, I took it a step further. After stamping and embossing my image onto vellum cardstock, I cut my image out and mounted it to my card front.

Now when you are working with vellum you have to be very careful where you apply your adhesive. Why? Because vellum is see-through.

In order to glue my cut and embossed vellum piece, I applied my glue where the vellum is hidden behind the decorative label.

My greeting was double stamped and embossed (as with the first card).

When you look at the picture do you notice how the decorative “frame” around my greeting is slightly darker than the greeting piece itself? That’s because I sponged it with Crumb Cake Classic ink. That way you get a beautiful contrast between the two pieces of the label.

Here are the supplies I used to create this card (all Stampin’ Up!):

• Stamps: Ornate Style, Band Together;
• Ink: Early Espresso Classic Ink, Crumb Cake Classic Ink, Versamark ink;
• Paper: Crumb Cake CS, Whisper White Thick CS, Vellum CS;
• Accessories: Heat Tool, Gold Embossing Powder, Clear Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Stamparatus (stamp positioning tool), Detailed Bands Dies, Pinewood Planks embossing folder, stamping sponge, Gold Faceted Gems

Stamping and Embossing On Regular Cardstock

For my next two cards, I decided to stamp and emboss directly onto my Crumb Cake cardstock. The same cardstock I used for my embossed panel and my card front. As you can see, the effect is more subtle. You don’t get that bright pop of white as you do with the vellum.

I decided to “step up” my last two cards by incorporating a technique called layering. In some circles, this is referred to as “decoupage.”

To create the layers you stamp and emboss the image multiple times and then cut out different parts of the image. You then layer the cut-out parts of over the matching sections of the main image. However, instead of sticking them flat, you “pop them up” using a dimensional foam adhesive.

Although all that cutting can be somewhat time-consuming, it adds an extra special touch that elevates your card to the next level.

Card 3 | Hello

For this hello card I stamped and embossed my image twice. The first image I completely cut out. For the second image, I only cut out a couple of elements. I then popped these elements up with Stampin’ Dimensionals (dimensional foam).

My greeting was double stamped and then embossed (as with the first card). I then die cut it using my Stitched Nested Labels dies and popped it up as well.

Here are the supplies I used to create this card (all Stampin’ Up!):

• Stamps: Ornate Style (main floral image), Well Written (thanks card), To a Wild Rose (hello card), Peaceful Moments (thank you card), Band Together (Beautiful Inside and Out Card);
• Ink: Early Espresso Classic Ink, Crumb Cake Classic Ink, Versamark ink
• Paper: Crumb Cake CS, Whisper White Thick CS, Vellum CS
• Accessories: Heat Tool, Gold Embossing Powder, Clear Embossing Powder, Embosssing Buddy, Stamparatus (stamp positioning tool), die cutting machine, Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Detailed Bands Dies, Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, linen thread, gold faceted gems

Card 4 | Thank You

My fourth and final card is my thank you. This card has the most fussy cutting of all!

For this card, I stamped and embossed my images 4 times, and then cut out different elements from each image. I didn’t keep any of the images whole for this card. Some of the pieces I simply tucked behind other pieces. While some pieces I “popped” up using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Here are the supplies I used to create this card (all Stampin’ Up!):

• Stamps: Ornate Style, Peaceful Moments;
• Ink: Early Espresso Classic Ink, Crumb Cake Classic Ink, Versamark ink;
• Paper: Crumb Cake CS, Whisper White Thick CS;
• Accessories: Heat Tool, Gold Embossing Powder, Clear Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Stamparatus (stamp positioning tool), Detailed Bands Dies, stamping sponge, Gold Faceted Gems, Pinewood Planks 3D embossing folder, linen thread;

So there you have it friends! Four different card designs using one color scheme and one main stamp set. I hope you enjoyed today’s projects! If you have a minute, I’d love to know which is your favorite and why.