Rococo Rose is a beautiful dusty mauve color that goes beautifully with almost every other color in the Stampin’ Up! palette. Not only did SU put it out in ink and paper, but there are a set of Stampin’ Blends in the new Annual Catalog. Working with Blends is a little intimidating at first. I know I wondered “what if I do it wrong.” Well, I can tell you, there is no wrong. Just add layers and blend. That’s what I did to make my own “DSP”.
Making My Own DSP
I started with a blank 8.5 x 11″ piece of Whisper White. Then I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink to stamp a flower image all over it. I moved the stamp in every direction and had it fall off the edge of the paper, I filled it in completely. The stamp I used was from the Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin, but use what you have or try the new Free as a Bird set. It has very similar flower images.
Next, I cut the paper into four pieces, each one 5.5 x 4.25″. Then I started coloring. The first piece I did with Rococo Rose and Mint Macaron Blends. This gave me a beautiful piece of designer paper to work with. I easily made two cards with it.
Two Cards – First Card – A Note of Friendship

I used Rococo Rose paper as my card bases. Then I trimmed my custom paper. I cut the long side first so that I could use the strip to decorate the inside of my card. Coloring was hard work and I didn’t want to waste a quarter-inch.
Using the Free as a Bird Bundle that comes with the stamp set and the nested dies in the 2019 Annual Catalog, I stamped the birds on a branch on Whisper White using Memento ink and colored in with Balmy Blue, Soft Suede, Mint Macaron, and Rococo Rose Blends. When I cut out the image with the Nested die I realized it was going to cover up a lot of my hard work. So, I cut out the next smallest size of the Nested dies right out of the middle of the paper. Card number two just became a thing.
I layered the colored paper onto the card base with snail. The birds were added with Dimensionals. The sentiment is from the same set. Then I added a few pink gems left over from last years catalog. Don’t forget you can also use Blends to color your rhinestones and make your own matching embellishments.
Second Card – Happy Birthday

For the next card, I embossed a 5.25 x 4″ piece of Whisper White with the Lace embossing folder. I layered that onto the Rococo Rose base. I added a Whisper White twine bow and adhered the duo with Dimensionals.
Next, I added a banner and sentiment, stamped in Rococo Rose, from the Sentimental Rose Paper Pumpkin. I felt like it still needed something and I could have used the same Paper Pumpkin stamp and leaves, but I didn’t feel like fussy cutting, so I got out my Painted Seasons stamps and matching dies to add a Rococo Rose flower and Mint Macaron leaves.
Simple, gorgeous and I got to play with the new In-Color in all its varieties. Also, I have three more stamped panels of flowers. Expect to see more cards from this experimental effort. I hope you’re playing with your craft stash and making beautiful cards to share with your loved ones.