How do you decide what to create with new products, like the Desert Details bundle once you’ve unboxed your order? How do you commit to cutting the paper? I’m an advocate of the Stampin’ Up! kits and Paper Pumpkin because they clear that hurdle for you by providing some preplanned projects. But I also enjoy seeing where the products take me, finding out what I can create from scratch. I’m going to walk you through my method in a gallery style. I started with an intention to create a masculine birthday card. I’m almost completely out and I have some birthdays coming up.
Delicate Desert DSP
First, I opened the Delicate Desert paper pack and flipped every other page so I could see all the patterns along with the Desert Details stamp set. I loved the colors. Gray Granite called to me, as well as the rustic Cajun Craze pattern. From the stamp set, I decided to use the “Let the fun begin” as one of my sentiments. But I would need a Happy Birthday sentiment from another stamp set. I could worry about that later.

Desert Details Dies
Next, I considered what die cuts I might want to use from the Desert Details dies. I decided pretty quickly that I didn’t want flowers for this project. I liked the details on the two panel dies and the aloe plant shape would be a nice contrast to all those hard edges. I couldn’t ignore the cool geometric banner piece which I decided would be perfect for a sentiment in a small font. I wanted to use the long edge die too. Perhaps on the inside.

Narrowing the choices
Once I had an idea of the elements, I started to make some selections and draft a layout. Returning to the DSP, I decided which patterns I would use for each layer. I pulled a sheet of each color of cardstock I thought I might use: Cajun Craze, Gray Granite, and Soft Succulent. I really liked the die that would add cut-outs with a diamond pattern, but it didn’t work for this card as I already had a lot going on.

Die-cutting the Desert Details
Next, it was time to cut the paper. I cut a 4″ strip from the Cajun Craze pattern paper and a 3″ strip from the Gray Granite pattern for my banner pieces. I cut the cardstock in half and then the Gray Granite and Soft Succulent halves in quarters. This saves paper by leaving me usable pieces for card bases or layering. I cut small strips off one of the quarters of the Gray Granite and the Soft Succulent paper so I didn’t run the entire quarter sheet through my cutting/embossing machine. That can leave marks from the plates on the scrap making it unusable.

Stamping Time
Now that I had all the paper I needed to create my card, it was time to stamp. You may notice I have a quarter sheet of white card stock cut 4″x 5-1/4″. That piece is going inside my card. I also have a strip of white paper that I planned to use for my tiny sentiment. More on that soon.

Heat Embossing to the Rescue
I found a sentiment that would work with a little fussy cutting in the Beautifully Happy set currently available through Sale-a-bration. Heat embossing with a metallic powder, like Copper, let me add some bling to my masculine card without making it too fussy. I was also able to cut just the “happy birthday” from the sentiment that read “for a very happy birthday.” I love masking stamps or cutting the part I need in order to really customize my cards. You’ll also notice in the upper right of this picture, that when I did my stamping, I added a little detail to the envelope. A decorated envelope announces to the recipient there’s something special inside.

The Inside Desert Details
Here is how the inside of the card looks. In retrospect, I probably would make two changes to this. I would stamp the sentiment in Cajun Craze and the detail stripe in Soft Succulent. Second, I would have flipped my die cut so that the “teeth” hung over the edge of the base and the Cajun Craze card could peep between them. Next time, I’ll try that and let you know.

The Final Desert Details Masculine Birthday Card
Here is the final card. Instead of the Gold Faceted sequins that come with the Delicate Desert Suite, I used the Brushed Metallic dots from the annual catalog. The Gray Granite banner is popped up on Dimensionals and so is the leafy plant. That was a labor of love because I had to cut the mini-dimensionals into thirds to make it work. Talk about fussy!

Overall, I’m very happy with how this card came out. I told you about the minor changes I would make to the inside, but I think the front of the card is exactly what I wantedāinteresting without being too fussy.
Let me know if you liked this post and would like more behind the scenes with the designer posts. If you’d like to purchase any of these products, there is a shop with me code on the right. Until next time: Ink up!