Well today I am headache free (touch wood) which is a great feeling after a three day headache although poor Emily still has a fever, headaches and upset tummy. Took her to the doctor today who confirmed what I thought and said it was a virus and to keep doing what I’m doing so obviously I wont be child free tomorrow being the first day back at school.

Now onto the cards!

In my previous stamping life I loved using Collage stamps and have missed those cards made using them and have drooled over the collage stamps that have been released by Stampin’ Up! in USA and other markets. I figured that’s OK as all the stamps in each set coordinate and go so well together I figured I’d make my own collage cards with various sets.

So I started with the En Françias background stamp and just grabbed a set and used a couple of the different stamps to make the collage.

This first one is done using the Touch of Nature set. I stamped the En Francais stamp onto the creamy caramel card in versamark then grabbed the butterfly and stamped randomly on the edges in creamy caramel and the leafy branch in more mustard. After I was happy with how it looked I sponged some pastels over the versarmark image to make it pop and sponged creamy caramel and close to cocoa around the edges of the card.

I’ve then used my stampin write markers to colour the bird stamp directly to the rubber then stamped on very vanilla then stamped the sentiment under the bird. I coloured the branch image with the markers again and stamped onto very vanilla and cut out and layered over the matted bird image.

This one was done again starting with the En Francais background stamp in versamark on Almost Amethyst cardstock. I have then used various stamps from the Carte Postale set in varying shades of purple randomly on the card.

The sentiment is from the Define your Life stamp set. The birds were stamped in Elegant Eggplant onto Almost Amethyst then cut out and layered on top.

Sponging the chalks over the versamark and inks around the edges gives these cards a lovely vintage look.

These cards may look involved but they really are very easy. If you find that if you’ve stamped too many images on the card its all good as each piece of cardstock comes with two sides so just turn it over and start again and this time you’ll know how much is enough.

I hope you like these cards and if you’d like to learn about making these collage cards then contact me to find out about my technique classes starting soon.

Have a great day and keep stampin