Making a Handmade Card (Stampin' Up!'s Pictogram Punches)

Welcome to this Monday post that is all about making a handmade card and we are using Stampin' Up!'s Pictogram Punches set along with A Dozen Thoughts.

I don't know why, but I really ignored Pictogram Punches when it first came out. It just didn't do it for me. Which is nutso because it is a set that coordinates with punches, and I already had the punches, so why wouldn't I like it? I don't know, but it just wasn't for me.

A then two weeks ago, I had to have it. Like someone flipped on a switch, I had to have it and it was agony waiting for it to arrive. I have like 85 ideas on what I want to do with this stamp set.

I have used it several times since getting it and I couldn't wait to use it today.

Someone made my life easier this past week. I had a really, really, really bad week last week. So you might have noticed that I didn't blog. I honestly didn't even try.

In the middle of the weekend last weekend, we got the news that a friend had killed himself. He was a friend, a mentor and one of the funniest guys I have ever known. The funeral was scheduled for the same time as my flight to NYC for work. And the tough decision on whether to attend the funeral or go to my work event had to be made.

Someone came along that didn't help with that decision, but took something I needed to also do during this time and just took care of it. She didn't know about the other decisions I was making, it was a random phone call asking if she could help.

That is who this card is for.

It started with flowers. I had to have me some Monday morning polka dots. I needed something to cheer me up and I have no idea why, but polka dots are my thing for that.

I stamped all three flowers in the same stamp with the same Lost Lagoon ink. And it really just fell a little flat. So I grabbed the other flower in the set and stamped it in Hello Honey. That made a huge difference. So I thought that I would then do a flower in orange. Bad idea. Like such a bad idea. It is now peacefully in the bottom of my trash can.

Then I used the punch to punch these out.

The vase was stamped using markers to ink them up, Blackberry Bliss and Mossy Meadow.

Then came the circle size. I mistakenly forgot to account for the size of the flowers when I originally punched out the vase piece. Initially I used the 2″ Circle Punch, which was great, but then the flowers didn't fit.

What to do, what to do.

I grabbed my Circle Framelits. I love having both the circle framelits and punches. Lots of layering can be done when you have both. (Recently I asked a question on Facebook about punches vs dies, it was interesting to see what everyone thought! Check it out here.)

So as it turns out, the white circles are from dies and the darker layering circles are from punches.

Adding some texture to the Lost Lagoon piece made such a difference. A huge difference. Especially since it was polka dots!

Then it was time for the sentiment.

This probably took the longest. I knew I wanted this on a circle, but these words are all on one line. What you aren't seeing was when I initially stamped these words onto the white circle. I used a marker, inked up half stamped it, cleaned the stamp, inked up the other half and stamped below it. It just didn't have enough color.

Next was doing the same thing on a Hello Honey circle. Then the card looked unbalanced.

So I cut apart the words on that Hello Honey circle and layered them, covering up the initial words stamped on the white circle, it makes the words really pop off the card.

A quick knot with Whisper White ribbon wrapped around the Lost Lagoon layer added a soft touch to this card and then it was all layered onto a Whisper White card base.

This card took me quite a while to make. But I think when we try different things and figure out what we like and what we don't like, we can stumble upon great results. I love the words being cut out as they are. And that was never the plan!

Here are the supplies I used to create today's card. To order any of the supplies, simply click on the item photo below.

Product List

Pictogram Punches Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134264] $17.00	Pictogram Punches Wood-Mount Stamp Set [134261] $22.00	Pictogram Punches Wood-Mount Bundle [140531] $33.00	Pictogram Punches Clear-Mount Bundle [140532] $28.75	A Dozen Thoughts Wood Stamp Set [131056] $27.00	A Dozen Thoughts Clear Stamp Set [131059] $19.00
2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers [133654] $15.00	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad [133644] $6.50	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad [133643] $6.50	Lost Lagoon 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [133679] $7.00	Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock [100730] $8.50	Blackberry Bliss 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [133675] $7.00
Mossy Meadow 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [133676] $7.00	Hello Honey 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [133678] $7.00	Whisper White 5/8″ Organza Ribbon [114319] $6.00	Big Shot [113439] $110.00	Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [133739] $7.50	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack [133787] $17.00