Trimming the Town... not just for Christmas!

I never like to be restricted by the theme of a stamp set or Designer Series Paper. The Coming Home stamps are suitable for many occasions, as is the Trimming the Town DSP, which has some festive designs and some patterns which work all year round.  

All week I’ve been working on non-Christmas projects using the Trimming the Town Suite ready for this blog post... and all week I’ve been seeing social media and blog posts from the Great and the Good working on the same theme! Great minds clearly do think alike.

It began with a request from my husband for two New Home cards and the houses from this Suite are perfect for this. I did stamp some using the Coming Home stamp set and colour them in, but they ended up looking a little too Christmassy, so I turned to the Trimming the Town Designer Series Paper and die-cut the houses from there instead, using the Home Together Dies. The Pool Party and Poppy Parade colour combination is one of my favourite retro looks for Christmas, but it works all year round, too. 

To be honest, the hardest part was finding a suitable greeting. Time to Celebrate from Itty Bitty Birthdays was ideal for one of them, but as the second recipient was bereaved at the same time as moving house, this felt a little bit tactless. Instead, I chose “Rest and Relax, you deserve it” from the Timeless Tropical stamp set.

 

For the car-themed cards, I did use the stamps, colouring them in using my Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. 

For the Happy Birthday card, (again, using a greeting from Itty Bitty Birthdays, I lined up the images using the Stamparatus. The dotted lines, reminiscent of a road, come from the Box of Sunshine Paper Pumpkin Kit.

This card would be ideal for someone passing their driving test – although, the last I heard, if you weren’t already booked in before lockdown, you don’t stand much chance of getting a test until December!

I stamped the images freehand, but they’re easy to line up as the stamp is photopolymer. I stamped and die-cut an extra car, coloured it using Poppy Parade Stampin’ Blends and popped it up. “Way to Go” comes from the Simply Citrus All-Inclusive Card Kit. 

Finally, this house in a very built-up area was inspired by Martin Stone. When I CASE a card, I often like to do it without having the original in front of me, which ensures I make it different. This is why Martin’s version is classier and less busy. I got a bit carried away with the little houses at the back but it was fun to create, using a series of post-it note masks.

When colouring these images, keep it simple. Just a swipe of the dark marker in one corner, then blend it out using the light version of the same colour. Don’t go overboard, or the ink can bleed out beyond the lines. Keep it simple and you’ll get great results every time.