Four Ways Friday #1

Today begins a new feature on my blog - Four Ways Fridays!  Every Friday I am going to show you how to use one stamp set to create 4 different looks/projects!  It can be very easy to buy the next new stamp set.  What seems to be more challenging is to think of new and interesting ways to use the stamp sets we already have.  Every Friday we will focus on a single stamp set - sometimes we'll go even further and just focus on one specific stamp in the stamp set.  The projects may include the use of embellishments, dies, texture, designer paper, and other accessories.  If there is a particular stamp set you would like to see featured on a future Four Ways Friday, please leave a comment to let me know.  I'll do my best to give it a try!

Today's Four Ways Friday focuses on the gratitude stamp from the Define Your Life stamp set.

This first project is incredibly simple!  I stamped the greeting with Basic Black in the center of a whisper white piece of card stock.  I used some of the Sweet Pea designer paper and punched 1/2" squares and cut out 2 larger rectangles.  The designer paper is popped up with dimensionals surrounding the greeting.  I layered the whisper white on taken with teal card stock and adhered everything to a so saffron card.  You can use designer paper to dress up any stamped image!

For this second project, I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to repeatedly stamp the greeting on the whisper white base card.  I did not stamp full strength, but rather stamped off twice before stamping onto the card stock.  The main greeting was stamped full strength and popped up on an Orchid Opulence piece of card stock.  I used the sweet pea felt for a cute embellishment.  Using your stamps to create fun backgrounds is always a great choice!

For this third project, I continued the same theme of the second project and used the stamp to create a background.  Then, I used my Flower Folds Die in the Big Shot to cut out a few flowers.  The flowers were then stamped with the greeting.  You can use this technique for die cuts, punches or paper piecing.  I sponged the edges of the flowers and layered them.  I used the greeting again with a build-a-brad for the center of the flower.  Finally, I used a marker to color the word "gratitude" on the stamp and then stamped onto whisper white card stock.  I cut out the greeting to create a flag.

Don't forget that your stamps can do more than just stamp on paper!  For this fourth project, I used black Staz-On ink and stamped the greeting onto wide twill ribbon.  I wrapped the ribbon around a die cut Box #2.  The circle stamping was created with a sponge dauber.  I used an everyday hole punch, combined with the 1/2" circle punch to create the black card stock circles, which I glued to the box.  The jumbo grommet adds a finishing touch.

I would love your comments on this new feature!  Please let me know what you think and what you'd like to see in the future on the next Four Ways Friday!