When you want to make a card, but you can’t think of an idea, just look in the Stampin’ Up! Catalog for inspiration! That’s what I needed to do to come up with a card recently and the catalog didn’t disappoint. This Color & Contour Slimline Card For a Friend is the result. I may have practically just opened the catalog to a random page or just paged through a little bit before finding this sample card on page 96. Something is bound to catch your eye when you do this! Maybe it will be a color, stamp set, or card design that gives you an idea. You never know. And oftentimes, I start out with one idea or copy one idea and end up with something completely different. This time I stuck pretty much to the sample I was copying.

First of all, this is a “slimline” card, kind of a new trend, a change from the normal size card we make. I cut a 6″ x 6″ piece of Basic White Thick Cardstock and scored it at 3″ so that the card base would be 3″ x 6″. Next, I tried to copy the scalloped edge that goes partly down the card front on a diagonal. There is a scalloped edge die in the Scalloped Contours Dies. I think I used the correct one but I think my dies got mixed up and this one was with another set of dies. (This is why it would be a good idea to scan the set of dies when you get them before you take them off the paper, so you know exactly what goes with each set!)

I just cut out a piece of Basic White cardstock that would fit on the front of the card and laid this scalloped die diagonally where I wanted it, looking at the sample in the catalog. I didn’t want it to start in the top right-hand corner, but come down a bit before the scallops started. And I wanted it to stop before it got to the bottom of the card.

The pinkish paper you see on the catalog sample and on my card is from the Hues of Happiness Designer Series Paper. It’s on the “other side” of one of the beautiful floral papers so it is difficult to use! The design on this side of the paper has other colors, too, so you may need to cut the exact section you want of the paper. You can even cut it shorter than 6″, just so it will fit under the scalloped piece when it is glued down.

The Balmy Blue flower from the Color & Contour Stamp Set is stamped directly on the white scalloped piece along with some of the leaves in the same stamp set. Then I stamped the Melon Mambo flower and the So Saffron flower on scrap paper and die cut those. These flowers are all two-step stamping and I will say it is difficult to line up the stamp design and it’s difficult to line up the die on the stamped flower. The die is easier, though! However, since the flowers are sort of an abstract design anyway, it doesn’t matter so much if you get the two-step stamping perfect! I colored in the leaves and the flower centers with Stampin’ Blends markers.

The greeting on the sample is on Balmy Blue cardstock and embossed in white with a partial greeting from the Color & Contour Stamp Set, but I chose the “friend” greeting from the Happiness Abounds Stamp Set. First I die cut the small scalloped rectangle in the Scalloped Contours Dies in Balmy Blue but I thought that looked like “too much” so I used the scalloped edge die in the Painted Label Dies for something light. I put my greeting near the bottom of the card since I didn’t make my card quite as wide as the sample. You could also add some gems to the card and I may go back and do that. Sometimes I forget before I take the photo for my blog!

Here’s another slimline card I made a little while back on my blog.

With a brand new Stampin’ Up! catalog, there are many, many untapped new samples to try out! Copy or just get some ideas when you look in the catalog. I hope you will try a card, maybe a slimline card like this Color & Contour Slimline Card For a Friend.