Inspired by Anne Jones, Plus a Question

The new issue of Take Ten is out, and a card by Anne Jones on page 66 caught my eye and inspired today's card. Her card provides an excellent layout for showcasing cancelled postage, with three matted postage stamps stacked on a tall, narrow card, with a sentiment stamped in the spaces between the stamps. It's a fabulous layout that begged to be simplified.

Anne's card has six layers, a colored cardstock base, and (as I said) real cancelled stamps. I obviously simplified the layers down to two, used a white card base, and created my own faux postage with a handy punch I have lying around. I don't collect ephemera like cancelled postage so making my own was the best option.

To make the faux postage, I cut a 3/4" x 7/8" rectangle from a post-it note to create a mask. Then I stamped the flowers on a large scrap of cardstock through the mask, moving the centers of the flowers around so they wouldn't line up and look static...the bling moves your eye around a bit to add interest. Once stamped, I positioned each image in the punch by turning the punch upside down and centering the stamped area, and then punching.

Once the faux postage was ready, I used a quilting ruler and temporary adhesive to position them properly. Using the postage as a guide, I stamped the words between (cleaning the stamp very well between impressions!), popped up the postage on dimensionals, and added bling to match the color of the words. That touch helps unify the card nicely.

Anne's card is sized a bit differently from mine at 3" x 6.5". Mine is 3.5" x 6.25 to fit a standard #6 3/4 envelope because the obsessive compulsive in me really, really prefers the card to fit the envelope...unless the card is square because in the U.S. square envelopes require additional postage, which is completely ridiculous, but there you have it.

Isn't that punch the bomb?

Thank you, Anne, for the wonderful postal inspiration!

Now let's indulge in a little rant. When making this card a week ago, I used up all my yellow Stickles. This alarmed me...it's the Stickles color I use the most! So of course I ran to Marco's Paper to see if they had any (rather than placing a huge order to get free shipping...a decision I now regret), and I snatched up their last bottle.

When I got home, however, I noticed a huge difference in the shades of the yellow.

How, how, how can Ranger think these are the same color?!?!?! It's not just a different dye lot, it's a different color altogether. The bottle on the left is my old one, which looks full but is actually empty except for what's stuck to the inside of the bottle. This is a first-world problem, I know, but still. I feel betrayed.

Thank you for listening.

Now, the question. How many of you still buy or subscribe to magazines for stamping inspiration? PaperCrafts had to fold because inspiration has shifted so much to the internet, but some magazines like the Stampington and Company publications seem to continue to do well. I buy some magazines and still enjoy perusing old ones I've kept, but how do you feel about it?



Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Keep It Simple Healing Wishes
ink: Impress Fresh Ink persimmon, tangerine; Memento Luxe rose bud, espresso truffle
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: dimensionals, rhinestones, postage stamp punch