Wild at Heart Tips

Today I am sharing my tips and tricks."Wild at Heart" .

The stamp can be turned any direction for your cards. "Sideways" or "upside down" will make the flowers look like creeping, or hanging vines, rather than rooted in the ground.

Stamp the frame onto your envelope front or flap for perfectly coordinated ensembles.

Ink up the background with a brayer and a spectrum pad (check out this beautiful Autumn Leaves pad, new at Gina K Designs!) and stamp, for a gorgeous, gradient effect!


Ink up the different sections with different markers where they are divided by the stems. Completely filled in, when you stamp it the frame will look like panes of stained glass.


With markers, ink over just the borders and trace over the the flowers and stems images. When you stamp, you won't see a solid background, just the borders and flowers.

Ink up the background in a light color, then use a marker in a darker shade to go around the underside of the flowers and stems for a beautiful monochromatic embossed leaf that will really make the images pop!

Stamp the background in one color. Now stamp it again in a different color and cut out the blooms to pop up over the first background you stamped. Or, cut them in half or into sections and place one colored side over the other like the Split Negative technique.

Ink up the background and kiss patterned stamps all over it in a darker color before stamping, example polka dots or crackle, your flowers will really pop away from the pattern!

Kiss a very dense, tiny texture all over the uninked frame stamp, for example the herringbone pattern from "Vintage Backgrounds". This will make the frame look like it's been woven with a stitched border, a gorgeous textured look where you can still see the floral pattern! (I'm very excited to show you this one!) :)

Swipe different colored ink pads across the background and stamp like improvising your own spectrum pad.

Mist the inked background with water and stamp it for a watercolor effect.

Stamp and cut out the blooms to embellish other mats with flowers.

Pop up the cut blooms over the stamped background for dimension.

Stamp the background over patterned or colored paper, the print or color will show through in the flower and stem areas.

Use the stamped frame and a perfect background for any stamped flower focal points or nature scenes you create, the flowers are arrange in a rule of thirds fashion that creates a beautiful, balanced backdrop no matter where you place your new stamped flowers!

Stamp in a darker color over lighter colored cardstock for a brocade or embossed look, example, dark blue ink on powder blue paper.

Stamp frame in Versamark onto colored cardstock for a subtle watermarked effect. This is also a beautiful way to stamp the inside of you cards for subtle florals behind your written message.

Stamp frame in Versamark and coat with Pearlex Powder, the result will look like shimmering silk!

Emboss the background with clear powder or colored powder and then go over the areas not embossed with markers, filling in the stems with green, flowers in the colors of your choice, making a negative of the stamp!

Ink up the background in a light color, and stamp one of the greetings directly over it in a darker color.

Stamp in two different colors and then die cut or punch different shapes out from one color, example circles, hearts, flowers etc and line them up over the first stamped background. Or, use these cropped or die cuts parts of the background as layers on your other cards.

Die cut a large window into the stamped frame and add the greeting.

Die cut the greetings in a different shapes and pop up over the stamped frame.

Stamp the background out two of three times in different colors on the same color paper, example, white. Now cut them up into sections and layer or puzzle them back together so the flowers line up but the sections are different colors for a very modern color blocked look.

Sponge different colors onto smooth white or glossy cardstock, then stamp the frame over it in black or brown , allowing the colors to show through the flower areas, a faux "Joseph's Coat" look, without embossing!

Emboss the frame in metallic powder for a quick and truly elegant card!

Crop out the middle of the frame into any die shape you want for beautiful printed die cut.

Add different colors to the frame quickly by keeping them all in the same warm or cool color group, example: ink up the whole frame with a yellow pad, then go over the flower centers in orange and the petals in red, then stamp. (But if you try to add blue over the yellow inked stamp, this area will turn green, so keep them in the same color family when you are inking over something already inked so the color stays true.)

Stamp the "Thank You" or Friend" up along one of the stems.

Ink up the parts of the sentiment in the different font with a different color to make them pop.

Add glitter, micro beads, fun flock or flower soft to the flower centers.

Add rhinestones or pearls to the tiny round buds shooting off the stems.

Add buttons to the flower centers for a more whimsical look.

Festive Frame Tips

Time for the "Festive Frame" tip sheet! This set is sure to become a favorite in your collection you'll reach for year after year for all your holiday projects and family photos! Today's sample is embossed in gold and colored with Copics, the popped up balls in the corners are from Asela's new "First Christmas". Cardbase is Vibrant Violet.
This set coordinates perfectly with "Winter Foliage" and "A Year of Flowers". You will love popping up the pine cones and poinsettias from these sets into the oval window or onto the corners, or stamping them inside your card for a custom finish!


Stamp the poinsettias again and cut out just a few individual leaves from it to pop up over the ones in the frame.
Add metallic dots, pearls, nail heads or large buttons to the middle of the poinsettias to dress them up.
Stamp the frame in brown and use distressing inks to create a vintage look.

Create beautiful one or two layer cards without coloring in a flash by embossing the frame and greeting onto neutral or colored CS. A metallic powder on white or ivory cardstock will be "soft sophistication", and metallic, white or black on jewel tones colors cardstocks like red, green, navy or cranberry are fabulously festive! Color in your embossing for a real "WOW"!
Try tone on tone embossing with silver and gold powders and metallic cardstocks like Silver Lining and Good as Gold.Try mixing glitter into your EP when embossing the frame for extra sparkle!

Add Stickles over your coloring, or trace the outlines of the petals, pine needles and cones with a Stardust pen.

Add flocking or Flower Soft to the centers of your poinsettias or on your pine cones. Create a dusting of snow on your pine cones with Liquid Applique.

Other Gina K Designs sets with images and verses in a style well suited for the corners or the oval window in the middle:


Christmas Blessings


A Very Merry Christmas


Lord of the Season


StampTV Kit Holiday Cheer


Warm & Cozy Christmas


Holiday Hospitality



First Christmas

Seasonal Sayings

Layering cut leaves from "A Year of Leaves" over the poinsettias and its greetings to the center will make amazing cards for autumn!

Two elegant flourishes have been provided to stamp above or below your sentiment or at the corners of a mat when you stamp a greeting (one from this set or try it with any other classic and elegant greetings in your stamp collection!), to make it a bit more formal or when you need to fill in a bit more space on the mat or die cut for a balanced look.

Cut out the oval in the center for more dimension like a real window. Use Oval Nestabilties to cut out the middle quickly or use scissors to snip around the flowers. You can also layer these scalloped and classic oval mats directly over the widow, overlapping the flowers.


Oval Nestabilities in sizes smaller than the window look beautiful popped up and centered inside the oval border.


Other Nestabilities shapes Gina K sells to try in the middle of the oval window to change the look are the many labels dies, some you probably have in your collection! Whether you leave some of the oval from the image showing or cover it completely with your die cut, the poinsettia bunches will be set off to spectacular effect, enjoy mixing and matching!


The frame can be used 4 ways, vertically or horizontally to perfectly frame up your images or greetings and give you more variety in your layouts. The flowers and foliage extend into the oval frame a bit differently in each corner, one side more so than the other, so depending on how your image or greeting is arranged, you can choose which best suits your layout (top or bottom "heavy" to insure you are not covering up an important part of the picture or words.)


The greetings have been intentionally formatted to work well whether you are using the frame vertically or horizontally.


The greetings used alone on a mat over some DP makes a quick and beautiful card!

Stamp the frame inside your card in Versamark or contrasting color to you CS to add your greeting or handwritten message for a really professional, coordinated look for the inside of your card.


Stamp the frame on your envelope and add your recipient's name and address inside.



Add a family photo inside the oval cut out for easy holiday cards. 3x5 is a perfect size. Mat onto an A2 base with photo underneath or stamp directly onto the base and cut out the window with a larger photo adhered inside your card. Add other holiday stamp or images in the oval window or to the corners, layering over the poinsettia or on the opposite corners for a fuller frame.


Place a layer of vellum over your photo to soften the look. Stamp a greeting on the vellum for a floating effect.


Stamp the frame directly onto vellum, trim and layer over a rectangular photo without cutting out the window: this allows you to see the entire rectangle of the picture but spotlights the middle of your photo in the oval.


To make a more masculine looking card, layer pine cones over the poinsettia or even masculine images for year round birthday or greeting cards (ex: tent from Happy Camper".


Stamp with and onto neutral colors to make a more the frame "masculine- looking" or to give it more of "nature" than a "holiday" feel, this will allow year round use.

After stamping the frame, go over the cardstock with one of the many Cuttlebug embossing folders to add texture and dimension.


Mix the greetings from all our latest holiday sets with the frame or try Gina K's "Seasonal Greetings", another great option!



Greetings in the set like "Celebrate the beauty of the season" and "from all of us" will take you well past December for New Years and other holidays.


Add a photo to the middle window and stamp one of the greetings over it in white ink (or embossed white) like an overlay.


Put one greeting on the outside and another on the inside to continue the message. Ex: "We wish you a Merry Christmas!" and inside "and a Happy New Year!"


Ink up just one cluster from the frame or cut around them to make a beautiful corner to add to your cards and scrapbook pages.


Stamp frame over a very delicate, pale patterned paper and color the flowers, pine cones, and border to make the images pop. Adds color without having to paper piece!


Create a reverse mask of just the oval cut out and another mask removing just the blank corners to stamp textures into these spaces or sponge on color without going over the images.


Color the double border around the edge and the oval window with a marker or colored pencil; this will instantly add layers without all the cutting, CS, adhesive, without adding bulk AND saving you time and money!


To add simple detail to the blank corners, try:

• piercing the corners or a row of dots to mimic the border


• add a little tag or stamp a smaller greeting


• add buttons, pearls, rhinestones, brads etc


• add a corner punch or flourish.


• add a small or big, beautiful bow!

Projects:

Use as a mat for a picture frame, as a gift or to bring out to decorate at the holidays with a photo or scripture or quote from the set.


Stamp frame and greeting onto a plain gift bag for lightning fast gift wrap! Or attach a card with the frame on it to a 4x6 or larger gift bag.



More fast packaging: adhere the stamped frame to the center of a plain white gift box with an image or the "to: and from: info" in the center.

Make gorgeous gift tags with the many greetings in the set on punches or die cuts.

Adhere frame to a magnetic sheet and cut out oval portion. Now you have a frame for the fridge or office to place over your favorite holiday photo of the moment, year after year!



Stamped candles: stamp frame onto tissue paper, color, wrap around a pillar candle and heat! Beautiful and inexpensive gifts, see this post.



Add the frame to decorate your homemade family calendars.



Create a special invitation to a holiday dinner or open house, printing the party info inside or in the oval window.

Create a menu card to match, listing the courses inside the window for an elegant table setting!



Slip the stamped and colored frame into an acrylic frame to gift or decorate your kitchen for the holiday months for a little wipe off kitchen menu or memo board. (Writing out the family meal makes it extra special...) :)

A Beautiful Life Tip Sheet

Today I am sharing my tip sheet for the A Beautiful Life set!

The tulip blooms are the same size and shape as the tulips in "A Year of Flowers" which make it easy to stamp just the blooms to pop up over the frame for added color and dimension.

The frame can be turned in 4 directions to provide you with a variety of vertical and horizontal layouts.

You will love the double border in this frame! Similar to that of "Festive Frame", you can color these in any hues you choose to give the illusion of extra layers without adding the extra bulk or time to cut them. Notice however these borders use both a bold and narrow line: when left uncolored, this creates the illusion of a beautifully embossed panel!

Fill out the frame even more with your favorite blossoms and leaves from "A Year of Flowers" to create your own custom arrangements! Cut them out and layer on top or mask off the border to stamp them inside.

The oval and surrounding flowers create the pefect backdrop to frame a smaller arrangement of "A Year of Flowers" blossoms.

Stamp the frame onto colored cardstock in Versamark or a matching ink for a beautiful tone on tone, embossed look.

Emboss the frame in silver or gold for an elegant wedding or anniversary card.

Cut out the oval window to create a window into your card or to layer another color under.


Cut out just one tulip corner or the other and pop it up over the corner of a greeting panel on another card, already masked for you!


Add buttons, pearls, or punched corners to the open corners to dress the frame up or wrap a ribbon around each and tie at the top or bottom.

Color in the corners of the frame around the tulips and/or color the borders to create the illusion of several different mats without all the cutting or adding extra bulk to the card.

Stamp onto designer papers to let the beautiful patterns show through. color directly over the pattern to make the tulips and narrow borders pop out without adding extra mats.

Paper piece the different parts of the frame to look like quilting.

A little bee and butterfly have been added for quick adornments here, as well as provide you with more options for your "A Year of Flowers" and "Arranged with Love" sets. Pop them up in the corner or lighting on the flowers for the perfect little embellishment. You can also use these new delicate images with any other flowers on your cards to create focal points and backgrounds.





Some ideas for creating a flight path for these insects:
pierce it
stitch it
stamp a flourish or use a rub on
a row of adhesive pearls or rhinestones
doodle it with a pen


Add glitter or Stickles to the butterfly wings for shimmer. Fold the wings in half and adhere the center of the image to your card so they pop out. layer a cut and folded butterfly over a stamped one on your card, this creates the illusion of flapping wings!


Cut the butterfly straight down the middle, between the antennae and through the body's center. now you have two new butterflies that can be viewed from the side! This gives more versatility to the image, mix these up with the front view and it will look like you have a lovely little swarm on your card.


Stamp it all over cardstock or your favrotie patterned papers to make beautiful coordinating butterfly backgrounds.


Make the bees wings translucent by stamping them on acetate or vellum and layering over the body, or cover with Crystal Lacquer, clear or iridescent embossing powder or Sakura glaze. Try flocking his little bumble bottom with black and yellow flock! :)


Ink just the "utiful" in "beautiful" and place a popped up bee in front of the word, that spells bee-yootiful!


Create a honeycomb background for your bee by inking up bubble wrap and stamping, the result will be hundreds of little holes in a hive!


The bee has his own quote: "Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers", which can be used for so many occasions. Make him the focal point of your card with this sentiments, yellow, black and white cards are so crisp and cheerful!





Add quick color to these tulips using the stems, leaves and blossoms from the coordinating "Pressed Flowers" set.


This set includes sentiments for year round occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and thank yous, as well as sympathy and encouragement. Greetings are sized to fit in the oval whether you orient your card vertically or horizontally.

The smaller greetings like "thank you", "friend" and "bride" look beautiful when stamped into the corner of the border or onto a tag.


Sentiment Combinations:

beautiful friend, bride, or mother

hello beautiful

thank you beautiful

you are a beautiful friend, bride, Mother

Mother, friend, bride, you are beautiful

you make life beautiful

hope your birthday (wedding, anniversary, Mother's day) is beautiful

have a beautiful day, wedding (day), anniversary or Mother's day!

These classic fonts will never go out of style and can work with so many other images you have collected whenever you need to make a beautiful card, not just for flowers! They also coordinate with the greetings in "Say it with Flowers".


Use some of these new quotes inside your "Festive Frame" set for wintery thank yous and birthdays!



Make a beautiful coordinating gift with your cards by adding a photo into the oval window: lovely for a bridal portrait, picture of you and your mother, Easter photos etc.


Make a wonderful mini wedding or Easter scrapbook using the stamp to frame favorite photos.





Create a bee tag and tie it onto a jar of honey with a little dipper for a sweet gift for a friend or teacher.





Use the frame on the top of a painted to altered paper or wooden box to create a gorgeous jewelry or keepsake box, perfect for Mom!


Create a clock with the frame using a clock kit and panel of painted wood like in this post. Glue the little bee or butterfly to the end of the second hand to make it continuously circling the clock face! (I almost hated to tell you about this one already since I am making one right now for the the blog and wanted it to be (bee!) a surprise!)



The frame would make a beautiful book plate to line the inside of your favorite books and add your name to the middle.





Create a matchbook style card or pouch with the tulip frame on the front and add a seed packet inside, truly giving the gift of flowers!





Stamp it onto the outside of plain gift bag and color, quick, beautiful and inexpensive!





Create real framed art work with the frame, a pretty acrylic message board for jotting notes, or a wine label with the waterproof labels for special occasions.





Stamp the frame and a greeting onto Polyshrink, color cut out and make a hole in the corner, the heat. Add a chain and you now have a sweet key chain!

Shrink down the bee and butterfly images for charms to use one a wine ring, bracelet or earrings, a book mark, or card bling!

From the Archvives: Fun Year Round

Taking a little blogging vacation until the 18th, however, I will be sharing a post from my archives every couple days, about FRAMES, of course! :)  Hope you get your books and stamp soon!

The overlapping happy "bubbles" in my Fun Year Round set always make me think of summer and happy times (but then of course snowballs and happy times when winter rolls around!) so we'll start there!

Mount the frame on a 6x6" block, which Gina K carries here. Align the top of the frame with a line on the block. See this post for a pic and instructions for how to stamp it perfectly into a corner with out needing a positioner and only have to trim on both sides, faster and less waste of paper!

Stamp focal points, from the set or other images, onto round die cut and place over the frame.

Create masks to keep with your set: one where you trim out the entire inside of the frame so you can place this window over your stamped frame and then stamp or sponge inside of it and remove your mask, see this post. Punch out circles of various size, keep the circles to place over areas you don't want to have a stamped image in, but also save the negative part, so that you can center a round window over a circle on the frame and stamp something it it, then remove the mask.

The circles have been thoughtfully arranged with your greetings and other stamp images in mind! You can flip this frame 4 different directions for vertical or horizontal cards and you will have a large or small circle waiting for you to add your sentiment or image in a pleasing spot that follows the rule of the thirds.

The tiny circles in the corners are perfect for adding a little brad, eyelet or button.

The circles range inside from 1/2" to 2", so Circle Nestabilities are terrific for layering, paper piecing, or creating masks.

Create a paper pieced look by just punching circles of various sizes from DP or colored cardstock and then placing them over the stamped circles in the frame.

Center small images inside the small circles, large ones over the large circles. Offset them for a little more whimsical feel or stamp several of the images from the set into one of the larger circles.

Stamp onto colored paper with a coordinating ink for a more subtle look or dark or contrasting ink for a stronger look.

Stamp over DP to frame up parts of your prints in circles or to create a different look to the print, make a vintage one more modern or whimsical, etc...

If you are adding a die cut focal point over the frame, place it in the center of a group of circles like the circles in the frame are radiating out from it, or place it over a spot where two or three circles intersect.

Punch out a larger area of the frame to reveal a stamped greeting or sentiment inside your card.

Stamp the frame and then create a scene with your stamps or stamp large images over it, then use the different circle with the spotlighting technique coloring in just certain parts of the images framed up in the circles, or color them all but use slightly different colors. This will give a fun magnified or "bug-eye" effect!

Punch small circles or flowers out of the frame to reveal the mat underneath like I did in the sample below, I used a Cropodile and 1/2" circle punch. You can then stamp another round or flower element inside this cut out area.

Frame up round embellishments in the circles on the frame, large and small buttons, brads, paper or punched flowers, pearls, rhinestones, etc.

Color in the different circles with different colors to create a multi layered look, or color in the areas around the circles inside the frame to really make the circles pop. each image has coordinating smaller images that you can 2 step stamp inside the larger image in another color. It is easier to stamp the larger element first and then the smaller element inside. use the matching one of r mix and match the different elements.

The flowers and "snowflakes" fit the Jumbo and Extra Jumbo Marvy Flower punches. The jumbo will be a perfect fit and the Extra Jumbo will provide a rim around the image or be perfect for creating mats for the smaller jumbo punched elements.

The snowflakes also look like the middle of flowers when you stamp them over the flowers. You get two very different looks by lining up the 6 pointed images, or offsetting them so that the second stamp image falls between the 6 points of the first stamped image. Try both. Similarly, you can get two different looks when you line up the Marvy punch to punch it out exactly or turn it a few degrees so they end overlap the punched sides, try both ways!

Stamp the round greetings over the larger flower or snowflakes elements or stamp the smaller images or button images inside. Stamp these in Stazon Ink onto buttons or circle punches.

Create terrific patterns using the smaller elements without the frame. Make your pattern symmetrical by using the line provided in the set, following instructions in this post.

Small elements make beautiful tags and borders, and are perfect for stamping into the inside of your card or flap of your envelope for perfect coordination.

The small elements also are perfect for stamping on the backs of you card like a logo where you sign your name.

Create a photo collage by punching out circles in various sizes from photos, magazines, post cards, etc and placing them over the stamped frame.

Use the long line to create interesting geometric backgrounds, by either stamping at random or diagonally to have them cross like Gina did here, make stripes by stamping them parallel, perpendicular for a grid or checkerboard, and in different colors for plaids, etc.

Stately Mosaic and More

As promised, here is a quick sample I created using the masking and sponging techniques from yesterday's post with Inspiration Mosaic and Stately Flowers 7.  

Supplies used:  Gina K Pure Luxury White, Black Onyx, Red Velvet cardstock, Inspiration Mosaic and Stately Flowers 7, sponge daubers, Copics YG23, G07, E02, RV13, R05R17, Gina K. Designs Powder Blue and Black Onyx premium Dye ink Pads, foam squares.

And one more with A Beautiful Life, since I already the Studio file cut!  Also, I wanted you to see more samples oriented landscape style instead of portrait.

Supplies used:  Gina K Pure Luxury White and Lemon Drop cardstock, A Beautiful Life and Studio cut file,  Copics YG23, G07, E02, RV13, R05R17, Gina K. Designs  Black Onyx premium Dye ink Pads, foam squares, adhesive pearls.

Tell me, which of the frame sets is YOUR favorite? :)

Frame Tips from the Archives

 Good morning!  I hear that frames and books are flying off the shelves over at Gina K. Designs, and I  am so glad you all are as excited about these products and our hop and sale as I am! :) Today I combined two posts I did for my blog when this set first came out that will be extremely helpful to you when your frame sets arrive. Some things about the masks are specific to the Inspiration Mosaic set, but cutting the mats and lining up applies to all.  Enjoy!

This first pic shows what the mosaic grid looks like adhered to the 6x6 acrylic gridline block.  (Your stamp will look much nicer than mine, as mine was before diecutting!  All the frames sets are now die cut!) I have it centered two squares over on each side with the top edge of my image (not the top of the rubber!) lining up with the grid line on my block, make sure both corners meet the line and it WILL be lined up! It doesn't quite meet one of the lines at the bottom, but that's okay, you will only be looking at this top line when you are stamping.
TIP: If this is the only BIG stamp you have, leave it on the block! :)

Now, you're going to want to make some masks. Keep these with your set, they will allow you a variety of looks and can be used again and again. Stamp the grid into the middle of a thin sheet of scratch paper, I usually just use printer paper, the thinner the paper you use the better, a thick paper will "bump back" the image and keep all of your image from stamping properly up to the edge of your masking. (Here I'm using text weight kraft paper just so you can see it better when I place it over a white sheet I'm stamping on) Trim along the edge with a craft knife, here I'm using the Tim Holtz retractable knife. You can finish this up with scissors, but the reason I start it with a knife is so I don't have to cut in from the edge to get to the image, this piece will just fall out and I'm left with a window.
Be sure to leave a couple inches of room on the sides so that when you are sponging or stamping off the sides it won't hit your paper outside the mask.

Now cut out the two top rectangle "layers", you are left with FOUR pieces you can use: the large window (to use like a reverse mask), the grid with the two cut outs (you can stamp inside these), and then the two little rectangles you can place over the rectangles when you are sponging to keep these areas clean and blank.

I will show you how to mask with all these in my next post!!

Now , here is a pic of me stamping the grid onto my CS I will be using on my project, you can just see the edge of the white paper peeking out. So I only have to cut on two sides, I make sure the line on the grid block that is lined up with the top of my image is parallel to the top of my CS, that way I know it will be straight. I also bring it down about 1/8" from the top and 1/8" over the side (It make look like its further over on the left, but it's the angle I'm taking the pic at)

When I pull the stamp away, my CS is ready to cut on the right side and below the image so it will be perfectly framed up on my paper. Stamping it this way into the corner of a sheet of CS, I can get 4 mats from an 8 1/2" by 11 piece with very little waste. Love it!


Start by stamping the grid onto CS and cover it with the large window mask you made. This will be a reverse mask, meaning you cover the part around the outside of your image and stamp into it.
Now stamp your image into the grid, here I'm using one of the images from the "Signs of Autumn" StampTV kit, mounted on a round acrylic block.Here's what it looks like after stamping another branch and pulling the mask away, see how you still have a clean border surrounding the image? TIP: When I stamp things into my grid, I like doing "corner to corner" this way with my images, (as well as turning them to point inward towards the other elements I'm going to add) to help balance the layout. You could also do the reverse: top left and bottom right. An odd number like three branches would be nice, just try to keep them from bring too heavily concentrated in one area. (I'm going to add a third element at the end). I like having the branch overlap into the top box I'll use for my greeting just bit.

Now I'm going to cover it back up with both the big window AND the cutout of the entire grid, minus the smaller windows, and stamp one more branch into the bottom box.

Here it is pulled away again, having just part of the branch emerging creates a feeling of depth and multiple layers.

Last I'm going to use the large window and one of the little rectangles for some sponging action. Covering the boxes keeps these areas bright white, they will really pop after I'm done adding my orange ink.

This is what it looks like! You can pull your mask away as many times as you like to see if you are happy with the look or want to add more ink.  Put the mask back on and finish sponging the top corner. Now, to cut! Your cutter may be a little different than mine, but see how the border of my stamp is parallel to the edge of the plastic grip and cutting track? I put in 1/8" over, this way I will come out with a mat that has even borders on all sides, AND, even if I didn't stamp it exactly square to the corner, because the image is a rectangle, when you line it up to the border of the stamp and NOT the bottom of the cardstock, all the sides will be squared up. I love that! You will have a mat ready to adhere to your A2 card front.
 
Finish sponging the top corner and trim your stamped grid.  Add your greeting (also from the STV kit), a popped up a butterfly ("Take Flight"), and adhere to your card base. I put the butterfly at an angle in between the branches, pointing towards my quote.

I added a few more touches like some veins on the bold leaves with my marker onto the CS after stamping. That's it, a 2 layer card, plus the butterfly.

Today I am busy making a n updated version of this card with Stately Flowers 7 rose.  I'll be back to share it soon.  Bye!