Sunny Studio Stamps Blog: Guest Designer Spotlight: Cards with Sara Zoppi

Sunday, February 2, 2025

Guest Designer Spotlight: Cards with Sara Zoppi

Hi crafty friends, Sara Zoppi here! Today I am thrilled to be here, guesting again for Sunny Studio Stamps! And today I have two inspiration to show you, featuring the recent released Cat Antics stamp and the Balloon Alphabet stamp. So, let's dive into the first one!

Sunny Studio Stamps: Cat Antics & Balloon Alphabet Cards by Sara Zoppi

You all know I love coloring and creating, but you probably don't know I am a cat lover (I live with two furry friends, Mostri and Batman). So, when I got the preview of the release, I knew I would have created something with them. For my first card, I was inspired by my two cats, who always climb the shelves and furniture in my apartment. So, I tried to arrange as many as I could, and I stamped them on a piece of Neenah Solar White cardstock. I hand-drew all the shelves and books behind me: don't be afraid, it is much easier than it looks ... they are only horizontal and vertical lines.

I then colored everything with lighter shadows than I usually do with the Copics listed below:
• Orange cats: YR27 – E97 – YR12 – YR31
• White and black and striped black cats: W9 – W7 – W5 – W4 – W3 – W1
• Light brown cat: E35 – E55 – E31 – E30
• White and red cat: E18 – E17 – E08 – E81
• Bookshelves: E23 – E25 – E49 (back)
• Yellow combo: Y35 – Y32
• Red combo: R56 – E04
• Teal combo: BG75 – BG18 – BG57

I then trimmed the scene to 3"x4,75", and I moved into the sentiment. I used the Balloon Alphabet stamp, but I was careful to stamp the letters without inking the small bottom part of the balloon, using coordinating desaturated red and yellow inks. In this way, the letters don't look like balloons. I also added a few shadows around the borders with darker Polychromos pencils, and I die-cut all of them with coordinating dies. I die-cut two white pieces to align behind in order to get some depth.

To complete the card, I white heat-embossed the phrase (which comes from the previously released Bold Ballons) on a piece of teal cardstock and I attached everything on an A2 white panel. As a finishing touch, I matted the whole panel with sparkling brown cardstock. And here's a finishing look!

For my second inspiration, I went for a cleaner and simple look, using the same combo of stamps.

When designing CAS cards, which are a bit out of my comfort zone, the most challenging thing is choosing a color palette I like. I spent a lot time on it, but I really love how it looks now. I chose a pastel combo with peachy orange, light yellow, blue eggshell, and pink. I hand drew four rectangles of 1"x2,75", and I colored with Copics YR65 – YR31 – BG72 – RV52.

I stamped four cats from the stamp set, and added a few touches of colors listed below, and then die cut with coordinating dies:
• First and third cat: YR27 – E97 – E40 – RV14 – R20 – W9
• Second and fourth cat: E18 – E17 – E40 – RV14 – R20 – W9

I then stamped the four letters with coordinated ink pads I have in my stash and I added a few shadows with Polychromos as I did in my first card.

I arranged the letters and the cats on my A2 panel, I stamped the black sentiment below and then I hand drew the balloon strings and some white and black dots.

To complete the card, I used some Glossy Accent on balloons and I trimmed the panel to 3,75"x5,5", in order to matt the scene with a black and white patterned paper. And here's the finished look!

Thanks for stopping by! I really hope you will like my projects and you will be inspired to create something!

Sunny Studio Supplies Used: