Create a Vintage Rose Card with the Cosmic Shimmer Rambling Roses Stamp

Discover how to create a stamped floral card topper, then combine more stamping, stencilling, painting and embossing to create a beautiful vintage-inspired card using the Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Heirloom Collection. In this real-time tutorial, Sheena Douglass uses the Cosmic Shimmer Rambling Roses DL Stamp Set to create the dimensional floral focal point, building the background with the Past & Postal DL Stamp Set, Finishing Touch DL Stamp Set and Heritage Rose Stencil.

Along the way, Sheena shares tips for creating distressed backgrounds, mixing and softening colours, painting stamped roses and foliage, adding touches of gold embossing and bringing all the different elements together without overwhelming the main design.

Watch the full video and follow the steps below to create your own Vintage Heirloom card.

Step 1 – Create the Distressed Background
Start with a piece of Cosmic Shimmer Ready to Stamp A4 White Cardstock.
To make Sheena's background spray, mix approximately one part vegetable glycerine to five parts water in a small spray bottle, then add around 15 drops of Cosmic Shimmer Water-Based Ink in Dark Walnut.
Lightly spray the cardstock and use a damp kitchen sponge to move the colour around, creating an uneven, naturally distressed effect. Add small touches of teal or green if you wish to introduce more colour.
Avoid soaking the cardstock – build the colour gradually and allow it to dry.

Step 2 – Add the Heritage Rose Stencil
Position the Cosmic Shimmer Heritage Rose Stencil over the background at an angle rather than placing it centrally.
Blend a red / pink rose colour through the flower areas, followed by green through the foliage. Sheena uses a tiny amount of glycerine on her work surface to help soften the inks before applying them through the stencil.
Don't worry if a little of the red and green mix together – this helps create the muted, vintage colour palette.
Move and reposition the stencil as you work so the pattern feels natural rather than creating an obvious repeat.

Step 3 – Build Up the Vintage Stamping
Use the Cosmic Shimmer Past & Postal DL Stamp Set and Finishing Touch DL Stamp Set to add vintage imagery, script and decorative details across the background.
Stamp in muted brown tones, taking some of the ink away from the stamp before printing where you want a softer or more broken impression.
Allow some of the stamped designs to disappear off the edges of the cardstock and vary the strength of the impressions. This helps give the background its worn, aged appearance without making it too uniform.

Step 4 – Distress the Edges
Use the corner and distressed stamp details to begin building colour around the outside of the cardstock.
Start with a mid brown, then introduce the darker brown closer to the edges. Blend where needed, but retain some of the broken stamped texture rather than creating a completely even border.
You can deepen the very outside edge later with a touch of black if you want additional contrast.

Step 5 – Make the Number Embellishment
Stamp the small vintage number design onto a separate piece of cardstock and cut it out.
Add brown ink around the edges, then gently crease and scrunch the cardstock to give it a worn appearance. Deepen the very edges with a darker ink for extra definition.
Put this aside ready for the final arrangement.

Step 6 – Stamp and Cut the Rambling Roses
Stamp the rose and foliage from the Cosmic Shimmer Rambling Roses DL Stamp Set onto Ready to Stamp White Cardstock using black stamping ink.
Leave enough room between the stamped elements for cutting, then cut them out by hand – or with an electronic cutting machine.
Sheena recommends stamping several pieces while your supplies are out so you have additional flowers and leaves ready for future projects.

Step 7 – Paint the Leaves
Secure the cut foliage to scrap cardstock with low-tack tape to make it easier to paint right to the edges.
Sheena uses a combination of Cosmic Shimmer Water-Based Inks in French Mustard, Olive Green and Dark Walnut Water-Based Inks, with a small amount of Firecracker Red.
Begin with a diluted wash of French Mustard, then introduce Olive Green and touches of brown. Vary the colours between the leaves and add deeper colour towards their bases rather than painting every leaf a flat green.
A tiny touch of red can also help mute the green and tie the foliage into the colour palette of the rose.

Step 8 – Paint the Rambling Rose
For the main flower, mix Cosmic Shimmer Firecracker Red and Hot Magenta Water-Based Inks with a little Dark Walnut to create a deeper, vintage rose shade.
Dilute the mixture for the lighter areas of the petals, then gradually introduce stronger colour into the shadows and deeper areas of the flower.
Use the detail in the stamped image as your guide to the shape and dimension of each petal, building the colour gradually rather than trying to achieve the finished depth in one application.

Step 9 – Add Soft Highlights
Once the painted rose is dry, use diluted white gouache or another opaque white paint – or Gesso – to introduce highlights. Build the white slowly on the areas of the petals that would naturally catch the light. Avoid large areas of solid white – the aim is to enhance the curved shape of the petals while retaining the colour underneath.
Add smaller highlights to the leaves if required.
If the white paint covers any of the original stamped detail, allow it to dry before carefully restoring the lines with a fine black pen.

Step 10 – Add Stamped Foliage
Return to the background and use the foliage and vine designs from the Vintage Heirloom stamp sets to create additional greenery around the area where the dimensional rose will sit.
Stamp in a soft green, varying the height and angle of the foliage. You don't need to ink the whole stamp each time – partial impressions can make the foliage appear to grow naturally from behind the finished arrangement.
Use a damp brush to soften and spread some of the green ink if required.

Step 11 – Add Gold Embossed Details
Make sure the background is completely dry before embossing.
Prepare the area with an anti-static tool, then stamp selected corner details with a slow-drying embossing ink. Cover with Cosmic Shimmer Gold Embossing Powder, tap away the excess and heat until the powder has just melted.
Keep the heat tool moving and stop as soon as the powder has melted to retain the definition.
If needed, deepen the very outer edge of the background with black ink afterwards. This creates additional contrast and helps the gold embossing stand out.

Step 12 – Assemble the card
Attach the completed background to a heavyweight card blank using Cosmic Shimmer Specialist Acrylic Glue. If the cardstock has warped slightly from the wet techniques, make sure you apply adhesive close to the edges and press it firmly into place.
Gently shape the painted rose and foliage with your fingers before attaching them. Use foam pads or dimensional adhesive towards the centre of the rose to lift it away from the background.
Position the foliage around the flower, using a combination of dimensional adhesive and a small amount of Specialist Acrylic Glue on finer stems where needed. Leave some leaves and stems raised from the surface to create a more natural arrangement.
Add the distressed number embellishment and your chosen Cosmic Shimmer Sentiment Snippets. Sheena uses “With Gratitude” and “Grateful for every laugh shared” on her finished card.
Before sticking everything permanently into place, arrange the different elements and adjust their position until you're happy with the composition.

The Finished Vintage Heirloom Card
The finished card combines the beautifully coloured Rambling Roses stamped focal point with soft stencilling, distressed vintage stamping, foliage and touches of gold embossing.
Try changing the colours of the rose or background to make the design your own. The same stamping, painting and background techniques can also be adapted for tags, art journals and mixed media projects.

Discover the Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Heirloom Collection and start creating your own dimensional mixed media cards.