Diva Fun With the Stampin’ Up! Summer Mini
Aloha, all!
Oh, no! Stampin' Up!'s 2010 Summer Mini Catalog is almost at its end!!! The good news is that there are a lot of products that will continue to be around until at least next summer! Tons of great stamp sets and embellishments that are in the 2010 Summer Mini are already in the new 2010-2011 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog.
Today's featured stamp set WON'T be around, though! I just love this set, and haven't used it nearly enough. The set is called Bouquet Bunch and makes such a nice greeting card and is perfect for accents for small scrapbook page elements.
Now you may be interested in how I came to use this stamp set with this delicious set of colors! Of course it's Wednesday, and that means it's time for a Diva Coffee Break Design Team challenge! This week the challenge was a color challenge:
I have to tell you that, when I saw this color grouping, I thought "Autumn." Nope, I'm not doing Autumn yet!! Too early for that, even though we're getting an evening chill in the air here on Hawaii's Big Island. Nope, it's still summer, gosh durn it!!! So where do I turn? To the Stampin' Up 2010 Summer Mini Catalog, of course! And that's how I chose this stamp set with which to work, and it was a blast to put together!
Not everything in this card is from the Summer Mini, though. A favorite product from this year's new 2010-2011 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog is the Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack. With each paper stack you get an assortment of ALL the colors in a particular family in four different patterns on two 2-sided papers. How cool is that? All four of these colors are in the Brights Collection of colors, and I almost ended up making a card showing off just the Designer Series Papers. But rubber and ink called out to me, so I relented.
There are so many different elements to this card that I thought I'd just make a set of bullet points so you can check them out:
- I stamped the flower pots on Rich Razzleberry Textured Card Stock using Rich Razzleberry Ink, then cut them out for adhering to the Very Vanilla Card Stock.
- Before I adhered each flower pot, I tied some Linen Thread around each of them.
- I stamped three flower images on Very Vanilla Card Stock, then colored each in (Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, and Old Olive) before cutting them out loosely around the end of the flowers.
- I added a Razzleberry center to each flower in the Daffodil and Tangerine bunches. For the Olive bunch, I colored in the flowers in Old Olive, then used a blender pen to add a lighter color of the Old Olive for the background.
- I'm having a 3 x 3 brad fit this week! In Monday's post , I added three brads in a vertical row in the upper left corner, and in a horizontal row in the lower right corner. No explanation – I just felt like it. Then today I added these new Basic Rhinestones in the same layout. Hey, that's what creativity's all about, isn't it! Artistic license gives us all the right to do stuff like this! Then I added just a little touch of rhinestones in the center bouquet.
- And knots are in in Robin's Craft Room this week, too! For this card, as well as for Monday's, I took a length of ribbon a bit larger than the width of the card and tied a knot in the middle. Remember that this is a textile, and you can twist and turn it within an inch of its little life until it looks JUST like you want it to. Perfect knots if I say so myself – that ribbon behaved itself quite nicely, thank you! And then I just taped the ends of the ribbon behind the layers it covers before adhering the group to the greeting card base.
- The final touch with this card is the border punched with the Scallop Trim Border Punch.
And here's the sketch for today's card: This is a very versatile layout and I'll probably use it again before long!
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Subscribe to the comments for this postSpotlight on Deb
Aloha, all!
Many of you know that my sister-in-law, Deb, is also a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Her forte is her monthly Stamp Camps in which she features techniques for her class fans, and she's begun to get me involved more in trying out different techniques. On top of that, my online Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Group, SUDSOL, has also been featuring some techniques challenges. So I've really been expanding my horizons lately.
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Spotlighting is something that I've done in the past, but not very recently. But when Deb sent me some photos of cards that she did for her group, I decided that I had to copy her work and share it with you (in the crafting world, that's called a CASE – Copy And Share Everywhere is the way I interpret this acronym).
For today's card, I stamped the large image from the stamp set, Elements of Style. This stamp set was first introduced in the 2010 Summer Mini Catalog, but it's being continued as a current stamp set in the 2010-2011 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog.
The SPOTLIGHTING TECHNIQUE involves stamping a line image, but not coloring it in. The most common way to put a "spotlight" on a part of the image is to stamp the image on another piece of paper or card stock, punch it out, color it in, and then adhere it to the larger stamped image. In this card, I punched the second stamped image using Stampin' Up!'s Butterfly Extra Large Punch. I not only colored the image (with Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke, and Daffodil Delight, but I also colored in the edge of the butterfly so that it showed up clearly over the main image. Fun, huh?
To finish this off as a card with the 1-1/4" Pumpkin Pie Striped Ribbon, some Pumpkin Pie Brads, and a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes. I matted the finished image on a layer of Pumpkin Pie and Always Artichoke Card Stock.
Here is a different way to approach this technique – stamp the background image on one color card stock, and stamp the image to be punched on another color card stock. For this card I used Sahara Sand, with the punched image stamped on Very Vanilla. My accent colors are Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight. I've decided that I like the first version better. What about you?
Owl Is Right With the World
Aloha, all!
As many of you are already aware, one of the newest of the Stampin' Up! punches is the 2-Step Owl Punch. Owl right-y, then – it's time I shared something of this fab avian punch with you!
I have to admit that I made this card several weeks ago when I first laid my sticky little hands on this critter. But I've been so busy trying out other "stuff" that I forgot to share with you. No excuses – just that there's SO MUCH in the newest Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog that I can't keep up with what I'm doing. Worse yet is that I'm trying to make sure I don't miss anything in the soon-to-be-retired 2010 Summer Mini Catalog, and there's the soon-to-be-issued 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog! Can you blame a girl for being confused??? Absolutely NOT!!! So–what have I promised you: Lots! What have I delivered? Well, some cool stuff. Herewith a cool card with my new fav punch.
OMG!!! I can't believe I had to go back A MONTH to find this card! Yes, I made it for a display at my New Catalog Open House in July!!!!! (How many exclamation points are there? Don't know – but too many.)
To begin, a wonderful Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Sandy Hancock, inspired me to use the Woodgrain Background Stamp to make a background for the owl. I was currently (still am?) enthralled by the new Designer Series Papers, Sunny Garden, and thought some of the papers from that set would make a fun accent for the Owl. Nice, don't you think? And, at the time, I had the new stamp set, Fabulous Phrases, out on my craft room table. OK – among the words in this fab (for "Fabulous" as in its name) set were "best," "friend," and "forever." All rightie now – we had THREE friends here. How to do this. Simple – take out the matching Poppy Parade Stampin' Write Marker and add an "s" to the word, "friend." So it's not a perfect match for the letter in "best," but it works!
I just do not have the time to share all the wonderful projects that people have been making with this wonderful punch! BUT – I have collected a digital file of some of the best of the web for this punch. And I will be happy to send you a copy of what I've collected if you order this punch from me – either directly or online. All of the samples will have the digital signatures of the Stampin' Up! designer who made them and you'll be able to go to their websites to get details if you need them!
Need the order number? It's 118074. Here's a picture of the shapes that the punch produces:
Hope you'll like it enough to order it! And do share your projects with me – and I'll be happy to post them here if you'd like!
Have fun with it!
New Challenges – Hooray!
Aloha, all!
Today I am officially a new member of the Diva Coffee Break Design Team! I have been playing with their designs off and on for awhile, and was thrilled to be accepted as a new member of the official team! Of course, this now means that you'll be seeing at least one design from each week's challenge here – and I hope that you'll go visit their website to see how all of the other Design Team Members worked the challenge.
Why is this good for you? Because you'll be reminded about how different we all are in the way that we approach the same project. Once you see all the different tastes and techniques on display on a site such as Diva Coffee Break, you might just have that "ah ha!" moment where you realize that you, too, have a unique idea on how to create using the sketch or color combo on display.
OK – what do you do then? Well, you go create your own take on the challenge AND you pop your card up on the Internet somewhere and post a link to it using the link system at the end of each week's challenge post. Don't have a public place to "park" your creation? Oh, yes, you do! It's on Split Coast Stampers! Call me (808.854.6145) or e-mail me if you need help with this. I'd LOVE to see YOUR creations posted on the Diva Coffee Break website!
OK – now onto my very first official card for the group!
Yes, this paper and this stamp set are still available to Stampin' Up! customers, because they're in the 2010 Summer Mini Catalog, and it's still Summer 2010! If you love all things Hawaiian (as I definitely do), then you won't want to miss out on the opportunity to order this before the catalog expires at the end of August.
But enough of the commercial. Let's get down to the design. Here's the sketch provided to the design team members, so you can see that I pretty much followed it to the letter (well, that's what newbies in any venture are supposed to do, isn't it?)
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Oooh, that color combo (not the challenge, believe me!) made me wince. So I had to squint a bit and try to see what in my stash of current Stampin' Up! stuff would work. The first thing that I thought was that the small rectangle at the top should have the sentiment or greeting. Easy that one because the Level 3 Hostess Set, Occasional Quotes, has several that would work. That left all that other space for images of one kind or another. Maybe some Designer Series Paper with a large print – ooooh, Island Oasis (now who would have thought that someone from Hawaii would have that pop into her head?) Now we're getting somewhere! There is that "party" quote in Occasional Quotes and there is a stamp set that coordinates with the paper that's called Tropical Party. How coincidental is that? And that diagonal? Screams for ribbon – and I just happen to have a large stash of Pumpkin Pie 5/8" Satin Ribbon that would fit the bill perfectly. And the design was done.
Actually, the design was NOT done. This is the FIRST card that I decided on. .jpg)
Do you see my "problem"? There was this very uninteresting spot towards the lower left corner of the quote element that just looked too, well, too much like a corner out in the middle of nowhere. Yes, I had the picture all ready to post, and I just couldn't do it. So back to the craft table (much more interesting than a drawing board) for the little flower that I popped onto that corner. And, just for good measure, another flower in the lower right corner of the card. Now THAT made a difference.
Lessons from today: Use a challenge to get your creative juices going. And if you don't quite like the end result, well then it isn't the end result! Spiff it up a bit!
Challenge for today: Make a card and link it to the Diva Coffee Break Design Team web page! Don't forget to call/e-mail me if you need help with the technical stuff.
Oh, and here are the exact measurements for the various layers on my card. Have fun with it!!
Another Oldie But Goodie!
Aloha, all!
You know by now that I just love stamp layout challenges – actually, I like card or scrap challenges of just about every kind! You might also recall that last week I posted a stamp set challenge in which I used an "Oldie But Goodie" stamp set, Simply Said. Shortly after that, there was yet ANOTHER challenge, and this one was a sketch challenge. When I went into the craft room to cogitate about what I might use to make the card, I found (as I all too frequently do) that I hadn't cleaned up after making last week's card with Simply Said. Well, that was certainly a message!
So here is yet another card with that oldie but goodie, along with a newer, but not really new, stamp set, Heard From The Heart. The fun thing about making this card was connecting the textured look of the flowers stamped over the heart backgrounds with the texture in the three hearts that I punched using the Heart to Heart Punch. Hey – I had that Square Lattice Embossing Folder still out from another project that needed to have stuff put away! (Yes, I do have to get in and clean up the craft room again – I'm procrastinating by blogging, another favorite trick of mine!) So I texturized the top layer of the square element of the card, then ran some scraps of matching Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, and Bashful Blue card stock through the same folder. Then I punched out the hearts and arranged them – quite artfully, if I say so myself! – and added one of Stampin' Up!'s newest products, Basic Rhinestones. You get 150 of those little gems for just $4.95. Great deal, I must say! Oh, and that background color is another fabulous new color from Stampin' Up!, Cherry Cobbler. As luscious as it sounds.
Here is the card layout, with those 1/8" measurement differences making the stamped images look so nicely framed! Have fun with it!
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Another New (to me!) Fun Technique
Aloha, all!
First of all, don't forget that I'll be teaching "technique" classes this fall! I'll be sending my brochure out to everyone on my mailing list early in the week. So sign up for my newsletter or mailing list NOW to get all the scoop!
Meanwhile, here is a card using one of the techniques. The card layout itself is very simple. It's the flowers that really make this card as lovely as it is (if I do say so myself!). Making these flowers was absolutely the most fun I've had in weeks. I have to tell you that I avoided this project like the plague. Even when I had the flowers cut, I just couldn't bring myself to scrunch up all those carefully cut and dyed pieces of paper. Yes, my hands just literally wavered over them as I picked them up gingerly and I winced when I wadded them up into a ball. Painful. But oh, what fun I finally had when I realized I wasn't going to ruin them! So come on over to the Craft Room for some of the same fun yourself! Sign up for my list, or call (808.854.6145) or e-mail me and I'll send the brochure (either by e-mail or snail mail).
Oh, and what technique might this be? Sign up for my newsletter and you'll find out!
Simple But Elegant Layering
Aloha, all!
Sometimes I get all involved in figuring out different shapes and positions of the various layers on my greeting cards and scrap pages that I forget that something simple can be very elegant!
I was impressed by this card's layout when I saw it in the Stampin' Success magazine. All the layers are in the same proportion and they are all centered vertically and horizontally. Normally I'd say, "How boring." But there are two features of this card that take it form boring to lovely: That little strip of "silver" around the Very Vanilla layers, and that angled piece of Satin Ribbon over the top set of layers. The "silver" in this case is Sahara Sand, but its color tone changes when it's put up against the vanilla and the Night of Navy colors. As I thought about this, I realized that this is the type of bordering and ribbon that I would see in a certificate folder presented at an awards ceremony! How elegant is that?! The Stamp Set, Just Believe, colored up with markers for the top layer and stamped with Pear Pizzazz on the bottom layer, adds very nicely to this elegant look.
I'm going to play around with this layout a bit more today and will share what I "discover" later in the month!
Meanwhile, here's the sketch for this card. Note that I scootched (that's a paper-crafting technical term!) the center section of my final card up just a tad (another tech term) to show off the leaves that I stamped on the top layer of the base section. I'll see how the rest of these cards turn out later – and so will you if you come back to visit!
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An Oldie But Goodie – Stamp Set, That Is!
Aloha, all!
Last Saturday I had some free time just to play in the craft room and the SUDSOL (my favorite online group for Stampin' Up! demonstrators) challenge team had a challenge to use some old stamp set that ended up not retiring this year and that we hadn't used in a long time.
Well, it's been a long time since I've made a greeting card with the REALLY old stamp set, Simply Said. I went through my stash of old Stampin' Up! Catalogs, and it looks like this stamp set was new in the 2006-2007 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog! Now this is a stamp set that has STAYING POWER!
So, how does it look today, four years later? Very nice, I think. I especially like the addition of one of Stampin' Up!'s newest products, the Basic Pearls. They accent the flowers on the heart motif beautifully, and coordinate oh so nicely with the Perfect Polka Dots Sizzix Embossing Folder. The colors are two of my favorite pinks, Regal Rose (the darker color) and Pink Pirouette (brought back this year to the Stampin' Up! permanent color collection). Whisper White is always a nice accent in a monochromatic type of greeting card.
Simply Said is a 2-Step Stampin' stamp set. For these older stamp sets, still sold only as wood mounted sets, you really need to use the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig to line up the stamps. When I first stamped the heart motif, I began by stamping the heart in Pink Pirouette; then stamping the floral inset using Regal Rose; and finally stamping the border, again using Regal Rose. Once the card was all done, though, I thought it might be just a bit classier to have that heart "pop out" a bit. So I 2-step stamped it again, cut it out, then adhered it over the original stamped image using Stampin' Dimensionals. Nice touch, I think!
Here is the layout for this card – there's one layer with a 1/16" increment to show just a hint of color around the edges of the stamped layer. Have fun with this!
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Cajun Blueberries?
Aloha, all!
I truly don't know if there are blueberries growing in Cajun Country. But I do know that Stampin' Up!'s Blueberry Crisp Designer Series Paper is a great set to coordinate with one of Stampin' Up!'s newest colors, Cajun Craze.
Yesterday I featured a 5" square card made with 2" squares of Blueberry Crisp paper. But, when you cut up those 2" squares, you're left with a bunch of scraps – and what a shame it would be just to throw them away!
So today I'm featuring a card using squares cut with the Stampin' Up! 1-1/4" Square Punch cut out of those scraps. Once I started fussing around with the colors and searching through my stash of embellishments, I decided that this would be a "Congratulations" card for a very special person. So I loaded it up with layers and buttons and ribbons, oh my! The buttons are from two of Stampin' Up!'s newest button collections, the Regals Collection (from which I chose a Cajun Craze and Night of Navy button) and the Neutrals Collection (that pretty little Very Vanilla flower button). I tied them up with a bit of crochet thread and then layered everything up with another sheet of Blueberry Crisp paper, and Cajun Craze, Night of Navy and Very Vanilla card stock. Before I used the Sizzix Square Lattice Texturz Folder on the Very Vanilla, I stamped "congratulations" from the stamp set, Curly Cute. It really is best to stamp BEFORE texturizing to get a nicely inked impression.
Here's the layout sketch for this card. The tutorial for making diagonal cuts for card fronts is here. Have fun!
Mmmmmm – Blueberries!
Aloha, all!
The Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper that I used for this card is named "Blueberry Crisp." Now, if I were at our family's cabin in Northern Minnesota, I might have had the real thing earlier this summer with all the wild blueberries growing, well, wild up there. That's definitely a "yum"!
But I wasn't there this summer, so I'll have to settle for the next best thing – luscious Stampin' Up! papers. And I love how this cutting and placement of one of the striped sheets of the paper set really shows off the different colors in the set. The layer just behind the striped pieces is also from the Blueberry Crisp set. The sentiment is from the brand new Level 3 Hostess Set, Occasional Quotes. I can't believe that, on my first choice, I passed up this set for another! But I had another personal opportunity to earn a Level 3 Hostess set, and grabbed this one quickly! And that quote fits one of the frames from the Styled Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware set. To accent the sentiment motif, I tied together a piece of Chantilly Lace and Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbons and added it to the front with some Sticky Strip to hold it down.
This is a 5" square card – fits beautifully into Stampin' Up!'s Medium Square Envelopes which are 5-1/2" square. Here is the layout for this card, and some instructions about how to get those coordinating stripes cut out can be found by clicking here.
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