Aloha, all!
Summer's almost here! Even here in Hawai'i, the weather in summer is different. Our days aren't VERY much longer (we are just 19 degrees north of the equator), but just long enough that we can enjoy evenings with daylight. And the temperature's not THAT much warmer, though enough that most evenings we don't have to wear a sweater when we're out enjoying twilight. So we're happy to have summer time to enjoy.
Summer Time also happens to be the theme for the current challenge at the SUO Challenges Blog. As I mentioned earlier, we've been traveling most of the month of June, and are just now back and ready to get back to our usual routine. I also have my box of new goodies from the brand new Stampin' Up! 2014-2015 Catalog. Yay – new stuff! But with all that was going on, I had to make my card before I could get the stamp set I really wanted to use to make today's card. Tapping my fingers, what-to-do-what-to-do. Then I had my "aha" moment – use Designer Series Paper for my image!!
The Stamp Set I wanted to use is called Sea Street. You'll be seeing that set on my blog this summer for sure! But that darling little Octopus also appears on one of the sheets in the Maritime Designer Series Paper set. OK – it took a lot of fussy cutting to get him (her?) all cut out. But once I did, I found that I could do just what I wanted with all those tentacles – have a lot of cocktails to serve or even drink! The cocktails are all from the Happy Hour Stamp Set, and there was a bit of fussy cutting there, too. If you look closely at the Real Red and Night of Navy stamped glasses, you'll see some little fishies swimming right on top of the beverage. These little guys (gals?) are found on the same sheet of Maritime paper as the Octopus. Talk about fussy cutting!!!
The boat that's being so fondly cuddled is printed on the paper. You won't find that boat in any stamp stamp set – it's part of the print on the paper. But the straw and the little umbrella are a fun part of the Happy Hour set, as is the "Cheers!" sentiment at the top of the card.
As long as I was using one sheet of the Maritime Paper, I decided to use two of the other patterns to create the background layers for my card. The bottom layer is from a Real Red grid print and the top layer is a Coastal Cabana print with waves – this is a maritime paper set, after all!
To provide a layer on which to show off the Octopus with all her beverages, I cut a piece of Whisper White Cardstock using a die from the Starbust Framelit Set, and then I texturized it with the Decorative Dots Textured Embossing Folder. I'm so happy to have this embossing folder back – it was so much fun using it during this year's Sale-a-Bration promotion! I chose this embossing folder because I thought it carried the idea of bubbles, of which there are a lot in both the ocean and fun beverages.
The banner behind the Cheers! sentiment is one I hand cut. I stamped "Cheers!" on a 3/4" x 3" piece of Whisper White Cardstock, and then notched both ends. Then I cut a piece of Real Red Cardstock 7/8" x 3-1/2". I adhered the trimmed Whisper White piece to the Real Red piece. Then I cut notches in the Real Red piece to match those in the white piece. It's a really easy process.
I'm sure you can imagine how much fun it was to make this card. How could it not be with that little Octopus smiling up at me every step of the way! If you'd like to try this card out, here's a list of the products I used for the project. You can order any of them at my online store. Have fun with it!
Mary Jo Price-Williams says
Fun! Cute idea.
Julie A. says
Robin-
This just could not be any cuter!!! LOVE IT!!!
Robin says
Thanks, Julie! This is my favorite card of the month so far!
Robin says
Thanks, Mary Jo! It definitely was fun to make!
Sue Mac Donald says
very nice & happy looking; TFS! I love your blog!
Margaret Spencer says
such a happy card and I love Mr. Octopus!