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Summer Mini Catalog Countdown – Part I

Aloha, all!

     I knew from the beginning that many of the products in the Stampin' Up! 2010 Summer Mini Catalog were going to be long time favorites, but that they would be gone in 4 months.  That time is HERE!!!  If you don't purchase them by Tuesday, you won't be able to buy them from Stampin' Up! again.  So beginning today and for the next few days, I'm going to highlight some of my favorite products from the Summer Mini, just to remind you what you might be missing.

     Of course my most very favoritest (as my little girl persona would have me say) is everything tropical!  How can you live in Hawaii and not want to have a perpetual supply of Island Oasis Designer Series Paper?!  The front of this card shows off just two of the 12 designs from this set of papers; and they are all wonderful!  Add to this fab paper set some images from the Tropical Party Stamp Set, and you have the makings of a perfect Hawaii style card.  If you don't live in Hawaii, think about that Luau party you'll be having!  Scrapbook a vacation in the Caribbean (or Hawaii!).  Super designs all.  If you'd like to see other posts that include these papers and stamp set, just click on this link.

    The greeting on this particular card is from an oldie-but-goodie Stamp Set, Simply Said.  What's nice about this greeting is that it fits inside a stamp that's (shhh) part of a new stamp set in the soon-to-be-released 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog.  Ooooh, and can you see that it's punched?  With a brand-new punch also in the Holiday Mini.  Stay tuned, because I'll be sharing tons of stuff over the next few weeks.

     But for now, don't forget about the soon to disappear Island Oasis Designer Series Papers and Tropical Party Stamp Set.

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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?)

     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.  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!!

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Bargello?

Aloha, all!

     This month's "Stampin' Success" magazine has an article about using striped Designer Series Paper to make a Bargello-type pattern as a feature on a card or scrapbook page.  The samples that the publisher shows in the article are made using some new Designer Series Paper that will be in the 2010-2011 Stampin' Up Idea Book and Catalog.  Lacking any of that at the moment, I decided nonetheless to try out the technique using some current striped paper.

     Lesson learned:  You really need to have a design with a dominant stripe to truly imitate Bargello stitching.  But here are a couple of the designs that I tried out.

     This Razzleberry Lemonade card shows a bit of what a Bargello pattern can look like.  That Melon Mambo stripe with the white flower is almost good enough to be the dominant stripe that you need.  Even though it's not quite good enough, I still really like the different look of this paper with stripes cut from it and rearranged vertically a bit.  I debated a bit about which color of the 1/2" Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon I should use.  The Razzleberry won out as that was the color I had chosen for the card itself.  I continue to just love that flower from Vintage Vogue Stamp Set, and I am quite happy that this set will be in the new catalog.  I'll have it to use for a year – yay!  Here's a bit of a close up of the design.

     Then I tried a pattern with a real stripe.  Now I think that this made a very interesting pattern.  But, with all the dominant colors in this paper from the Island Oasis Designer Series Paper set, the Bargello pattern is totally lost.  I really can hardly wait to try out the new papers!

     The real fun that I had with this card was cutting out the Tropical Party Stamp Set flowers and palm leaves stamped with Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red and Old Olive on Whisper White card stock.  That detailed cutting required me to be still and calm.  I really needed some quiet "down" time as we're having a bit of a crisis here at home with my husband in the hospital.  I made this card while he was in a hospital in Hilo on our island – the Big Island of Hawaii – and, as this is being published, he's in a hospital in Honolulu on the island of O'ahu.   For my stay over there with him, I turned to the crocheting side of my Craft Room, leaving the papers and inks at home.  But hopefully both my husband and I will be back before too many days, and I'll be able to relax back with my Stampin' Up! goodies!

     To make the strip pattern in the papers, I cut 12" strips of the designer series paper perpendicular to the stripes.  I made a 1" strip for the center then made some alternating 1/2" and 3/4" strips on either side of it.  The key to a Bargello pattern is that the design be symmetrical to the left and the right of the central motif.  Once I get my hands on some of that new paper, I'll demonstrate this technique a bit better.  For now, if you've got some leftover designer series paper as you're waiting for the next stuff to come out, have some fun cutting it up!

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A Workshop for Wendy

Aloha, all!

I originally posted these projects as part of a blog tour.  What fun that was!  The tour group was made up of demonstrators who belong to the group, SUDSOL, which is for Stampin' Up! Demonstrators exclusively.  Great group!  And I provide a free 3-month membership to the group for anyone who joins my Stampin' Up! team.  For more information, just e-mail me.

     Now for my creative projects for the day.  My first workshop using the Stampin' Up! 2010 Summer Mini Catalog was with my new friend, Wendy, and lots of her friends.  After much discussion about how the workshop would be organized, we decided on three Make and Takes, with some of the luscious new Designer Series Paper set, Island Oasis, the Stamp Set, Tropical Party, and (of course) the Sizzix Big Shot.

     For our first project, we made a Favor Bag with the Stampin' Up! Exclusive Sizzix Bigz XL Die, Fancy Favor.  Wow has this been popular with my friends here in Hawaii, who love to give parties with lots of, well, fancy favors!  You've already seen some of my designs using the stamp set, Tropical Party, and I'm just not even close to getting tired of stamping the coconut cup.  Here on the Big Island, this cup is most likely to to have been purchased at one of the local farmers markets and contain coconut "milk."  We rarely see the little umbrella at the markets, but it sure is cute anyway.

     The accents on the Fancy Favor bag coordinate with my favorite colors in the paper I used for this sample:  Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, and Old Olive.  This bag does well with or without a handle, but I decided to use some of the Pumpkin Pie 1/2" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, which I tacked down on the sides with a couple of Turquoise Circle Ice Rhinestone Brads.   I added  a Turquoise Brad from the Bold Brights brad collection.  (I'm really hoping that we'll continue to see the Turquoise Brads, even though I fully expect to the set to retire as two of the colors in that set will retire at the end of June.  Lots of new products this year for sure!)

     The two flowers that accent the upper right corner of the bag front are also stamped with the Tropical Party stamp set.  I stamped on Tempting Turquoise card stock with Tempting Turquoise Classic Ink, and on Pumpkin Pie with Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink.  I then trimmed close to the stamped image and popped them on with some adhesive.  I got the idea for using these flowers from fellow SUDSOL member, Gretchen Barron, who used them in a sample for a recent Stamping 411 challenge.

     Project Number Two was a Tea Bag Holder made with (what else?) Tea Party Designer Paper.  Fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Maria Matonti, introduced me to the basic project four or five years ago.  I frequently make it as a "get well" card as tea always seems to sound good to me when I'm under the weather.  

     The stamped saying is what connects this project to the Stampin' Up! 2010 Summer Mini Catalog.  I have to confess that I have altered my stamp a bit by removing Eleanor Roosevelt's name from it.  It just wasn't going to work with this particular design.  But isn't the saying perfect for this kind of project???!!! 

     Finally, here's what the inside of the project looks like with the two tea bags nestled into their little pockets.  Here are complete instructions on making the Tea Bag Holder and the Punch Art Teacup.

     The Third and Final Project for the workshop was a greeting card.  There I was back at the Stamping 411 blog, looking for this week's challenge project and I stumbled on the layout for this card.  Here is another use of the Island Oasis Designer Series Paper – there are actually 4 of the papers represented here!  For the greeting, the wonderful old fall-back Stamp Set, Sincere Salutations  seemed to be perfect.  The measurements for this card aren't really important.  What's important is that you scrounge around and find scraps to use to make your own unique card front!  Any set of Designer Series Paper – or even combinations of paper sets – works wonderfully.

I hope you enjoyed this brief look at Wendy's Workshop!  If you're on Hawaii's Big Island and would be interested in your own workshop, I'd love to talk with you!  Just call or e-mail me any time!

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A Tropical Thank You

Aloha, all!

     Here I am again with another sample from both the Tropical Party Stamp Set and the Island Oasis Designer Series Paper.

     As I told you earlier in the week, a few of my neighbors got together to play around with this brand new stamp set and paper pack, both of which will be offered in the 2010 Summer Mini Catalog to be released May 1, 2010.  Lucy asked if I'd give her the measurements to make a card like the Thank You Card I gave to her back in December.  As I am finding my memory has had a bit of trouble functioning really wonderfully as I get older, I asked if she could bring the card with her – so I could remind myself what I'd made!  She also said that she was sure I'd shared it on my blog; but durned if I can find it.  And if I can't find it, you're sure not going to be able to.  So today I'm going to share both cards with you. 

     Lucy's Card uses the Palm Tree image from the stamp set and another of the patterns from the Designer Series Paper set.  What I think is particularly striking about this card is the use of just one color – Old Olive.  That's a classic technique for making a classically beautiful card.  I love that she tied the palm tree with the 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, and then added a bit of glitz with the Olive colored Circle Fire Rhinestone Brads.  Since the card is not very thick, we clipped the feet from the brads and applied them to the front of the card with Mini Glue Dots.  The greeting is from the old faithful stamp set, Sincere Salutations.

     I also had used the Sincere Salutations greeting in the Thank You Card I made for Lucy.  You can see that the layering of the basic card is a bit different.  I layered a piece of Old Olive Card Stock that was just a sliver larger than the piece of paper from the Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper set.  I did the same thing with the larger center motif with a flower from the Flower Fancy Stamp Set as well as the greeting motif.  Same ribbon but no brads on this card.

     As an aside, my sister-in-law and downline, Deb, last week asked me what I thought about the Flower Fancy Stamp Set.  This stamp set is one of my favorites and is so very versatile.  You can just stamp an outline in one color or mix it up with markers as I did with this card.  Or you can fill the flowers in with the solid stamps that are also part of this Two-Step Stampin' set.  I don't think that there's an occasion for which you cannot successfully use this stamp set – case in point is that the large flower on this stamp can be made to look like a lovely poinsettia!  

     Enough of the digression.  Here is the layout that Lucy used for her card.  To make mine, just make make mats 1/8" larger than the length and width of the main Designer Series Paper and Motif  elements.

    Next time:  Some More Retiring Colors

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A Sneak Peek at the Summer Mini Catalog

Aloha, all!

     I'm going to take a bit of a break from the attention that I've been paying to the retiring Stampin' Up! colors to show off something of what you'll be seeing when the 2010 Summer Mini Catalog is released on May 1st.  I know that I tell you every time a new catalog comes out that I'm "so excited"!  But this time, I'm really, really excited because there is a whole section featuring tropical colors and stamps – and I live tropical!  OK, maybe we don't sit around sipping Mai Tais all the time.  But we do enjoy a lot of what tropical is here on the Big Island.

     Despite the fact that we don't sit around sipping Mai Tais, my first card featuring the new Island Oasis Designer Series Paper and the Tropical Party Stamp Set, features a tropical beverage.  Love those coconut cups! ( I couldn't resist really showing off our garden in the background when featuring this tropical-themed card.)

     The Designer Series Paper, as always, is double sided, and this card features two sides of the same sheet of paper.  The colors on the card reflect the colors of the little umbrellas – Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and Tempting Turquoise.  These are great tropical colors.  I can hardly wait to show off some of the other colors featured in this set.  It may have to wait until the end of the month, though, as my first workshop featuring this catalog is going to feature some projects using this paper set and I have to conserve.  But I'm still playing with a lot of the paper.

     To make the coconut cup stand out a bit, I stamped some Close to Cocoa card stock (oh, no!  Close to Cocoa's retiring!!) with Chocolate Chip Ink and cut out the coconut to glue onto the image stamped on Whisper White Card Stock.  I also stamped the umbrella part of the image on a scrap of the Designer Series Paper and cut it out to give the stamped image even some more texture.  I drew the line at cutting out the straw, and just colored it in with the Tempting Turquoise.  The greeting is (as so many of my greetings are) from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.  Great Father's Day card!

     I had three of my neighbors over for a bit of crafting yesterday.  I use them shamelessly as my focus group when I have something new that I want to try out, such as this card and color combination.  But we all sit around and make cards using papers and inks and stamps that I gather on the dining room table (I have GOT to get the craft room cleaned so we can work in there) and have a great time.  Deme decided to make the same card, but she switched out the papers and brads a bit – another great use of this new set!  Later this week I'll show off Lucy's card using different paper, stamps and layout.

     This card layout is one that you'll see frequently.  For one thing, you can show off different designer papers and the central motif is definitely resizable to fit whatever kind of stamp or embellishments you'd like to use.  Here is the layout for the cards as shown.  Have fun with it!

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