Aloha, all!
So much has been going on lately here in Hilo, Hawai’i. Right now I’m in between appointments with a “to-do” list that’s way too long for the number of hours in any day of the week. Sitting at my computer writing about one of my current projects is such a relaxing way to chill out and just focus on one thing at once. So here I am! Focusing!
My focus the past few days has been on designing cards for a pack of them that I will donate to the Hilo Orchid Society for its silent auction at the annual Hilo Orchid Show at the end of this month. I took a prototype of the cards I plan to make to a committee meeting yesterday, and got a positive response.
Of course, to get an orchid onto a card this month means I have to use a retired product. Early in the month – before the new Stampin’ Up! catalog made its appearance, I went through all my stamp sets, dies, embossing folders, and punches and packed up everything that was going to retire for sale later in the year. As you can see, the Climbing Orchid Stamp Set and the Orchid Builder dies did NOT make it into that package. I live on Hawai’i’s Big Island, and its nickname is the Orchid Isle. How could I possibly get rid of something so related to where I live?
But everything else in this card is current and even new! First the new. The color of the orchid featured on this card is Rococo Rose. I used a Sponge Dauber to take ink from the Rococo Rose Classic Stampin’ Pad and brush it onto the flowers that I die-cut from Whisper White Cardstock. Also new is the lovely new 2019-2021 6 x 6 Designer Series Paper Stack, from which I pulled a Rococo Rose sheet with some script on it for part of a background layer.
The remaining products I used for this project are carried over, either from last year’s annual Stampin’ Up! catalog or from one of the recent seasonal catalogs (Holiday and Occasions). For the Whisper White layer on which I mounted the orchids, I first embossed it with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder, then die-cut it with one of the dies from the Stitched Rectangle Die set; I also die cut the Designer Series Paper layer with the same die. The bottom layer in all of this is a piece of Garden Green Cardstock embossed with the Layered Leaves 3D Embossing Folder. All of this is mounted on a card base using the Thick Whisper White Cardstock.
Before I mounted the orchids on the top layer, I stamped the 3 stems using Early Espresso Ink. To get the right spot for each of the stems, I laid orchid pieces cut from scrap paper onto a rectangle the same size as I was using for the top layer. Then I placed it in the Stamparatus stamp position tool, laid the stem stamps over the orchid pieces, picked them up with the lid of the Stamparatus and, voila! They were ready to stamp on all of the cards that I’ll make. I even added in the “Hello” sentiment from the Varied Vases Stamp Set. That’s all the stampin that there is on this card. The final touch are some white sequins from the Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequin pack.
Each box that I make will have 6 cards in it, each a different color. I’ll share a photo of the pack with you when I’m finished!
Below you’ll find links to most of the products I mentioned above. Unfortunately, the 3D embossing folders aren’t available to purchase right at this moment as Stampin’ Up! transitions to different producers of the folders. But they’ll be available before long!
