My Favorite Accessories!

Aloha, all!

     With a new challenge from the SU Only Challenge Blog team, I was wondering how I was going to keep my focus on my promise to feature Designer Series Paper (DSP) sets until I opened AND used all my new sets.  The reason for wondering was that our challenge this time is to feature our Favorite Accessories.  When we're talking about accessories, we're usually not talking about papers, inks and card stock.  What to do, what to do….

     And then one of my fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators, Cindee Wilkinson, shared a framed project that featured DSP, and my idea for my challenge project quickly took shape. So I'm still sharing new DSP with you.  But I'm also sharing three of my favorite accessories:  Punches, Framelits, and Candy Dots!

     You may wonder where I came up with this frame so quickly!  The answer is that I've had in for a few years.  I found it back in 2010 at a garage sale and just knew I'd use it for a Stampin' Up! project.  Yup, three years ago, and I'm just now finding the "right" project for it. 

     First the Designer Series Papers:  For this project I used the DSP set, Afternoon Picnic – all twelve designs!

     Now for the Accessories.  I just love Stampin' Up!'s Hexagon Punch, which is new with the Stampin' Up! 2013-2014 Annual Catalog.  I've already used it quite a bit, and knew that it would do beautifully with this set of DSP because the patterns are, overall, pretty small.  So you can really get a good sense of the patterns punched this way.  This frame was perfect for this because there are 6 sheets of designs in each pack of DSP, and there is a different pattern on both sides of each sheet.  Twelve little square openings in the frame, twelve designs!

     To jazz the paper samples up a bit, I added a touch of some of the coordinating colors of card stock which I punched with the floral design from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack.  The colors I used were Crushed Curry, Wisteria Wonder, Pear Pizzazz and Coastal Cabana.

     The Candy Dots come in three of the colors that I used for the little flowers, so I added Whisper White Candy Dots to the Crushed Curry, Wisteria Wonder, and Pear Pizzazz Candy Dots.  I mixed and matched the flowers and candy dots so they looked balanced to me.  One of my favorite features of the Candy Dots is that they are so flat!  I had no trouble at all putting this frame back together with the piece of glass that came with it!

     My final favorite of the day is the Squares Collection Sizzix Framelits set.  Wow, it is so easy to make a thin, square frame with these tools – especially with the Big Shot Magnetic Platform.  (A quick note:  The magnetic platform has been so popular that Stampin' Up! has a large backorder of them!  I'm going to keep using mine, but I'll be sure to let you know when it's back in stock.)

     I used a frame I made with the Wisteria Wonder monochrome design in the DSP set to frame a stamp from the Stamp Set, Tea Party.  Some of the designs in the DSP set are made to go with this stamp set, and it felt perfect for this project.  I inked up the stamp with my Pear Pizzazz, Wisteria Wonder and Basic Gray Stampin' Write Markers and then stamped it on Nautrals White Card Stock.  I do so like coloring things in.  One of my Stampin' Up! friends (can't recall who at the moment) has a tag line on her e-mails, "Crayons – you didn't fear them as a child, why fear them now?"  That is definitely my philosophy – play and have fun with ALL my Stampin' Up! products.

     So there's my collection of Favorite Accessories.  You are more than welcome to join in our challenge, which lasts most of two weeks.  So even if you're on vacation for the Fourth of July holiday, you'll still have plenty of time to join us when you get back!  The web address is http://www.suochallenges.com.  I'm sure you'll have fun with it!

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