Happy Monday, Everyone!
The past few weeks have witnessed me crafting like crazy in my new Craft Room. What’s the rush? It’s that I have challenged myself to use as much of my stash of retiring Stampin’ Up! Products as I can before they retire! One product that I’ve ignore much of the year is the Sweet Symmetry Designer Series Paper set. I am sure what happened is that I thought I’d have plenty of time to use it in the fall after I’d spent all summer last year playing with all the gorgeous floral prints that were in the Stampin’ Up! 2021-2022 Annual Catalog. Then the fall came and we decided to sell our home in Hawai’i and move to Florida. So I still have lots of that paper and I’m determined to use it up!
Sweet Symmetry Designer Series Paper
To begin with, I guess I wasn’t sure how to use that paper. I still wasn’t sure when I got it out of its paper slot last week. But a happy coincidence got me on track. I have a customer who has ordered a set of greeting cards, including at least four Birthday Cards. When those two projects – using the papers and making the birthday cards – hit the table at the same time, it was perfect. I just added the Biggest Wish Stamp Set and cards were born.
Different Ways to Use Printed Papers
The first card uses just one print from the Sweet Symmetry paper set. I cut a strip of the print 1-3/8″, and matted it with a strip of cardstock 1-1/2″ wide. Just a 1/16″ peek from behind the printed paper sets the paper off nicely. Then I used the colors in that print to stamp the large Happy down the right side of the card front, with one more Happy with Birthday stamped on top finished the card.
The second card uses two prints from the paper set. The Sweet Symmetry set is like many of Stampin’ Up!’s paper sets, where there is a large print on one side and a monochrome or smaller print on the other. For this card, the Just Jade monochrome print that I used as the background is the reverse side of the print in the first card. But it goes very nicely with the 1-1/4″ strip of the print I used – and more about its reverse side later. The accent cardstock here is Night of Navy Cardstock which, while not featured in the prints at all, really helps each layer stand out. And there’s a tiny little piece of Calypso Coral Cardstock, which DOES coordinate with the print, peeking out from the sentiment layer.
The third card again uses two prints. The larger print in this card is wider than the other two, and coordinates nicely with the Crushed Curry background print. For this card, I used Just Jade Cardstock as the accent.
The Surprise Fourth Card Is A Bit Different
Can you tell I really got wrapped up in this paper set? My initial focus was on all the “front side” prints, with “reverse side” print accents. But those reverse side prints started to look pretty good to me. So I decided to make the fourth card one with just the monochrome prints. I used, from left to right, Crushed Curry, Just Jade, Calypso Coral, Night of Navy and back to the Curry and Jade prints.
The Night of Navy is the reverse side of the print that I used in the second card, above. That’s what gave me the idea to use Night of Navy Cardstock as the accent for card two. And, as long as I was changing things up, I went the opposite way on the sentiment stamps. Instead of the Happy being the large stamp, I changed it to the small, cursive stamp and let Birthday be the big guy.
I Can’t Forget the Ribbon Accents!
All four of these cards have a ribbon accent. The first card has a folded strip of Flirty Flamingo Metallic Ribbon. That’s going to retire on May 2nd! For the second and fourth card, I used some Night of Navy Baker’s Twine from the Fan Baker’s Twine set that’s in the January – June Mini Catalog. While that is likely to retire at the close of the mini catalog at the end of June, it’s definitely still available now. Finally, for the third card, I used one of my favorite ribbons, the Bumblebee Gingham Ribbon. It will retire on May 2nd, along with its namesake In Color, Bumblebee.
The List of Discontinued Products Is Getting Longer!
Click here for a list of the products that have already been discontinued as of the time I’m writing this article. More get added almost every day! If you’re interested in something that’s still not on this list, now’s the time to order it! It’s a race to the finish, which is only two weeks away!
Happy Stamping!
