A Week of CASEs – A Little Envelope as an Embellishment

Aloha, all!

     This past weekend I was part of a blog hop, and I just loved so many of the projects that I decided that I had to CASE (Copy And Share with Everyone) at least a few of them.  And, as this is the last week of the current Stampin' Up! catalog, I really needed some new ideas because I'm about out of about-to-be-retired Designer Series Papers.  Next week you can be sure I'll be sharing some new papers and colors and stamp sets to entice you to buy some of them from me!  Of course, if you're enticed to buy something because of this week's projects, go for it!  There's still time to buy retiring products (as long as there's still some left!)

     The original of this design was NOT a sympathy card.  But as I was looking around for colors that I was in the mood for using, I came across the idea to use Perfect Plum and Old Olive as a combo.  Then I realized that I had no sympathy cards in my stash, and that's not a good thing.  Most of the time when I or any of my card customers need a sympathy card, we want it right now.  So best to have one on hand.

     What I loved about the original project by Deborah Robb was that tiny little envelope with the card peeking out from it.  I made the envelope using the Perfect Plum Cardstock and the Envelope Punch Board.  Yes, you can make tiny envelopes with the punch board as well as well as really big ones. This particular mini envelope starts with a 3-5/8" square of cardstock (I used Very Vanilla for my project) with the first punch and score at 1-7/8".   The little tag that's peeking out of the envelope is made with the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch and Very Vanilla Cardstock,  That tag topper punch creates a topper for a piece of paper/cardstock just shy of 2" wide.  Perfect fit for this little envelope!  The sentiment is one of the stamps in the Petite Pairs Stamp Set.  For the stamp, I used Elegant Eggplant Classic Ink.  I also used some Elegant Eggplant Cardstock to accent the matting on the card once I put it together.

     Deborah's project had some lovely 3-dimensional flowers.  I think they would have been perfect for this project as well.  But I wanted a card that would have no trouble getting through the mail with minimum postage. So I created some layers of flowers that were flat and wouldn't create much weight for the card either.  I used the Pansy Punch and the Flower Shop Stamp Set to create the large flowers.  I  stamped two flowers before punching them and just punched Perfect Plum Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack paper with the punch for the third large flower. To make the smaller flowers, I used the Petite Petals Punch to punch more DSP Stack papers.  I adhered the envelope to the card front, which I'd texturized with the Perfect Polkadots Embossing Folder and then just layered the flowers around the left base of the envelope until I thought they looked nice. As soon as I had that arrangement done, it occurred to me that this looked like many floral arrangements I've seen at memorial services – with the little note card inserted into the bouquet.  Perfect.

     To add some leaves, I used the Bird Builder Punch to punch the leaf branch using Old Olive Cardstock.

     You know I love ribbon on my projects!  I used Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon to wrap the envelope and a little piece of Old Olive 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon to accent the tag topper "card."  Then I finished the project off by adding some Candy Dots – Very Vanilla, Old Olive and Perfect Plum.

     Believe it or not, every product I used on today's project is current, so you an buy any of them today!  I have an offer in my most recent newsletter for those who purchase Stampin' Up! products from me between now and the end of May.  Don't miss out on that if you're thinking about buying anything – including retiring products – now!