Krazy about Kiwi Kiss!

I have to confess…I am just crazy about the color “Kiwi Kiss”. Gaining my design inspiration from the recent SCC220, I decided to put the Kiwi Kiss Patterns Designer Series Paper to the test. I selected three different patterns to show how color can unite a design.
  • Select three contrasting patterns of Kiwi Kiss Patterns Designer Series Paper. Select one pattern to be the center strip. Cut it 3/4ths of an inch wide. Cut two 1 ¼” strips from each of the other patterns. Cut each strip a little shorter than your card base. Adhere to Whisper White card stock so that there are small white stripes between each patterned strip. Trim if necessary and attach to your Kiwi Kiss card base.
  • Ink the Flowers in Silhouette stamp with Kiwi Kiss ink and stamp onto Whisper White. Mat onto Kiwi Kiss. Use the Ticket Corner Punch to add interest. Mat this onto So Saffron, and once again use the ticket corner punch. Adhere to your card base.
  • Ink the Great Friend sentiment with Chocolate Chip ink. Stamp onto Whisper White and punch with the Scallop Oval Punch. Punch a second oval out of Kiwi Kiss, using the Large Oval Punch. Adhere the scalloped sentiment to the Kiwi Kiss oval with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
  • Add So Saffron ribbon for extra pizzazz. Position the sentiment oval and adhere with SNAIL adhesive.
  • As a finishing touch that mimics the flower pattern, a Very Vanilla button from the Button Latte collection was readied with a small “thread” of Kiwi Kiss paper (a tip I learned from Mary Fish of Stampin’ Pretty). A Mini Glue Dot holds it in place.
Flowers in Silhouette stamp is one of the items I received free by meeting one of the criteria for Stampin’ Up!s Get Connected Promotion. For every $40 spent on Occasions Mini products, you can select an item from the “Under $10” page (page 208) in the Spring-Summer Idea Book and Catalog. You can also qualify by hosting a workshop. For every $150 of ANY Stampin’ Up! product ordered, you can select one item from the “Under $10” page for free. This is in addition to the regular hostess benefits!
Click here to access the Occasions Mini Catalog!
Order Your Stampin’ Up! Supplies Now!
Stamps Sets: Flowers in Silhouette (114498), Great Friend (Occasions Mini 113792)
Paper: Kiwi Kiss Card Stock (111353), Whisper White Card Stock (100730), So Saffron (105118), Kiwi Kiss Patterns Designer Series Paper (112161)
Inks: Kiwi Kiss (111353), Chocolate Chip (100908)
Punches: Scallop Oval (Occasions Mini 114889), Large Oval (107305), Corner Ticket (107214)
Embellishments: So Saffron ribbon (2009 SAB), Button Latte (114333)
Adhesives: SNAIL Adhesive (104332), Mini Glue Dots (1036830, Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430)

Embrace Yourself!

Are you stuck in a rut where you think each and every card must be …perfect? Sometimes it’s OK to just embrace yourself! My family has known forever that I cannot see straight. Its just a fact of life at my house that if something needs to be “straight”, you just don’t ask me to be the judge. If Stampin‘ Up! made a Stamp-a-ma-jig for life, I would buy two! In fact, I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to perfectly place my Elegant Thank You sentiment.

As someone who is “straight-line dysfunctional“, I get excited when I see the results of my love affair with the “S-a-m-j”. In this case, I was so excited that I just randomly punched the holes for my brads. It was as if someone else was holding my Crop-a-dile. As if I, the straight line fanatic was in an alternate dimension watching this free-spirited puncher just…punch away. “Where is your ruler?” I screamed. “Wait! Mark where the brads should be! Nooooo…Don’t punch yet!” My pleas fell on deaf ears. This was a puncher on a mission. I could not stop her. Alas, the damage was done. As I regained consciousness, I was left with the casualties of a senseless “drive-by punching”. As tears almost clouded my vision, I sadly inserted my brads and prepared to place this card in the Tomb of the Unsendables…in this case, the bottom drawer of my desk. Maybe I would be able to salvage some of my precious designer paper for use later.

At that point, my son happened to walk in after a brisk afternoon of Frisbee golfing. “Did you get any cards made?” he asked. Now you might be wondering why a teenage boy would be interested in his mom’s card making. Well, my success directly correlates to his allowance. “Only one, ” I replied sadly.

“Let me see. Cool, Mom. I like those metal things.”
“You mean the brads, Brady?”
“Yea.”
“What do you like about them?”
“I like how you made one up a little bit, and the other one down a little bit.” And that is why I love my son. So, embrace your mistakes and embrace yourself. One person’s design flaw may be another person’s design “ah-ha”!

  • Use Kiwi Kiss as the card base. Select coordinating papers from the Urban Garden Designer Paper Series and adhere to the card base using SNAIL adhesive.

  • Attach Basic Grey Taffeta Ribbon at the interface of the two coordinating designer papers. Tie a bow.

  • Prepare the sentiment focal point by using Stampin‘ Write Markers to ink the Elegant Thank You stamp. Night of Navy was used to ink the entire stamp, then wiped away from the flourishes. Next, So Saffron was used to embellish the flourishes. Stamp onto a two inch square of Very Vanilla, using the Stamp-a-ma-jig to perfectly place the sentiment at an angle from point to point. See the example for clarification. The resulting flourishes will have just an “inkling” of the blue for a really neat result.

  • Trim the Very Vanilla sentiment square into an elongated hexagon as shown, and mat on Kiwi Kiss (1/8th inch), So Saffron (1/16th inch) and Not Quite Navy (1/16th inch).

  • Punch two holes for So Saffron brads.

  • Position and adhere to the base.

  • Embrace Yourself!

One of the features of this card, the Elegant Thank You, can be selected as a free item from the “Under $10” page as part of Stampin’ Up!s Get Connected promotion. Remember…every $40 of Occasions Mini products qualifies you for a free item from the “Under $10” page (Page 208) of the Spring-Summer Idea Book and Catalog.

Click here to access the Occasions Mini Catalog!

Order Your Stampin‘ Up! Supplies Now!
Stamp: Elegant Thank You (114484)

Card Stock: Very Vanilla (101650), Kiwi Kiss (111353), So Saffron (105118), Not Quite Navy (101722)

Designer Series Paper: Urban Garden (112042)

Ink: Stampin‘ Write Markers (Rich Regals 105540)

Other: Basic Grey Taffeta Ribbon (109064), Rich Regal Brads (106953)

Echoes of Kindness

A picture paints a thousand words, but sometimes words can paint a thousand pictures. That is the case with the sentiment from Echoes of Kindness, a level two Hostess Set. This set is one which I find myself using quite often. The three floral stamps are perfect for water-coloring, but with today’s card, I decided to let the beautiful words of Mother Teresa speak for themselves.

  • Stampin’ Write Markers were used to ink the sentiment stamp onto Very Vanilla cardstock. Night of Navy highlighted the italicized words, while Bordering Blue was used on the rest of the stamp. Tip: You can get perfect placement of any stamp by using the Stamp-a-ma-jig.

  • The stamped sentiment was matted onto Not Quite Navy card stock using SNAIL Adhesive. The edges were trimmed to 1/8th of an inch.

  • Very Vanilla was selected for the outer mat. It was trimmed to 1/8th inch on three sides, while the right side was trimmed at 3/4ths of an inch in order to provide visual interest, as well as a place to position three brads from the Baja Blue Corduroy Buttons set. A corner rounder was used on two of the corners to soften the angularity.

  • Blue Floral Urban Garden Designer Series Paper, adhered to a card base of Very Vanilla, provided the backdrop.

  • Two 3/8ths strips of Not Quite Navy cardstock were positioned above and below the floral paper.

  • Two 1/8th strips of Very Vanilla were positioned on top of the Not Quite Navy to lend a more polished appearance.

  • Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon was adhered in place in the center of the floral paper, and finally the matted sentiment was placed.

One of the features of this card, the Baja Breeze Corduroy Brads, can be selected from the Occasions Mini Catalog, as part of Stampin’ Up!s Get Connected promotion. Remember…every $40 of Occasions Mini products qualifies you for a free item from the “Under $10” page (Page 208) of the Spring-Summer Idea Book and Catalog.
Click here to access the Occasions Mini Catalog!
Order Your Stampin’ Up! Supplies Now!
Stamp Set: Echoes of Kindness (Hostess Level 2—113230)
Card Stock: Very Vanilla (101650), Not Quite Navy (101722)
Designer Series Paper: Urban Garden (112042)
Stampin’ Write Markers: Rich Regals (105540)
Punches: Corner Rounder (109047)
Embellishments: Baja Breeze Corduroy Buttons (Occasions Mini 114344), Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon (109055)