Happy New Year! and welcome to the 2010 Stampin' Addicts' blog tour celebrating Stampin' Up's fabulous new Occasions Mini Catalog! This post will be staying at the top of my blog for the duration of the "hop," which lasts from noon on the 1st until midnight on the 3rd.
If you have not yet gotten a copy of the mini catalog (and the Sale A Bration brochure!!) from your demonstrator, they can be downloaded here.
Enjoy awesome projects featuring a different product or stamp set from each of the 24 demonstrator's blogs, in the order of the mini catalog. If you are not already on the trail, coming from #16 and Marie's take on Tiny Tags, you can start here and work your way around the "circle." Don't forget to bookmark any blogs you see that you would like to return to later for more inspiration! And the ladies have worked really hard on this, during a busy time of year, so I am sure they would appreciate it if you would like to leave a comment. You can also visit our favorite positive stamping & chatting forum, www.stampinaddicts.com
I am stop #17, and my assignment is the Messages for Mom stamp set on page 29! This caught my eye immediately because of all the sayings that come in it. I knew it had lots of potential beyond just a typical Mother's Day set. You will be able to use it for all sorts of occasions, but for today, I will focus on using the unusual focal-point image stamp.
My first project is a stair-step card. Measurements and scoring marks are here.
Isn't it cool? The photo above shows it standing as it would on someone's desk. Below is the same card in a clear envelope, and also completely unfolded, so you can see how it works. You can either sign it under the word "mom" where it will be hidden by the front step, or anywhere on the insides of the steps or back. It uses the adorable Cottage Wall DSP, flowers and rhinestone brads from the Pretties Kit, Felt Flowers, and Rich Razzleberry ink. A touch of whimsy is added with the polka dotted grosgrain.
My next card is a testament to Crystal Effects! I used it all over the place on this card--to give the Rose Red piece some polka dots for texture... to create a faux enamel oval piece for the sentiment... and to make the word "mom" POP off the background. Lots of piercing and sponging softened and mellowed the card. Hard to beat Pretty in Pink for a nice girly card!
I was all over the place with the colors this week! Usually I try to stick with one color scheme for a hop, but this week my craft room was a tornado of color. Here's a project with olive, mustard and ruby...
... a 5.25x5.25 inch card for our square Whisper White 5.5 inch envelopes, kind of a fun size to shake things up a little. I used For All You Do for the focal point, and stamped the "mom" in Ruby Red ink on Ruby Red cardstock, to create a kind of weathered, stained wood feel that I liked with the kind of Bohemian West font style of this stamp. Can you see it? It's like a watermark, very subtle. Using the stamp that way allows me to use it as a secondary stamp instead of always having it be the focal point.
I'd love to hear your comments, and feel free to CASE my projects if you'd like (I'd appreciate a link if you post them online). Thank you for visiting, and I hope you will continue on now to stop #18, Lily's Ink Pad and see how she used the cute little Fox & Friends stamp set.
Leave a comment below and I will draw a name on the 11th for the winner of some BLOG CANDY--a free clear mount block for our new stamping option, pictured above. If you like unmounted stamps, take a look at what Stampin' Up has to offer--I think you will be blown away! Happy stamping.
