First Creative Crew projects

Several weeks ago I was asked to join the Stampin' Up! Creative Crew design team on SplitCoastStampers (SCS). What an honor! I will be part of the design team from September through December, and each month I will play along with the team challenges and create four projects featuring Stampin' Up! products. (Check out all of the Creative Crew galleries on SCS for some wonderful creative inspiration.) Today I am going to share three of my first three Creative Crew challenge projects.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms
Cardstock: Crushed Curry, Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate, Whisper White
Ink: Smoky Slate
Accessories: Label Card Thinlits dies, Fashionable Hearts Embosslits die, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, 1/4" circle punch, Mono Multi liquid glue, Glue Dots

This challenge was to use the Eastern Elegance Designer Series Paper (DSP) (which I don't have) or the colors Crushed Curry, Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate and Whisper White to make a project for someone you admire. I wanted to use my new Label Card Thinlits dies, so I started with a Smoky Slate card base. I've seen many adorable cards made with these dies, but most of them seem to use DSP to decorate the panels, and I didn't have that option for this card. Instead I focused on stamps.

I love the bold images in the Betsy's Blossoms set, so I stamped several branches and one bird image on the card base. For the focal point, I die cut the inner label shape out of Whisper White cardstock and the sentiment out of Coastal Cabana. Now, the "i [heart] you" die-cut doesn't come with a dot for the "i," which looks unfinished to me. So I used my retired SU! 1/4" circle punch to make my own dot. You could also use a standard office punch or even one of the circles from the Cupcake Builder punch.

To add some Crushed Curry to the card, I used the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch with Crushed Curry cardstock. I adhered the strip just behind the front fold so just one scallop edge was visible on the card front (you can see the whole strip in this picture of the open card). To create a place for writing a message, I die cut another Whisper White label shape and adhered it to the back of the "flippy piece" (yes, that's the technical term) over the punched strip. Lastly I added a few Crushed Curry and Coastal Cabana embossed hearts to bring in just a bit more color.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!, except "Other"):
Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Dictionary
Cardstock: Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Basic Gray
Ink: Crushed Curry, Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray
Accessories: Vintage faceted buttons, Coastal Cabana stretch ruffle trim, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, corner rounder, basic and large pearls, Sticky Strip, Glue Dots, Dimensionals
Other: Painter's tape

For this challenge, we were supposed to use any of the stamp sets on pages 111 - 119 in the 2013 - 2014 Annual Catalog to create a project. There were two other requirements, as well: We had to use a technique or a special fold we'd never tried before, and we had to use at least two of the colors from the previous challenge: Crushed Curry, Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate and Whisper White.

I was a little surprised when I realized that I don't actually own any of the stamps on pages 111 - 119. So I did a creative substitution, and instead of the floral silhouette image in the My Friend set, I used Summer Silhouettes. For my new technique, I used the Magical Masking Tape technique to create the background for my focal image. (Note: The tutorial in the link indicates you should use glossy white cardstock. I used standard Whisper White cardstock and was very careful when removing the painter's tape. I did have a few tiny spots where the tape started to pull apart the paper at the edges, but I trimmed them off. Otherwise, it worked fine.) I rounded the corners of my focal layer and mat so it was easier to add the stretch ruffle trim around the back of the piece. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how this card turned out, although I wish my silhouette images had stamped a little darker.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Hello, Lovely
Cardstock: Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray
Ink: Smoky Slate, Crushed Curry
Accessories: Decorative Label punch, Basic Gray stitched grosgrain ribbon, rhinestones, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dimensionals

I decided to make a second card for the previous challenge, so I created a double Z-fold card. Of course, I still didn't have any of the stamps on pages 111 - 119, which meant another substitution. This time, instead of the border-type images in the Background Builders set, I used Hello, Lovely.

I wanted to create rows of images on this card, so I put my Stamp-a-ma-jig to good use. I still had to start over more than a couple of times. Here's a tip that helped me: Newer Stampin' Up! stamps do not have the copyright info on the labels that go on the wood blocks. Consequently, when I was using these symmetrical images with the Stamp-a-ma-jig, I kept forgetting which corner of the stamp needed to be placed in the guide to get the correct stamp placement. I finally took a fine-point permanent marker and made a small arrow on one corner of my wood-mount stamp. Now I know how to place the stamp in the Stamp-a-ma-jig - no more guesswork.

To make the focal point, I used markers to apply ink to the "Hello Lovely" stamp, stamped it on Whisper White cardstock and punched it out. I also punched a label shape from Basic Gray cardstock, cut it in half horizontally and adhered the halves to the back of the white label.

Inside the card I continued the row of Crushed Curry "tiles" that are on both outside panels. Otherwise, I left the inside blank so this card can be used for a variety of occasions.

I do have one more Creative Crew project left to share, but I'm going to save that for a little later in the month. Thanks for stopping by!