Tin of Cards with a little twist

First off, I intended to write this post last night so I would have finished two posts for the week. But I quite literally could not keep my eyes open and fell asleep on the couch. Maybe I'll be able to finish three posts this week to make up for it. Maybe. But now on to the good stuff.

Several weeks ago I finally caved and bought the Tin of Cards stamp set and kit when Stampin' Up! had the kit on sale. I'd been eyeing the kit since the catalog came out last summer, but I just couldn't decide if I should get it. Why? Because even though I really liked three of the card designs, I just didn't care for the fourth one -- the one with the gold striped layer -- at all. But once it was on sale, I figured it was worth it to give it a shot.

When I assembled the kit, most of the cards I made as designed or with little changes, such as adding an embellishment from my stash or using a different stamp set. But I really changed up the fourth design by using a few of my own supplies, mainly Designer Series Paper (DSP) and metallic foil doilies.

Additional supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Accessories: Metallic foil doilies

Instead of using the gold striped layers as one piece on each card, I cut the strips apart and used them as accents on the four cards. And layering the pre-printed circle on a gold doily made the perfect focal point. For the background on this card I trimmed down the extra sheet of DSP that was left over from making the dividers in the kit. (There are nine dividers and ten sheets of DSP, two of each of five patterns.) I added a little of the twine behind the focal image and finished off with three clear epoxy stars.

Additional supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Paper: Leftovers from a Paper Pumpkin kit, Summer Smooches DSP
Accessories: Metallic foil doilies, Banner punch

I used a sort of DSP patchwork for the background on this card -- a great way to use up those scraps of pretty papers. (I chose this color combination based on one of the other card designs in the kit.) The polka dot strip on the right is what was left from the previous card, so it's a leftover of a leftover. Again I used the doily and twine to complete the focal image and added the epoxy stars, but this time instead of adding a whole strip of gold paper I punched a little banner from one of the strips and added it in the upper right corner.

Additional supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Paper: Leftovers from a Paper Pumpkin kit
Accessories:Metallic foil doilies

For the background on this card I used several strips of gold paper and DSP in different widths. And those yellow strips? They were leftover after I punched out the die-cut pieces for one of the other card designs in the kit. I wrapped the twine around the card front twice and tied it off in a bow. A gold doily and epoxy stars finish off the card.

Additional supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Distressed Dots
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Metallic foil doilies, Banner punch

For the congratulations card I decided to stick with a more simple and elegant black, white and gold color scheme. I stamped the card base with the Distressed Dots background stamp in black ink. I mounted the focal image on a gold doily and added a small gold banner to either side of the circle. I used the twine to add a bow at the bottom of the focal image and added the three epoxy stars.

So what do you think? Redesigning the cards did take more time and energy than making them the way they were designed in the kit, but it feels good to have cards that are a little more "me." And it was a good reminder that you never have to make what a kit is "supposed" to make. So maybe we should consider the finished product of a kit more like a suggestion of what you can do with the included supplies, just like packaged food has "serving suggestions" pictured on the packaging. Hmm ... sometime I may have to buy a kit, completely toss the directions and just see what I can make. Thanks for stopping by!