Early release: Share What You Love product suite

In less than one month the 2018-19 Stampin' Up! catalog goes live. Yippee! But if you don't want to wait that long for new goodies, then you're in luck. Through May 31, the products from the Share What You Love product suite are available to purchase in three early release bundles.

The suite, which was designed to celebrate Stampin' Up!'s 30th anniversary, features two photopolymer stamp sets, an embossing folder, specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP), coordinating card stock and several wonderful embellishments. I didn't order everything in the suite, but I bought plenty to make cute cards!

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Love What You Do
Paper: Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White card stock; Share What You Love Specialty DSP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, So Saffron
Accessories: Rich Razzleberry velvet ribbon, Share What You Love artisan Pearls, clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen, Dimensionals

One of the nice things about two-sided patterned paper is that if you don't care for one pattern, you can flip the piece over and use the pattern on the other side. But when you like both patterns, it can be hard to cover one of them up. Well, one of the presenters at the OnStage event I attended had a brilliant solution: use the DSP as part of your card front so you can see the other pattern when you open the card. And the Share What You Love Specialty DSP is perfect for this idea because it is a heavier weight than traditional DSP.

I cut a 4" x 12" piece of DSP and then cut that into two 4" x 5-1/2" pieces (with a 1"strip left over). For the card bases, I

cut a piece of Blackberry Bliss card stock in half to make two A2 (4/14" x 5-1/2") cards. I trimmed off the front of each card 1" from the fold and attached a piece of DSP to the back of that 1" "flap." For the rest of the card I stamped and cut out one of the images from the Love What You Do stamp set. The full image actually has three flowers (see card below), but I only wanted two of them. I also stamped one of the sentiments on a strip of white card stock and tore the edges to add some texture. I finished off with a piece of velvet ribbon and three yellow pearls.

Here's a look at the card inside. I love the fun surprise of the pattern.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Love What You Do
Paper: Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White card stock; Share What You Love Specialty DSP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Old Olive Blendabilities marker, Rich Razzleberry Blends markers
Accessories: Stitched Shapes Framelits dies, white polka dot tulle ribbon, Share What You Love artisan pearls, clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen, Dimensionals

For the focal image on this card I stamped the three flowers and added the small stem with leaves and the branch with berries (so this image is actually three separate stamps). I colored them with Blends/Blendabilities markers and added Wink of Stella on the purple flowers (see the photo below to get a better view of the shimmer). I cut out the image with a stitched oval die and attached it to the card with Dimensionals. behind the oval are a piece of polka dot tulle (not in this suite, but it will be in the new catalog) and the leftover strip of card stock from cutting the two panels. I also added three of the artisan pearls.

For the next two cards I kept going with the stamp sets in the suite, but switched to some fun summery colors. I've found that when a stamp set has coordinating DSP, it's easy to get stuck in a rut using the same colors. A new color palette can help you look at a stamp set in a whole new way.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Love What You Do
Paper: Whisper White, Coastal Cabana card stock
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Lovely Floral embossing folder, Brights Candy Dots, Stitched Daffodil Delight ribbon, clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen

The Share What You Love suite also includes this beautiful embossing folder. It's perfect for the focal point of a card. I embossed the flower on a piece of white card stock, and to add a bit of contrast, I painted Wink of Stella glitter in the areas inside the embossed lines.

For the bottom panel I stamped four of the images from the stamp set in four different colors on Whisper White card stock. I adhered the two pieces to a Coastal Cabana card base and separated them with a piece of Daffodil Delight ribbon. I also added three retired Candy Dots because they were the perfect pop of color.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Love What You Do, Make a Difference
Paper: Coastal Cabana, Whisper White card stock
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Stitched Shapes and Layering Circles Framelits dies, Year of Cheer washi tape, Metallics sequins assortment, Dimensionals

For the last card I used the second set in the suite, Make a Difference, to stamp my birthday sentiment. This is an alphabet set with two font styles -- a script style and a printed style -- so you can build your own sentiments. There are also numbers, punctuation and a number of phrases, such as "Handstamped by" and "From the desk of." The script alphabet even has some stamps that are letter combinations (th, ee, ss, etc.), which I love.

I used a Coastal Cabana card base with a stamped Whisper White strip along the left side. On the rest of the card base I stamped a few of the leaf and berry images in Coastal Cabana to frame the circular focal piece. I added a few gold accents (sequins and retired washi tape) to give the card a little sparkle.

Whew! That was a long post. Thanks for making it all the way to the end!