My Happiest Season – Pals Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampin’ Pretty Pals’ Blog Hop! This month, the theme is “My Happiest Season”. We really hope that you enjoy and will be inspired by them! As you hop from blog to blog, don’t forget to leave comments because we love hearing from you. You will find the lineup at the end of my post to help you “hop” along from Pal to Pal.

When I saw the theme of “My Happiest Season”, I struggled to decide on my favorite season. I have grown up with all four seasons (sometimes all in one day!) and I missed them when I lived in Ecuador. Each season has unique qualities and positive aspects and I really don’t hate any of the seasons. Sure, I wish we had more snow to go along with our cold temperatures in the winter. Rain and 40 degrees Fahrenheit just isn’t pleasant. I get annoyed with spring in North Carolina because I need all my summer and winter clothes within the same week. I am not wild about upper 90’s and getting sunburned during the summer. Did I mention the humidity? Fall is similar to spring in that the temperatures are unpredictable and you can’t plan a Halloween costume until the week of. With all that, I realized that it isn’t the weather that determines my favorite season but the events. My life has revolved around school my whole life. I have been a student or teacher since the age of four and my father was a graduate student or professor for much of my life. Fall brings the start of the new school year as well as lots of special days. My birthday is in September followed by my father in October and my oldest daughter and mother in November. On top of that we have Labor Day, Fall Equinox, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the list goes on. Fall also brings beautiful colors with the changing of the leaves and who could forget pumpkin spiced everything! So, I chose to focus on fall for my card.

Really, I should say cards because I actually made three. I decided to use the Banner Year stamp set because of the cute little fall images and as someone who has lived in the south since the age of seven, I couldn’t resist the sentiment. “Happy Fall, Y’all!” I began with a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and stamped the cute fall images to create my own patterned paper. I used soft Suede for the squirrel, Crumb Cake for the acorn, Pumpkin Pie for the pumpkin, Garden Green for the pumpkin stem, and Mango Melody, Cajun Craze, and Crushed Curry for the leaves. When I pulled out a piece of scored Cajun Craze cardstock that I thought was already cut as a card base, I discovered it was only 8″ x 5 1/2″ so the front was 1/2″ smaller. Rather than get a new sheet of cardstock, I decided to attach a strip along the bottom with the sentiment repeated in Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, and Mango Melody. I then cut the patterned piece to 3 1/4″ x 3 3/4″ and added a piece of 3 1/2″ x 4″ Crushed Curry. Simple and easy!

This meant I was left with a 2″ x 4″ piece of patterned paper. I couldn’t just throw it away (or recycle it), I had to make another card! I remembered I had the Regals 6×6 Designer Series Paper and pulled out a piece of Cajun Craze. I trimmed it to 4″ x 5 1/4″, intending to use it as a background for my patterned piece. It didn’t look right so I turned to the 2″ x 6″ leftover piece. I trimmed it to two pieces of 1″ x 4″ an arranged it on a piece of Crushed Curry. I then stamped the sentiment on Very Vanilla and used the Banner Pick A Punch to trim the ends. I then added some Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels and Crumb Cake twine and mounted it all on a Crumb Cake card base.

If you have been keeping track you know that I still had that piece of Cajun Craze 6×6 DSP that needed to be used. Plus, I had been using a piece of Crushed Curry that had been miscut to 4″ x 11″ for the pieces on the previous two cards. Rather than toss it in the scrap bin and call it a day, I layered the 2 1/4″ x 4″ Crushed Curry on the Cajun Craze DSP onto a Very Vanilla card base. I also realized that I had piece of the DSP leftover and it was perfect to layer the sentiment on – 3/4″ x 4″. I once again stamped the sentiment in Crushed Curry on a 1/2″ strip of Very Vanilla and trimmed both pieces with the Banner Pick a Punch. Since I had already pulled out the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack, I decided to add a piece of Very Vanilla twine. Once again, a simple card that helped use leftover pieces.

Stampin’ Pretty Pals Blog Hop

More inspiration awaits, so use the lineup below to visit the rest of the Design Team. The Pals are excited to show you what they’ve created! Then, please mark your calendars for our next blog hop on September 8th. Our theme will be “Focus on the Sentiment” when our Design Team creates a project showcasing a sentiment as the focal point of their project. Until then, have fun in your craft space.

1. Mary Fish at Stampin’ Pretty
2. Peggy Noe at Pretty Paper Cards
3. Amanda Howard at Papercrafting With Amanda
4. Rosanne Mulhern at Heartfelt Stamping
5. Lori Pinto at LollyPop Paper and Ink
6. Windy Ellard at Windy’s Wonderful Creations
7. Debbie Mageed at Secrets to Stamping
8. Pamela Sadler at Stampin Pink Rose
9. Rae Harper Burnet at Wild West Paper Arts
10. Mary Hanson at Up North Stampin’
11. Su Mohr at Aromas And Art
12. Debbie Crowley at expressively deb…
13. Sue Jackson at Just Peachy Stamping
14. Stesha Bloodhart at Stampin’ Hoot!
15. Tricia Chuba at ButterDish Designs
16. Michelle Quinno at Shell Stamps
17. Beth McCullough at Stamping Mom
18. Megan Cooper at Lazy Daze Stampin’
19. Melissa Seplowitz at The Stamping Ninja
20. Deb Walker at Deb Stamps Life
21. Lori Webb at Clever Copies
22. Lisa Ann Bernard at Queen B Creations

Product List

• Banner Year stamp set #158239
• Banners Pick A Punch #153608
• Cajun Craze cardstock #119684
• Very Vanilla cardstock #101650
• Crushed Curry cardstock #131199
• Crumb Cake cardstock #120953
• Regals 6×6 Designer Series Paper #155227
• Garden Green Classic Stampin’ Pad #147089
• Mango Melody Stampin’ Pad #147093
• Crushed Curry Stampin’ Pad #147087
• Cajun Craze Stampin’ Pad #147085
• Pumpkin Pie Stampin’ Pad #147086
• Crumb Cake Stampin’ Pad #147116
• Soft Suede Stampin’ Pad #147115
• Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack #155475
• Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels #150457