December Pals Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampin’ Pretty Pals’ Blog Hop! This month, the theme is “My Favorite Things.” The Design Team will be showcasing their favorite products from any of the current products and you might even see some sneak peeks, as well! 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.

I struggled to think of my favorite product from a Stampin’ Up catalog. I don’t have a favorite stamp set or color or embellishment. There is not one product that I reach for over and over. As I stood in my craft room and looked over my stamps, my eyes fell on the Artistically Inked stamp set and it hit me. My favorite thing is the coordination of products. Way back in the summer I purchased the Artistically Inked stamp set and Artistic Dies because they coordinated with the Expressions In Ink Specialty Designer Series Paper which coordinated with the Expressions In Color June 2021 Paper Pumpkin and several of the In Colors. That is a lot of coordination which I love!

This first card is simple but stunning. This sheet from the Expressions in Ink Specialty DSP is perfect for creating a card front. I cut the sheet at 5 1/4″ on each side, leaving a 1 1/2″ strip from the middle of the sheet. I then cut the two sheets to 4″ x 5 1/4″. I took advantage of the white space to stamp the sentiment. I then mounted the card front on a card base 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, scored at 4 1/4″. Since the DSP featured Magenta Madness, it seemed perfect to coordinate with Magenta Madness cardstock for the base and ink for the sentiment.

The second looks a lot more complicated but it only uses a card base of Just Jade, another piece of Just Jade cardstock and a piece of Expressions in Ink Specialty DSP. I started again with the idea of using a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of DSP on the card base and then the 3 3/4″ x 5″ piece of Just Jade on top with the sentiment stamped on a piece of Basic White. But I hated the idea of covering up the DSP! So, pulled out the Stitched Rectangles Dies and started cutting out pieces of the DSP and Just Jade to layer. Each piece you see until the last two are actually frames with the center cut out! The top piece is Basic White stamped with a sentiment and image from the Artistically Inked stamp set. I love how there are stamps that help you mimic the effect mixing the alcohol with the ink.

The third card features one of my favorite things – scraps! I hate to waste paper so I pulled the scraps from the previous two cards and layered them on a card front of 4″ x 5 1/4″. If you look closely you will recognize the DSP from the previous two cards. They are the center strips from when I cut the 12″ x 12″ sheets to make the card fronts. The sentiment is also stamped on a strip of Basic White, leftover from cutting an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet down to four card fronts of 4″ x 5 1/4″.

I hope you have enjoyed my twist on favorite things – coordination and scraps! It is amazing where we can find inspiration sometimes.

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 January 12th. Our theme will be “Time to Sale-A-Brate” when our Design Team will showcase items from Sale-A-Bration as the focal point of their project.. Until then, have fun in your craft space.