Welcome!

You are currently visiting Keep It Simple, Stampers! My name is Joanne Cantrell and I am from a tiny town in the middle of Southernmost Illinois in the middle of the United States.

Today’s theme for the Remarkable Ink Big Blog Hop is Last Call!  And I might add, this is the perfect time to looking at the Sale-a-Bration items before they are gone!

So, with two weeks left in the Sale-a-Bration season, there are tons of FREE Products to choose from.  Click on any of the blow graphics to download the brochure…

Yes.. that is THREE different groups of products you can get for FREE with each $50 or $100 you order.

Today, I chose to use the Party Pandas from the first Sale-a-Bration brochure.  As soon as I saw these guys, I just knew I had to have that set.

Look how fun they are!  I created the bamboo-esque background using Lyssa Griffin Zwolanek’s  photo tutorial.  It started with a piece of Crumb Cake and the Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder…  a little ink and water later… I had a great background!  Not bad for my first attempt!

I added a few Lemon Lime Twist leaves and some Linen Thread for the Pandas to hide behind since they are very shy creatures!

But… I will be honest with you.  When we first got the Sale-a-Bration brochure in November at OnStage in Salt Lake City…  Which – rabbit trail…  this is one of the best perks of being a Stampin’ Up demonstrator… you get to go to these fun gatherings twice a year where you get to sneak-peek all of the new stuff coming out!  And, you get to order some of it and start playing right away!  But, I digress…  Where was I?

Oh yeah… when I first say these little guys hanging out in the SAB brochure, I leaned over to my dear friend (and upline) Carol Payne and said, “I need to recreate my Hen House card with these pandas!”  And long story short… I finally was able to find the time to do it.

So, in case you need to revisit the Hen House Card…  Check it out here

https://keepitsimplestampers.com/the-hen-house/

That was my second attempt at a triple peek-a-boo card.  And, I have to say, if it is not a technique you do very often, there is a steep learning curve.  I always have to get out the directions and go step by step (the instructions are in a pdf in the Hen House post!)  Anyway… here is what I created…

I use totally inspired by the color schemes and cards I saw on Pinterest featuring this set.  I love the Lemon Lime Twist with the black and white pandas!  Don’t you?

Here is a glimpse at the inside… and while I am being honest, I kinda gave up because I could not get the white layer to lay right, so I didn’t include it.  When I showed my daughter, the first thing she said was “where are people supposed to write?”  I think you can write in the circles or on a post-it.. or figure out the white.  Like I said – this is not an easy card to manipulate.

Part of the reason why it took me so long to work out was that I had a failed attempt in December.  I got a picture in my head of these pandas hidden in a bamboo forest.  But, then I lost my leaf punch – by lost I mean misplaced!  So, I used some leaves that I had punched out already but were a color that totally didn’t work.  This proves that even us “experts” get it wrong!  I can’t believe I am even going to show this to you!

Well, that is all I have for you today.  I really think that trying the triple peek-a-boo card is worth the risk… Go ahead and give it a go and let me know how it turns out!  And, if you are able to change it up a little, let me know how!  I am always looking for more inspiration with this!

Hop along now!

Until next time… keep it simple, Stampers!

🙂  Joanne