Stamper's Dozen Blog Hop ~ Sale-a-Bration Coordination

Welcome to this month’s installment of the Stamper’s Dozen Blog Hop. You are currently visiting Joanne Cantrell in a small town at the very bottom of Illinois smack dab in the middle of the United States!

This month is all about coordination. If you have known me for a while, you know that I am not very coordinated at all. I have many bumps and bruises and scars to show it.

Stampin’ Up!™ has taken the guesswork out of coordination by offering several new products that coordinate perfectly with the current Sale-a-Bration items. But, here’s the deal… you have to act quick! These things are flying off the shelf! Check out what is offered by clicking the graphic or link below.

The products I chose to coordinate were the Lasting Lily Photopolymer Stamp Set from the first release Sale-a-Bration items and the Lily Framelits from the Sale-a-Bration Coordination items.

So, let’s see just how coordinated I was…

Well… not to bad if I do say so myself! If they look a little familiar, you may have seen something very similar. For these cards, I was inspired by Jaimie Babarczy, Sally Shaw, Jan Clothier, Joyce Whitman, and the Sale-a-Bration catalog itself!

** Complete supplest list can be found at the bottom of this post!**

In my mind, I thought… surely I can make a masculine sympathy card using lilies. Right? Guys like flowers, don’t they? I mean, I uncle would always saw he “didn’t want no ‘poseys’ at his funeral!” And, you know what… I sent a plant instead with a lone little flower in it just because I could! LOL But, I am sure my uncle was not a normal guy. I know my husband likes flowers. I mean, I wouldn’t rush out and buy him a bouquet or anything, but he likes them in the house. Oh… sorry… So, I decided to go with the color scheme that Jaimie used.

Let’s take a look at each one to see what I did…

For this card, I stamped and cut the lilies. Then, I cut a hole in the Wood Textures Designer Series Paper using one of the bigger dies from the Layering Circle Framelits – be sure to save that circle for something fun! I used Memento Ink to stamp the sentiment directly onto the DSP.

My concern with this card was wrapping the Linen Thread around the DSP. The paper is thinner than cardstock and I didn’t want it to rip it or cut into it. So, I actually used my Paper Snips to carefully slice a small hole along the edge of the card after I had everything else attached to the card front. Then, I used the Take You Pick Tool’s stylus end to help push the thread through the small hole each time I wrapped it around the card front. This also added a little texture to that inside space that rarely has anything.

Here is the next one…

Just some very simple layering here using standard 1/4″ layering offsets. The sentiment was cut using one of the dies that comes in the Lily Framelits set. Be sure to stamp then cut with this one because that sentiment just barely fits in it.

I used the new Old Olive Linen Thread that is part of the Needlework Nook Suite in the 2019 Occasions Catalog. I also glued the flower in the very back directly to the Very Vanilla layer to add a different dimension.

And now this one…

On this card, I really let the flowers do all the work. But, I didn’t like the way that they came together at the bottom, so I used a scrap of the DSP to cover it. I ran a couple strips of SNAIL along the edge of the back then looped the Linen Thread around to create that edging along it.

For the sentiment, I punched out two banners using the Duet Banner Punch. Then, I placed the banner on my table, covered with a clear block, and used it as a guide to help me get the proper curve in the sentiment. That’s what I love about the photopolymer stamps, you can bend them to make the sentiments go right where you want them. Sometimes I use the Take Your Pick Tool to help he move it. Once you stamp the sentiment, just snip the ends of that banner off and use Dimensionals to attach it to the bottom banner.

And now the last one…

I love the offset layers on this card. I did think I needed a little border of each color, so I didn’t line up the edges exactly along the top and right side. I also sponged some Crumb Cake ink on to the Very Vanilla layer.

The blue pearls were made by coloring the Pearl Basic Jewels with the Dark Balmy Blue Blends marker. be sure to do this while they are still attached to the backing sheet and give them a second or more to dry so you don’t get in on your fingers. But, you know what… by this point, you probably have ink on them already.. so just throw caution to the wind! LOL In hindsight, I probably wouldn’t have trimmer off the bottoms of the stems but would have left them hanging below that Very Vanilla layer.

Before I go, I have a couple tips for you.

Getting a good image with the “Distinktive” stamps can be challenging. I usually get too much ink on them and the detail can’t come through. One of the ladies that inspired these cards posted a very helpful tip. Use a Sponge Dauber to ink up the stamp. That way, you can control the ink better. And, as you can tell from these cards… it works fairly well! These are the best images I have ever gotten using these types of stamps.

And, my other tip is to line up the stem stamps using the framelits. This is what I am talking about…

Notice how I went through and stamped a bunch of stems, then when I went to cut them out, the frames didn’t match them very well. I thought I was going crazy.. so I put the stamp into the die to see if it was just me – did I bend them when I put them on the block. I had not, so I decided to use the framelit as a guide when I put in on the block. This made sure the stamp would match the die a lot better.

All -in-all, they didn’t turn out very masculine. But, they aren’t too shabby… as I toot my own horn… 🙂

Well, that is all I have for you today. Time for you to get along to the next blog… go on, it’s okay. They are expecting you!