Sale-a-Bration – ConstantlyCreating.Me

Hello at long last, readers! I haven’t been able to join the last several team blog hops because of an increase in the busyness of my schedule (which means I’m overbooked), but I really wanted to get back to participating, so here I am regardless. 🙂 It’s nice to be back! I’ve definitely been missing my cardmaking (and I’m still surprised by that, being a scrapbooker first and foremost…for years. LOL).

Our blog hop today is all about the theme of love. When I started looking at the “new things” I could share with you, I pulled out my Sale-a-Bration Designer Series Papers and just couldn’t put them away! I do love me some good paper. 🙂 So I came up with something quick and easy to showcase the lovely paper designs and specialty papers that Stampin’ Up gave us. Of course, I couldn’t use them all, so I’ll have to post about those later. 😉

For my card today, I’m using two new stamp sets, Garden Wishes (154408) and Punch Party (155300); two patterns of DSP from one sheet of Paper Blooms SAB DDP papers (155222); and one color of the Hydrangea Hill Mercury Glass Designer Acetate (154574). I used the largest cards in the Assorted Memories and More Cards and Envelopes pack (149710) as my card base. It uses the retired Whisper White color. (If you haven’t yet heard, the mill that made our Whisper White had to close down because of Covid, so we had to find a supplier who could make something similar. Our new white color is called Basic White…but I don’t have any of it yet myself. Supposedly it is a brighter white than the retired one.)

Did you know that you can use either side of the Mercury glass acetate? The back side is silver, and that’s what ended up going onto my card, since I deviated a little from my original plan. (Be sure to take off the plastic protective covering from the Mercury glass sheets after you order yours!) I cut the pink color of the Hydrangea Hill Mercury Glass for the left side block and later flipped it. I also started out with a 2” strip but ended up trimming off a half inch before I was done, for better proportions on the card.

I had also originally chosen two different papers from the same paper pack, but a friend and I decided that we liked the pink stripes better rather than both flowers on the card front (that’s why I flipped the Mercury glass to silver—-too much pink!). I cut and placed the stripes 2/3 of the way down the base and then fitted the top floral piece next to the other two already in place.

Side note here. I had intending on entering the hashtag simplestamping, as their current monthly challenge only allows for stamps, ink, paper, and any item from Sale-a-bration; therefore, I did not add a ribbon across the middle or dies for the sentiment (although I was sorely tempted to. I’ll save that challenge for later since I used one of the adorable Heart Charms (154282) inside my Seaside Spray cardstock heart for this card.

After affixing my three strips of paper or acetate onto my card, I then stamped the open heart from the Punch Party Host set in Night of Navy ink onto the Seaside Spray cardstock and fussy-cut around its edges, using the border as my guide. Then I glued one of the silver Heart Charms onto the middle. (By the way, these charms make great shamrocks and general flowers when several points are positioned toward the center).

For the banner, I stamped the “Made with Love for a True Friend” sentiment from Garden Wishes onto a piece of Whisper White in Night of Navy ink. Then I took my little Stampin’ Up guillotine cutter (something only demos and new recruits could get at the time) and sliced off the edges toward the sentiment until the space was about even on both sides above and below the sentiment. Then I cut up toward the middle and angled inward from the sides to make a long, narrow flag. Sometimes I like that style. It seemed to fit this card. After that, using my fingers, I just curled the banner a couple of different ways to give it a flowing, waving look. I tucked one end under the heart that I hadn’t glued down yet and added a little glue under the part of the banner resting on the card.

That’s it! Quick, easy, simple. I had planned on breaking up that same sentiment to fit inside the open heart, but I had trouble getting everything lined up and straight—twice. I decided that that process certainly would not be a quick and easy card. (Aren’t you lucky?) 😆 I’ll continue to work on that and see if time #3 will finally be the one that works out.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Be sure to visit my other team members below for their awesome cards! You can use either the Previous and Next buttons or click on the individual links themselves. I’ll try not to be too scarce again. 🙂

Karen Ksenzakovic: https://wp.me/paaNf4-3OO
Tara Carpenter: https://tarabethstamps.blogspot.com/2021/01/stampin-up-floating-fluttering-happy.html
Jaimie Babarczy: https://wp.me/p79UhD-4E3
Mary Deatherage: https://wp.me/p5snyt-gmE
Sue Prather: https://wp.me/p5yitZ-2mX
Leslie Larkin: https://leslielarkin.com/lots-of-heart-bundle/
Connie Troyer: https://wp.me/p8xvI6-zg
Donna Leonard: http://stampdabbles.com/?p=3890
Karen Finkle: https://karenscardkorner.blogspot.com/2021/01/stampin-up-forever-blossoms.html
Akiko Sudano: https://wp.me/paOv8E-2gS
Jillian Good: http://dyedwith.love/?p=54
Amy Koenders: https://wp.me/p2SFwf-lQ8

Thanks for joining me on my blog today! I have to start off with an apology and a correction; this blog post is for Amy’s Tuesday Blog Hop, not Sunday’s. I was thinking of the day I had to post the link! And now I can’t change it…. More proof that I’m not perfect, I suppose. 🙂

So, for the Tuesday Blog Hop, which is going with a birthday theme this month, I decided to make up the Kerchief Card Kit, which is available as a Sale-a-Bration reward for spending $50 before tax and shipping. It had been backordered, but I got it in on Saturday and sat right down to put them together. I’m still making cards for sale for my local gift shop in Amish Country, so this set is perfect to do up for them. I plan on ordering a second kit and selling them in sets of five and some singles, using our Acetate Boxes and some card jackets.

I decided to go with this kit for the birthday blog hop because of the included “Celebrate Today” sentiments, planned for the Coastal Cabana rose cards. (The Poppy Parade kerchief cards have “Thinking of You” sentiments.) I adore the blue cards (and its gold foil-dotted vellum!) because of the colors and style, and the red cards were simple and fun to put together as well (also with vellum, but plain). I also really liked the thicker twine included in the kit, and I hope I see more of it in the future. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to note that there is no stamp or ink spot in the set; the sentiments are already printed and included as die-cuts, ready to be added to the cards. It made the work go much faster—and yet still allows me creativity to add whichever sentiments I see fit for the insides of the cards.

The picture above only shows four of the eight cards in the A2-sized kit because I made two of each of the cards shown. On the blue Coastal Cabana cards, I popped up the rose and sentiment on two of them and left the other two roses flat; I also put two bows up and away at the right and two at the lower left bottom, for variation.

I changed the placement of the gold leaves on the Poppy Parade cards, two being centered and two being placed at a diagonal the way the kit shows. I also changed the location of the bow, not placing them under the tag as in the instructions. I actually even put the bow on top of one of the tags, which is not reflected here.

I finished the cards by adding sequins from the retired Love Blossoms Kit, as I thought the gold, white, and Blushing Bride colors matched well.

When I considered sentiments for the insides of the cards and looked through my current stamp sets, I found four that will work nicely for wedding or anniversary, general celebrations, or celebrating a special person or a special day that may or may not be love relate. Though they’re not stamped on the cards yet, I plan on using “Be strong, be happy, be you” from Rooted in Nature; “Wishing you the best on your special day” from the Perennial Birthday set; “Hoping you experience love and joy today, tomorrow, and always” from the Last a Lifetime set in the Mini catalog; and “Here’s to always finding joy in one another’s laughter, warmth in one another’s embrace, and love in one another’s lives” from Path of Petals. I think the “celebrate today” cards could also be used as graduation, retirement or promotion, even the birth of a baby or baby shower, and more occasions as well, if you didn’t feel the need to use the standard icons of the event. They would work fine as blank cards too—celebrating life or spring or no reason whatsoever!

Free with your purchase, the kit is a good investment. Quick to make up and easy to have a few cards on hand or to give as gifts, it’s one that will appeal to many (if for convenience’s sake if nothing else!), and the cards are lovely to boot. They’re also very easy to adapt to other styles or make into alternate designs. The envelopes are all lined with either Balmy Blue or Petal Pink and make a nice “wow” moment when they’re opened as well.

I’ll leave you with a close-up of my favorite card in the stack. 🙂 Please be sure to scroll down and “hop” through the rest of our list of participants so you can see the special birthday cards they created. We have a fantastic, creative team! If you are needing Stampin’ Up supplies, catalogs, or a consultant, I’m happy to help you out with any. You can use host code WAA2PGYR until February 16 when you check out. Thanks again for stopping by!

Jaimie Babarczy – https://wp.me/p79UhD-3B4
Connie Troyer – You are here!
Akiko Sudano – https://wp.me/paOv8E-Qx
Mary Deatherage – https://wp.me/p5snyt-btg
Karen Ksenzakovic – https://wp.me/paaNf4-1DA
Leslie Larkin – https://leslielarkin.com/birthday-with-the-peaceful-moments-bundle/
Sue Prather – https://wp.me/p5yitZ-1KD
Julie Johnston – https://wp.me/p8SzmQ-2hu
Karen Finkle – https://karenscardkorner.blogspot.com/2020/02/stampin-up-young-at-heart-for-amys.html
Amy Koenders – https://wp.me/p2SFwf-iuS

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