Tag Archives: Season of Friendship

And the spiders just laughed

Posted on by
5

Welcome to Day One of the RemARKable Stampers Holiday Madness Blog Tour!  Buckle your seat belts and get ready for a wonderful Sleigh Ride through the Holidays…although as you all know, there’s not a whole lotta sleigh riding’ here in the islands!  I’m thrilled to be a part of this blog hop for the next week, and I hope you’ll have a wonderful time riding along with me.

To get started, we’re going to visit the holiday closest at hand.  Halloween in Hawaii is huge.  When our kids were small, we lived in a neighborhood full of families.  Everyone would set their beach chairs out in the driveway and watch the enormous parade of keiki (children) as they walked, skated, scootered or got strollered through the streets.  The really organized people had their grills going, and there were a few houses with really elaborate and impressive decorations.  I was always too busy getting three small children into costumes and fed something, anything, that wasn’t full of sugar before we headed out – carving the pumpkins was just about my limit.  Fortunately, our yard was full of contented spiders willing to do a little decorating for me.,

You know that frantic, arms-flailing, twisting and turning little dance you do when you accidentally walk through a cobweb?   You’re trying to get all the webby bits out of your hair and at the same time you are just PRAYING that the spider was out at Walmart getting supplies for the Webber grill…that’s what I was thinking about:

Sparkling Big Shot Web

  • Teeny Tiny Wishes and Season of Friendship Stamp sets
  • More Mustard, Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry,  and Very Vanilla card stock
  • Basic Black and Rich Razzleberry Classic ink pads
  • Big Shot and Spider Web Textured Impressions folder
  • Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint; Rich Razzleberry Taffeta Ribbon
  • Stampin’ Sponges; Modern Label Punch and Crop-a-dile
  • Googly Eyes (non-SU)

Actually, my spider was sitting in the tree just watching me do the Tarantella and laughing with his little spidery friend.  This new Textured Impressions folder from the Holiday Mini is so vivid you could use it all by itself for a card and it would work beautifully.  I used it with the raised side down because I liked the distance it created, but it is equally awesome when you use it right side up.  You’ll have to try it yourself to find out, but don’t wait too long because these Textured Impressions folders are very popular and you don’t want to be disappointed just before Halloween!  That would be a mean trick and no treat.

Next Stop on the Holiday Madness Blog Tour

The Season of Friendship…In Color

Posted on by
2

Our leaves don’t change color in the fall, at least not significantly.  There aren’t even that many deciduous trees in Hawaii.  Sure, the plumeria tree’s leaves thin out quite a bit in the winter, but you seldom see that bare-branch look you get on the Mainland.  I recall flying through Dallas-Fort Worth airport one year, and looking out the window as we took off I thought there must have been some sort of blight that caused all the trees to die.  It took me half the flight to figure out that it was just winter.  And yes, I grew up on the mainland and I even did my share of raking leaves once I became a homeowner.

Last autumn my husband and I were in New Hampshire and we really enjoyed the beautiful colors despite the fact that it snowed on us MULTIPLE times in October (and yes, I am still taking that personally).  We won’t be flying to the East Coast this year – it’s a very long flight – so any leaf colors I’ll see will be on my craft table:

Season of Friendship In Color

  • Season of Friendship and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizazz card stock
  • Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizazz Classic ink pads
  • Crop-a-dile and Jumbo brads
  • Pear Pizazz ribbon and Hemp Twine

I love our In Colors for 2010-2011.  They’re such distinct, unique colors but they have an intensity that works really well together.

While we’re on the subject of Halloween…

Posted on by
Reply

This was one of those projects that sits around for a while and gathers dust while I decide what to do with it.  The final touch was the tree and since my favorite Branch Out stamp set is RETIRED, of all things, I had to wait for Crystal to come by with Season of Friendship so I could use that tree:

Owlie by the light of the moon

  • Aviary, Season of Friendship, Wonderfully Worn and Paisley Prints stamp sets
  • Paisley Party Stampin’ Around Wheel
  • Tangerine Tango, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Whisper White and Shimmer White card stock
  • Crumb Cake, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, River Rock and Early Espresso classic ink pads
  • Cajun Craze  and Old Olive Stampin’ Write marker
  • Linen Thread, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Stampin’ Sponges  and 1 1/4 inch circle punch

The moon is Shimmer paper sponged with Old Olive…or it might have been River Rock, I can’t exactly remember.  I added the tree after the card was all finished, and I was terrified to stamp directly on the card even WITH a Stamp-a-ma-jig.  I ended up stamping the image on a piece of scrap copy paper (it needs to be thin paper) and cutting the image out carefully.  That left me with a negative image of the tree that I temporarily put in place over the card with Dotto repositionable adhesive.  I very carefully sponged through the copy paper template to put the tree exactly where I wanted it.  Pretty sneaky, huh?

I have to try a couple more like this.  I really like the effeect of that sponged tree.  In all honesty, there’s no way I would have been able to do this with those gorgeous spidery branches on my Branch Out tree.  Season of Friendship finally wins.

A Fond Farewell to Cameo Coral

Posted on by
1

If you’ve seen it once today, you’ve seen it a hundred times:  Stampin’ Up! announced a complete Color Collection Renovation yesterday.  30 (yes, thirty) colors from the Color Families are retiring at the end of June, making way for 5 brand new colors and a host of beloved In Color selections.  The Color Renovation will organize Stampin’ Up! colors into four Color Collections, each with 10 beautiful, trendy, inspiring colors.

Some of the colors that are being retired are certainly ready for that honor, but there are some that it will be a little harder to bid farewell.  Today’s card uses the Split Negative technique (a great tutorial is at SplitCoastStampers) and features retiring color Cameo Coral:

Stampin' Up! Cameo Coral Split Negative Season of Friendship

  • Season of Friendship and All Holidays stamp sets
  • Whisper White, Cameo Coral and Basic Black card stock
  • Cameo Coral and Basic Black Classic ink pads; Whisper White Craft ink pad
  • Embossing Buddy, White Embossing Powder and Heat tool
  • Trio Flower punch,  Black Gingham ribbon and Black Stampin’ Write Journaler

I’m running a series of Technique Classes over the next few months – it’s a way to challenge myself to try new things – and this card is for the class on Saturday.

I’m a firm believer in change.  It isn’t always easy, but it always presents new opportunities.  As much as I have enjoyed some of these retiring colors, I am thrilled the Stampin’ Up! is moving forward with a contemporary new face lift and I think you’ll be really pleased when you see the new selections.  That said, if you’re a fan of Cameo Coral, I suggest you head on over to my Online Store and stock up on ink pads, ink refills, and paper (don’t forget the 12×12!).

Aloha, Cameo Coral!

Crystal’s Spooky Branches

Posted on by
2

What is it with me and trees these days?

I am crazy about cards with trees…spring trees, autumn trees, soft trees, stark trees, trees with eyes…

This card is from the amazing Crystal, who by the way has been freed from the confines of her sofa.  Do you love the Googly eyes or is it just me?  I think I need to send an email to Demonstrator Support requesting that Stampin’ Up! add Googly eyes to the product line.  There are SO many uses for them.

Crystals_Hallloween_Branches

  • Season of Friendship and Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Sets
  • Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pine, More Mustard and Glossy White card stock
  • Basic Black, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink pad
  • Round tab punch, 1 3/8″ circle punch, brayer, Stampin’ Sponges
  • Googly eyes