Tag: Kit Variations

Kits

Sending Joy

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We thoroughly enjoyed our quick little trip to the country. The weather was perfect and we managed to find a spot where the fish were biting. But most importantly, we simply enjoyed being together!

During the afternoons when it was a tick too warm to fish, we enjoyed time cooling off in the cabin. And that meant a little crafting time here and there to play with the new Calm & Bright Kit.

This kit includes everything you need to make 3 different holiday card designs. And I brought along just a few extra things to make some simple variations.

Today’s variation includes a wide band of Pretty in Pink soft shimmer paper, some Lost Lagoon soft cording, a touch of Wink of Stella, some iridescent striped trim, and an assortment of faceted gems and sequins.

I also worked a little on my photography for this one. I still worked with the early morning light but got outside before the sun peeked over the horizon. So I got much better soft light without so much orange undertone. Needless to say, I won’t take for granted my nice studio setup quite so easily anymore! *wink*

It’s back to the regular work grind for the remainder of the week, along with the fast and furious last-minute, late-night crafting for this weekend’s craft fair.

Kits

All is Calm & Bright

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Welcome to a brand spankin’ new week! I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

We are definitely enjoying our time at the lake for a little family Fall Break getaway. The weather is perfect and we are soaking up the time outside.

And since I’m on the go, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to highlight the perfect line of products for crafting away from the crafty stash — Stampin’ Up! kits. And a gorgeous new holiday card kit is coming your way and I’m going to give you a little sneak peek.

SU! Calm & Bright Kit

Meet the Calm & Bright kit. This gorgeous kit offers you 3 different clean and simple holiday card designs. Kits include everything you need to create the designs shown. You can literally throw the box in your bag and be able to create on the go! And that’s exactly what I did with a little bit of free time I had yesterday afternoon.

While the on-the-go photography may not be quite as good, the crafting is perfect! I brought along just a few extra goodies to create an easy punched-up alternative design. The card on the left is assembled according to the included instructions, while the design on the right is my variation. I added a sparkly layer of Pretty Peacock glimmer paper under the main panel to make the colored elements really pop. I wrapped the focal panel in Lost Lagoon soft cording rather than the white linen thread included in the kit. I added some Wink of Stella to the house for a touch of twinkle and offset it from the snowy stamped background. I used the smallest snowflake stamp for the tag detail to coordinate with the background stamping, and I finished things off with some iridescent gems for subtle twinkle in opposing corners of the focal panel.

It’s hard to decide which design I like better, but one thing is for certain — I love being able to craft on the road!

Kits

Painted Wishes Kit Alternatives

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Happy Saturday, crafty friends! Today is class day here in the studio and class prep took a bit longer than anticipated, which is why Sketchy Fridays was a no-go this week. Sometimes it just works out that way and we have to pivot. BUT I have lots to share with you today!

In today’s class, we’re going to be working with the Painted Wishes Kit by Stampin’ Up! These kits are terrific for those who are new to paper crafting or for seasoned pros with not enough time for a full-on crafting session. This is an all-in-one kit, meaning it comes with everything you need to make beautiful cards. You can make them exactly as shown and have 3 birthday cards, 3 thank you cards, and 3 friendship cards. OR with a few things from your crafty stash, you can elevate the card designs into beautiful alternatives. Today, I’m going to show you how I adapted this kit to make 6 alternative designs.

For our first 3 design alternatives, we’re adding some paper and ribbon from the crafty stash and otherwise just taking liberties with the way things are combined and how they look.

Alternative 1

The kit uses the birthday sentiment with the rose card base, but here we’re substituting the friendship sentiment and adding Pretty Peacock & Gold metallic ribbon behind the sentiment to help it stand out.

Alternative 2

To punch up the backdrop for our sentiment panel, we’re adding a panel of the Pretty Peacock Season of Elegance paper over the peacock card base. I’ve also cut around the greenery to give more delicate detailing to the sentiment panel, along with adding gold foil specialty paper behind the sentiment to help it stand out. Some Pretty Peacock & Gold metallic ribbon ties everything together.

Alternative 3

For our third alternative, we’re cutting our rose panel into two pieces and giving them lots of detailing along the edges. I’ve also used the Spotlight on Nature dies to add the edging detail to the circle sentiment panel. Isn’t it amazing how those two simple things totally transform these kit elements?

Two of our next three kit design alternatives incorporate items from the crafty stash to punch things up.

Alternative 4

I wanted the gold foiling in the sentiment panel to pop as the main design element, so I chose a lovely foiled leaf pattern paper from the Nature’s Sweetness paper pack and diecut it using the Countryside Corners dies. A little crisscross of Pretty Peacock & gold metallic ribbon behind the sentiment helps it pop. I cut apart the rose panel and used just the greenery as the side accent for the sentiment. The detailing of the greenery pulls together the leaf elements.

Alternative 5

The rose card base is gorgeous all by itself, and I wanted as much of the watercolor beauty to stand out as possible, so we’re keeping things simple behind our sentiment panel with just a few sparkly diecut pieces. I cut a circle from the gold mercury vellum using the Spotlight on Nature dies and then added a Pretty Peacock banner die cut with the Countryside Corners set. A faux bow of the Pretty Peacock & gold metallic ribbon ties all of our sparkly elements together and makes the sentiment pop.

Alternative 6

Our final alternative design uses all of the kit elements but in an unexpected way. First, I mounted each of the background panels a little askew for some visual interest. This really helps pull all of the subtle colors to the forefront and give the card a sense of movement. Using the other portion of the rose panel I cut for card #4, I mounted it along with the sentiment on dimensionals, giving us two planes of view for our greenery.

It doesn’t take much from the crafty stash to transform kit elements into elevated designs. Dig through your stash of leftover kit elements, scraps of paper, or extra diecuts and see what you can pull together.

Next week, we’re taking to the sky with the Everyday Skies designer series paper. I hope you’ll come along and check out all the fun ways we can make this paper soar!

Product List
Painted Wishes Kit
[163235]
$14.00
Season Of Elegance 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164144]
$16.50
Nature's Sweetness 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[162616]
$16.50
Three Color Glimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper
[162813]
$10.50
Gold Foil Sheets
[132622]
$5.00
Gold Mercury Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164142]
$10.00
Spotlight On Nature Dies
[163580]
$35.00
Countryside Corners Dies
[161471]
$28.00
Pretty Peacock & Gold 3/8" (1 Cm) Metallic Ribbon
[162588]
$8.50
Add All to Cart
Back to School

Lunch Box Lovin’

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Today we’re rounding out our back-to-school card design series with a cute set of little notecards that a dear friend of mine once referred to as lunch box lovin’. As the name might imply, these notecards are intended to be slipped inside a lunch box to let your kiddo or special someone know that they are loved and on your mind. I mean, who doesn’t love to get an unexpected pick-me-up in the lunchbox?!

A few months ago, I showed the cute cards that can be made using the Stampin’ Up! kit called By Your Side. This adorable pet-themed kit, whick will make 8 cards, includes a whole array of cats and dogs and ultimately leaves you a number of extra four-legged friends to use later. And these extras serve as the starting point for today’s featured project.

This coming week is the start of school in our district, and it’s another year of middle school for the kiddo. No longer part of the new kids on campus but not the top of the heap either, it’s that awkward middle year. So needless to say, there are still plenty of nerves surrounding a new school year. And I thought it might be nice to slip the kiddo a little note in the lunch box a few times this week to help him get through the first week jitters.

Our lunch box lovin’ cards all feature one of the cute leftover critters from the By Your Side kit, along with a sentiment panel and a few other leftover elements. The notecards vary in size based on the pieces I had left and how they looked once I started laying things out. I chose a piece of cardstock to serve as the base for each notecard and selected colors that would be a good neutral backdrop for each. The back of each card is blank for a quick note.

Leftover kit elements or Memories & More packs are perfect for these types of quick and simple projects. Just plop and go in a sketch and you’ve instantly got completed projects to bring smiles to long faces!

And speaking of smiles, who’s looking forward to some Holiday Mini Catalog sneak peeks? Tune in next week as we start dreaming of fall colors and cooler weather!

Hello Hollyhocks · Kits

Hello Hollyhocks Kit Alternatives

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Welcome to a brand new week. Can you believe it’s July already?! And in usual Texas fashion, we have jumped straight from the frying pan into the fire as far as our weather goes. Man, has it been HOT! But I’ve taken advantage of the hot days by spending some extra time in the craft room. *grin*

This week, we’re going to be taking a closer look at the Hello Hollyhocks kit by Stampin’ Up! This kit includes everything you need to create 9 beautiful cards — 3 each of 3 different designs. You literally open the box and go to town. In about 30 minutes, you’ll have 9 cards all done and ready to send. How cool is that?! During tomorrow’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays, I’ll walk you through unboxing the kit and making all 3 designs.

But the focus of the designs I’ll be sharing with you this week will be alternative card designs using the elements from the Hello Hollyhocks kit. With just a few extras from your crafting stash, you can create some lovely cards using this kit.

For today’s kit alternative card, I kept things very simple. The only element not included in the Hello Hollyhocks kit is the linen thread. From there, it’s just a mix and match of kit elements.

We get started with the Old Olive card base provided in the kit. The focal panel consists of the three-stem bunch of hollyhocks, the narrow Calypso Coral rectangle, and the Petal Pink THANKS sentiment panel. I adhered each of these elements together to create one panel. I made a twist of linen thread and added it behind the focal panel and then adhered everything into place with a double layer of dimensionals. A few of the kit’s included sparkle gems finish things off nicely.

This card came together in less than 5 minutes. Honestly, it took me the longest time to get the twist of linen thread to look right and then cooperate as I was trying to adhere it. This is so often the case with any ribbon element I add. Anyone else struggle with getting ribbons or threads to cooperate?

I hope you’ll pop back by tomorrow to see another card alternative for the Hello Hollyhocks kit!

Products used:
Hello Hollyhocks kit
Linen thread
Dimensionals

Product List
Hello Hollyhocks Kit
[164458]
$14.00
Linen Thread
[104199]
$5.00
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals
[144108]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Kits

Introducing By Your Side

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Happy Tuesday, everyone! Thanks for stopping in today. My hubby had surgery and recovery is going a bit slower than anticipated. So we’re taking a little detour from touring fields of flowers for the next day or two, but we’ll get back to it once we’re able to return home.

Over the last several years, I’ve had several opportunities to sit in hospital waiting rooms awaiting word on family members having surgery. And I’ve found it helpful to have things to do to help take my mind away from worrying about all of the what-ifs of surgery. One of the things I have really enjoyed doing to pass the time is assembling Stamipn’ Up Kits.

You may be wondering how on earth I’ve managed to assemble cards in a hospital. Well, the beauty of SU! card kits is that they include everything you need to put together at least 3 different card designs. All you need to throw in your bag is some adhesive and paper snips!

While in the waiting room for my husband’s surgery, I finished assembling cards from one of the newest SU! kit releases called By Your Side. This adorable kit is purrrrfect for all of the animal lovers in your life!

The kit includes everything you need to create 4 different card designs. And, of course, you can punch things up with extras, like ribbon or twine or embellishments if you want.

One of the things I love about the SU! Kits is that the designs are simple to put together. You have all the supplies you need, and the kit comes with instructions for assembling each of the different cards. But you can also easily adapt and change designs to suit.

Here’s a sample design variation. My son needed a birthday card for one of his friends who is a huge cat lover. So I substituted the birthday sentiment from the Hot Air Balloon stamp set and added some twine and embellishments to make this super cute birthday design.

I have a number of variations to share with you that are simply the cat’s meow. I’ll share them in my socials once we get home and settled in — maybe a little later this week.

Think this is a cute kit? Interested in having one yourself? You can pick one up anytime in my online store. Simply click here and you’ll go straight to it!

Products used in today’s featured card:
By Your Side Kit
Hot Air Balloon stamps
Twine
Swirl dots