A creative moment

Okay, I caved and went over budget with my first Stampin' Up! order yesterday. I am weak. But, I did order some very cool papers and embellishments, and even a few stamp sets. I actually hit my self-imposed limit (what a joke!) before I had selected any stamp sets...how embarassing. It should be an AWESOME Open House in August, though! ;-)

I figured all the SU servers would be swamped at 2:00 pm EST (12:00 noon MT), so I decided I could wait a while. To pass the time before I ordered, I thought I'd actually plan my projects for my upcoming workshops. It is so unlike me to have this task done prior to the Saturday night before the Sunday workshops (that Day Job really gets in the way ....), that I amazed myself.

I really want to give my workshop Customers a chance to touch-and-feel as much of the new stuff as I was able to (and wanted to) pre-order, so I have worked the stamps sets and new In Colors into the projects. Some of the projects were largely inspired by samples on Splitcoast (modified to make them my own, of course), but I feel really good when I can start from scratch and come up with something I like. We are our own worst critics, are we not?

My friend, downline and enabler, Marianne (yes, all one person), stopped by to pass the time, and she helped me a lot with this project. Brainstorming and mock-ups are a wonderful thing. I wanted to do a flower with the new Pick A Petal set, but I am awful at doing the stems. I had cut a piece of Wild Wasabi for the stem, and stuck a second smaller piece off to the side to look like a leaf. It looked like something, but not a leaf. Marianne's suggestion was to use another petal stamp - the one with the 'smile' word in it - and make a curved leaf. I dutifully stamped it and cut it out, then stuck it on the stem. She moved it from the right side of the stem to the left side, which left room for a sentiment. Sheer genius on her part! The result of that effort is here:


I think it turned out great! And I am soooo happy the Polks Dots & Paisley set carried over to the new catalog! I really love that sentiment!

One of the things I like about my workshops (if that's even what they really are) is that most of the Ladies will look at my project card sample, then switch their version up a little. The only rules I have about changing things are (1) you can do anything you want with the card stock you have been provided, and (2) if you change it, you must share what you did with everyone else.

So this project really lends itself to that switching-up thing. The flower originally had three petals, but it looked a little sad, so I decided it needed four. If they want to add even more petals and trim them off at the card's edge - fine with me!

The grass was really fun and easy to make, too. I got that idea on Splitcoast, and it came to me while I pondered the bottom part of the card. It is just a strip of card stock with a bunch of slits cut into it.

Off to create some more. Heck, I have until Saturday night to start clearing off the tables and cutting card stock for the kits!

Card recipe (all products by Stampin' Up!): Stamps - Pick A Petal, Polka Dots & Paisley; Card stock - River Rock, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White; Ink - Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black.