You’re standing in your crafting space surrounded by your glorious stash of Stampin’ Up! products just begging to be used.
You know you want to make card – you even know the theme of the card you want to make, but beyond that you’re drawing a blank. It’s been a few days since you’ve sat down to create so you’re not feeling the mojo.
No sweat! You hop onto your smartphone, your tablet or maybe your computer looking for a little creative inspiration. Maybe Pinterest is your first stop. Or perhaps you prefer to check out your favourite blogs first.
You scroll through card after card…until….there! That’s the one. You find a card that you totally love.
Suddenly feeling inspired you rush over to your stash and start checking out your products…..only to realize that not only do you not have the exact supplies used to create that card (but then that’s not a really a surprise), but you don’t seem to have anything even remotely similar.
Feeling suddenly deflated, you decide you’re not in the mood to go looking for another idea. You slowly walk away from your craft table telling yourself that you’ll come back when you’re feeling inspired. After all, you still have a few more days before you need that card.
Sound familiar?
That’s where the Sunny Stampin’ Let’s Make It Over feature comes in.
This is a regular blog feature showing you innovative ways to use your Stampin’ Up! products to re-create trendy cards created by talented designers in the blogosphere. As part of this feature I show you the thought process behind breaking down the elements of a card you see and then adapting your supplies to re-create a similar look and feel.
So let’s take a look at this week’s inspiration and how I made it over. Today’s inspiration piece is shown on the left – it is a Hello card created by Danielle Flanders.
Here’s the process I followed in making over this card:
- I’ve been loving the look of white cards as it fits with my Clean, Simple and Vibrant style, so, I kept the white card base (A2 card). However, I love the look of subtle layers so I decided to create a white on white panel with a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Whisper White card stock.
- Looking at Danielle’s card front you can see that she used a Stitched Die from Papertrey Ink to give her card visual texture. Now stitched dies are very trendy right now but unfortunately I don’t own any (nor does Stampin’ Up! make any). So I had one of two options here. The first was to emulate the look using one of Stampin’ Up! Paper Piercing templates, a Paper Piercing tool and Stampin’ Pierce Mat. I decided against that because that’s just way to fiddly for me. The second option – which is the one I went with – was to create visual texture through dry embossing. I chose my Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder which I used with my Big Shot. I chose Woodgrain because I think it goes nicely with flowers (I was picturing a wreath on a wooden front door). If you wanted something more whimsical you could have chosen something like the Decorative Dots embossing folder. For a more modern look something like the Tiny Triangle embossing folder would be nice.
- Now for the flower. Danielle used Papertrey’s Circle Scribbles Die and die cut it out patterned paper. I had nothing even remotely similar. Once again a few options crossed my mind. The first was to create a flower by first die cutting a circular frame (nest two Circles Framelits one inside the other and then die cut it). You can then spread Crystal Effects all over the frame and place your Calypso Coral Coral Thick Baker’s Twine into the Crystal Effects, following the line of the frame around several times to create a similar scribbly effect. Too messy for me. Instead I decided to create a floral frame by nesting a Circle Framelit inside the largest of the Flower Fair Framelits. Because I didn’t have a patterned paper I liked, I used my Classic inks and watercolor paper to create a watercolored background on my flower. To give it additional “zing” I heat embossed the flower with three layers of clear embossing powder.
- For the leaves, Danielle used the Doodlie Do dies from Papertrey Ink and die cut them out of a green polka dot patterned paper. I didn’t have any similar patterned paper, but I really loved the look of the polka dots. So, I used a leaf die from the Flower Fair Framelits – die cut the leaves out of Old Olive card stock and then embossed them with the Decorative Dots embossing folder.
- As you can see – I kept the banner element pretty much the same. I loved the pairing of the script font with the flowers in the original card. Because I didn’t have a single sentiment in a script font that was a large enough, I chose a sentiment that included a scrip font. Another idea for you would be to use either the Greetings Thinlits or Hello You Thinlits die cut out of black card stock, mounted onto a banner.
- A little touch I loved is how Danielle used some white thread on her card. I happen to love the look of a cluster of white thread – so I did the same behind my flower using regular sewing thread.
- Finally – Danielle used an enamel dot in the centre of her second flower. I decided instead to thread some Basic Black Baker’s Twine through a Pumpkin Pie button from the Brights Designer Buttons collection and used it as an accent piece on the right of the flower. Although I could have just used a plain button – I loved the extra pop that the Basic Black Baker’s Twine gave it.
Here’s a close up of my card:
Here’s another view of the card
So that’s how I “made over” today’s card. Hopefully in walking you through my thought process it gives you ideas on new ways to look at the products in your stash.
Please leave me a comment in the comments section below letting me know what resonated with you in today’s post. I’d also love to hear if there are specific SU products you’d love more ideas for.
Love the idea of a make over feature. I often see cards I like that are not Stampin’ Up and want to use my own product.
And, to be honest, I like your card a lot better than the original. The clean lines make it a lot easier to see what is actually on the card. I am a CAS kind of girl!
I think your card is very creative! Plus, it gets around the problem of my husband will kill me if another box appears! I totally understand that!
Love this segment idea! I like your take and explanation of the different ways to do it depending on your style.
Thanks!
Love this! Andrea I’m so impressed with the way you think on “making-do!” Thanks for including your thought process as you came up with different options and rejected some before finding the solution. You inspire me! This card is definitely one I can do with what I have. Not only adorable, but definitely A-doable! Thanks!
Andrea,
I am very impressed with this approach to card making and creating
a simple yet unique look that can be achieved with a little imagination.
I would have to agree with all the nice comments you have received
and look forward to seeing what’s next…Thank You
Really enjoy this type of project as it pushes you to use your existing stash and tools. Love the clean lines of your card and will be looking forward to your next makeover.
Thanks for explaining your thought process in trying out different options to make over the card.
Would love to see more of this type of project with alternative ways to use Framelits.
Cheers
Trina
Thanks Andrea for this great card makeover. There are so many good ideas in your blog of how to use our SU products to achieve a similar look, I love that. I am trying hard to use up older product that I already have (which is hard with that new catalogue in hand), and you have given me new ways of viewing a card project. I would love more ideas on how to use up DSP. Thanks for featuring SU again.
I love this making it over feature. I figure that half the fun of creating is taking an idea and making it your own and not copying it straight out. Use the stamps and supplies you have. You’re bound to have sets simular enough to follow the basic concept.
I love the make over feature. Thank you for the beautiful card.
I think it’s a great idea for a segment. “Let’s make it over” Every one has seen something they loved and realized they didn’t have any of the stamps or papers to recreate a favorite. I love how you explain how you took each element and decided what you had that would work. Thanks for a really interesting idea. Can’t wait to see more.
I really like the woodgrain in white. Really sharp!
Oh, my goodness! Thank you for listening to my survey answer (and I’m probably not the only one)! This explanation of your thought process and showing me how to transform a card when I have none of the materials is perfect!! Absolutely perfect!! I know I can take what I already have now and make a similar card. Yes, I have a lot of SU products, and when you blink your eye, they are retired. So, now I’m getting them out and using them! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Love this idea of making something you really like with supplies you have on hand if at all possible! Since I’m more adept at check book balancing than creating I need all the learning tools I can get to unlock that other side of my brain. Thank you VERY much for sharing you thought processes.
This is an absolutely perfect idea!! More times then I can count, I have seen a card and proceeded to try and replicate but to no avail!! I sure hope this will become a regular feature. Thanks for all your creativity!!
What a great idea! Love that you included lots of details about how you accomplished the change-up! Nice job! TFS
Great idea, am always looking for new ways to use my supplies and I love the detailed explanations. Thanks!
Thanks Andrea, will be CASEing this one for my stamp day.xx
What a wonderful easy to make card. Love it!
Thank you so much, Andrea. I really like that you explained your thought process and how you substituted the supplies with SU! supplies. I often look at other companies and like what they did and then get stumped on how to make it over. Thanks again.
I love your card Andrea! I am a firm believer of “using what you have” — basically because after 10 years as a demonstrator, who only buys product I want to keep forever, I have accumulated quite a stash!! I am currently doing a This and That Album of my great-granddaughter’s first year — approximately 75% of the SU product is discontinued. I get my mojo for page layouts from “cards” that I like and make great page layouts using one or more of the details (e.g., layout, elements, colors, etc.). I was surprised that our “thought-process” was almost identical when doing “make-overs.” Love this blog!!
This is perfect…like you read my mind. I’m always trying to figure out what SU products will work, so many ideas, so little time! Thanks
Thanks Andrea! Being able to see your thought process helps me consider how I approach similar situations of wanting to re-create a card but not having all of the original supplies.
Really like the make over idea.Have some cards that are older and need a face lift.Keep up the good work,love it.
Andrea, Very creatively redone. Love it. 🙂 Thanks for another bright idea!
Love this segment, as I’m always making over things I see online. Reading your thought process helps spark more thoughts for me!