Fun-n-Crafty | Tropical Escape

Hello my crafty peeps! I’m happy to be here again this month as part of the Fun & Crafty blog hop. You should have arrived here from Jennifer Blomquist’s NW Stamper blog. If you didn’t, not to worry the complete list is below! This month’s theme is new catalog goodies! June and July are always full of excitement and renewed creativity, in part, due to the release of the new annual catalog from Stampin’ Up! This month a few of us participated in a new catalog card swap to get even more creative ideas to share with you!

For my creation I decided to use the new Tropical Escape suite, which includes the Tropical Chic stamps, Tropical Thinlits dies, Tropical Escape DSP, and the cutest Tropical Elements (little hibiscus flowers and leaves). This is currently my favorite set in the entire catalog. To see my top 10 goodies, visit this post. In the coming months I plan to use more of my favorites in projects and blog posts so stay tuned!

I started with a Shaded Spruce top-folding A2 card base and because it’s a dark color I decided to include a white insert for writing a message to that special someone, which meant more stamping inside! I began by cutting a piece of the Tropical Escape DSP to 4″ x 5.25″ for the front. Next, I stamped the hibiscus flower and the small and medium leaves on Whisper White card stock. I inked up the flower with Flirty Flamingo, and using a sponge dauber I added a little hint of Blushing Bride to the petal tips. I stamped the small leaf in Flirty Flamingo and the medium leaf in Granny Apple Green. Is anyone else loving the new ink pad design, ink formula, and the 16 new/returning colors as much as I am?!?

Then it was time to die cut the flowers and leaves. These dies are so versatile, each of the leaves has two dies, one cuts the outline and another cuts the interior, so you could cut leaves out of two different colors of card stock, or a combo of cars stock and DSP, or two different DSP patterns — like I said, versatile! I also cut two interior long, large leaf fronds out of Granny Apple Green card stock. Each card used one hibiscus, one small leaf, two medium leaves, and two large leaf interior die cuts. While I had the stamps and ink out I also stamped the sentiment, “With much love & thanks” in Blushing Bride on a strip of Whisper White card stock and stamped the leaf border on the inside panel using all three leaves (small in Blushing Bride, medium in Granny Apple Green, and large in Lemon Lime Twist). I adhered this panel to the inside of the card.

All that remained, was assembling the cards. I knew I wanted varying levels of dimension on the card front, which I achieved using a combination of adhesive, mini glue dots, and dimensionals. The upper medium leaf went down flat with Snail and the lower medium leaf I popped up using dimensionals. Next, using mini glue dots, I positioned the two large interior leaf die cuts. HINT: Adhering thin cuts can be challenging, one of my favorite tricks is rolling the mini glue dots. Using my craft pick I roll up the glue dots so they fit neatly behind even the thinnest things (see below). Next, I adhered the small leaf on top of the lower medium leaf using Snail and the hibiscus flower I popped up using dimensionals. Using one dimensional on each end, I positioned the sentiment over the leaf and flower cluster. For the final touch I used a rolled up mini glue dot to adhere a small linen thread bow to the flower and then attached the flower and leaf to the card, also using mini glue dots.

There is a ton of inspiration throughout this hop and I encourage you to grab your Stampin’ Up catalog and some post-it notes, and visit the other talented crafters listed below to see what they created and perhaps leave them some crafty love! Up next is the wonderful Tobe. Until next time, remember, creativity and imperfection live together in all we do. “Grace is the face love wears when it meets imperfection.”

~xoxo

1. Nicole — Inky Fingers Stamping
2. Jennifer — NW Stamper
3. Christine — Artful Musings (you are here)
4. Tobe — The Craft Sea

Supplies Used:
Tropical Chic Bundle (148399)
Tropical Escape DSP (146916)
Card Stock: Whisper White, Shaded Spruce, & Granny Apple Green
Ink: Granny Apple Green, Flirty Flamingo, Lemon Lime Twist, & Blushing Bride
Accessories: Tropical Elements (146919), Linen Thread, Dimensionals, Snail, & Glue Dots