SUDSOL Blog Hop!

Welcome to our SUDSOL blog hop!

This is very exciting, as we don’t have them very often, and I’m glad to be a part of this great group to share our creative ideas with you.

Before we get started, I just thought I’d tell you a bit about SUDSOL; the name is an acronym, standing for Simply Unique Demonstrators Sharing OnLine. Every member is a current Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, and we have a fabulous membership site where we have great chat forums, sharing ideas for creativity and business, as well as a host of catalogue tools and resources. There are 3 main parts to SUDSOL: The StamPINboard (stamped samples), The Discussion Forum (demonstrator discussions) and The Articles area (Patterns, Techniques, Business articles, forms & files).

If I had to choose just 1 area of SUDSOL as my favourite, I think I would say that I get most use from the Articles area – tons of shared patterns, techniques and more for the creative side, and there are endless incredibly helpful business forms, files and tips, too. Of course the people are just the best! If you need help, you simply ask your question in one of the Discussion boards, and you’re assured that someone will help you out, in short order, and they’re super friendly, too! One of my favourite resources was put together by one of our coordinators, Blythe Klipple; it’s the Stamp Set Word List. I’m sure you’ve been thinking ‘what stamp set was *this* sentiment in?’, and you dread looking through your 200 sets of stamps….well, thanks to our Blythe, you can simply look it up on this list!! How awesome is that?! Well, it gets a bit more awesome – for today’s blog hop only, you can access this list by clicking on the name Stamp Set Word List!

If you’re a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, you can join! Better yet – why not try out a membership for 2 weeks – for FREE! Just CLICK HERE, and you’ll be taken to the SUDSOL site, where you can choose your free 2 week trial, or sign up monthly, quarterly or bi-annually. I did in my first 3 months as a demonstrator – and I’m still a happy member!

Now for our Blog Hop – each of the participating blogs are linked to the one before and after it, so all you have to do is click either the ‘Next’ or ‘Back’ button (whichever way you like to travel) and you’ll be taken through all of the blogs, and you’ll see all of the great projects we’ve created, just for you! You’ve probably arrived here from Jayne Hansen’s blog – weren’t her projects terrific!

For my first project, I thought I share a new twist on a relatively new fancy fold; this one is the Double Pleated Curtain Fold (or Double Pleated Skirt Fold):

I’ve done the single pleated fold before, but this was my first time doing the double pleat – it was fun! And not as difficult as you may think I’ll be writing up a tutorial for SUDSOL – so take advantage of the FREE 2 week membership, so you can get it!

I started with a piece of the In Colour Designer Series Paper in Flirty Flamingo. After making the score lines, and folding, I added a bit of Tombow Liquid Glue on the inside of each pleat, just to hold them down a little bit. I then added Stampin’ Dimensionals to the back, and attached it to a panel of Whisper White cardstock. I cut a strip of Flirty Flamingo cardstock 3/4″ x 3 3/4″, and attached it across the middle of the pleats. I stamped the banner and sentiment in Flirty Flamingo onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock, using the Thoughtful Banners stamp set. I used the new Duet Banner Punch to punch it out perfectly, and attached it on top of the cardstock strip using more Dimensionals. To finish off the card, I added a few of the Metallics Sequins on the banner, and around the pleats.

Here’s a picture so you can see a bit more of the dimension of the pleats:

Of course, you can’t forget the inside of the card:

I used the ‘off-cuts’ from the DSP used for the front, and added the small pleats on the inside!

My next project is a quick & easy card to do, using the Serene Scenery Designer Series Paper Stack:

I just love this Designer Series Paper – it has gorgeous photo-realistic pictures on one side, then the other side has great geometric prints. I like this piece, with it’s Bokeh effect-that’s the circles of light created by the camera. It just reminds me of a lazy summer afternoon

I used the Butterfly Basics stamp set, and stamped the fern image in the lower right hand corner; first stamping with the ink full strength, then continued stamping until the ink faded off. The sentiment, also from the Butterfly Basics set, was stamped directly onto the paper in Versamark ink, then covered with our new Copper Embossing Powder, and heat set. I just love how shiny and rich the copper looks!

The small butterfly, from the same stamp set, was stamped in Delightful Dijon ink onto a scrap piece of Whisper White cardstock, then punched out using the Bitty Butterfly Punch. Since I don’t yet have the Metallic Thread in the new Copper, I used some of it in Gold, and added some loops behind the butterfly, before attaching it to the front using a Stampin’ Dimensional. The stamped DSP was layered onto a panel of Delightful Dijon cardstock, which was then layered on top of a card base of Old Olive cardstock.

For the inside, I did the same stamping & stamping off of the fern image:

My final project is another mix of new and current:

I’ve combined some current stamp sets with the new Peekaboo Peach ink colour – it’s such a friendly colour

I started with a 3 3/4″ x 5″ panel of Whisper White cardstock, and randomly stamped the crossed lines, the fleur de lis and the partial rings in Smoky Slate (stamped off once) and Crumb Cake ink. I then added the leaves from the Number of Years stamp set in Cucumber Crush, then stamped the flowers in Bermuda Bay and Peekaboo Peach.

On another piece of Whisper White cardstock, I stamped the larger butterfly from the Watercolour Wings stamp set, using Peekaboo Peach, Crushed Curry and Basic Black ink, then die cut it using the Big Shot and the Bold Butterfly Framelits. I used my Bone Folder to gently curl the wings upwards, then added the butterfly to my stamped panel using Stampin’ Dimensionals, just in the body area of the butterfly.

The stamped panel was attached to a panel of Smoky Slate cardstock using Dimensionals, then it was glued to a card base of Thick Whisper White cardstock (because of the extra layers, I wanted a nice sturdy base).

Again – the inside look repeats the outside, with layers of Smoky Slate and Whisper White cardstock, and the fleur de lis and crossed lines stamped in Smoky Slate (stamped off once).

You’ll have noticed that I haven’t stamped any sentiments on the inside of my cards; that’s because I like to choose the sentiment based on not just the occasion, but also the person to whom I’m giving the card. I find it’s more personal that way.

Well, I hope you enjoyed seeing my projects for our SUDSOL Blog Hop! I’d love to read any comment that you’d like to leave

Now you’ll be wanting to head on over to see what the creative Kim Innis has created for your inspiration. You can do that by simply clicking on the link below.

Before you do – remember that you can take advantage of a FREE 2 WEEK TRIAL SUDSOL MEMBERSHIP simply by clicking HERE – you’ll be glad you did! Then you can decide whether you want to join with a weekly, monthly or bi-annual subscription. You can also take a look at my StamPIN Boards on SUDSOL as well – we have our own version of Pinterest – for members only!

Of course, if you like to purchase or take a closer look at any of the products I’ve used in my cards today, you can simply click on the images below, and be taken direct to my online store (this is another fabulous SUDSOL feature – included in your membership!)

Until next time – happy stamping!