Happy You times Three

If you're a stamper, or even a crafter in general, you're probably familiar with the term "CASE."  CASE stands for Copy And Share Everything (although some people substitute Steal for Share!)  A lot of the projects on this blog, while they haven't been straight CASEs, have definitely been inspired or influenced by other projects in the blog-o-sphere.  Well, last week, as I was prepping for my July stamp club (the Peek-A-Baby card), I decided I wanted to use Happy You, a new hostess set.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a lot of examples of cards with that set.  The Peek-A-Baby was pretty original for me, although parts of it were undoubtedly influenced by other cards I've seen.  I wanted to create some other note cards with Happy You today, because it's a great starter stamp set - there's something in it for everything.  So I just sat down with the set, some cardstock and markers and here's what I came up with.

This was actually the last card I did.  I had wanted to make an umbrella a while back and failed miserably at my overachieving punch design.  So I kept it simpler this time and used the ornament punch to make the shape of the umbrella.  I used a 3/4" circle punch to make the scallops at the bottom.  I free-hand cut the handle.  For the boots, I colored just the boot image with my black marker and stamped it three times.  Then I colored the complete image and stamped it again on the Baja Breeze.  I restamped just the boot on Raspberry Ripple and cut it out and adhered it over the original image.  I added the white polka dots with my white gel pen.  The flowers are colored with Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, and Gumball Green.  Some of the pearls and a knot of ribbon on the handle were the last touches I added.

This was the card that started my day and led to the paper piecing on all the projects.  (Paper piecing is stamping your image on colored paper, cutting it out and laying it overtop of the same stamped image on your background.  Nice pop of color without having to color in everything by hand and a great use of scraps.)  I started with the Baja Breeze background and made the clouds but punching a scalloped oval, using the opening as a template, and sponging white through it.  Then I stamped the kites randomly.  For the kites, I used the 2011-2013 In Colors.  The kites are attached with dimensionals which is why there's such deep shadows under them.

Merry Christmas in July!  Don't be surprised if more than a few Christmas projects pop up this month because a)I'm behind on them and b)July is when I really get into a Christmas mood and start planning my holiday cards and gifts.  This little wreath image in the Happy You stamp set is pretty but small, so I wanted to make it stand out.  I began by cutting  rectangle out of Early Espresso and I used my scoring board to create the panels to make a rectangle. Then I stamped the wreath five times on a piece of Gumball Green using Garden Green ink.  To speed the cutting process, I punched them out with the 1-1/4" circle punch and punched the center with the 1/2" circle.  That made cutting around all the leaves a lot faster.  I left one wreath whole and cut the others in half.  I wound up only using 3 1/2 wreaths - one on the center of the door and 2 1/2 to make the garland.  The last things were the red bow on the door wreath and using the white gel pen to create the berries.  

Supply List

Stamps: Happy You

Cardstock: Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Baja Breeze (rainboots card), Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Wisteria Wonder (kites card), Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Gumball Green (Christmas door card)

Ink: Basic Black, Garden Green, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Gumball Green (marker form), Whisper White craft ink (clouds)

Accessories: Ornament punch, Basic Pearls, ribbon scraps, white gel pen (rainboots), scallop oval punch, sponge (kites), scoring board, Itty Bitty punch pack, ribbon scraps, 1/2" circle punch, 1-1/4" circle punch (Christmas door)