Goodness, it’s a steamy one today and it’s just 8:30!!! With the heat wave today it’s a perfect time to gather some crafting supplies and hunker down in the air conditioning! My flowers have all been watered and ready to deal with the heat as well. When I first began gardening I went for the cool pastels – soft pinks, yellows, lavenders, etc. I use to say “no orange flowers!” – even knowing that orange is our friend Pam’s favorite color. But I soon learned that those colors really washout and are not as showy in bright sunshine. Gradually, I changed from my pastel palette to hot pinks, intense purples, reds, and yes, even oranges to make a statement. I love foilage so coleus, purple fountain grass, cypress, and that awesome creeping jenny (it plays nicely in a container, but DON’T put it in the ground!) are favorites. I still plant my impatiens but they are a brighter pink instead.
Everything evolves, doesn’t it? I also use to say “no scrapbooking for me!” to a dear friend who introduced many to paper crafting in our community. She is laughing at me in heaven right now – I’m not only a paper crafter but a demonstrator and, as my daughter says, a Stampin’ Up snob because I won’t buy off brand products. It might not have happened had I not decided to finish her senior daughter’s scrapbook when her health took a downward spiral. I’m still not really scrapbooking, but cards and home decor items are my interest.
Using Our Color Palette To Create A Patriotic Sampler!!!
It’s hard to create patriotic projects when Stampin’ Up doesn’t have a single patriotic stamp set. BUT with a little thinking outside the box it can happen! Even though Stampin’ Up was founded in the USA, it is also a global company, so products need to be global as well. Our friend Martina in Austria would have no need for a Americana themed stamp set. Nor our friends in the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, etc.
First of all – turn to our wonderful color palette as the focus. I chose to work with Night Of Navy, Real Red, and Basic White but you could have switched out the colors for Misty Moonlight, Cherry Cobbler, and Very Vanilla!!! I turned to our DSP packages to find some patterns that would work for backgrounds (selecting from the Country Woods and Wildly Flowering DSP’s. Then comes the time to build the front mats of our sampler.
I use to thumb thru the catalog to help me look for stamps, dies, punches – anything that I could work with outside of the box. I still can do this, but instead my computer is open to the shop products tab and instead I’m checking out what is available under headings – online exclusives, punches, dies, etc. We have a couple of alphabet dies to use for the USA letters, then the pennant triangle and banner dies are found in the Bistro Burger dies. Since we currently do not have a large star die available, I went with the heart die from the Hooray For Surprises dies. My little stars came from the Merriest Trees dies that carried over from last year. Throw in some stripes for the flag, and it’s a simple sampler perfect for displaying for Independence Day!!!
Just because we don’t have a suite, a DSP, or a stamp set geared to celebrating the USA, we CAN create by thinking outside that box. Don’t dismiss designing red white and blue cards and home decor pieces because of limitations. Just like my gardening color palette and my papercrafting have evolved so can our crafting arsenal!!! Maybe those pennants and hearts weren’t designed for Independencde Day but they work! You simply have to get out of the box, so to speak!!!
Until next time, have a wonderful day, find some time to craft and create, stay cool and hydrated, and God Bless!
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